Video marketing is no longer a choice for businesses. It has become a necessity.
By the end of 2022, it’s predicted that 82% of all web traffic will come from video and this is set to grow exponentially.
That fact alone should be enough to demonstrate the importance of video marketing, but why is it so effective and what does the data actually say about its power to engage potential customers and generate leads?
If you aren’t already using video marketing as an integral part of your overall strategy, here are 10 data-driven reasons to start today!
1. Everyone Watches Online Video
There was a time that video was something only a small percentage of people consumed online. Connection speeds weren’t that fast, finding online video was more difficult because of the costs to host it, and television was still the entertainment leader.
Today that’s all changed.
Most of us can pull up HD video on our smartphone and our data plans easily take care of it. We watch it even by accident just scrolling down Facebook.
Indeed, 78.4% of US internet users now watch online video. The number of video posts on Instagram almost doubled in 2015, it was a 60% increase on Pinterest, and video Tweets increased by over half in 2016 as well.
Ignoring this medium of marketing today would be like ignoring print advertising in the 1800s.
2. Builds Brand Trust
Videos (especially those you or your team are featured in) add a personal touch that text simply can’t. In turn, this builds brand trust because consumers get to know the real people behind the business.
Did you know that personal videos can increase conversions from email by 500%? Read more about it HERE.
3. It’s the Most Engaging Type of Content
At the core of marketing is catching people’s eye – there’s nothing particularly complicated about it.
A vibrant image is more attention-grabbing than a wall of text, and a video is more eye-catching than the average still image.
Data reveals that including a video in your marketing posts on social media increases sharing 10 times!
On Twitter, in particular, videos are retweeted 6 times more than photos.
In other words, people like video and like to share it. That’s what marketers want to hear.
4. It Dramatically Increases e-Commerce Conversions
Video can increase conversions across the board, but survey data of online stores specifically, showed that conversions increased 91% after the implementation of video. It’s estimated that in total, 14% of online retail sales are influenced by videos.
Not only does video catch the consumer’s eyes, but they want to see the product in action, they want to view all of its features and get honest reviews and insightful explainers.
5. The Big Brands are Spending Big
If the big brands are doing something it’s a strong indicator that you should be doing it too.
It doesn’t get any bigger than likes of Amazon who are spending $3 billion on video marketing content!
Everyone from Gillette (who has 6 million views on one ‘how-to’ video) to Coca Cola (who has over 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube) are spending big on video.
Of course, large brands have always forked out for commercials on TV, but the great thing about the internet is anyone with any budget can make use of video for marketing and if a video goes viral, there’s no limit to how many views it gets like there is when you pay for a certain slot on television.
According to survey data, 70% of ad agencies believe video ads are as or more effective than TV and other traditional marketing methods.
6. It Improves Search Engine Optimization
According to Comscore adding video to a webpage can increase its chance of hitting the first results page of Google by 53 times. Furthermore adding video content to YouTube and targeting a keyword makes it much easier to rank high for a term because YouTube is an authority site. You can then link to your site from the video to generate traffic.
7. Click Through Rate Hammers Banner Ads
Ad blindness (people’s ability to tune out and ignore ads) has become a big problem in traditional online banner advertising, despite the visual nature of the industry. Video does not yet have this problem.
In fact, on average video ad CTR is 18 times higher than banners.
7. There Are Many Large Platforms to Benefit From
You can diversify your video marketing content through many different channels – from hosting it yourself to video sharing sites, to social media.
10 billion short and sharp videos are watched on Snapchat every day, but Facebook users also watch a staggering 100 million hours of video daily as well. That’s all without using YouTube, which boasts 5 billion video views every single day!
You have to be creative though, as each platform must be approached differently. Here’s more insight into video marketing statistics of 2017
8. It’s Less Work than You Think
If you’ve never produced a video it might seem like a daunting process. However, cost-effective animated video companies like PixelGenio can ensure you do it right. If not you’ll be pleased to know that shorter videos (30 seconds) have an 89% higher conversion than longer videos (180 seconds or longer).
In other words, you don’t have to make a feature film.
9. Video Is Growing
Online video consumption is only going to increase in the years to come, so if you master video marketing now you will continue to benefit.
90% of all Facebook content is expected to be video by 2018, while the number of watched YouTube videos will increase by 50%. In total, 80% of all internet traffic is expected to be generated by video by 2019, and to take advantage of this growth video ad spending in the US is sent to more than double between 2017 and 2020.
11. It’s Fun
Let’s face it, as enthusiastic as we are about our businesses, the day-to-day operations can become dull. Creating, commissioning, and sharing video content, and then seeing its success, is always a fun process.
Visuality is the biggest strength of video marketing. Thanks to its viral nature, a video’s reach knows no boundaries. And by 2019, video will completely take over the internet. The impressive growth of all things digital over the last two decades brought about many innovative marketing strategies, some of which we already discussed.
Today, the video is a cutting-edge marketing approach and a powerful tool for creating content that is personal, relevant, and leaves a memorable impression on your audience.
Now that you have a fair idea about the core feature of video engagement and how it is the most gripping way to get through to your audience, here are 127 facts about video marketing that you probably didn’t know.
Looking for an explainer video for your business? Check out our portfolio of amazing explainer vidoes.