7 Reasons to Invest in Video Communication

Video communication is one of the hottest topics in the digital marketing world.

According to CISCO, by 2021, 80% of the world's internet traffic will be video. This has been a growing trend for a few years now. In 2019, users spent a weekly average of six hours and 48 minutes watching online videos – a 59 percent increase from just three years prior in 2016.

In total, YouTube has over 2 billion monthly users, which is over 25% of the world’s population!

One reason that explains the success of this format is that it is attractive to both its audience and its creators. In fact, 87% of marketers say that video content has helped them drive more traffic to their website.

There are many good reasons to focus on this format as part of your communication strategy, and this article will look at 7 of them in more detail. Of course, we’ve also included tons of tips that will help you make the most of video content!

Your community is craving for video content

Your target audience is into video…

According to a Hubspot study, 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers, preferring it to emails, images posted on social media and even blog articles.

Investing in a high-level video strategy allows you to communicate with your audience in an attractive way all while staying relevant, and the power of storytelling will help you to spread a message in a creative and innovative way by playing with the emotions of your audience.

Another huge benefit of video content is that it is founded upon two major senses, which are view and hearing. What’s more, 70% of consumers prefer discovering a product or a service via video instead of reading up on it.

Our tip to get a head start is to take inspiration from the types of videos that are popular on social media.

Here are some examples that should help you get started:

• Live streams are a great way to give your audience the chance to interact with your content in real time. They also provide insight into your industry and are a great way to introduce a new project, campaign or product.
• Vlogs are “video blogs” that are ideal to share content based on the people behind your company. For example, you could introduce someone from your team each month and let them talk about their job.
• Stories are perfect to tease, entertain and inform your audience. They are a great way to encourage your audience to interact, for example by swiping up on Instagram to get to a landing page. While this feature used to be associated with Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn have now launched stories as well.
• Lastly, tutorials are essential when it comes to explaining your audience how to best use your product. Read our top tips for creating a compelling explainer video.

…And your employees love it too!

As we mentioned earlier, video content brings a human touch to your communication and generates emotions. As a result, the message you are trying to spread is more impactful.

This is obviously super helpful when it comes to addressing your (future) customers, but why not use video for internal comms too? We can assure you that your team members would much rather receive a short video than a long, impersonal email. However, you can also embed a video in an email.

Watching videos is entertaining, and it has been proven that image-based information is easier to remember.

Of course we are not suggesting you focus your entire internal communications strategy on video content, but here are some situations where a video might well be worth a thousand words:

• Sharing your screen
• Step-by-step tutorials
• Communicating new ideas
• Announcing a team event

Sky’s the limit—feel free to unleash your creativity and see employee engagement soar!

Note that online tools such as Loom allow you to capture your screen, voice and face simultaneously to let you record a video in less time than you would need to type an email. Screen sharing has also become especially important for remote working, and these tools can work well in combination with video conferencing software.

Video communication makes a message easier to remember

A study by Microsoft has shown that the average attention span of a human being is just 8 seconds. Yup, less than a goldfish!

To catch your audience’s attention before they keep scrolling, video might be your best asset.

Because they let you communicate a message within just a few seconds, videos are more efficient than text-based content in that regard.

Need a few more arguments?

Did you know that internet users are 4 times more likely to watch a video about a product rather than read a text-based description?

Videos also let you share information in a simplified way. Actually, it has been shown that a one-minute video can communicate the equivalent of 1.8 million words. Impressive, right?

And, as we mentioned earlier, information shared via video is easier to remember as the brain is responding to various movements, gestures, sounds, subtitles and more.

You should also know that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and that people usually remember 80% of what they see, versus just 20% of what they read.

To be sure that you are sharing your message efficiently, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Focus on the rhythm of your video. Alternate between different types of shots and, of course, think of a super catchy introduction. Remember that, sometimes, silence is golden and don’t underestimate the power of a dramatic pause.
• Consider integrating animated sequences. Diagrams, drawings or icons can be a great way to explain more complex ideas and will give structure to your video.
• Don’t forget about storytelling.
• Pick an impactful thumbnail! If the video doesn’t autoplay, the thumbnail image is what will make a user decide to press play… or not.
• Include a CTA at the end of your video.

Discover the incredible templates of PlayPlay's corporate video maker and revolutionize your brand's storytelling. Create professional videos that captivate and engage your audience effortlessly with our innovative tool.

Video is a versatile format

Versatility is one of the biggest strengths of video content.

The most challenging part might just be diving in and making your first video. But once you get used to the process and become familiar with your equipment and software, you’ll be able to work quickly and efficiently.

Little by little, video making will come naturally to you and you’ll be able to enjoy it to its full potential. Because this format is visual and interactive, it is the perfect fit to explain more complex ideas, share more lighthearted stories, encourage your audience to perform an action such as downloading an e-book or signing up for a demo, etc.

Did you know that 86% of internet users would like to see more videos by brands? Among them, 36% are especially interested in educational videos.

But while educational videos are great, they might not be the best fit for your current objective, or even for your own audience. This is why you should think outside the box as well.

Here are some other types of videos that might be relevant to your brand:

• Internal communication videos: You can use videos to introduce new team members, share information with your employees, promote company culture, support HR campaigns with corporate training videos or introduce a corporate project.
• Testimonials: These will help you reinforce your credibility and are proof of your expertise and of the quality of your product or service.
• Brand videos: Showcase your company values, its mission and its vision in a video to build brand authority or communicate on your CSR. Find out now how to make a corporate video and what is CSR.
• Event videos: Share a video report of your latest events and include backstage shots to create a stronger bond with your audience.

Videos create engagement on social media

Social media should be part of every marketing strategy and over the past months, video content has been skyrocketing on these platforms.

Videos have been everywhere as they are a great antidote to scrolling culture: If a video catches a user’s attention, they are likely to stop scrolling. By the way, did you know that 60% of internet users watch at least one video per month while browsing Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram?

Moreover, video is a great way to engage your audience and here are some stats that prove it:

• Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined.
• Video posts on Facebook pages increase the engagement rate by 33%.
• Facebook and Instagram users gaze 5x longer at video than at static content, according to a study conducted by Facebook.

To help you increase your own engagement rate, here are some precious guidelines you should follow:

• Make sure you use the right video specs depending on the platform you are posting on. Each social network has its own specific video sizes and specs, and respecting them means your audience will be more likely to watch your content. Video creation platform PlayPlay, for example, will automatically generate square videos as it is the most common post format, but can also provide vertical videos with an aspect ratio of 9:16 so you can post beautiful Instagram stories.
• Include a CTA (yes… again!) to encourage users to perform an action that serves your current communication objectives (sharing a post, downloading a PDF, liking your video etc.)
• Always keep your social media videos short—we recommend not going over 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Address your audience in the right way. Avoid technical terms and imagine you are communicating with a friend.

Video is not as complicated as you think.

Feeling intimidated by the concept of video content? We promise it is not as complicated as you might think!

Even as a total beginner, you can create quality videos for your brand—although of course some specific types of videos might require hiring a pro.

Still, you can absolutely release efficient videos without any help.

You just need a few tools to start making impactful brand videos:

• A smartphone with a good video recording quality is enough to get started.
• An external microphone to plug into your smartphone.
• A light, especially if you will be filming indoors. Investing in a ring light should do the trick.
• A video editing software or platform. PlayPlay is a great video creation platform that lets you create engaging videos within just 3 minutes and lets you fully personalize your video with your own brand assets (logo, font, colors etc.)

Video has a positive impact on SEO

Google is the most powerful search engine in the world with 92% market share, and you probably know that the company also owns YouTube. See where this is going?

By the way, have you ever noticed that a selection of videos often shows up at the top after googling a question starting with “how to…” or “what is…”?

Actually, a study has shown that video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs.

Once they’re on your site, video content is also a great way to make sure users stay there: a study has shown that videos increase the time spent on pages by 2.6x. This makes them ideal if you are looking to lower your bounce rate!

And since videos are a more engaging format than text, they are also a great way to generate backlinks to your page! This is one of the main criteria Google looks at when deciding how your page should rank.

To improve your video’s own SEO, follow our tips:

• Always add optimized metadata to your YouTube videos. Pay attention to file names, titles, descriptions, categories, tags etc. Do you want to know more about YouTube and SEO? We’ve got a guide for that!
• Because YouTube is also its own search engine, use a keyword research tool such as UberSuggest (freemium), yT Cockpit (free), Keyword Tool (freemium) or vidIQ (freemium) to find new keywords to target depending on your industry.
• Embed your videos on your website to encourage visitors to visit other pages they might find interesting.
• Create transcriptions of your videos to make them more accessible and help crawlers understand them.

Videos generate revenue

Need one last reason to invest in video content? Well, did you know videos drive conversions and sales?

A study has shown that adding a video to a landing page can lead to an 80% increase of your conversion rate.

A video can alleviate doubts and make your company seem more trustworthy as it provides a more visual representation of your product or service. Discover our best tips on how to make a presentation in this article.

Actually, 64% of internet users are more likely to purchase a product after watching an online video about it.

If your objective is to drive sales, these are the best types of videos to consider:

• Videos showing your product or service and explaining how to use it in different ways.
• Testimonials by happy customers. Social proof is a strong tool to convince other potential customers.
• Tutorials, especially if your product or service is complex.
• FAQ videosto answer the last questions a potential customer might have. You could ask your customer service team what the most frequent concerns are or listen to a few customer support call recordings yourself.

Whether your goal is to communicate a specific message, strengthen your social media presence or improve your SEO, there are many reasons to start investing in video content.

And to get started right now, you can try PlayPlay for free for 7 days!