I use YouTube on a daily basis: to show the wee one her favorite cartoons. When it comes to using it to promote my books, however, I’m hopeless. I don’t even have a book trailer, let alone a YouTube channel. Which is why I found particularly interesting this guest post by Jay Chambers. Jay is a marketing automation geek and owner of authorityautomation.com. He lives in San Francisco, California, and enjoys bicycle riding around the city.
7 Reasons for Using Videos in Your Social Marketing Campaigns
YouTube is currently the second largest search engine on the web. Unfortunately, many authors do not take video marketing seriously, so, they miss out on an incredible marketing opportunity. Some authors fear using video in their marketing strategies because they feel that it’s costly, which is not true. While the quality standards of video production have gone up, the cost has decreased significantly. Therefore, you can find quality video easily which will, in turn, lead to better conversion rates. Here is why you are missing out by failing to include video in your book digital marketing strategy.
1. Videos encourage social shares
According to the 8th social media marketing report, 60% of social marketers used video in their marketing campaigns, and 73% of the respondents planned to use it. Most social networks have included new features to encourage video content. Instagram has included a 60-second story feature. Facebook has launched the live video. Twitter has the periscope. YouTube is already well established.
Therefore, using videos in your marketing campaigns gives your readers content to share on their social media platforms. When making the video, keep in mind that people share emotions. You will be surprised by just how many people would be willing to share your book video with their friends only because they found it entertaining.
2. Video enhances conversion and sales
Videos can make you some good money. Including a video about your book on your landing page might boost conversions by 80%. Video can also increase your sales directly. Studies established that 74% of users who watched a video about a product bought it. So, you had better start crafting your book video videos right away! When you give it more thought, you will realize that the effectiveness of video marketing is not that surprising, because vision is most people’s primary sense. Most information that is sent to the brain is visual. If pictures can boost sales this well, imagine what moving images can do.
3. Video marketing can explain everything
Now that you are launching your new book consider creating a video on what the book is about. Just make sure you don’t reveal the ending. That way, you will manage to capture several readers because they will be curious to read the story in-depth and know how it ends. If you want to make the description interesting, you can use an animated video because it can expound concepts in ways that no live video or text can. Animation is the ideal combination of simplicity, nostalgia, and entertainment.
4. Video leads to great ROI
The most exciting aspect of using video in marketing campaigns is that it shows an excellent return on investment. Even though video production is not the cheapest or easiest marketing strategy yet, it pays off handsomely. Also, there is a new video editing tool released every other day, thus making it affordable. You may be surprised by the fantastic quality of videos you can get by using nothing fancier than your smartphone.
The best part is that the videos you create don’t have to be perfect. Your readers will be looking for content. Poor design and a lower video quality will not matter as much. So, don’t be held back by the aspect that you can’t afford high-quality videos because that won’t matter that much.
5. Videos enhance marketplace awareness
One of the excellent ways of knowing the wants and needs of your clients without communicating directly to them is through marketplace awareness. This is the most significant benefit of using social media. Once you launch your book video, the next step in analyzing your market is to monitor the activities on your profile. How many people like the video? What comments does your audience leave on the post? How many users share the video?
You can use video marketing on social media platforms as a complementary research tool to give you a clear understanding of the industry. With time, your following will grow and you can use other tools to understand the demographics of your consumers.
6. Google likes videos
Using videos in your marketing strategy will give you preference when it comes to search engine optimization. Several factors contribute to the visibility of your site, one of them being, dwell time. This is the period that users stay on your site; from the moment they click on your site to the time they close the browser. Dwell time considers bounce rate and session duration. Video keeps users on the website for a long time, thus increasing both factors. This will not just enhance dwell time, but it shows that your website is trustworthy, and Google notices this.
Consider using YouTube for hosting most of your videos. Google owns YouTube, and the latter seems to send more signals to search engines than other tools. Therefore, it can help you boost your rankings and build more trust than if you were to use other video hosting tools. It is also fast, thus reducing lag time for viewers.
7. Video appeals to a mobile audience
Mobile and video go hand in hand. 90% of people who watch videos do so from mobile devices. YouTube realizes a 100% rise in video consumption every year. Considering that people like watching videos on the go, and smartphone users are increasing steadily, your video audience will grow by the day. Research by Google showed that smartphone users are 1.4 more than desktop users and twice as much as TV viewers to feel a personal connection to marketing videos. Therefore mobile videos create a sense of personal experience towards your content.
Video advertising is becoming more widespread and affordable. Video adoption has grown partly because of the developments in technology and because it can be spread quickly across the globe. You will have to exercise some creativity when making marketing videos for your venture. Creative video advertising can reach many internet users in a few days. This means that you will reach a broad audience and your book sales will increase significantly. The earlier you start, the larger the audience you can expect.
Thanks so much! I want to put videos on my blog posts on a regular basis but am having difficulty doing so (I’m wanting to do animated videos related to blog posts, but there are some issues with doing that).
That does seem to be a problem for many. WordPress is perfect for displaying YouTube material (you just past the web address) but seems to have trouble with some kinds of video files.
Do you have any good video-making recommendations, Nicholas? Also, I’ve been seeing lots of blog posts with GIF’s that really catch the eye, but every time I try to add one it fails. Any idea what I’m doing wrong? And yes, I do try the HTML 🙂
I’m afraid I haven’t really used video enough to have any recommendations (save for a couple which I did myself but am too embarrassed to really use). I should be able to help with your GIFs, though. What’s the problem there? Can you give me some more details?
This made me THINK! about it. Thanks, Nicholas.
Lol-yes, I’m *thinking* about it, too 😀
It missed this off. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Modern surfers undoubtedly prefer looking, to reading. These tips are useful for promotions, and appear to be 100% correct to me.
Ah, yes, the power of the image. Thank you, Pete!