Video content—the bane of existence to any marketer who doesn’t like to be on camera.
Another passing trend, maybe?
What should you do? Wait for it to go away?
Or join ranks with the 87 percent of online marketers who already use it?
That is the right question to ask!
Online marketing is moving fast, and as time passes, it will move even faster.
The PR industry, on the other hand, moves slower and more accordingly to the times we live in, unfortunately.
Today, I’m going to focus on key reasons PR pros should introduce video content into their strategies whether it’s personal branding, for their company, or for their clients.
Don’t Ignore Video Content
Let’s start with some stats.
YouTube has more than one billion users. That’s nearly one-third of the total of internet users.
Now comes the fun part: more than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every single day!
Read that again!
Every 60 seconds, users upload a total of 72 hours of video on YouTube.
Forty-five percent of online users watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos each week.
Things get more interesting on Twitter, where 82 percent of users watch video content.
Here is another one: did you know more video content is uploaded in a month than the major U.S. television networks have created in the past 30 years?
These are some general stats on the use of video content.
If we want to go deeper, we find out that more than half of video content is viewed on mobile, and 92 percent of viewers share videos with others.
Ninety-two percent!
Imagine what that could mean for your content.
Video Content and Engagement
All those statistics are nice and fun, but what about the business results they bring? Is there a return-on-investment to video content?
According to more than half of the marketing pros worldwide, video is the type of content with the best return-on-investment, bringing growth in revenue 49 percent faster than non-video users.
Video content drives an increase in organic traffic of over 150 percent from search engine results.
Two-minute-long videos get the most engagement and videos on a landing page increase conversions by 80 percent.
I could go on and on about the benefits of using video in your content marketing strategy.
The point of the matter is you need to use video content, period.
Now, let’s look beyond statistics at why PR pros should have in place a video content marketing strategy.
Online Video is on the Rise
According to a report from Cisco, by 2019, 80 percent of the world’s internet traffic will be video.
With 65 percent of people being visual learners, you should join the ranks of online marketers who use video content.
Moreover, if used correctly, online video can make a significant contribution to your SEO strategy.
That said, video is not for everyone.
If you are shy in front of the camera, there are other ways you could use video without actually being on-camera.
You can take your best-written content and break it down in short videos with apps such as Lumen5 or Adobe Spark.
Use your creativity to make them interesting and worth watching.
Here is an example of how we use them.
There are hundreds of online music libraries you can choose from to add background music to your video content.
Buffer shares their favorites here.
Reaching a Different Audience
As PR pros, we are well-known for our creativity in writing, for our storytelling skills.
Put those skills to work and create stories through your videos.
When you create shareable videos, you reach a different audience to which you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
Neil Patel has some tips on how to create super shareable videos.
Going back to stats, 64 percent of users are more likely to buy an online product after watching a video, making video very effective.
Why would you waste such an opportunity?
If you’re worried your senior executives won’t be on board with a video content strategy, don’t be!
Seventy-five percent of business executives say they watch work-related videos every week.
That should tell you something.
Start Small
Creating a video content marketing strategy can be overwhelming, especially when you’re starting out with video.
Just as you would do for a PR strategy, start with the end in mind.
Think of how online video could complement your overall strategy.
Write down your value proposition:
- Why should people watch your video content?
- How are you different?
- How do you rise above the noise?
These are questions you should be asking yourself for every video you create.
That said, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Do your homework and research what others do regarding video content.
Study your competition, but also people and brands outside your niche.
It will give you countless video ideas for your brand or your clients.
Practice, Practice, Practice
As much as you want to succeed from the very first video, keep in mind, it’s a learning curve.
The more you use it, the more creative you become, and the better you get at it.
When you feel you’ve run out of ideas or are overwhelmed by what others do, go to their YouTube channels and look at the very first videos they created.
You will feel much better, and it will give you the drive to keep pushing.
Tim Hiller said,
Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.
By the way, you can learn how to create and implement a PR strategy that includes video content and so much more in the PR Dream Team. ?
Now, I’d love to hear from you: how do you use video in your content marketing?
