Why is it essential for every business to have video content?

You might have seen that in recent years animated video is on the rise.  Your competitors might have adopted video marketing strategies or you might have noticed websites you visit have more and more video content.

You might be tempted to think it’s a passing phase, over hyped or just the latest fad, but actually the reverse is true.  Video is gaining strength because it’s a great source for content, is incredibly popular with viewers, and is now seen as an essential part of any successful marketing strategy.

But why do we love video?  Is it just that we’re all too lazy to read?  Not quite.  Video connects with us in a way that written words simply can’t.  For starters the sound of a human voice resonates with us and is amazingly powerful at conveying information.  If you hear something you’re much more likely to absorb the information, and much less likely to get distracted, than if you were trying to read the same information in text form.  Movement also grabs people’s attention.  This is hard wired into our DNA, since the Stone Age we’re survived by noticing things move.  Looks like we still do!  Animation and movement captures people’s attention and keeps it, so you’ve got more chance of getting your message heard and absorbed.

So now you know why video is a great way of getting your attention, you might be surprised to that the second most popular search engine in the world after Google isn’t Bing or Yahoo, its actually YouTube.  There are millions of searches on it every day, so if you’re not on there you’re missing out on a huge section of your audience.  Google, the biggest search engine, also owns YouTube and it factors in YouTube videos into its search results.  You might have seen the little video thumbnails that show up sometimes when you do a Google search, these generally appear higher up and have more prominence than regular search results, so by having a presence on YouTube you’ll instantly improve your chances of being on the first page of Google.

It’s not just about search engines though.  These days a lot of traffic to your website is going to come from social media, and the posts that generally get the most interaction are images and videos.  They’re more likely to get shared and people are more likely to click through on the links.  If you’ve got a Facebook page and a Twitter account you might have noticed that your posts aren’t getting the reaction you’d hope.  By creating more entertaining content, such as an animated video, you’re going to drastically increase your chances of getting a positive response from your audience.

Video is also incredible cost effective.  Unlike print ads, SEO services or pay-per-click advertising, video is a one off cost that stays online and is effective for years, not just weeks or months.  No monthly subscriptions, just one price that is lower than the cost of a single print advertisement.

We might be a little bias here at Mooviemakers, but we think video is absolutely essential for any business.  It’s definitely here to stay and is only going to increase in popularity as people reaslise that its cost effective, delivers real results, and increases your chances of connecting with your audience.