Jay LeonardBranded video content uploaded to the internet is a powerful sales and marketing tool, and watching video online is now an incredibly common activity, according to the Social Video Report carried out for Visibility IQ.
The report is an analysis of the way UK web users consume video content, and covers a range of video-related content: product reviews, TV adverts that appear online, and branded entertainment (such as viral videos) designed to build loyalty and recognition.
The results show that 78% of internet users aged between 15-64 watch videos online every week, and that 46% watch brand-related videos each week, with just 10% of users watching video less than once per month.
How Can You Use Online Video to Help Your Business?
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With online video become increasingly popular, it’s important to get to grips with it and learn how to incorporate it into your overall business strategy. The capabilities of devices used to browse the web are constantly improving, meaning online activities that were previously time-consuming – such as streaming videos – are now easier to do than ever.
With that in mind, it’s important to consider the different ways in which video can help boost the success of your business in the online world.
Using video to persuade people to do stuff
Creating entertaining and informative videos can have a strong impact on viewer engagement, meaning the people who watch them are far more likely to visit a brand’s website or YouTube channel than those who don’t.
The survey shows that 64% of viewers who like a brand’s video will visit its website, and 63% will visit its YouTube channel, so if a video is put together well and appeals to those who watch it, it can be a great way to boost customer loyalty and a brand’s reputation.
How does web video influence purchasing
Making a sale is one of the most compelling reasons to dive into the world of online video, and it can certainly boost sales if utilised efficiently.
Almost everyone (96%) who chooses to watch a product demonstration video does so with the intention of buying the product afterwards, and 56% say they have actually purchased an item after watching such a video.
Brand Amplification
It’s not only making direct sales that can benefit your business in the realm of video. Increasing brand awareness is another important way businesses can benefit from uploading videos to the web. Content created purely with the intention of being enjoyed (branded entertainment) is very likely to be shared across numerous platforms if it hits the spot with those who watch it.
Over half of viewers share videos, mostly through Facebook and Twitter, with others sending them via email and some linking to them on their blog. Finding the sweet spot that makes users want to share a video is a fantastic way to spread awareness of a brand, as word-of-mouth is one of the most trusted forms of marketing there is.
According to the survey results, the biggest motivation for sharing a video is that it’s funny, with informative and useful videos coming a close second. Other reasons people share things include wanting to spread the message of something they believe in or because they feel it represents them as a person.
What Sort of Video Should You Make?
The sort of video you decide to create will depend largely on what it is you wish to achieve. There are different techniques that work for increasing customer loyalty, making sales and attracting new customers.
Branded Entertainment
Branded entertainment, such as viral videos, are the best way to attract new people to your brand, due to their shareability. By creating an entertaining video that doesn’t overtly promote your products, people will be more inclined to share your video with their friends, thus drawing the attention of previously unreachable eyes. If you succeed in creating a video that is widely shared, you may see vast numbers of new customers coming your way – they may not purchase immediately, but they will at least now be aware of your brand.
Product Demonstration Videos
Product demonstrations, such as how-to videos and product reviews, are actively sought out by people already considering purchasing a particular item. Watching the video is their way of rationalising the purchase or finding our more on the products suitability for them – or not.
Creating a likeable video is very important, as 69% of people that like a product review video go on to purchase the item afterwards. Likeable videos translate to viewers liking the brand and therefore wanting to purchase from it.
Instructional videos are one of the most popular types of video, with a third of internet users watching them weekly. Offering something of value, such as a how-to video or a product review, is one of the best ways to target consumers who are hard to reach if the content is directly related to their specific interests.
Re-purposing Television Adverts for the Web
Around a third of internet users watch television adverts online every week, meaning they’re a valuable way to get your product seen by people. If you’ve already created a TV advert, you can get extra bang for your buck by uploading it to the internet, where a whole host of people who might not have seen it otherwise will have access to it.
Where Should You Upload and Market Your Videos?
Web users don’t tend to go to brands’ own websites to view related videos, so it’s important to make your video widely accessible via other avenues. YouTube is the most common place people watch videos, closely followed by Google and Facebook; other video platforms are minor in comparison.
However; there are often advantages to uploading your videos to your own domain using your own hosting or a 3rd party hosting, but this depends on your video marketing strategy:
YouTube
By far the most common channel people use to view videos is YouTube, with 79% of all internet users using it. YouTube is an incredibly useful tool to assess how well your video is performing too, with in-built analytics functions and various user options such as liking and rating videos, and writing comments.
The primary motivation for subscribing to a channel on YouTube is for purchasing; people use YouTube to find out about new products as they come on the market, to watch product demos and for keeping up-to-date with the latest releases.
Find out more about analytics for video marketing here
Google Search Results
Google is the next most likely place internet users are likely to discover a video. Google users are far more likely to watch the top organic video results than the advertised spots at the top of each page. For this reason, it’s important to maximise your video’s SEO in order to boost its natural ranking for relevant search terms.
A key thing that you should do is to create a video sitemap.
Case studies show that in search results for certain products and product demonstrations, the results which feature videos are far more likely to be selected. This was demonstrated by a search for “Clinique turnaround instant facial,” in which the results were split tested between a group of women aged 35+.
Half of the women were shown the page that included a video on a specific result, and the other half were shown the exact same result but without the video. There was a 154% increase in women who selected the result containing the video when compared with the same result without the video. Similar results were shown for a case study in travel videos.
Social Media: Video on Facebook and Twitter
Social networks are another widely used way of promoting videos, although this time it’s almost completely in the hands of the users. People like connecting with brands via social media, and find value in the videos they post; 31% of Facebook users watch product review videos each week on Facebook, and two thirds of Twitter users feel it’s worthwhile watching videos tweeted by brands.
But the critical moment comes when a user decides to share that video with their friends and followers, because it’s sharing videos across social media that garners them more views and, of course, the more people the video is shared with, the more people there are to share it further.
The key is quality content, because users are unlikely to share videos that don’t resonate with them in some way – either because they’re amusing (branded entertainment) or because they’re useful (product reviews, etc.).
The Key Takeaways
The best thing you can do if you decide to target your business’s energy on video production – which is an excellent idea, considering consumers’ rapidly increasing use of it as a research and purchase tool – is to focus on providing quality, and not just a quick laugh. Quality content is the most likely to be shared between users, and therefore the most likely to rank highly in Google and YouTube search results.
It’s been proven that branded video directly drives sales, engages consumers and improves brand loyalty and reputation. Video is a valuable and cost effective tool for businesses, providing them with a method to directly communicate with interested consumers.
To view the whole report, visit click here. The research was conducted by Entertainment Media Research Ltd for Visibility IQ. It’s based on completed interviews with over 2,600 UK respondents aged 15-64 who watch online videos.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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