If A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words, a Video is Worth a Whole Lot More!

As a business you’re constantly trying to find the best ways to market to your audience. Everyone by now is churning out content and the daunting task is trying to set yourself apart from your competition. You might have blogging in your marketing toolbox and while this is a fantastic way to gain Internet traction, you’re going to have to push the boundaries a bit and branch out to other forms of marketing. Corporate videos are a great approach to get your message out there and if you want to stay one step ahead of the marketing game, then integrating videos into your strategy is a must.

Humans Respond To Visual Stimuli

There are many articles establishing that we as humans are visual creatures; we respond well and remember content that is presented to us in a visual manner better. Using corporate videos is a great tactic to grabbing someone’s attention. Once you have their attention, the possibilities of content you can give them are endless. You don’t have to limit yourself to promotional clips. Advertising, promoting, entertainment, teaching and “how to’s” are all types of videos you can reach your audience with in a cost effective, simple manner.

Videos are a means to letting your creative side flourish and establishing an image that sets you apart from the other contenders. Videos are fast and easy and people are more receptive to them, making them more willing to share with others. People are more likely to share a video then text, especially on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Producing video content has also never been easier and cost efficient, with many companies that can help you facilitate your creative ideas, including CS Designworks.

Your Goal is to Educate

Content is meant to educate. You may be teaching someone why he or she should use your product/services, why your expertise is needed, or how they can apply your coaching in their lives.  This is important to consider because when you’re teaching, you need to realize there are several different types of learners. When you put out a new blog post or send out a new tweet or Facebook post, you’re only reaching read-write learners. By adding corporate videos to your marketing toolbox, you’re satisfying the needs of visual and auditory learners. If your video includes easy instructions, you can cross of kinesthetic learners off that list too.

There’s an apparent shift in recent years from television commercials to internet-based video strategies as the most powerful way to reach the masses. Web-centric advertising is now becoming a primary means of marketing and those who make the change are seeing a much higher return or investment then traditional television ads.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Looking at statistics will shed some light on how much potential can be tapped into with the addition of corporate video marketing. With 78% of people watching videos every week and 55% of people committing to videos every single day that’s a huge audience your business could be reaching. Video popularity is undeniable and while a lot of the general public is spending their time with viral cat videos, others engage in educational and work-related content. 75% of business executives watch work-related videos at least weekly.

Want people to stay on your webpage? Of course you do. If your page includes video, statistically visitors will linger an average of 2 minutes longer then on sites that don’t. 2 minutes may seem like a short amount of time but it could make the difference between a costumer buying or not buying your services. Additionally, videos make people more willing to commit to a purchase: 64% more willing.

Where to Host Your Video?

Firstly make sure your videos are embedded on your site or landing page. The next step is to consider where to upload your videos. Perhaps the two biggest well-known platforms to launch your video campaign are YouTube and Vimeo. But which website is better for you and your company? We’ll take you through the pros and cons of each option. 

Pros of YouTube

YouTube has two really big aspects going for it: it’s audience and the fact that Google owns it.

In a month, YouTube will have more then 1 billion unique user visits and over 6 billion hours of video watched⁴. Not only do you have free access to an unlimited audience, if your video picks up enough steam YouTube offers a program that allows you too make off of your popularity. The next big pro is that big ol’ Google bought YouTube back in 2006 and because of this, YouTube’s search results get a high ranking. It’s been speculated that Google is actually removing video links from its search results if they aren’t from YouTube⁵. Businesses using other lesser-known video hosts may end up having their content lost in search results.

Cons of YouTube

With such accessibility, YouTube is flooded with content and not all of it is worth your time. In fact, YouTube gets about 300 hours of content uploaded every minute! It might take extra work to make sure your content doesn’t get lost amongst the junk. Also, YouTube and your business have two different goals. You want your audience to click away and pay your website a visit while YouTube wants people to stay there as long as possible. It’s designed to keep people on the website and making them less likely to visit yours. When your YouTube video is finished, it displays options for continued viewing and some of those links may include ads for competitors content.

Other cons include a lack of control or moderation for YouTube comments. YouTube is notorious for Internet “trolls”, people whose sole mission is to trick and derail people and instigate senseless Internet fights. People can also get hostile when they have the shield of Internet anonymity. Lastly, some companies or establishments actually block YouTube videos internally.

Pros to Vimeo

While Vimeo is not nearly as popular, it’s on the rise and still a valid option for posting your content. The positive features of Vimeo include no advertisements for viewers, a more concentrated number of quality videos (displaying videos based on superiority rather then popularity), the ability to use your own domain, and a more detailed analytics capability. Vimeo has a reputation for hosting quality videos and there’s a higher chance that only serious video creators and watchers are visiting the website. Also it’s more likely that comments will include constructive criticism rather then Internet “trolls”.

Cons to Vimeo

One con to Vimeo, for the content creator, is that it’s not free. While $17 a month isn’t too outrageous of a price, it’s definitely a downside to the website. Another con is that you won’t have access to as large of an audience. Although it’s gaining momentum, Vimeo still only brings in a little over 100 million users⁴.

Vimeo also limits the amount of videos you can post, contrary to YouTube. This could be a good thing, however, as helps the site limit the amount of substandard videos that are posted.

In the end…

The choice is yours to make, whether to go with YouTube’s larger audience and benefits from Google ranking or to side with Vimeo’s high quality videos and more dedicated audience, free of competitors’ advertisements. You’ll have to evaluate what would benefit you business best. But, in the end, corporate videos should definitely be on your marketing plan “To Do” list.

 

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Sources:

1- http://www.videobrewery.com/blog/corporate-video-production-strategy

2- http://www.informationondemandblogs.com/importance-corporate-video-tips-make-video-effective/

3- http://blog.thegreenhouseagency.com/blog/bid/262294/Why-Video-Production-is-Important-for-Businesses

4- http://sproutsocial.com/insights/youtube-vs-vimeo-business/

5- http://mavsocial.com/vimeo-vs-youtube-online-video-platform/

6- http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics

7- http://www.videobrewery.com/blog/18-video-marketing-statistics

8- http://www.adeliestudios.com/top-15-video-marketing-statistics-2015/

9- https://www.threecolts.com/blog-articles/putting-together-successful-video-marketing-strategy-2022