Why is Online Video Valuable?
When considering including online videos in your marketing strategy, it is important to consider what it is about web videos that makes them valuable to you – as a brand – and your consumer – as the audience. Knowing the benefits and the potential return on investment can help you develop real goals and reasonable expectations about the effectiveness of your videos as a part of your online strategy. Video improves user engagement, builds brand awareness, and optimizes your company website by generating more relevant traffic through rich content signals, building high-quality links, improving conversions, and giving you a rich presence on video search engines like YouTube.
Online Video Improves User Engagement
While reading text on a page requires an active attention span and higher cognitive processes, video – if produced and optimized properly – allows users to consume all relevant information without skimming and scanning through what may be the most important parts of your message. With video, the comprehension of your brand and products or service offerings is more precise and immediate, with strong visuals and persuasive audio. The amount of information you put in front of your target audience in 3 seconds of video can outweigh the value of an entire page of text. Accurate perception and an emotional response can be triggered in as little as 5 seconds – which can take more than 15-20 seconds with plain text. The quicker you invoke that emotional response and evaluation of your message, the quicker your audience will respond with your call to action.
Video Builds Brand Awareness
Professional web videos create a sense of face-to-face interaction with your target audience. Putting a face to the name of your company can more accurately depict who you are, what you stand for, and what you have to offer. Facial expressions and verbal cues are much more engaging than words on a page. To build a strong brand reputation, a company video is vital in creating a more personal, human side of your company. Additionally, your company website will look more professional with a high quality video, and you will likely be perceived as a legitimate, capable business.
Video is Vital For Search Engine Optimization
Web videos are extremely important when it comes to optimizing your website for higher visibility with search engines. By implementing the correct code and creating video-rich snippets, you can generate more traffic through search engine results pages with thumbnail images indicating your web page includes a video. These video-rich results are proven to have higher click-through rates simply due to the fact that people are more likely to click on a video than plain text. Video has also been proven to increase conversion rates; online shoppers who view product videos are 174% more likely to make a purchase, according to recent statistics. Web videos also assist with link building, which is an important metric in the eyes of Google and other search engines. Videos are often seen as more engaging and relevant, improving the odds of getting links from other sources who find your video content important and “share-worthy.” Finally, hosting your videos on the second largest search engine – YouTube – improves your web presence by leaps and bounds. With a properly optimized YouTube video, you can rank high on YouTube AND Google, driving brand awareness, high-quality traffic, and conversions.
These are some of the greatest benefits of online video, but there are many more reasons why video is so valuable for your entire marketing strategy. For more information on how to make online video work for you, contact the experts at In Focus Studios.
