This post on video marketing was originally written by TJ McCue.
Marketing is changing. The video revolution is here—and it’s taking the world by storm. It’s predicted in just a few years, it will take someone more than five million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month. Every second, a million minutes, or almost 17,000 hours of video content will cross the network by 2021, according to Cisco.
Think about that—in just one second more video will move across the internet than you could watch in almost two years of doing nothing else, including sleeping. Use of online video is simply staggering from a consumer perspective. It is changing how businesses communicate with customers and how we communicate with one another.
Animoto, an online video building platform, believes we have shifted to a “video first” world. Cisco’s data certainly proves that out—we are building a world that will not include a lot of reading—but will encompass a lot of watching.
Marketing trends
Video First. Facebook coined this term last year when talking about making it easy for people to both consume and produce video. Facebook Live is a result of that overarching strategy. And many businesses are shifting to using video to lead their marketing efforts.
Live streaming. According to Cisco, live internet video will account for 13% of total video traffic.
Square-formats are more popular. Square-formatted videos take up 78% more space in the Facebook News Feed, and get more engagement than horizontal ones, according to Animoto.
Video drives purchasing behaviors. The Animoto report says 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos.
Video marketing creates stronger customer engagement. Marketers are investing in paid/sponsored social video. Brands are paying to “socialize” or promote their videos, which is, in essence, advertising.
Social video needs to be mobile. According to TubularInsights, 81% of marketers are optimizing their social videos for mobile viewership.
Think with Google offers some insights with industry leaders about trends for 2018, including the rise of purpose-driven ads.
Costs
It costs less to shoot and produce videos, and there are better tools today to help you do it. But, if you’re not comfortable shooting them yourself, you can outsource all or parts of the production. And it won’t cost you a fortune to get a video produced. A medium-sized product demonstration shoot should be around $2,000. You can find videographers on sites like Upwork, Guru or Freelance.
Best formats
Smart Insights says there are four types of video that help SMEs generate trust.
Explainers, which explains to your prospects exactly what your company does—and what it does for them.
Company story videos where you simply tell your story. This helps personalize your business.
Product videos, which 90% of consumers say help them make purchasing decisions.
Testimonials, where your customers share their satisfaction with your products and services.
Where should you post your marketing videos? Yes, YouTube and (not or) Facebook are musts. But TubularInsights says don’t overlook other social platforms, such as Twitter and Musical.ly.
TubularInsights also created a great overview of online video which you can download for free.
Equipment
If you’re in the market for cameras, you can find some great deals on Alibaba.com. In some industries (real estate, for instance), it’s helpful to use video shot by drone cameras. You can find some here and here.
This article was adapted from “Top 10 Video Marketing Trends And Statistics Roundup 2017,”, by TJ McCue, and originally appeared on Forbes.com.
TJ McCue runs Refine Digital, a content marketing firm that works primarily with technology companies. He is passionate about 3D printing and how STEM Education is instrumental to preparing our kids for the tech future. You can also find him on Twitter @TJMcCue.
