Why Use Video for Your Business?

When it comes to communication, there are few mediums more powerful than video. Video is now the most shared type of content on Twitter–no surprise, since it’s so engaging. Video is especially powerful in a business context. It lets companies market their products concisely and express their brand identities in a rich way.

As a consumer myself, I prefer seeing a product in action, rather than reading about it. Video just feels more compelling than the alternatives. But the advantages of video go even further and can drive serious business growth. Let’s take a look at why video can impact your bottom line.

Video can really boost your site’s SEO.

Keep in mind that there’s less competition in the video SEO world. Because there are fewer video results than there are regular (non-video) results, you’ll rank higher for your videos. Google likes seeing video on websites, so make sure they can find it! Your robots.txt file (which is what the Google bots use to index your pages) should include a sitemap entry for your video. Hosting companies like Wistia make it easy to set up and implement your robots.txt file.

Video will help you gain and keep site traffic.

There’s plenty of data showing that people will spend more time on your page if you have video. Video is also a good way of getting people to visit your website. If you’re sending emails, consider sending one with a video call to action. We’ve found that people are more likely to click on your call to action and visit your site than if you’d sent an email without video. We found a 3x difference when we A/B tested different emails!

Video helps you scale your people.

For many companies, salaries and benefits represent the largest cost category. Get more out of your people by scaling their efforts. If sales people spend an average of one hour talking with new prospects, make a video where the sales team covers the main points. If this allows them to spend just 30 minutes with each prospect, they can talk to twice as many people! The same holds true for the support team: if the onboarding process takes an hour, try covering the FAQs in video format and cut your onboarding time in half.

Video drives more sales.

At Wistia, we found that a video on our pricing page increased conversion by 15%. For physical products, especially, a video makes people more comfortable buying because they get a more complete picture of how the product works. By putting video directly on their product pages, medical device company Universal Medical increased product sales 300%. The videos showed how a given product works and allowed customers to envision how they might use the product themselves.

Video builds rapport, trust, and an emotional connection with your audience.

Research suggests that when people experience a positive emotion, they think in terms of “we”, rather than “me”, which makes them more likely to accept a deal from you, and more likely to act as evangelists for your company.

How can companies get started with videos?

Admittedly, video can seem intimidating at first. So let’s cover a few ways you can ease your way in without getting overwhelmed.

• About Us videos are almost a must-have at this point. Most people expect to see an “About Us” section on your website. So give your spiel in video format as a good way to differentiate yourself. It’ll be more compelling and engaging than basic text.

• Explainer videos for products and services are relatively easy to tackle and complement what’s already on your site. Presumably, you know your own product well, so the content should be a piece of cake. Plus, if your company has a sales team, it helps you scale your sales efforts. For example, Sweet Spud has a great explainer video on their website.

• Help/support videos are a great place to start because they are low-risk and they make your support team more efficient. “What’s low-risk video,” you ask? By “low-risk,” we mean anything that has a smaller or more forgiving audience; videos that aren’t front and center on your website. The opposite of this might be a video on your homepage that tries to define your company mission and culture (a very difficult video to try to tackle first).

• Videos that teach about a process or skill demonstrate your expertise and enthusiasm. This is a useful type of video because it builds up your credibility with potential buyers and audience. Plus, it helps your SEO if the metadata relates to the search terms for which you want to rank. (Your SEO will be further bolstered if your video has a transcript!)

What do you need to know next?

• How to get started shooting videos: Content is far more important than having professional-level production, so don’t stress about having a fancy camera and editing software. Instead, start with what you already have. Own an iPhone? Most smartphones take great video, so jump in with the gear that you already own, and then iterate and improve from there. Or better yet, use the images and video footage you already have in an Animoto video!
• How to get started with Animoto: Sign up for an account and just start playing around. It’s incredibly intuitive, and Animoto has a supportive team, in case you run into any problems. Plus, Animoto now offers a Wistia integration, so you can easily host and embed your video, along with all of the SEO goodies that you need.
• How to put video on your site: Find a hosting solution that will manage your video hosting, sitemap and SEO embeds; (Wistia happens to be one). Many hosting providers let you view analytics of each video, so that you can make better videos the next time around.
• If you’re hungering for more tips on video marketing best practices, check out the Wistia Learning Center. Good luck and have fun with it!

Kristen Craft does marketing at Wistia, evangelizing about video. She likes swimming in lakes and brewing/drinking different varieties of beer. You can find her on Twitter.