People. Love. Video. Not yet sure you’re buying it? comScore’s video matrix, published December, 2010, reported that some 89 million people in the United States are going to watch 1.2 billion videos. Not this year. Not this week. But today.
They’re going to watch 1.2 billion videos today.
comScore reports that there are some 180 million online video viewers every month, which is 85% of the entire Internet audience. That audience is viewing 36 billion videos monthly, viewing an average of 200 videos per person and spending approximately 13 hours a month doing it.
Not impressed yet?
How about this – more video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all 3 major US television networks produced in 60 years. And nearly 100% of online spenders are video viewers. Hmmm.
Google gives businesses 1.9 billion reasons to start integrating video into their marketing efforts – as that’s the number of viewing sessions generated on Google sites alone, with YouTube ranking as the top online video content portal, with some 145.8 million unique viewers.
Yahoo follows that with an impressive 61.8 million viewers. But the most impressive climb? You guessed it – Facebook.
Facebook’s dominance in the social media space and the ability for users to upload videos quickly and easily has pushed it into sixth position overall, with some 42.5 million viewers – and climbing.
Simply put, if you pair an engaging and interesting video piece with smart search engine strategies, like appropriate titles and keywords, you can seriously boost your Google juice. Research has shown that your brand is 53 times more likely to appear on page 1 of Google search results if you have video incorporated into your online marketing efforts. Whoa. 53 times more? If that doesn’t get your attention, we’re not sure what will.
Video can boost click-thru rates and compel action.
Research shows that when video is embedded in an e-newsletter, click-thru rates increase by 96%. Additionally, research suggests that consumers who view a product demo while shopping are 85% more likely to purchase. Already rethinking how you feel about video now, aren’t you?
Want to know more — watch this presentation by comScore’s Dan Piech at OMMA’s January 2011 event.
Video isn’t just for the big dogs anymore.
The reality is that you don’t even need a professional these days to produce good video content. Our friend, Steve Garfield is a video master and author of the book Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business. All you need is a camera, some decent lighting and the desire to get going. And picking up Steve’s book won’t hurt your chances for success either.
If you don’t want to do it yourself, thanks to companies like Pixability, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get video produced for your brand. They offer anything from a one-video package to a bundle of several types of promotional videos. With most of their packages, Pixability, also offers access to a software platform that helps you push the video out across social outlets and then track the performance of these videos. If you’re already have video they also offer to help refine your marketing plan to help you get campaign off the ground.
Bottom line — producing good video to use for marketing, brand awareness and community engagement is becoming much easier and affordable. It can even be free. And putting compelling video content out there can – and undoubtedly will – help drive more traffic to your site and gain exposure for your brand.
Remember though – just because you add video into your marketing mix doesn’t mean it will become the next viral hit on the interwebs. As with any marketing tools, be sure you have a good strategy in place so you can put the best foot forward for your brand on the web. And, as with any other part of your content marketing strategy, the importance of investing your time and energy in building a great community in the online space is something that should never be overlooked.
As an added benefit, scoot over and read this terrific post by my friend Geoff Livingston, called Why Content Marketing Fails. The biggest downfall of brands trying to use content marketing strategies is that they fail to understand one simple thing: Content marketing is about being human. And about telling stories. Video can help you do that. So can listening to Geoff’s advice.
If you’re not yet using video as part of your content marketing strategies, here’s hoping this information might cause you to reconsider.
Photo credit: TIHAN
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”