Benefits of Video Content Marketing in the Age of Social Media

Over 90% of the world’s millennials, 77% of the world’s Gen X, and 48% of the world’s Baby Boomers are on social media today. They make all their purchase decisions based on the content they consume on social media. That should tell you how pervasive social media is.

When brands start marketing on social media, they sometimes make the mistake of favoring some forms of content over others. For example, they may constantly post articles or whitepapers or podcasts on social media, using other content forms minimally. This is a mistake because not all forms of content enjoy a mass appeal.

As the past few years have told us, there is one content form in particular that is loved globally and which is extremely impactful in generating leads, engagement, and sales. This is video content. Coupled with social media, videos can generate the most traction for companies, during their digital marketing journeys.

According to a 2018 study by Animoto, video content was the most favorite and preferred type of content online. The trend is the same today. A simple “#video” in a social media post can increase the number of views the post receives. In fact, 57% of millennials watch more videos on social media than they do anywhere else.

Why is video content marketing the greatest tool in your social media marketing campaigns?

Here are some reasons why you need to include video content in your social media marketing campaign:

• 1. It is more effective in attracting customer attention than text-based content is

  Studies show that

  72% of customers prefer to learn about products and services through video, compared to other forms of content. In fact, if they were provided both text-based content and video content, 59% of marketing executives agree that customers will more-often choose video.

  This is because humans are visual beings, and videos offer greater appeal compared to text-based content. Considering this, it’s obvious that video content can make a very powerful weapon in the company’s social media campaign.

• 2. It enables higher audience engagement

  Imagine you watched a video that ended with a cliffhanger. Wouldn’t you wait with bated breath to watch the next part of the series? This is the immense power of video content.

  Videos allow marketers to build compelling stories that just cannot be ignored or forgotten by the audience. You can use a variety of storytelling techniques to hook viewers and keep them engaged.

  In fact, this is one of the main reasons why every new product launch these days includes a video teaser in the marketing campaign.

• 3. It is more accessible than other forms of content

  Text-based content and images-based content are impactful only when the prospective customer is able to see and read the content. Unless they have screen readers, visually challenged individuals will not be able to access your written content. Even with screen readers, its important to note that infographics and images can’t be read by these devices.

  But videos circumvent these issues. The voice-overs can be heard by visually challenged individuals. For the hearing challenged, videos can be embedded with subtitles and transcripts can be provided at the end of the video, for them to peruse.

• 4. It is less expensive to translate when targeting new customer groups

  Unless you’re choosing to entirely remake your marketing video in a new language, targeting your existing video content to a new linguistic market is relatively easy and inexpensive. Just adding subtitles in another language or doing a voice-over in the other language is enough – you have many pocket-friendly video editing software available, which can help you here. This job can also be done at your own company premises and need not be outsourced, saving a lot of money.

  On the other hand, you will need to have your text-based content, slides, PPTs and infographics completely re-done in another language, for them to be effective. This will make the entire campaign more expensive.

• 5. It is optimized for search

  Did you know that video content is 53% more likely to receive organic first-page ranking than text-based content? That’s how much search engines love video content. The reason is simple. People love videos and search engines love what people love.

  Apart from this, videos provide an excellent opportunity to implement SEM/SEO strategies. You can include links and keywords in transcripts, alt tag your videos and add relevant metadata. All of this improves your search performance.

• 6. It is very mobile-friendly

  More people use mobile devices to access content than ever before. And the best thing is, video content can be optimized to mobile devices. Today, 92% of the world uses mobile devices to watch videos. You may yourself have perused video content on your smartphone during your daily commute.

  Videos can be edited to any time duration and screen dimension. From snackable 2 minute videos to hour-long documentaries, there are numerous ways in which you can engage mobile users through video.

• 7. It can build trust in the product & brand

  While testimonials and affiliate/influencer blogs are good marketing, they aren’t fool-proof. There are many who believe that such reviews are fabricated.

  Video content on the other hand, fosters brand transparency. It allows companies to showcase (sometimes live) how a product is made, how it should be used, and how it can benefit the consumer. This type of visual demonstration adds immense value to the marketing campaign. It builds customer trust in the brand.

• 8. It offers one of the highest ROIs

  The truth is, videos generate very strong brand recognition and retention. It’s been found that videos have a 34% higher conversion rates compared to other forms of content. Marketers using videos grow their revenues 49% faster than their counterparts who don’t. This is a really promising ROI and proves why it’s worth investing in video content marketing.