When you’re scrolling through social media or looking at a website, what’s more likely to draw your attention: text, images, or video?
If you answered “video”, you’re not alone. Time and again, statistics show that video content drives more views and higher engagement than any other type of online content.
That’s why so many service-based business owners, from builders and accountants, to pet groomers and karate coaches, are choosing to use video content to sell their services online.
But does video really live up to the hype?
Here’s five reasons the answer to that question is a resounding “yes!”.
1. Video is easy to “consume”
One of the primary advantages of video content over any other kind of online content is the fact that it’s so easy to consume.
Whether a person is scrolling through Twitter, browsing their Facebook feed, or interacting with your business website, it’s much easier to watch a video than it is to read 350 words.
As an added bonus, not only is it easier to watch a video than read the equivalent volume of information – it’s also easier to recall that information. According to Social Media Today, “viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it through video”. That’s because videos deliver messages via several different senses and mediums, including visual language, spoken language, and emotive cues. In turn, this creates stronger memory associations for most people.
What does this mean for marketing your services?
Put simply, people are more likely to “consume” your message if they can watch it in a video rather than read it. They’re also more likely to remember it. Which is a win-win, right?
2. Video is engaging
Video isn’t just easier to consume than other content mediums – it’s also more engaging.
On every social media platform (even LinkedIn), video content gets more views, more “likes”, more comments, and more shares than any other type of content.
Engagement is an incredibly important metric, because engagement breeds more engagement. When people click on, watch, like, comment on, or share your video, they push it on to more people, who may click on, watch, like, comment on, or share your video, which pushes it on to more people, who… well, you get the idea!
What does this mean for marketing your services?
If you want to get in front of as many potential customers as possible – and get those customers excited about your services – then there’s no more powerful medium than video.
3. Video is versatile
One of the most convenient things about video content is the fact that video is incredibly adaptable and versatile.
Not only can you use videos on multiple platforms, you can easily adapt video content to best suit each platform by strategically sharing “long-form”, “short-form”, and other versions of the same content, each tailored to suit the audience and circumstances.
For example, your video can be cut into a 15-second ad for Facebook, but left in its original 3-minute form for YouTube. You can upload a square-formatted video to Instagram, and a vertical video on platforms where you expect most traffic to come via phones.
What does this mean for marketing your services?
An investment in video content is an investment well made, because it allows you to present your message in an easy-to-consume, engaging format on multiple platforms.
4. Video is attractive to Google
Google isn’t currently sophisticated enough to fully understand video content in and of itself (though it’s only a matter of time). But despite this, Google loves videos.
That’s because good quality videos help generate some of the factors Google’s algorithm takes into account when determining website rankings in their search results.
These factors include the number of links to your website (when your video is referenced elsewhere on the web), shares and mentions of your business and/or website (when your video is shared on social media), the time people spend on your website pages (when your video keeps them engaged), and other such metrics.
What does this mean for marketing your services?
The higher your website ranks on Google for relevant search terms, the higher the number of potential customers will visit your website to learn about your services. Video is one way to help your site climb the search rankings.
5. Video is what people want
According to Social Media Today, “72% of customers prefer learning about a product or service through a video”.
That’s almost three in four people.
When it comes to selling, the golden rule is to give people what they want, right? The numbers show unequivocally that video is precisely what people want.
What does this mean for marketing your services?
Put bluntly, when so many of your potential customers want video, you’d be crazy not to give it to them!
Video is the way to go
Do you want to use video to sell your services online?
Then you’re in the right place.
At Starlight Media, we work with business owners to create compelling video content to help you reach your ideal target market and convince them to choose you.
Contact us today to discuss your business and services and how we can best help you to reach more clients with video.