Why Video Will Be Instrumental For Every Content Marketing Strategy In 2019

You only need to jump on your favourite news website to see how deeply video has permeated our lives. All the majors players (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) have embedded videos into their feeds, while 82% of Twitter users watch video on the platform. But when it comes to the big kahuna – YouTube – we collectively consume more than 500 billion hours of video content on the platform every single day.

Video is essential to a content marketing strategy in 2019. Here’s why you should join the 87% of online marketerswho use video content to drive their brand.

Why video is essential in 2019

 Anyone who hasn’t recognised the massive surge in video in recent years has been living under a rock. It’s big, it’s brash, and it’s here to stay. While you may not have adopted it quite yet, here are a few reasons you should:

• YouTube hosts 856 million site impressions a day – think about how many potential customers even 1% of that is!
• Nearly every marketer (97%) says video helps their customers better understand their product or service. And 76% of those marketers says it increases sales.
• Nearly half (45%) of all people online watch more than 1 hour of video on Facebook or YouTube every week.
• 65% of executives will visit your website and 39% will call you after watching a video.

That’s all well and good. Everyone knows video is highly engaging. But when it comes to inserting it into your content marketing strategy, you only want to know one thing: will it convert customers?

Yes.

Think about this. From the very same research, video was found to:

• Increase click-through rates in email by 200–300%.
• Boost conversions by 80% when used on a website’s landing page.
• Convert better than any other medium, according to 70% of marketers.
• Increase email open rates by 19% when the word ‘video’ appears in an email subject line.

 But why video?

It’s a fair question: why should you use video in your content marketing strategy?

After all, maybe your business has nothing to do with the digital world. Maybe you run a café. Perhaps you’re the owner of a landscaping company. Or maybe you’re a professional speaker who engages people face-to-face at events.

Would it surprise you to find out that video could enhance every one of those businesses? When used correctly, it’s a fast-track to better engagement and higher conversions.

Consider:

• The café: Online reviews are one thing, but there’s nothing quite like seeing a café or a restaurant in the flesh to figure out if it’s up your alley. Video is the next best thing, and a quick walk-through video or a short recipe video of one of your specialities could show potential customers what you’re all about in visual form.
• The landscaping company: Much like the café, it’s difficult to know if a landscaper will be any good at their job without seeing the evidence. Pictures are fine, but a video of one of your employees on the job tells a much more vivid story. You could even create a series of ‘handyman tips’ so customers can take care of the little tasks themselves – and be more likely to call you when they have a proper job that needs doing.
• The professional speaker: Video is particularly useful to this line of business as it opens up an additional sales channel. Why not create a series of webinars that you either give away as a ‘taster’ for an upcoming paid event, or you sell as a self-help package over the course of several weeks?

The opportunities for video are seemingly limitless. So, when it’s time to review your content marketing strategy for 2019 – which should be as soon as you’ve finished reading this – think about how you can best utilise the medium to drive greater engagement and more conversions.