What Are the Benefits of Video Marketing?

If you don’t currently have video content in your digital strategy, it’s time to start including it. Video marketing can seem intimidating to dive into at first, but businesses can usually reap great benefits that make video marketing services worth it. In fact, adding videos to a landing page can increase conversions by 80%, according to Unbounce. As video promotions become more common, businesses will want to keep up with the trend. Read on to find out why your organization should consider video marketing services.

Why is video marketing important?

Video marketing is a popular and effective method to tell your brand story. Videos are visual and interactive, so they build a stronger connection with your audience and give users more details about a product or service you offer. By explaining your organization’s purpose in an engaging format or answering common questions through a promotional video, you can convince potential customers to make a purchase and make your brand more memorable.

Marketing Videos on Social Media

You’ve probably noticed that your social feeds are starting to fill up with videos, GIFs and animated posts. The reason behind this movement is that video content is more engaging to users. Marketing videos that we publish on our social channels and on our clients’ feeds usually have more clicks, comments and engagements than a regular static image. In fact, the rise in video popularity has a Facebook VP believing that Facebook’s content could be mostly video in the next few years.

Each social platform has an algorithm that determines the content that appears in the feeds. Social platforms have started to notice that people will spend more time watching and interacting with videos, which means the algorithms will start to favor them. Adding marketing videos to your business’ social calendar could help your content get more impressions on social platforms and boost engagement. Businesses should be aware that each social platform has slightly different restrictions when it comes to file size, length and format. See our handy guide below for the best video marketing performance on the major social channels that promote videos.

YouTube Marketing & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When discussing video, we can’t forget about the importance of YouTube. Depending on your industry, YouTube could be a major player in your video marketing strategy. We’ve noticed some of the most effective YouTube marketing content is “how to” video promotion or product demonstration videos that consumers search for.

As you’re uploading videos to YouTube, don’t forget about SEO; it’s important to optimize your titles and descriptions for search. As the second largest search engine following Google, YouTube cannot be ignored. Including high-volume keywords can help your video content appear more often in search results. Google has also started favoring videos and will pull optimized videos into search engine result pages.

You can also use videos to enhance your website’s SEO value. Google measures how long users spend on your website, so adding videos to your content marketing efforts can your brand keep people engaged on a landing page, potentially leading to improved rankings. Like we mentioned earlier, this can also be a great sales tactic that convinces users to convert sooner.

How to Make a Good Video

Keep in mind you don’t need extravagant marketing videos to be successful with video promotion. Sometimes a low-budget video with impressive editing can get the message across to your audience. If you're just starting out with video marketing, start small and see how your customers react to it before committing too much of your resources and budget.

Videos take more resources to produce than a social post or blog, so it’s not necessary to release a new video every week. However, if you have the means to do this and you can create engaging and meaningful videos on a semi-regular basis, then it might be worth trying! Releasing videos on a regular basis keeps users engaged with their social media channels, and most importantly, the videos boost the value of the pages they’re placed on.

Types of Video Marketing Content Businesses Can Produce

• How-To Videos. These videos perform well among DIY users and with services or actions that can be easily explained through a quick video, such as a return or shipping process.
• Fun/Humorous Videos. Shooting a silly video is not necessarily the video you’ll want to show to customers that are about ready to convert. However, fun video content is a great way to enhance brand awareness and encourages people to share your video.
• Quick Videos From a Phone. Not all marketing videos need to be scripted. Sometimes spontaneous videos are just as engaging and can stand out more to customers since they look realistic.
• Product Review Videos. If you’re considering buying a product and can see a video including a user explaining the product, you’ll probably be more likely to purchase it. This type of video is common among people who produce baby items because hearing a mom blogger’s honest opinion of why they like a specific toy or formula can convince other parents your product is right for their baby.
• Company Culture Videos. Blue Compass loves showcasing our culture by creating fun videos of activities inside or outside of the office. These are particularly beneficial when searching for new hires so we can demonstrate what type of team environment they can expect.
• Testimonial Videos. Similar to reviews, testimonial videos feature your current customers explaining why they enjoy the product or service you offer. They can be effective when trying to encourage other people to trust your business.
• Product or Service Videos. When you’re trying to seal the deal with a potential customer, help them make the final decision by showing them how the product or service works. Showing them the difference in your products or the step-by-step process of your services through a video could win them over.
• What to Expect Videos. This type of promotional video works best for businesses or organizations that are providing an experience. For example, restaurants, hotels or resorts can show you the type of encounter you’ll have at their business before you walk through the door.

How long should marketing videos be?

When creating videos for social media, shorter videos perform better. If your video content is too long, your viewers will continue to drop off and be uninterested in your brand. Make sure you stay focused on a central theme, deliver your main points in an interesting and efficient way and include a call-to-action that tells the viewers what you'd like them to do after watching your video. Keeping things brief ensures that more people are likely to see your entire video.

Examples of Successful Video Marketing Strategies from Blue Compass

One of our heating and cooling clients consistently releases informational videos about their products as a way to inform their customers in an engaging way. Informational videos often perform well, but the most popular video we’ve released was a how-to video about humidifier maintenance. Their technician performed a step-by-step demonstration of what they look for when they perform humidifier maintenance. The purpose was to show homeowners what they could check at home before hiring a HVAC technician, and the video was very popular on social media and YouTube among handymen and DIY fans.

Marketing videos give businesses a great opportunity to reuse old content and make it more exciting. Our design team transformed an old infographic into a simple, slideshow video for a pest control client. The video content displayed different types of critters that can be hiding in the attic and the sounds they make so you can identify them. This article continues to bring in a considerable amount of organic views to their website each month!

Not all videos have to provide insights on your products or services. For example, one of the most popular videos we shared on Blue Compass’s social feeds included footage of our blue-themed team lunch. Every team member brought in a dish that had some sort of tie to the color or word blue, and our followers loved it! They tuned in to see all the creative dishes and desserts we came up with and how much our office enjoyed them.

Check out more video promotions in our portfolio!

Blue Compass Will Find a Video Marketing Strategy That Works for Your Business

Our video marketing strategists can determine the type of video production that works best for your business based on your products, services and audience. If you’re ready to start engaging your customers in a new and exciting format, or you have more questions about our video marketing services please reach out to Blue Compass!

Mallory Suntken

Mallory double majored, earning her B.S. in Marketing and Management from Iowa State University. She writes SEO-focused content pieces, creates effective digital marketing campaigns and executes social media and SEO campaigns to drive traffic back to clients' websites. Mallory is always eager to learn more about the latest trends in SEO and all things digital marketing and loves taking on new challenges. She has been featured in several blogs for her social media and content marketing expertise.