Why Is Video Content Marketing So Important? (Archive, 2021)

Recorded in August 2021 during Simon's s.media agency era — a team compilation. Published as part of a dated historical record; statistics are as reported at the time.

What is video content marketing, and why does it sell better?

Video content marketing is the creation and distribution of video to attract and engage your target audience. One reason it's so effective: it explains your product better than any other form of advertising. Take a text post on Facebook about your product and its benefits — it ends up lengthy, and honestly, your audience scrolls right past it. Put the same message in video and you can show the product, explain it with a voiceover, demonstrate how it's used and how it benefits them. It's more visual, more creative — and it gets you the sale.

What actually drives the ROI?

Video marketing boosts ROI, but the return follows the effort you put in. Three things to consider when creating videos. First, your target audience: you can't make one video and hope it lands with everyone — find who your audience are and what they want to see and hear. Second, A/B testing: how do you know how effective a video is without testing different elements of it? Third — and this is what we'd advise testing hardest — the hook. The first six seconds are the most important element of the whole video, because they decide whether anyone keeps watching. A boring, monotone opening interests nobody; an active, lively, engaging hook keeps people in.

And consider your customers' knowledge, not yours. You know this business inside and out; your customer doesn't. What can you educate them on that they don't already know?

What did the numbers say?

Some facts that bring the ROI point home. Nearly 90 per cent of video marketers reported that video provides a positive ROI — an incredible baseline. Four out of five said they saw video ROI specifically in their sales numbers. And the retention research: when a viewer watches a video, they take away 95 per cent of what they've just watched — visual information processes far faster than any other format, which means they remember your key takeaways, and your brand.

Where else can a business use video?

Video is a tool for far more than adverts. On social, longer formats or short bursts let you be quirky and creative while you build the audience. Live video is its own lever — Facebook reported six times more engagement on a live stream than on a previously uploaded video, which makes live events and live chats well worth considering. Webinars have been used in interesting new ways over recent years: passing on information, running debates, getting groups involved, doing demonstrations. And recorded video messages to clients — how-to videos, little updates, a walkthrough of their Google Analytics — round it out. Video is more important than ever, used more than ever, and I'd encourage any business to look at upping their video game.