Have you ever stumbled upon a video someone created for their product while scrolling through a page that made you stop and watch it? In the sea of posts, did the video format catch your eye? How did it make you feel towards the product or service?
Video is a great tool to use to market your business, and on social media, it gets much higher engagement than other types of posts. It makes your message more personal and makes you more approachable to your audience.
Why video?
Apart from allowing your customers to get to know you better and learn more about your business, videos are valuable because:
- Video makes interaction with customers better: Recording a short video gives you a great opportunity to connect with a brand new customer or to say thank you to your VIP customers, just by sending a simple video message.
- Video Marketing can explain things in a short time: If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is worth a million! Short videos that highlight a company’s product, service, or business in a compelling and efficient way are popular because people can see clearly how the product or service works. Explaining difficult concepts using video is the best way to capture your audience and translate the engagement into sales.
- Video captures and holds their attention longer: Most people won’t read through tons of text to understand your product, service, or business. Having a video is an engaging, alternate, and quick format to capture their interest. With the right sound and effects, you can easily engage and sell your service or product to them!
- Video increases visibility: Studies have shown that people share emotional posts more than they do factual ones. This is because we make decisions & act with the emotional part of our brain, not the factual part (How to Trigger a Yes). Using a video to market your business is bound to elicit emotion in your customers. Not only are they more likely to invest with you, but they are also more likely to press the share button so that others get to feel what they felt too.
- Google Loves Videos: When you have a video on your site, you directly increase the time visitors spend on your site. The longer the exposure, the higher the trust you build for your site, and this signals to the search engines that your site has good content. Studies indicate that you are 53 times more likely to show up first on Google if you have a video embedded on your website. Source: TechCrunch.com, 2010
The trick? SEO. Optimizing your video(s), coupled with building trust for your site is the wave you can ride on to increase your visibility. Since YouTube “is Google”, you can be sure that there is a great chance your videos will build your search engine rank and visibility. We’ll cover how to get your videos to rank on YouTube in another tip.
How to use video to your advantage
One of the best things about video is that you don’t have to be too elaborate or invest in a professional production. In fact, a super-slick video can work against you when you just want to share something with your audience. Keep things simple!
Videos that feel natural and personable are typically more engaging as they can build a stronger connection with your customers and your audience across social media.
When it comes to social media, having a simple video up to 60 seconds in length is an ideal way to connect with your followers or to share an important message; but don’t make it too long that your audience loses interest.
How to get started with video
Did you know that shooting a video is one of the fastest ways of creating content? Today, almost everyone has access to a smartphone, so you likely already have a device capable of capturing high-quality video at your fingertips.
Thinking of getting started with videos? We give you the basic how-to in an earlier tip: Lights! Camera… Silence!
Exercise:
Think about the types of solutions you may want to offer your audience, or the questions that they often ask and write them down in a list. These are perfect topics that you can cover in your videos, as you’re able to help and deliver value through the content that you create.
If you’ve never delved into using video to elevate your business, we know it can feel intimidating. Trust me, we know!!! But don’t let that stop you, use video as a tool to transform your business!
Your Online Partner… for Success
Now more than ever you need a website that is more than a pretty business card. You need one that has its sleeves rolled up and working for you. We’re here to make sure your website is working just as hard as you are. Take advantage of a free 30-minute session with Christy to explore ways to take your site to the next level.