We get asked all the time about the return on investment for video marketing. Businesses want to know why video marketing is important and what returns it will yield.
Video captivates, engages, informs, and—our favourite— tells incredible stories. But you don’t have to take it from us. There’s a wealth of data surrounding the power, rise, and continued growth of video marketing that will get you wishing you started filming yesterday.
1. People Prefer to Learn Through Video
Audiences prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a video as opposed to any other medium. According to a 2019 State of Video Report by Wyzowl, 68% of people would rather learn about a brand’s new product or service by watching a short video. As a learning tool, video scores higher than text-based articles (15%), presentations and pitches (4%), and ebooks or manuals (3%). Plus, in the same report, “ 79% of people say a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app. ”
People prefer to learn through video because videos are short, they aren’t demanding, and they’re able to communicate a large amount of information in a small amount of time. Videos are visually stimulating, so they can hold your audience’s attention long enough to explain a new or complex topic. The next time your business has anything to announce, give the people what they want and put it in a video.
2. Video Holds Attention on Social Media
Video has a significant impact on social media. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says users watch 100 million hours of video per day on Facebook, and 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day. That’s the video consumption on only one social media platform. Video is consumed on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and other social applications too. Think about how much time you yourself spend online, and how much of that time is spent watching video. How much video content do your friends, family, and kids consume?
Taylor Hurff of 1SEO says, “video content by far generates more engagements with our users.” He believes this is because “videos force scrolling users to stop and pay an extra second of attention to the post before understanding the gist.”
Not only will your video have more interaction on social media, but you’ll begin to see better conversion as well. Aberdeen Group and (Kitchener local) Vidyard found, “companies that market with video on social have 27% higher click-through rate and 34% higher conversion rates than those that don’t .”
Your audience is more likely to interact with videos than other static or text-based types of content, and they’re more likely to convert.
3. Video Increases Time On Page
Having a video on a landing page or website page will increase your “time on page,” which is the average amount of time audiences spend viewing that webpage. Part of the reason for this is that video content is engaging, and holds an audience’s attention longer than a stagnant visual or text.
Wistia compared all of their own content and found people spend 2.6x more time on pages with video content than pages without . The longer a visitor remains on your website, the better it is for your business. What are we creating content for, if not to drive people to our website to incite brand recognition, and ultimately, sales?
4. Mobile Viewing Fuels Video Growth
Ask yourself what device you use more often in your personal life—your laptop or your smartphone? According to the Pew Research Center, “roughly one-in-five American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users,” which means smartphones are many people’s sole form of online access in their homes.
This is good news for video marketing. Facebook says mobile and Millennials are fueling the continued growth of video. People are 1.5x more likely to watch video daily on a smartphone than on a computer and Millennials are 1.35x more likely than older generations to say they find it easier to focus when watching videos on mobile.
As your business reaches out to younger generations and embraces trends like mobile viewing, video will play an ever-increasing role in reaching audiences.
5. Your Competitors Are Using Video
Your competition is already using video. The 2019 State of Video Report by Wyzowl found that 87% of businesses are already using video as a marketing tool in 2019. In 2017, it was 63%. That’s a 14% jump in two years, and Cisco reports that by 2020, online video will make up more than 80% of consumer internet traffic.
Video marketing is not slowing down—it’s on the rise. Don’t allow your business to be overshadowed by your competitors’ video marketing. Invest in video as soon as you can to keep up with your competitors and lead your industry.
Video is an investment with a wealth of returns. When you consider the pervasive use of smartphones, the staggering number of people who watch online videos, and the predictions for continued growth, you may begin to wonder, why haven’t we started filming?
To learn more about the powerful effects of video or to talk to someone about the story you’d like to tell, you can reach the Memory Tree team by phone or email.
