The Future of Online Video Content

Recently I stumbled across a startling figure in a report by network solutions giant CISCO, which suggests that by 2018 video content will account for a massive 79% of global consumer internet traffic.  That’s a 13% increase from 2013 and equates to nearly one million minutes of video content crossing global networks every single second.  Naturally, with more people being exposed to video content on such an immense scale, there will be a change in people’s preference as to how they wish to consume information.  In fact already there are statistics that support these beliefs with DigitalSherpa reporting that only 20% of visitors to your website will read content in its entirety whilst 80% will view a video.

And it’s not just B2C businesses that need to take note; further statistics released by DigitalSherpa state that 50% of users are weekly viewers of business-related videos on YouTube. The message out there is that businesses who do not integrated video into their online strategy will lose business to those that do.

Life's a Stage

Fortunately producing a video no longer requires hiring a highly skilled, and very expensive, production team. Readily available, reasonably priced video equipment and user-friendly editing software allows those with a little technical knowledge to produce effective videos for online use.  You’re not looking to win any Oscars, just ensure the content is engaging from the outset, appealing to your target market and is ideally no longer than one minute (two minutes as an absolute maximum).  You’ll also need to consider where your videos will sit and what their aim is.  Here are some ideas of where video content works well:

Your Website

Video can play a highly important part in the purchasing decision making process for online consumers.  Online purchases are by nature fairly risky as the purchaser is unable to use their senses to ascertain the products suitability as they would in a high street shop.  Product videos convey far more information to the viewer than a static picture and assist greatly in the purchase decision making process.  According to Internet Retailer, those viewing product videos are 85% more likely to make an online purchase.  Carefully optimised videos can also have an extremely positive impact on your ranking with search engines and, if statistics are correct, you could be 50% more likely to make it on to the first page.

Email

Simply including video in your email campaigns can have a significant impact on conversions with Video Brewery reporting one retailer seeing a 51% increase in subscriber-to-lead conversion rates when video was included.  A study by GetResponse on a sample of 800,000 emails found click through rates were 96.38% higher when video was featured.

Social Media

If you’re already using social media as part of your marketing strategy then you should seriously think about the power of Social Video Marketing (SVM).  Statistics published by Alius Media suggest that people share video links more than any other link or text post, and not just by a little, by a whopping 1,200%.  You’re probably aware of the term viral marketing, but SVM takes this a step further and utilises content to obtain a ‘deeper engagement’.  The connection with the message is what spurs the audience to not just share it but also to interact through leaving a comment or joining an ongoing discussion, which in turn drives further engagement from other like-minded individuals.

Online Advertising

Online advertising no longer means uninteresting, static banner adverts. Video, it seems, is the way to go and with statistics like these it’s surprising more companies haven’t already included this medium in their marketing strategies:

  • 75% of users visit the marketer’s website after viewing a video
  • 80% of users recalled seeing a video advert in the last 30 days
  • Of those 12% went on to purchase the featured product

 

Some pretty powerful statistics there, so go out, get creative, get filming and be a step ahead of your competition!