Video Marketing for Your Business
Videos can be an effective tool for marketing your business, especially in our digital age. Learn more about video marketing and how it can help your business here.
The face of digital marketing is always changing. As the Internet evolves, our marketing strategies have to keep up. The biggest shift at the moment is the increased need for video. Research shows that video will account for 82% of all online traffic across the globe by 2021.
At this point, it’s not a trend anymore — it’s a fundamental change in the way we interact with content online. If you’re not starting to include video marketing with Brisbane video production services in your strategy now, you’re going to have to do a lot of extra work to catch up down the road.
Not sure how to start? Don’t worry. We’ve got a guide to everything you need to know about video marketing for your business. Read on to learn more!
Video Marketing Increases Engagement Rates
The most important takeaway from this guide is how video production can help your business. It’s not just a trend to jump on — it can actually help to drive traffic to your website.
You’ve probably heard the cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words. If a picture is worth a thousand, then even a short video is worth a million.
People expect to see videos as they browse the Internet, and they’re more likely to interact with multimedia content than they are with something that’s purely text. Click-through rates for videos are consistently higher. Plus, websites with videos are more likely to see repeat visitors.
Whether you want to incorporate video production into your social media strategy or have more videos on your website, it’s clear that video increases engagement.
What Do I Need To Know?
If you’re going to start incorporating video marketing into your digital strategy, you need to make sure you do it right. A badly produced video won’t do much to help you drive traffic to your website.
Even if you’re experienced with a camera and know how to make well-produced videos, that doesn’t necessarily mean that video marketing will be intuitive. Here are some things you should know before you start shooting:
Encoding And Transcoding
Let’s say that you’ve just finished filming a video that’s going to help promote a new product that you have out. You’ve got all of your A and B-roll footage and now you’re ready to edit it. Before you can do anything with it, you need to either encode or transcode the video.
If your camera has an actual, physical tape, you’ve got to encode the video in a digital format before it can be uploaded. If it’s already digital and on an SD card or digital hard drive, you need to transcode it — basically recode it for digital sharing on other devices. Video file formatting can get tricky depending on what audience you’re trying to reach.
Distribution
It’s still important to know how to encode or transcode your video into the correct format, though, because that will have an effect on your distribution.
Certain websites have preferred file formats for videos, which you should keep in mind as you produce it. You also need to make sure that your video is easily viewed on mobile since there’s such a high percentage of mobile traffic.
Last, you should pick the hosting service that makes the most sense for your business. Depending on your needs, it might not necessarily be YouTube.
Engagement Metrics
Finally, you should also know how to track the engagement metrics for your videos. This is how you’ll know if they’re working for you and if there’s anything that you need to change.
What’s the average length of time that people watch your video? How many people clicked an in-video link? How’s your video marketing campaign actually performing?
All of this is a lot of work and a lot to learn for people new to video production. You can always work with a production company who already has this figured out and can help keep your video production costs low.
What Kinds Of Video Should I Be Making?
Now that you know why video marketing is important and some of the basics of creating a video for the web, let’s take a look at the types of videos that you might want to create for your business.
Product/Service Videos
If your video production goal is to promote your business’ offerings, you might want to film a video centered around a specific product or service. This could be anything from a video tutorial for how to use one of your products to a customer testimonial.
This helps to bring to life what your business is offering. If people can see a product in action, they’re more likely to want to buy it. Plus, hearing someone else speak positively of your business can build trust.
Public Relations
Another way to build trust through video is to use video production services as part of your PR strategy. Have you ever seen videos of companies where employees are gushing about how much fun it is to work there? They also might show you the beautiful new building, the on-site ping-pong table, or the fun employee happy hours.
These types of videos are examples of PR videos — using video marketing to show people why your business is a fantastic place to work. It can both draw talent to your business and make people curious enough to become customers.
Interactive Video
Interactive video is more complex, but it definitely sets businesses apart. Don’t worry — this doesn’t mean that you suddenly have to become an expert in virtual reality or something like that.
Making your video interactive can be as simple as including in-video links at the end of the video. This way, when people finish watching, they’re directed to a link that can send them right to your product or service page.
Get More Digital Marketing Advice
Don’t stop here — you should continue building your business’ video marketing and digital marketing strategy. Make sure that you’re driving as many potential leads to your website as possible. Want to learn more? Check out the rest of our posts about digital marketing for businesses.