Why You Should Be Using Video In Your Business Strategy

I’m very excited to welcome a fabulous girl boss to the blog today; Trena Little. I took her free, email course on starting a YouTube channel a little while ago and it was super useful, so I defiantly recommend that as a resource if you are thinking of starting your own channel.

But, I know many of you will be thinking, woah, I can barely handle creating content for my blog and all my social media channels, never mind starting a YouTube account! I totally get that feeling, which is why I wanted to invite Trena to talk you today about how video can be used in business strategy.

So without further ado, I will let Trena take over and tell you all about the world of video….

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Are you constantly posting to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook trying to get people to share your content!?

Did you know social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined –Brightcove!?

Businesses that are using video on their site generally see 41% more web traffic from search than those businesses not using videoClick To Tweet – Aberdden

Should I even mention how businesses using video grow business revenue 49% faster year-over-year than businesses without video – Aberdeen

Why is this?  Well let me tell you exactly why you should be using video in your business strategy.

SEO

The most important element to any business is being found through search results.  The higher you are ranked in Google search result, the more eyes you are going to get on your website.  Well having video on your website gets you ranked 58x higher than a website with just strictly text!

The reason for this higher ranking is because search engines algorithm take into account if your website is offering quality content.  This is why you need to write those lengthier blog posts so the algorithm accounts for your quality content.  Well video does the same thing and more!  Video is seen as high quality content, thus ranking you higher in search results!

Know Like and Trust

Being able to develop ‘know, like and trust’ with your readers is essential in your business and sales growth!  People will not buy from someone they don’t know, they don’t like and they don’t trust!

Video helps you do all three!  By showing your readers who you are in video and giving them an inside look at what you do not only gets them to like you, but it also builds trust in you.

Great videos to have on your website to build your know, like and trust are; an About Me video, Client Testimonials, Tutorials/How Tos, and Behind the Scenes/Office tours.  All these videos do a great job of letting people in and allowing them to start building a relationship with you and your brand

Conversation rates

The average conversation rate for a website using video is 4.8%, which is more then the average conversion rate of 2.9% for those who don’t have video.  The reason for the higher rate goes back to the know like and trust factor.  Having video on your website shows people you aren’t a fraud.  They don’t want to get ripped off!  Proving yourself through video increases your conversion rate.

Great videos to increase conversion rates are product or service demonstrations. If people can see how the product works or if you can walk them through how your services will help them reach their goals, you can expect a much higher conversion rate then just text.

Shareability

Online video has become so popular due to the fact its so easy to share!  People are watching more and more videos today especially on their mobile device.  In fact, videos are expected to make up 60% of all mobile data traffic by 2020 and 80% of all internet traffic by 2019!  This is making the importance of providing shareable video so significant to your business strategy!

The best things you can do to get your video shared is to create a video relevant to your target audience!  If you just know your services are going to solve all their problems, talk about it in a video!  Chances are they hang with people just like them so they will share with their friends if they truly believe this is the answer to their prayers!

Using YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.  People are using YouTube every day to solve their problems.  Can you be found there?

Once you make some videos, hosting your videos on YouTube is essential!  Your content lives on YouTube forever, so unlike Facebook where your video is gone once its off the newsfeed, you can be found on YouTube always!

YouTube is such a great way to get people to your website too!  By having a strong call to action in your video, telling the viewer to check out your website for more information, can really increase your website traffic and ultimately sales!  YouTube also has great features like cards and annotations that make it super easy for people to click right on the video and be re-directed to your website.  In fact, you could send them directly to your sales page or free opt-in!

Conclusion

It’s not hard to realize the growth of video is happening.  Facebook just came out with Facebook live.  Facebook is also pushing video on their news feed over photos.  Snapchat’s popularity for business is exploding.  And live broadcasting apps like Periscope and Meerkat continue to see extensive growth.

I know video can seem overwhelming but all you really need is an iPhone or an iPad, the iMovie app and sunlight!  You can really get great quality videos with just these three things.

It’s also important to remember your videos shouldn’t be any longer than 3 minutes, 5 minutes MAX.  People have very short attention spans so you don’t have to worry about sitting down and creating some EPIC 20 minute long video.  Just provide your most valuable content in less then 5 minutes!

Not only will this cut back on the amount of time it takes you to film a video, it also cuts back on editing!  I know the number one reason I get for why businesses aren’t offering video is because of the time commitment.  It may take a little longer then a blog post, but the return on investment is much higher then a blog post!

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Trena Little is a video content strategist over at TrenaLittle.com who specializes in making video content creation easier for bloggers, online entrepreneurs and businesses who want to optimize YouTube to drive traffic to their website!

If  you are ready to start your YouTube Channel then grab your free step by step video tutorial and checklist.  Click here to grab it!

Check out Trena’s YouTube channel for more tips or find her on Facebook!