3 supporting roles that video plays in content marketing
Not all that long ago, if someone mentioned the term “online video,” I would likely conjure up images of cute kittens frolicking in somebody’s living room, raccoons cavorting with puppies or maybe even a “Weird Al” Yankovic parody. (I’ll get back to Al shortly.)
Well, those videos are certainly still there for those who are so inclined, but online video has evolved into an enormously diverse channel, and one that has not escaped the attention of savvy marketers. In fact, if you are among those who have not begun including videos in your content marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.
According to comScore1, Americans watched 52.4 billion online content videos (excluding ads) in December 2013 alone, marking the first time online content video views topped 50 billion in one month. The top online video content property for that month was Google Sites, which is driven primarily by video viewing on YouTube, with 159.1 million unique viewers. Facebook ranked second with 79.1 million viewers, followed by AOL with 76.2 million.
No doubt many of those views are of the kittens and raccoons, but many are also videos about products or services that people and businesses are interested in and want to learn more about. One in three business-to-business technology customers turns to online video for information, and the same number have purchased a service or product online as a result of watching a video, according to a study from Google and Compete, U.S.2
What’s more, a survey3 from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs found that 76% of business-to-business marketers are using video. And they’re increasingly sharing video and other content types via social media platforms.
So what’s driving the demand for online video? Try these statistics4 on for size:
Shoppers who view video are 1.8 times more likely to purchase than non-viewers.
Retention rate for visual information can reach 65%, compared with 10% for text-based information.
By 2017, 74% of all Internet traffic will be video.
51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
Retailers cite 40% increases in purchases as a result of video.
Online video reaches 60% of the U.S. population.
65% of video viewers watch more than three-quarters of a video.
OK, so we’ve established that video is a very important channel. That doesn’t mean that creating just any kind of video will bring paying customers streaming into your website. Like any other kind of content marketing, videos should be employed to help achieve your overall business goals.
Those goals can vary, depending on the business you’re in, but there are three basic ones that videos can help you meet: increasing brand awareness, building traffic and converting leads.5 To illustrate how this is done, let’s turn to one of the smartest and most disruptive marketers in the business: the aforementioned Mr. Yankovic.
That’s right, “Weird Al” himself, who brought us the “Eat It” and “Fat” Michael Jackson parodies in the 1980s and is still at it today. Your impression of him might be that he is just a silly entertainer, but he has been entertaining himself all the way to the bank for more than 30 years. And this summer, the producer, author, accordionist and parody master released “Mandatory Fun,” his first album in three years, to wide critical and popular acclaim. How did he do it? Pretty much by achieving the three goals noted above.
1. Increasing brand awareness
Granted, “Weird Al” already had this one knocked long ago, but even if he hadn’t, the way he went about promoting this album likely would have worked for anybody. For eight consecutive days in mid-July, beginning the day before the album was released, a music video of one of the songs on the album debuted online. The eight-day series of video debuts generated more than 20 million views.
Key takeaway: Hard as it may be to believe, some of those 20 million-plus viewers probably never heard of “Weird Al” before this blitz, but they sure know who he is now. The point is, creating a series of videos that introduce your business and what you do to potential customers can create awareness that your company didn’t have before.
2. Generating traffic
Credit a large part of Yankovic’s success to his uncanny sense of what will resonate with the public. To wit, the album include parodies of recent hits by Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Iggy Azalea, Lorde and Imagine Dragons. Because RCA, his record label, had declined to foot the bill for the videos, Yankovic partnered with some of the largest video portals on the Internet, including College Humor, Funny or Die, Yahoo! Screen and Nerdist, to produce the videos. This also created buzz for the videos and the album.
Key takeaway: A video that appeals to people’s emotions or generates excitement has a much better chance of going viral. And when it does, it can drive a lot of traffic to your website or social media profiles. And, yes, “Weird Al” does have an official website.
3. Converting leads
Releasing a new video every day for eight days with the release of the album not only drove lots of traffic to his website, it also drove fans in droves to the iTunes Store, Amazon and other music retailers, propelling the album to the top of the Billboard charts. “Mandatory Fun” is Yankovic’s first-ever number-one album. In addition, one of the songs, “Word Crimes,” a parody of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” became Yankovic’s fourth top-40 song, making him one of few artists to achieve such a feat in four separate decades.
{{cta('a6681be2-e29a-47f0-b214-de103df3b10d')}}Key takeaway: It’s great when you’re able to increase your brand awareness and build traffic, but the ultimate goal is converting those leads into customers. “Weird Al” entices fans with his videos, but it is his music he’s selling. Make sure your video leads the traffic it has drawn down the sales funnel to the product or service your company offers.
Sources:
1. comScore, Inc., “December 2013 U.S. Online Video Rankings”
2. Google and Compete, U.S., “The Evolving Path of Today’s Tech B2B Customer”
4. Invodo, “Video Statistics: The Marketer’s Summary 2014”
5. Business 2 Community, “3 Simple Tips to Getting Started with Online Video Marketing”