The Rise of Video as a Online Business Marketing Tool
Video has come a long, long way in the past few years. No longer is video use by businesses strictly limited to high dollar investments with video production companies. Now, businesses and entrepreneurs have access to create and produce quality videos in-house at low cost. As well, consumers have adapted to and are comfortable viewing low cost, self-produced videos due to the strength and infusion of YouTube videos as well as newer tools like Tout and Vine.
Low cost videos self-produced videos can be very valuable in marketing efforts, and they can ultimately drive increased sales.
YouTube seems like it has been around forever, yet YouTube only launched in 2005. Fast forward to 2013 and video is the fastest growing online digital content category. In fact, there are 4 Billion (with a "B") daily YouTube video views, an average of over 46,000 per SECOND worldwide. With the increase in handheld and mobile phones with HD quality video capture, video has moved from the realm of "entertainment only" to "informational" and "educational" as dominant online video uses. The fact that Internet speeds continue to increase and mobile phone data speeds are getting faster means that video consumption and video production will only continue to go up.
Besides YouTube there are many other services in the online video market where videos can be hosted, edited and published. One other large online service is Vimeo. In the tablet and mobile phone app arena there are video platforms including Twitter's new Vine video social network and others like Tout that offer easy ways to create "channels" where quick and simple videos can be created, hosted, and then shared online to places such as a website, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.
Why use video in your business?
Video has the capacity to quickly and more thoroughly educate, inform, inspire, and move viewers to take action. As well, the best video platforms online integrate social media sharing and this "viral" sharing effect that occur with videos can vastly extend the reach of a video so that instead of being viewed by 100's on your website, it can now be viewed by 1000's or millions of people who ultimately come back to the company website. One example of this is video on Facebook. Video ranks very high in terms of Facebook user shares, comments, and Like's. All of this means that a single video uploaded to a service like YouTube or Facebook, or developed with Tout has the potential to increase the visibility of a business, a product, or a cause truly for pennies on the dollar.
One example of a service that can be used by any business is Brand VideoMaker from TabSite. This tool allows businesses to create customized videos that are published to Facebook for fan viewing, sharing , and interaction. Companies can create multiple short and simple videos easily by making a few simple selections of images to showcase, music to play and background desired. This video is then published to Facebook where fans can view it in their news feed and easily comment, Like, or Share. As well, the videos created can be hosted on a tab on the Fan page, and Facebook supplies embed code so the same video can be added to the company website or blog with ease. A key for Facebook videos is that Facebook gives their own videos great visibility in the News Feed via a larger thumbnail image.
Possible business uses for custom, self-produced videos include creating a company overview, showcasing individual products or new features, introducing the staff team, or promoting a special sale or other event. A digital video can exponentially expand upon what a picture can communicate and capture attention more than lines of text. With the self-service tools like Vine, Tout, and Brand VideoMaker that are available and the storage solutions like YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo offering free space and ease of extending the reach via additional social networks, digital video is now a viable and powerful business marketing tool.
The takeaway for your business is to consider what ways your marketing could utilize video. Could your business create simple product videos that helps drive viewers to your e-commerce website for purchases? Or could a Brand VideoMaker video via TabSite on your Facebook Page that highlights your next big sales event help drive awareness and ultimately increase the number of those who come? Video has become accessible to all, evaluate how your business can incorporate this mainstream tech tool to benefit your company.
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Mike Gingerich is a co-founder of TabSite.com, a leader in Facebook fan page tools for businesses. TabSite offers brands the power to boost Facebook marketing with contests and promotions. For more information on TabSite, please visit www.tabsite.com.
It's true, videos are a great tool to engage visitors on your website or social media pages.
In search results they show on average a higher click through rate than text ads and can contribute to increase conversion rate immensely. The online video audience is massively growing each year worldwide and costs for video production are decreasing.
A professional produced video doesn't have to be expensive any more. Many video production companies offer video production for all kinds of budget ranges. If you would like to get an idea about pricing for marketing videos you could check video producers' profiles at http://www.only4videos.com/find-a-video-producer/
I would just be careful of encouraging business's to self produce content. In my 5 years of working with business's get videos on Youtube and Facebook, it's been very rare to see a self produced video raise the profile of the brand. The production quality is typically very low, and actually HARMS the brand and message more than anything. Typically, they use an iPhone with no external microphone, and interviews are hard to hear, lighting is terrible, camera work is annoyingly shaky, and videos are overly LONG without concise information. Hiring a professional provides consistency with your brand, and will raise your profile and credibility with viewers. The first thing we typically do is delete all the self produced content on a YouTube channel, and start fresh with a branded YouTube Channel, and a strategy to provide branded content that is in keeping with viewer habits.
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Unless the creator is incredibly clever, a good writer, and uses the limitations of their equipment in a creative way, a self-produced video won't do much for a business. I can't imagine business owners taking the same attitude to other aspects of their business. "Hey, we need more customer parking space, let's get some asphalt and shovels and make it ourselves!"
So nice update about the importance of video marketing which suppose an advantage getting customers and is more informative and efficient than other methods.
Like the blog.