3 reasons video should be part of your content strategy

Video has been around a while! In the 80s, it’s reportedly “killed the radio star” via the television. Today, in content marketing, it’s once again taken over as people’s preferred content to consume. And although it hasn’t really “killed” the other “content stars” (e.g. email and blogs), it’s beginning to look a lot like it actually did. The numbers are out pointing to video production as the king of the content marketing realm:

• Forbes reported that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017.
• Video search results have a 41% higher click rate.
• Adding video content to emails can potentially reduce opt-outs by 75%. 

Why is Video the King of Content?

The reason video is the undeniable king of content formats is this: Video has the unique ability to combine elements of all the other content types into one easy to digest format. These formats include text, sound, imagery and movement. Some of the other content types can be combined such as text and images, however, only video can truly combine them all. For this reason, it is considered the King of Content. I hear you, but why does it take the top spot?

3 Reasons why video should be in your content strategy

1. SEO

• Video attracts two to three times as many monthly visitors, doubles their time spent on the site and has a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
• Video search results have a 41% higher click-through than plain text results. (Source: aimClear)

Due to its powerful ability to attract and engage audiences, video is fantastic for Search Engine Optimisation. Videos, when published, have tags and metadata which the two largest search engines (Google and YouTube) use when providing the most relevant results for a search query. Secondly, another SEO ranking factor that plays a pivotal role in determining which results appear (ideally on the first page of Google) is Bounce rate. If your videos are engaging enough, viewers will spend more time on your website signalling to the search engines that the content is good, so that it will keep appearing in the results for the search term.

2. Recall

• Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text. (insivia)

This statistic alone would make me consider video content to be the king of all content types. When statistics such as these, prove the value and benefits video content plays in communicating messages, it’s clear that it’s outperforming standard text-based content and it’s the preferred content as dictated by views and consumers alike. This opens the door for amplifying your brands content and simply repurposing existing text-based content including manuals, updates and announcements, to name a few you could extend both your reach, increase audience engagement and potentially get a few more leads for your brand.

2. Revenue

• Almost 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store (ThinkWithGoogle).
• Online shoppers who view demo videos are 1.81x more likely to purchase than non-viewers (DMB Adobe).

Whether you’re a retail, construction or finance brand by including video into your content strategy and publishing it on your digital assets (website, social media accounts and your advertising) you can compound the statistics above and find yourself reaping the full benefits video provides. With video having the power to accelerate sales and improve the user experience, you can expect to improve engagement, reduce touch points and cut through the noise in every aspect of your customer journey.