We all know video marketing achieves amazing results – but it isn’t enough simply to have a great video produced. If you want to get the most out of your video marketing, you have to know how to use it, and where to share it. Here are our top 10 tips, with examples, for promoting your business online using video.
1. On your website’s Home page
Your website’s Home page is the perfect place for a video, as it instantly attracts your audience. On average, internet users spend 88 percent longer on a website with video than one without, giving your brand message longer to sink in, and encouraging further interaction with your site.
It also helps your SEO efforts dramatically, as including video on your website can increase your organic traffic from search results by up to 157 percent!
A great way to include video on your home page is to create a video like this one, which introduces the website, explaining what it contains and how to navigate it.
2. On your website’s landing pages
Landing pages are where visitors arrive after clicking on your ads. That’s why a good landing page video will explain your product or service, its benefits, and how to use it, in a clear and engaging way, like this example here.
Including a video on a landing page makes it 53 percent more likely to appear on the first page of search results. It can also increase conversions by a huge 80 percent.
3. On your website’s About Us or What We Do page
Your About Us page gives users an insight into your business, and highlights your points of difference from your competitors. As a highly engaging medium, video is the ideal way to achieve this. It enables you to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at your company, explaining your working processes and offering a personal touch by presenting it via your MD, CEO or other staff members, as in this example.
About Us videos are highly effective – 93 percent of businesses that use video believe that it has given viewers a better understanding of their product or service.
4. On your website’s Testimonials page
Online testimonials create consumer trust. A huge 78 percent of people now trust online reviews as much as word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know.
Video adds an extra dimension of authenticity, as it enables you to see and hear people’s reactions rather than just reading something they’ve written. You have evidence that person is real, so you automatically relate to them and trust what they have to say.
In this example, you can see how testimonial videos can be used to demonstrate a product in use in a real-world setting, with testimonials from people who have actually used it, explaining how it has made their lives easier.
Hawker Richardson – Rapier Electronics Case Study and Testimonial Video from Rockmans Creative Media on Vimeo.
5. On YouTube and Vimeo
YouTube and Vimeo are ideal platforms for “authority” videos that give people useful information, such as this example giving businesses advice on employment law. YouTube now has over a billion users, and many people use the platform to search for information and advice about a huge variety of topics – searches for “how to” on YouTube have increased 70 percent year-on-year.
Providing viewers with the information and tips they’re looking for via video is a great way of establishing your business as an authority in your field, creating trust and offering value for users.
6. On your business social media pages
Video has exploded on social media in the last couple of years – videos are now shared on social media a huge 1,200 percent more that written text and photographs combined. This also extends to branded videos, as 70 percent of users have shared a branded video on social media if they have found it interesting.
This is why videos for social media should be emotive and engaging. See the way this video for a marine product uses animation and highlights the eco-friendliness of the product as ways of appealing to social media audiences.
7. In your direct email marketing
Video is a real winner when it comes to email marketing. Including the word “video” in the subject line of an email increases open rates by 19 percent. It’s even more effective when you’re approaching new customers – an initial email including video has a 96 percent higher click-through rate than one without.
This makes video email marketing ideal for B2B marketing. In this example, we can see how the video appeals to business customers by creating empathy – it gives the message that you understand the problems your business customers have, and your product or service can solve them.
8. At events, trade shows, conferences or seminars
These events are where you really need to impress your visitors – they are often celebrations of company successes, or opportunities for delegates to buy into your products or services. It’s worth noting that 77 percent of consumers have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video about it.
This is why videos that are designed to be shown at events have to make a huge visual impact. The example here uses dramatic, attention-grabbing imagery, using animals and nature to create a sense of purpose and unity, before celebrating the history of the company and promoting its success.
9. On reception screens or in your showroom
These always-on videos enable visitors to gain an instant understanding of what you do and how you do it, no matter what time they call in. It’s a highly effective technique, even if they have no previous knowledge of your business, as viewers retain 95 percent of the information they receive in a video, compared to just 10 percent via written text.
It’s important that these videos should be easily understandable – and as workplaces are busy and often noisy environments, they should be able to be watched and understood with or without sound. This example for Metlam uses strong branding including logos, and it’s highly visual, employing graphics, captions and animations to convey a clear, strong message.
10. In your blog posts or vlogging
87 percent of online marketers now use video as part of their content marketing strategy, as it’s so effective for engaging viewers and providing them with the information they need. Videos offering hints, tips and personal insights work well in blog posts – remember these should be more personal than promotional. We can see here how answering frequently asked questions and offering useful information are excellent ways of engaging audiences, as well as inviting them to contribute – in this case, by sending in their questions.
Content marketing is all about providing value to the viewer by offering them the useful information they’re looking for, and establishing you as a thought-leader in your field. Video is ideal for providing this information in an easily-digestible way. It also increases brand awareness and sales, as blog posts which include video attract three times as many inbound links as those without!
If you’d like more information about video and how to use it to boost your business online, please get in touch – we’re always happy to help.