Nowadays, video isn't something you create just for social channels to get likes and a few new followers. Video is today's multi-use power tool in the world of digital marketing. It can be used across many different platforms to support endless strategies, and research shows the power of video's reach and effectiveness:
- 87% of industry professionals say they use video as a marketing tool, up from 63% in 2017 and 81% in 2018.
- 93% of marketers say they've converted a lead into a paying customer thanks to video on social media.
- 1 in 2 Gen Zers and millenials say they "don't know how they'd get through life" without video.
- People LOVE video. According to Google, we've spent more time watching YouTube unboxing videos on just our smartphones than it would take to watch "Love Actually" 20 million times...
So where should you start when integrating video into your overall Inbound Marketing strategy? Here are our top 5 tips to start seeing big results with video content:
EMBED VIDEO INTO NATIVE PLATFORMS
When you have a fresh piece of video content to publish, your #1 go-to is likely sharing it across different social platforms - Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram to name a few. Make sure that you use native platforms wherever possible to upload and share video content. In 2019, Facebook released sweeping changes to its video algorithms to help improve the quality of video distributed on its platform and prioritize content that will drive more active conversation and "meaningful interactions" among users. So all things being equal, Facebook will prioritize native videos on it site vs. external links to videos posted on YouTube or Vimeo. Make sure you maximize your opportunity for visibility and play-through for the content you worked so hard to create.
TURN YOUR VIDEOS INTO BLOGS
Another effective way to share video content is to embed into blog posts. Not only can this improve your search results on Google (according to Moz, blog posts that include video content can attract 3 times more inbound links than posts without video), but video can also be used to provide additional insight, visuals and authority to the topic of your blog post.
You can check out a great example of an embedded video here.
Next, consider taking your video audio files, and running them through a digital transcription service such as rev.com. For minimal investment, and in just minutes, you receive a text transcript that, with a bit editing and polishing, becomes a standalone blog post in and of itself, and great source of content for social posts as well. This in turn amplifies SEO effectiveness because you’re publishing additional content for similar keywords that Google can index, which helps with your overall page rank for those topics.
Email Campaigns
When using video to support an email campaign, best practices generally don't recommend embedding video directly into the body of an email - that's a surefire way to end up in a spam folder. Instead, insert a thumbnail or a GIF image from your video, and link to the full video embedded in a landing page on your site. According to Wistia, video thumbnails in email can increase click-through rates up to 40%.
Landing Pages
Incorporating video into landing pages is one of the more effective ways to boost engagement and conversion rates - after all, most of us prefer watching to reading simply because it's easier. It also allows site visitors to learn more about your offer, in a compelling format, with little effort beyond an initial click. And, TechJury tells us that embedding videos on landing pages can improve conversions by 86%.The video can be the centrepiece of your landing page, or work alongside other copy and images to win over your visitors. Just make sure that your video directly supports the offer at hand, and that your landing page site loads quickly across all platforms.
INCREASE YOUR PPC ROI
Using Video as part of your pay-per-click strategy can yield impressive results. We already know that PPC visitors are up to 50% more likely to make a purchase than organic visitors. Now, factor in that video ads are clicked on up to 73% more than display banners. Your ROI on your PPC campaigns can be drastically improved by simply adding in relevant, engaging video content. As a final tip, video ads on social channels tend to have higher completion rates than on other platforms.
Video can be used not only as a standalone pillar, but also supports many other platforms or campaign strategies. Video can amplify the effectiveness of existing content and campaigns and provide additional channels for leads and customers to learn more about what you do and what you sell.
.jpg)
