7 Reasons Why Video Content is Important 

More and more websites, eCommerce stores, and bloggers are allocating increasing time and effort to creating engaging, SEO-optimized video content. Written website content is still one of the foundational components of SEO and page rank, but consumers increasingly expect a multimedia experience that includes a significant amount of professionally executed videos that help them make purchasing and brand loyalty decisions.

Video requires some investments–both of your time and in the equipment required to shoot, edit and make it look professional. The returns, however, are often well worth the time and money. Below are 7 reasons why video content is important.

Video Content SEO is Increasingly Sophisticated

Video content is becoming increasingly interactive, especially with respect to shopping in-video. It is now possible to make purchases directly from the stream you are watching via clickable links that take you to product pages or affiliate links. This is a big deal for eCommerce, as you can now take visitors directly from an educational or informational video to a checkout page. Affiliate and product page links below YouTube videos have been popular for some time now, but viewers can now be turned into customers directly from a stream.

The possibilities of video-based selling and marketing also extend to “Shoppertainment,” where one uses the video to show products and services in action in ways that are compelling to the viewer and blend value-based demonstrations and tutorials with actual entertainment that spurs interest and influences purchase decisions.

YouTube is the Second Largest Search Engine

Another reason to take video content seriously is the fact that YouTube is now the world’s second-largest search engine. Billions of searches are conducted on YouTube every month, and Google’s new videos section of the SERPs means that videos that are well-optimized for SEO also appear in Google’s search results. It happens often that people organically search for keywords and the top results are videos.

If you really want to maximize your SEO potential and take advantage of all of the marketing and brand awareness avenues available to you, then a sound and well-thought-out video content strategy must be part of your digital marketing. YouTube’s ranking algorithm has also grown increasingly sophisticated over the last couple of years, with much more attention paid to the quality of videos, their descriptions, the in-video use of keywords, and keyword use in titles. SEO for video is absolutely something that must be considered in modern digital marketing.

People Prefer Video to Written Content

Surveys have shown that nearly three-quarters of consumers would rather view video than read written marketing content. This is why video content and advertising is king on platforms like Facebook and why TikTok and Instagram Stories are now the most popular and most highly successful forms of advertising and marketing on both platforms.

Larger mobile device screens and faster internet have made the video much more accessible and more impactful for consumers. With this in mind, it makes sense for eCommerce sites to start diverting a substantial portion of their content towards video. People are more apt to watch compelling and well-made video content than they are to read long-form marketing material, including ranking, round-up articles, and blog posts, so modern online businesses should ensure they are changing their marketing and sales techniques with the times. This doesn’t mean abandoning written content, but augmenting and varying it.

Cross-Posting

It is another salient reason business owners should be paying careful attention to their videos. Cross-posting from YouTube has been a popular and highly successful marketing tactic for some time, but even more so now given the size and market share of YouTube. Video content that gets this right will have links to all social media profiles, as well as website information, easily accessible right below the video and perhaps even as embedded elements within the video itself.

With this in mind, it makes sense for eCommerce sites to start diverting a substantial portion of their content towards video. People are more apt to watch compelling and well-made videos and the ability to direct viewers from videos to other social media channels, websites and even send them straight to product pages and affiliate marketing links make the video much more versatile than traditional content strategies.

Branding

Video content is additionally important from a branding perspective. It is much easier to communicate and solidify your brand through well-crafted video pieces that appear on both your website and throughout your social media channels. These can be on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and elsewhere to immediately make an outsized impression on visitors.

Having video content tends to do a better job at putting a face to your brand name and gives your visitors a much more intimate look at the nature of your business, including your products and services and, depending on the size of your business, your organizational culture as well. Video is a great way to humanize your business, which in turn increases the connection that people feel with it since people prefer to buy from real people that they can see, understand and learn about. There are different kinds of branded videos that can be made and they serve different purposes.

Video is Preferable for Mobile Users

It is hard to say which of the reasons discussed in this article are the most important to focus on when it comes to video content, but this one might just be it. The majority of web traffic is now mobile, which means people use their phones to access your site and make purchasing decisions. The statistics clearly demonstrate that mobile users prefer video since it is still much easier to view on the comparatively smaller cell phone screen than written content.

People also like to watch videos on the go or while killing time, so catering to these preferences should be a high priority in the mobile internet era.

Videos Feature Purchase Experience

One of the major recent changes to video marketing is that marketers and brands can now make their video content interactive and highly tailored purchasing experiences for their viewers. You are now able to watch videos with in-video advertising that complements the narrative and is structured as an embedded link or element that is clickable.

This means that not only should you be making videos that explain your products and services to your customers but include purchasing opportunities in videos that can take people directly to the product and even checkout pages. Video content is also getting to the point now where depending on the viewer, you are able to show them different products based on your data collection and analysis, making the viewing and shopping experience that much more personalized and intimate.

Video Content Importance – Conclusion

The world of content has changed and continues to do so. Video has become much cheaper to produce and easier to consume, as well as much more interactive, making it easier to embed links and spur people to make purchase decisions throughout the viewing process. While the video is not as cheap to produce as written content, especially if you are after professional quality, it is something that all businesses must consider as the future of digital marketing. The technology will only get more sophisticated and the ability to create and drive purchasing decisions through multimedia alongside it.