According to a survey recently released by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), in September 2012, more than 85% of Internet users watched online videos. A surprising 46% said that, after watching videos about a product, they would be more likely to click through for more information, than without a video.
An estimated 70% of online marketers now use video, which makes it the sixth most popular content marketing tactic. 61% of online marketers post videos on YouTube, which averages around 4 billion hits a day. Another surprising find: viewers using mobile devices watch videos three times as long as those on laptops and desktops. As of now, approximately 54 million people have mobile devices that are able to access videos.
According to video producers, marketers, and businesses, one of the main reasons why so many now use video is that they are so easy and inexpensive to produce. Cloud-based services also make it easier for companies and marketers to host videos and show them to prospects and customers.
Another reason for using video is that YouTube videos often produce high rankings in Google. In addition, YouTube videos are easily accessed via tablets or smartphones, thus giving businesses access to many customers for most of their waking days.
Another aspect that makes videos so attractive to marketers is the opportunity for them to go viral. When a video goes viral, it can get millions of views, without any extra cost to the company. In addition to the great publicity and reach a viral video provides, it can also provide a lot of high-quality backlinks to the company’s website.
Michael Hanson, Founder and Creative Director of Video Labs, has seen firsthand the power of video marketing: “Video marketing is very hot right now, and for great reason. The first reason is that videos allow companies to reach a lot of customers that they wouldn’t reach if they didn’t have a video up. Not only is YouTube and other video sites a different place than their website, but a video can propel a company to page one of Google. That brings you a lot of prospective customers who are searching for exactly what you have to sell.”
Michael continued, “In addition, a video that goes viral can literally bring in a million views overnight. That is a lot of advertising, and it doesn’t have any added costs once the video is completed and uploaded. Also, many people understand videos better than a webpage or a text ad. Videos allow you to say a lot that would be cumbersome or take too long to read on a webpage.”
Michael concluded, “It’s no accident that video is the fastest-growing medium in online marketing. It flat out works!”
