It’s predicted that video content will account for over 75% of all internet traffic by the year 2017.YouTube reports that mobile video consumption doubles every year. It’s no longer just cat and fail videos that are getting all the attention. Video on a landing page or in emails has been shown to increase conversion rates by 200-400%. Video should be a major consideration for any marketing strategy. In fact it’s not even a consideration anymore, it’s a fundamental requirement.
It’s because video is such a powerful way to communicate a story, message or feeling. It might be through carefully planned and directed footage, or just a raw mobile phone clip. Both have their place, and a lot of the time it’s the raw mobile phone clip that’s winning.
Where should I publish my video content?
YouTube
YouTube is an obvious place to publish your video content. It’s been dominating online video for many years, and once your videos are uploaded, Youtube makes it very easy to embed your videos on your website. Hosting your video on YouTube rather than on your website not only saves your data usage on your web hosting plan, but their streaming functionality for different connection speeds makes it a no brainer versus users having to buffer whatever quality you have decided to upload.
The real benefit on YouTube is that you can build a catalogue of content, that will continue to gather video views. The concept of channels just doesn’t exist the same way on social media channels, and so YouTube is seen as a great place to build your own personal brand building library.
Many people have found great success in building audiences for their channels and were then able to monetise them by becoming YouTube partners (placing ads at the start of their videos). It sounds like the best place for your content doesn’t it?. The problem is social media (Facebook in particular) is now overtaking YouTube in minutes watched per day by it’s user base.
In the early days it was all about status updates. Then Facebook transitioned to mostly images. These days most Facebook feeds are dominated by video. It’s no secret, Facebook favours video content. Users engage with video content as much as ten times more than image content and that’s what Facebook wants.
If you’re promoting your posts through Facebook Ads, your cost per click drops when your post has high engagement. In our own Pixeld campaigns we are often paying just three cents per video view to a highly targeted audience of business owners in the Geelong CBD. No other platform can offer that kind of value with that much impact. Three cents to get my mug and message in front of a business owner within a 5km radius!
Facebook Live Video is the new big thing that is totally under-utilised by Australian businesses. Facebook is trying to get this feature off the ground so is doing everything it can to ensure it pops up in your feeds. When you go live on Facebook, your video is going to pop up as the first thing on a lot of your friends or fans feeds. Now is the time to be an early adopter and realise maximum impact. The only downside is there are no re-takes if you slip up.
The ten second video limit on Instagram was recently extended to one full minute. In our experience many are not taking advantage of this yet, which leaves a great big opportunity for anyone willing to take it on.
Keep in mind Instagram’s users are mostly mobile, and your video content should be appropriate for the platform. Stick to lighter, snappier, entertaining videos.
Snapchat
The new shiny thing that business owners and marketers are still not quite sure what to do with. Big personalities and companies are now capitalising on the strong attention the platform brings, but small business is still scratching it’s head wondering if they are getting anything out of it. The problem is you still need to build your Snapchat audience, outside of Snapchat.
With a little effort you can differentiate yourself from the competition by being an early adopter. Why not put your Snapcode (similar to a QR code so people can easily add you to their Snapchat friends list) on your front window, or email newsletters or just on your website. Creating Snapchat content can actually be quite fun, as it’s spur of the moment, behind the scenes and unplanned content that is most desired.
Get filming
Don’t think you need to be the next award winning director. Don’t stress if you fumble your words. Just get it done and out there is my best advice. You can find great success in short unplanned videos. On average, 5% of viewers tend to stop watching a video after a minute, but 60% after two minutes. So for me anything under two minutes is ideal unless I was creating something really special.
Whether you decide to publish video content on one or all available video platforms, one thing is clear. You just need to publishing video content somewhere in order to be competitive. All businesses, all industries.
