Why You Should Get On Board With Video Content

Traditionally written content was the key to online engagement, however as videos have rapidly risen in terms of popularity over recent years, with sites like YouTube becoming one of the most visited websites out there, we could be starting to see a change in the kind of material businesses are putting out there.

It seems the tide is already starting to turn, with organisations such as FOX Sport announcing a cut in online writing jobs, as they are looking to invest more heavily to increase their video production output.

So, why is it that brands such as FOX are starting to take this approach?

Better Engagement
Videos not only allow you to say much more in a shorter space of time in comparison to written text but with the inclusion of both sound and visuals, they offer something you just can’t get from any other form of content. Having said this, your video needs to be engaging and contain a clear, concise Call For Action otherwise you’ll struggle to entice your audience and keep them interested.

And with consumers being over 27% more likely to interact with an online video advert than any standard image/text based advert, these are extremely simple and effective ways to ramp up your engagement.

Prompts Shares
Videos are great to share across multiple platforms and a unique way for people to express themselves in a way that you just can’t do through text. They are also a hugely popular way for businesses and brands to constantly push engagement amongst users.

Recent studies have suggested that online users are 39% more likely to share video content than written text. As well as 56% are more inclined to ‘Like’ it and these numbers are only set to increase as the popularity of video content continues to climb.

Better Search Engine Results
Currently, there are not as many videos online as there is text. Therefore your videos will have a much greater chance of reaching a wider market audience who search for your specific keyword. This means that your chances of having a video ranking on the first page on Google are considerably higher, as at this moment in time there is less competition out there.

However, it is important to remember that similar to written articles your videos must still have adequate SEO in order for them to rank well on search engines – including optimising your titles, meta descriptions, and tags etc.

You Can Mix It Up
One of the biggest aspects that makes video so powerful is the ability to contain the combination of both visuals and audios – from countless images, on-screen text, infographics, on top of moving imagery you really have a free reign with video that you can add in and include a whole mixture; a factor that goes unchallenged from any other medium out there.

Because of this video has risen to the very top of the virtual food chain – a place where it could remain for a long time to come. Video is much easier to understand and engage with, making it the most likely format to be shared amongst them all.

Smartphones Are Everywhere
There was once a time when owning a mobile phone was out of the ordinary. These days it’s seen as unusual if you don’t have a smartphone. Just look at Glastonbury at the weekend, there were no lighters being held up. Instead, the audience was actually instructed to hold up their mobile phones, as the Pyramid Stage was lit up by an ocean of LED lights from mobile phones on multiple times across the weekend, as people recorded what they were witnessing. Therefore because of the large volume of smartphones in the world these days it means that the net for engaging with users via their mobiles is increasing day-by-day and video is leading the way.

With many auto-play features in place for videos the access to video content is massive, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that video is beginning to take over when you really think about it. 

Now, the message here is not to say that you need to completely abandon written content or that there’s no place for it online anymore because that’s not true. In fact, a good diverse, balance of content is the best way to reach your audience. However; in this day and age, you can’t rely solely on written content to get you engagement and spread your online presence. Videos are a must.

Don’t worry if you’re a beginner, everyone starts somewhere. Check out our blog on how you can produce engaging video content.