Everyone’s doing it, aren’t they?
Video. It’s everywhere. Used to be you had to have a huge marketing budget to afford professional video. But, these days, all it takes is a digicam or even a smartphone and you’re off to the races. But, when you do need a professional, they’re a lot less expensive than you’d think. Here’s how to take your business to the big league using nothing but amateur equipment. discover more details at Tinker Taylor.
Why Video?
Most people use video today, but they don’t realize just how powerful it is. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo have trained us to believe that online streaming video is “normal”. The reality is that, up until a few years ago, it wasn’t. It didn’t exist even 10 years ago — not in the way it does now anyway.
Videos increase a person’s understanding of something by 74%, and one-third of all online activity is watching videos. The average Internet user is exposed to more than 30 videos per month. This means that, every day, 100 million people watch a video online and they spend nearly 17 minutes watching ads every month, with ads lasting an average of between 30 seconds and 4 minutes.
Roughly 75% of users visit the marketer’s website after watching a video. And, users are 64% more likely to buy a product if they watch a video about it first. Real estate listings that have videos tend to get more than 403% more inquiries than listings without videos.
And, when used in an email marketing campaign, subscriber to lead conversion skyrockets 51% when videos are included. Your website is 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of a search engine if you use a video.
More than 90% of users say that seeing a video helps them in the decision-making process.
Make Sure You Explore New Channels For Distribution
Always remember to explore new channels for your video marketing. There are some great undiscovered social media channels out there, which will help push your organic reach. These sites are, more or less, video or media-heavy social sites which may or may not have a lot of users but they tend to have a very targeted audience.
All you need to do is branch out and get your video posted in multiple different places.
There Are No Rules For Videos
Many times, marketers make up rules for the length of video. They argue that people simply will not watch a video that’s longer than a certain length, but this isn’t true. A short video of 10 seconds can’t really get a sales message across, but it might be enough to spark interest in learning more about something.
A 1 minute video is longer, but still not that long. Some people are finding, however, that users will stay and watch a 20 minute video all the way to the end, with marketers finding 90 to 95% completion time.
Part of the reason users will do this is if the video is relevant and interesting to them. Think about it. People watch sitcoms and T.V. shows, movies, and are willing to sit for hours watching videos that are engaging. If you can make your video engaging, they’ll watch.
Use Custom Thumbnails
Thumbnails can make or break your videos, especially if you’re not well-known in your industry. Non-readable, less creative, icons may not stand out. Thumbnails give users a quick “peek” at what to expect. If the image isn’t all that interesting or engaging, they may not want to watch the video.
Use bright colors, and relevant images, and keep your thumbnail text-focused.
Manage A Publishing Schedule
It’s really important to manage your video publishing, just like on any other kind of posting format. You want to establish a schedule so your users can get an idea of when you publish, and how often. Random publishing makes you look disorganized and unserious about your content delivery and message.
It also makes it difficult for people to follow you. You have to realize that most users are creatures of habit. We expect things to happen at preset times. And, when they don’t, we get upset or discouraged.
If you publish a video on Friday, make sure you stick to that schedule. If you publish on Monday, always publish on Monday. Your users will start to get used to the schedule and will tune in to your videos. This is how your audience grows.
In that sense, it’s just like publishing on a blog. Develop a regular schedule, and people will come back, again and again, to read your content.
Author
Scott Jordan is a small business owner who has been working on the company’s marketing efforts. Knowledgeable about social media marketing, Scott recently discovered video marketing. He writes about his finds, hoping to help other small businesses succeed.
