When Thomas Edison commissioned what became the Kinetograph, the world’s first motion picture camera, little did he realize that he was launching a revolutionary medium that still touches us on so many levels us over 130 years later. Video has since evolved from a method of entertainment to an effective form of advertising, messaging, and marketing.
Video marketing is everywhere. Not just on television or the Internet, but also on video billboards, atop taxicabs, and even in the bathrooms of our favourite pubs and restaurants.
There’s a simple reason for video’s mass presence: video marketing works.
Why Video Marketing is So Effective
As humans, we’re attracted to video because most of us are hardwired to be visually stimulated. We tend to process information faster and remember information better when it’s presented through video, and if we like it we tend to watch the same video multiple times.
Video is fun to share too, especially if the messaging is effective and touches people on an emotional level, be it joy, sadness, or sentimentality. How many times has a video brought such a smile to your face that you want to spread the love around?
For marketers, message retention, repeat engagement, and social sharing are pure gold. On top of all that, video helps your search engine optimization (SEO) results too.
Video Marketing & SEO
Hosting videos on your website can dramatically improve your SEO. High-ranking search results are awarded to websites that offer these three important factors:
- Longer session times: People tend to stay on your website longer to view your video, raising your online authority
- High click-through rates: Videos have significantly higher click-through rates than text alone
- Mix of media: Google loves websites that offer a variety of media, including text, images, and video
When viewers share your video, your SEO will be improved even further with the additional inbound traffic, social media engagement, and click-throughs to the rest of your website. If your video goes viral, your SEO performance could go through the roof.
5 Important Rules of a Corporate Video
Now that you know why video is important, how do you go about making one? It’s not as hard as you might think, especially if you have the right strategy, people, and tools. To help you get started, we’ve compiled these 5 important rules you should consider following when creating your brand video:
1. Grab Your Audience: Ever notice how YouTube videos are most compelling in the few seconds before you’re able to press the “Skip Video” button? People only give your videos so many seconds before they decide whether to keep watching, so your opening has to grab them right away. Short but sweet videos work best. You can convey an effective, memorable message in under two minutes.
2. Tell a Story: We’re taught from a young age that stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Your video should too so your audience can follow the flow of your message. For example, if you’re selling a product, your story could show how it helps people solve a problem. With a service, feature a real-world scenario of how it was applied. Even an instructional video on how to use a process on your website can be told in a storytelling way. Whichever way you go, let the pictures tell the story and allow your audience to actually feel the message for maximum impact.
3. Use a Professional Video Producer: You can go down one of two roads with video production: doing it yourself or hiring a professional. Going the DIY route has its advantages, mostly financial, but if the quality isn’t representative of your brand, you might be doing your business a disservice. This is why we always recommend using a professional video producer, who offers a specific skill set that will ensure a smooth production process and get maximum impact once you unleash it into the world.
4. Include a Clear Call to Action: What do you want your audience to do after watching your video? Perhaps you’d like them to visit a landing page, click through your website, or contact you directly. You can also invite them to like, comment on, and share your video. The last thing you want is for the viewer to just leave, so be sure to give them something to do.
5. Embed in Your Website: As stated above, be sure to host the video on your own domain. This doesn’t just help your SEO, it also gets people clicking to your website as you can share directly and more easily to social media from here than from YouTube or Vimeo. You can also get crucial inbound links directly back to your website, improving inbound traffic and helping your search rankings.
Video Marketing – It’s a Wrap!
Every business, whether B2C or B2B, should try their hand at video, even if it’s just a short introductory clip on their homepage. Investing in something your customers enjoy goes a long way towards building brand loyalty, and increases the chances for additional revenue.
Want to be a video star? Or highlight your brand in a more compelling way? TSquared Marketing can make it happen! Contact us today to get started!
