By Calvin Fisher
Remember ‘bums in seats’? Well, consider this, ‘eyes on screens’. This is our second year of several countries and regions being locked down and, as a result, people are staying home and consuming online content at a rapid pace. Magazine editor turned filmmaker Calvin Fisher shares some insight on why you absolutely should not sleep on video as your most compelling form of marketing.
A BBC article published in the second half of 2020 noted that screen time in the UK overall was up almost a third (31%) when compared to the year before, while a pre-lockdown survey pointed out that around 49% of people watch more than five videos per day. These numbers were staggering in 2020, so imagine what the results would look like now that people are glued to their screens more than ever before. If video content marketing is not yet top of your priority list, it is time to put it there. It can grow your business in a number of ways.
Video is far reaching and appeals to almost all generations, young and old. If there are some markets that you have been struggling to reach with traditional marketing, video could be a compelling way to reach a range of new customers. Video is an excellent driver of brand awareness, which in turn could convert the viewers to customers.
Even a marketing video needs to add value to the viewer on the other side, whether you are entertaining your audience, educating them or giving them insight into something. If you create interesting, engaging and entertaining videos, viewers will keep coming back and you could be a steady part of someone’s viewing habits.
Videos are easily shareable, potentially viral. Someone sees a video they like, they share it on their social media and so it goes on. If you are creating interesting and engaging content in video form, there is a bigger chance that it will be shared and, as a result, reach a wider audience and create more brand awareness.
If you have an interesting business story and a story about how things started, using video is a great way to talk about it. Human stories and the struggles and successes that businesses had early on in their development appeals to many people and is extremely relatable. Having people relate to you and your business in an excellent way to get them to buy into what you have to offer. Storytelling always wins.
Google loves videos. Having video on your website increases how much time people spend on your site and tells Google that your website is the place to be. The more time people spend on your site, the higher you will rank on Google when people search for a term related to your business. The videos have to be good quality to get more people to see it, so don’t produce sub-par content.
These are just a few of the many reasons why video content should definitely be part of your marketing strategy going forward. The world is changing and people are spending more time watching videos than ever before – tap into it.