Over the years, the consumption of videos has grown among consumers as people find product videos to be more engaging and easy to consume. As the saying goes, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a 60 minutes video is worth 1.5 million words. The average person will spend as much time watching online videos as they would watching conventional television. Zenith reports that in 2021, more individuals will spend approximately 100 minutes watching videos every day. 

This rapid growth increased the demand for videos on social networking channels. With the rise of social media, video marketing has become a popular marketing tool among content marketers. Some say it is the future of digital marketing. More marketers are beginning to invest in digital video ads to improve campaign results and boost engagements. A study by Hubspot shows that in 2021, 92% of content marketers will utilize more videos which is significant growth from 78% in 2015. This shows that competition in this area will increase in the next couple of years. 

To stay ahead of the competition, you must create more video content deliberately this year. You should be in tune with digital marketing trends and new techniques in video creation to drive better results from your content marketing campaigns. And if you are still wondering, the points below will show you why you can’t thrive without videos in 2020.

1. Google loves videos

Since the purchase of YouTube (News - Alert) by Google, the relevance on the internet has increased and this could affect your search engine ranking. Cisco internet report reveals that in 2021 all 80% internet traffic will consist of pre-recorded video while 13% of the traffic will be generated from live video streaming. You’ve probably heard the saying “Google (News - Alert) loves videos”. That’s because videos are perceived by the search engine algorithm as high-quality content. 

Thus, embedding videos in posts on your website as a part of your digital marketing strategy on the company’s main web page will boost their SEO rating. According to Moovly, there are more chances of a website appearing on the first page of Google search increases by 53% if videos are included in its content. It increases the time visitors spend on the website which signals to search engines that the site has good content.  

For your videos to be effective you must abide by good SEO standards like these ones below. 

1. Ensure that the video is properly optimized with appropriate keywords, headline and meta description. 
2. Add backlinks to the company website, products or services. 
3. You should also use catchy captions for videos on autoplay. 
4. If the video is uploaded on a landing page, it should be on silent mode but with an enticing clickbait to avoid scaring unsuspecting page visitors aways. 
5. Include a call to action to help the customers know the next step to take.

2. Video appeals to smartphone users

YouTube report shows that the rate of mobile phone consumption increases by 100% every year. This explains why social media has become the new marketplace. An effective marketing campaign must be tailored to suit the average mobile phone user and statistics show that these mobile users enjoy videos compared to other content formats.

Research conducted by Wyzowl shows that 90% of consumers watch videos on their smartphones. They could stream a video from the comfort of their room or while on the go. Google tells us that smartphone users are twice as likely as TV viewers and 1.4 times more likely as desktop viewers to feel a sense of personal connection to brands that show video content or ads on their devices. 

In fact, video views on mobile phones have increased to over 233% since 2013. If you focus on creating more videos for your digital promotion, your audience and viewership increases as the use of mobile phones grows.

3.  Videos increase social shares

Video ads may be the missing spice in your social media marketing. Videos are very effective in social media promotions. You can achieve an ad response within the first 10 seconds of the video. Research shows that the average click-through rates for videos is 1.84% and it is said to be the highest CTR for all forms of digital adverts. 

Following the new trends in mobile devices, social media channels are adding more video-friendly features to their platforms. Facebook (News - Alert) has launched over 3,600 pre-recorded and live videos. Instagram stories allow you to upload a 60 seconds video to engage your followers. You can do the same with Twitter’s (News - Alert) periscope. There is also YouTube which ranks as the second most popular social networking platform. Viewers are likely to share an engaging and entertaining video with their friends. These social shares can boost site traffic and increase lead generation. 

Boost Email Marketing

With the increasing demand for hybrid platforms, email marketing has become an essential tool in every content marketer’s promotion toolkit. Creating an effective email marketing campaign requires more than just compiling an extensive broadcast list. Incorporating videos into your emails will increase your click-through rates by 96% and open rates increases by 5.6%. Videos also improve your email engagement. Use can video tracking software to monitor the engagements on your email including the number of people who opened the video, finished and replayed it.

Video Provide Good ROI

With video marketing you stand a better chance of gaining good returns from your digital marketing campaigns. Video production may not be easy and cheap compared to other content creation processes but, it pays off in the long run. You don’t have to be fixated on perfection at the get-go. 

You can start by producing short hazy clips and improve your skills along the way. The design and image quality of your video is not nearly as important as the usefulness and relevance of its content. If your video clearly describes the product or service you are promoting, then you are good to go. You will also find that online video editing software is becoming more affordable and easy to use.