They say that a picture tells a thousand words, and if that’s true then just imagine how powerful video can be. It typically displays at 60 frames (or pictures) per second, which theoretically makes a minute of video worth 3.6 million words if we’ve got the maths right.
The statistics help to back video up as an important type of content for the marketing mix. 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos per week, and over 500 million hours of video are watched on YouTube every day. More video is uploaded in thirty days than the major American television networks have created in the last thirty years.
From a marketing point of view, video content is great because it encourages people to spend more time on a page. Better still, well-placed video content can increase conversions or be used as a traffic source to bring people to your site from other platforms. There’s a perception amongst many B2B marketers that video content is irrelevant, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, video can help to bring a B2B product to life, whether that’s in the form of a talking head style interview with a client who loves you or whether it’s in the form of animated explainer videos.
User-generated video
One of the most powerful use cases of video comes to us courtesy of your existing customer-base. User-generated content is more powerful than regular content because it adds an element of social proof. Put simply, people are more likely to trust a real person talking about your product or service than they are to listen to your marketing spiel. That’s why people read reviews and ask their friends and family for recommendations.
User-generated video gives you a way to reap the rewards of video content whilst simultaneously keeping costs down and enhancing consumer trust in your brand. In fact, UGC is so powerful that it can lead to 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click versus the average, and user-generated videos on YouTube get 10x more views than content that’s created and uploaded by the actual brand.
Some brands get overprotective about their products and their intellectual property and they feel uncomfortable about handing power over to consumers. Unfortunately for those brands, it’s too late – the power shift has already happened, and your reputation and your public image is already defined by what people say when they talk about you.
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to hand some power over to consumers. The savviest brands are those that go out of their way to curate user-generated content and to provide incentives to people to encourage them to create it. Either way, whether the content is created by a brand or a consumer, video has a bright future ahead of it – and thanks to new technologies like 360 degree video and virtual reality, it shows no signs of going away any time soon.
Whether you’re using video as part of your marketing strategy or not, we’re here to help you to gather the leads you need to boost your business. Request a demo of Bant.io to find out how we can help your company to grow by sending hot B2B leads directly to your inbox. You won’t regret it.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.