It’s easy to see why video is taking over

By Anthony O’Brien for Professional Planner, December 12, 2017

Video has been a marketing star of 2017 and its future looks even brighter. Cisco researchsuggests audio-visual content will represent 82 per cent of consumer internet traffic by 2021, up from 73 per cent in 2016.

If you don’t have video content on your website, then add it to your to-do list for 2018. A video is perfect for our busy times. It’s easy to consume, engaging and enables your business to tell a story in a short time. It’s also relatively cost-effective.

Low cost

The days of Hollywood-style video productions are long gone. If you have a smartphone, you can shoot a video and editing tools are freely available on the internet. So you can pretty much do it yourself. If you want a specialist editor to do the work for you, there are many freelancer sites available.

Powers your digital assets

Video content is a must on your website and social media platforms. It provides high client engagement. Clients are time poor and want information that is easy to consume immediately. A video is perfect for giving a quick snapshot of a product, a service or your thought leadership. If more information is required, a well-written blog, whitepaper or report proves useful.

Video also helps with search engine optimisation (SEO). Google and other search engines often favour sites with engaging video content, boosting your organic SEO ranking – in other words, where your business appears on a search.

Engaging campaigns

Video is ideal for many campaigns. A client of mine, Genie Australia, supported an equipment hire company in southern Victoria called Hire Australia, with a charity event that capitalised on simple video technology. The Warrnambool hire firm recently purchased a massive 180-foot (54-metre) Genie SX-180 boom lift to service wind farms in its region. Hire Australia posted images of the mighty boom lift on its Facebook page and a local tradie commented that he’d “never go up in one of those things”.

The resourceful owner of Hire Australia, Matt Reeves, responded by offering to pay the acrophobic tradie $1 to his favourite charity for every foot of elevation if he agreed to go up in the lift. Reeves created an event, “Chris versus Goliath”, on Facebook, including an entertaining video of the tradie’s white-knuckled ride that he recorded using his smartphone. Local businesses and Genie got in on the act and, as a result of the hair-raising fundraiser, Hire Australia collected $5500 for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, while garnering widespread media coverage of the commercial capabilities of its massive boom lift – along with more business leads.

The point is that video is perfect for multifaceted campaigns. It’s easy to use across electronic daily mail, social media, and other communication platforms. There are a ton of hosting options, too. For example, you can host the video content directly on your website or use a platform such as YouTube and link the material to your site, giving you the potential to increase the number of viewers searching your content.

The animation option

A video doesn’t need to use real-life content only. There are a range of animation options available that are great ways to educate clients about your message. Animated whiteboard explainer videos are excellent for taking your clients through your offering, as are motion graphics videos. Either way, you can easily find a video option to suit your needs and budget.