Video has become a staple part of everyday life; whether it’s television, YouTube, Facebook, etc. there’s no hiding from it, and rightly so. Human’s are naturally drawn towards colour and moving objects – it’s easier for our brain to process information, especially if we can truly visualise what we are being shown. YouTube alone has over a billion users, which accounts for almost 1/3 of the world’s online population. According to Insivia, 55% of people watch videos online every day – that’s a lot of people and a lot of potential reach.
So, why are videos becoming the king of content? What makes them more appealing to internet users compared to other types of content? The magic of video is that it can incorporate all types of content, whether it’s text, images, or music, video technology has the ability to create, well, almost anything!
User Friendly
Video content is user-friendly, it’s not only enticing, but it allows users to digest a lot of information throughout the length of a video. If you can grab a user’s attention, there’s potential to gain sales, future custom, and even more reach through the means of sharing.
Social media usage has exploded over the years; in 2017, 71 percent of internet users were social network users and these figures are expected to grow, Statista have confirmed. As a business you can combine social media and video content in order to attract and appeal to many audiences; for example, it’s now possible to create live videos which stream directly to Facebook – as a restaurant you could post live video footage of a new dish being made which would encourage users to comment, provide feedback, and share your content with millions of others worldwide.
Website Load Time
At first, this may seem a little contradictory, but embedding or implementing a video into your website can actually decrease your webpage loading time if you use it sensibly. Studies have shown that using a video for your website’s landing page can actually increase conversion rates by 80%.
Before you begin to consider video content on your website, it’s important to ensure that you choose a web host that can provide high speed and consistent high performance such as Siteground, WP Engine or Bluehost, otherwise you could potentially be damaging your SEO score, and in-turn, your conversions. Many hosting providers now come with 1-click installs for popular apps and CMS platforms like WordPress and other website builders – these provide a user-friendly drag and drop experience where you can integrate video technology into your website with ease.
By using a video on your landing page, it’s possible to capture the user’s attention by expressing what your website, blog, or business is about, whilst providing a captivating and informative experience. One video could potentially replace multiple images, in turn reducing your website’s load time, and therefore increasing your SEO score, as webpage load time is a Google ranking factor.
SEO
Video content can enable a whole new world of SEO to get your hands on. Though social media itself isn’t a ranking factor on Google, it is with Bing, and it’s what you can do with your social pages and video that make it effective.
The key to making use of video content is to ensure that it’s relevant and engaging; if your content generates organic traffic, it will increase your SEO score. Now, you don’t want to be spamming videos left, right and centre, you want to make sure that they have a purpose. Whether it’s a guide, tutorial, landing page, or designed to show off something on your website, video content (as is the same with any other content) should be relevant and of a high-quality.
Again, if you’re going to post your video content on external websites, make sure they too are of a high-quality by using a domain authority checker like Moz. If Google finds your video URLs on websites that have no relevance to your business, they’re going to penalise you. But, if you can generate quality backlinks, you’re onto a winner.
The more likes, followers, and engagement you receive on your video content is what will improve your SEO. If you find that one particular video has thrown up a storm, try to create something similar next time, update the video, or reach out to your users to find out what they want to see more of.
If you’re not the creative type, don’t be afraid to reach out to others for help, whether you hire a video marketer or use a freelancer, investing in video content is certainly the way forward, now, and for the foreseeable future. Keep your videos short and to the point; most people will lose interest or stop retaining as much information after around 2 minutes but will come back for more if what they’ve seen is interesting. You could even take a ‘next time…’ approach where you leave your users on a cliff-hanger; another clever tip to gaining more views, and more shares.
Videos don’t necessarily need to be voiced over; after all, you’re providing something visual in terms of content, so the users absorb what they see, rather than what they hear. It’s estimated that by 2019, videos will account for around 80% of internet traffic, so don’t let video content slip you by; use it, optimise it, and learn from it.
