For businesses, social media is fast becoming a major part of their marketing strategies with more and more audiences looking to places like Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for tips, recommendations or just entertainment in their spare time.

As it stands there are over 7 billion people on the planet and 3.03 billion of them are social media users with Facebook being the main contender and a staggering 76% of Facebook users check it every day. There’s no denying businesses need to be on social media to keep up and stay connected to their target audiences but one form of online content which is engaging people on almost every platform is video marketing. Creative, engaging, shareable videos make great marketing techniques for businesses both small and large as audiences between 18 and 49 years old are spending less time watching live TV and more time watching videos on Youtube and Facebook. This is one of the many reasons why businesses need to be looking at video for their next marketing venture and here are some more:

1. Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world

It is also the third most visited site after Google and Facebook so that’s a big audience to potentially broadcast to. Facebook can even share videos posted on Youtube and considering Facebook sees 8 billion average daily views, there’s definitely a demand for good video marketing here.

2. Video can grab very short attention spans of audiences

Apparently, we humans can have attention spans that relate to that of a goldfish. Whether this is true or not it still means businesses are having a tough time trying to get people to notice their content on social media. Statistics show engaging video marketing can grab their attention in this painfully small amount of time as long as it’s creative and gives something useful to the audience. How to, Q&A, Hints/Tips and comedy videos tend to do well because it also has added value for the viewer and 64% of customers need to hear information from a company 3 to 5 times before they believe the message.

3. Youtube Endorsements

Vloggers (video bloggers) on Youtube have been catapulted to stardom thanks to their ever-growing audiences online choosing to watch videos instead of TV. Businesses tend to use them for influencer marketing, which is similar to celebrity endorsements. The reasons why brands are moving more towards these influencers is because vloggers have built a level of trust with their audience through personal experience videos and interaction with fans online so this can have a better effect for marketing than a celebrity they see passively on TV.

4. People don’t have time

It’s as simple as that. When people check their social media during the day they are either on their morning commute, on a quick lunch break or just generally on the go. You want to be able to get your message out fast and effectively and that’s where video comes in to play. Sure, there is still very much a demand for blogs and written content when they have time to read it but a simple 30-45 second video with plenty of infographics or easy to digest messages will work wonders for your brand.

Also, quick tip, if you’re using a voice over in your video make sure there are subtitles because most of the time people are watching videos when they shouldn’t be (in work mostly!) so make sure your video is heard when the sound is off.

5. Videos are so shareable and give your brand a personality

Viral videos are those that have been shared across the internet and have been seen by thousands, sometimes millions, of people. If a video serves a purpose to the audience then they are more likely to share it with friends and family but you need to be smart about this. Honesty is the number one thing consumers want to see brands do on social media followed by being friendly, helpful and funny. Considering 48% of consumers look for brands to show personality through video content, there is a large playing field that businesses can take advantage of to create a good relationship with their customers through video. With regards to which social media platforms to utilise for this, Facebook is looking to give more emphasis to pages with videos which are regularly viewed and shared. This is great news for businesses as recent studies have shown that millennials and other generations prefer to see brand personality on Facebook than any other platform with a huge 83% compared to Youtube at second place with 48% of consumers.

In conclusion, video can have many benefits when marketing a business online. Of course, there are different ways to go about creating engaging video content that can effectively boost your online presence. These are just some hints and tips that brands like AirBnB, Android and GoPro are using today and they can be adapted to fit any business.

If you are looking to boost your online presence through video marketing on social media then why not have a chat with us and see what we can do for you. Big or small we are here to help you get the most out of social media to achieve your goals. Take a look at our work or contact us to find out more about our services.