From the birth of social TVs like (Instagram TV) IGTV to the trending of epic disappearing stories on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even Whatsapp, video marketing has been the hottest marketing trend for 2018 and the vogue seems to persist even more in 2019!
It’s necessary to keep yourself up to date with the current marketing trends in order to have a robust marketing strategy and video marketing is undoubtedly a part of it this year. So, what are you waiting for! Get your notepads out because we present you with a 360-degree guide about video marketing.
First Of All, What Do You Mean By Video Marketing?
As soon as you press the record button to shoot a video to use it for marketing purposes, you have entered the genre of video marketing my friend!
Source: Freepik
Just scrutinize all other marketing options - a blog, an infographic, storytelling via articles and social media updates, etc. When you start serving all these purposes with the help of a video aiming to profit your brand in any sense, it is video marketing.
Why such a hype now?
Videos have always been the most interactive and engaging form of content out there. Then why is it spreading like a wildfire now? The reason is easy to access videos through platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. More than 180 million internet users watch video content online every month and the numbers keep on increasing continuously.
Source: Freepik
In recent times, video content has emerged as the rightful heir of the marketing throne. In today’s world of fake news, video content provides your brand with the “Authenticity” factor. These days when chatbots manage the communications between the brand and the customer, video marketing paves a new way to human connection and interaction between the customers and the brand. It helps to provide the human overtone to your brand’s voice.
Video Marketing - Benefits
Video Marketing is really effective for business marketing. Here are a few reasons why -
- It’s eye-catching, interactive and engaging. According to Cisco Reports, videos will contribute 80% of the global internet traffic by 2019. Videos are a captivating alternative to the infinite pool of textual content available to the audience. Almost 3/4th of internet users prefer videos over a textual article.
- Most of the time, any product users prefer to watch an explanatory video than something to read about it. An animated video is a creative and engaging way to explain or demonstrate your product on a website.
- Video Marketing has proved helpful in driving the purchasing decisions of the users.
- Videos are an effective way of storytelling. They come along with an authenticity factor that helps a user to connect with your brand.
- Videos are getting search-friendly. AIs and use of closed captions (or subtitles) are making video content more searchable. AI can transcribe the audio tracks of videos with voice recognition to make videos searchable.
The Video Marketing Trends for 2019
Videos are no doubt the most addictive and engaging content available online and their trend is constantly accelerating. But video trends are always changing. What might be trending in 2018 might not be relevant in 2019. It is really important to understand the current marketing trends to have a successful strategy for the same. Here are some of the most popular video marketing trends for 2019. Have a look-
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Event Videos
Event Videos act as a magnet to audiences. They attract viewers from a distance and make them stop and have a look for a while.
A Social Wall displaying an event video or a user-generated content expressing their happiness and satisfaction with your brand and its services is the most engaging thing for audiences at an event. It helps to increase the word of mouth marketing, enhance event ROI and increase audience engagement making your event extremely successful.
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Merging of Videos with Email Marketing
It is more than mandatory to use videos in email marketing. They tend to increase the open rates, click-through rates by multifold and reducing the number of unsubscribes simultaneously. Adding a video thumbnail in an email has also proved to increase the engagement of that email. Videos have proved themselves a quick win for any marketers trying to improve their KPIs.
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Virtual Reality with Video Marketing
Virtual reality (VR) is still an upcoming trend in video marketing but it presents marketers with new horizons of opportunities. VR is extremely engaging, interactive and entertaining. It provides users with a virtual experience of how your product will feel and look when used in real-time. VR in video marketing finds application not only in gaming but also education, real estate, tourism, hospitality, etc.
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Videos are going Live and 360°
Live Streaming has been growing in popularity on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. It engages the audience more intimately and retains their online presence for a longer period of time. 80% of people prefer watching a live video rather than reading a blog while 82% prefer live videos over social posts.
Live Streaming enables you to interact with your viewers in real time through comments and asking questions. This added personalization makes your viewers stay longer and be more engaged.
Source: Freepik
The latest advent of 360° video content seems to grow in popularity with time. It enables viewers to have a more immersive and interactive experience. These are great for travel-centric industries, real estates, hospitality sector, museums, galleries, etc.
Facebook videos especially are gaining immense popularity making Facebook even bigger from Youtube for brands. Facebook videos are more shareable than Youtube videos. Also, the new Facebook algorithm also ranks videos and make them appear in front of people who are likely to watch it the most. Isn’t that great!
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Shoppable Videos
Shoppable video content is gravitating on various social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat giving the users the ability to swipe and buy after watching the video Ad. You can click on a product or item shown in the video and buy it directly from the video.
Videos have proved to drive purchasing decisions of the customers and also increased order values by 50% on E-commerce websites.
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Video Blogs or Vlogs
Vlogs or Video Blogging is a great go in content marketing. It connects better with the audience because of the authenticity it brings along. Vloggers give their audience a peek of their lifestyle while integrating your brand promotion into their video simultaneously.
Vlogging has become huge on Youtube. Businesses and marketers have recently started exploring the opportunities associated with vlogging. It is a great medium to grow your audience base and business at an affordable cost. All you need is a smartphone or a video recorder, a video editing software and a Youtube Channel.
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Youtube Ads over TV Ads
A few years back, traditional TV was the platform for brands to display their advertisements. But now the trend is rapidly changing. Advertisements are now shifting to platforms like Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, etc. The reason being these Ads reach more people on these platforms. Youtube can reach more viewers during prime time than any cable network. And with Netflix also testing Ads on its platform now, this trend is nothing but going to accelerate.
Summary
So, we see that the landscape of video marketing is constantly changing and it still remains an important part of any successful digital marketing strategy. Videos are being used for all kinds of touchpoints like marketing, sales, advertisements, customer support, etc. The manner in which marketers integrate this powerful video marketing trend decides the success of their marketing strategy. These strategies will help marketers to stay ahead of the game in 2019.