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Just a few years ago, online marketing videos seemed like little more than a perk for businesses large and small—an unnecessary expense that could make your site look high-tech, but not something that generated much return on investment.
To say that times have changed would be a serious understatement.
Video
Now, more and more, businesses include web video in their advanced SEO and inbound marketing services. Increasingly, video is integrated with social profiles and corporate blogs in a comprehensive, engaging social media strategy.
Most Internet users watch web video on a regular basis, and the majority of those viewers both share the content on social media and agree that it’s useful during the buying cycle.
So, what happened? Why is web video suddenly so popular, and what are its actual benefits?
Growing Popularity
Web video has become easier to shoot, upload, optimize and even watch—and it keeps getting easier. Digital filming and editing tools allow anyone with a smartphone and a computer to easily create their own videos, and mobile devices like tablets make viewing and sharing easier. Between 2011 and 2012, tablet viewing alone more than doubled in popularity.
Increasing traffic and membership for social networks like Facebook and Twitter also make video more accessible, shareable and popular. Viral sensations like K-Pop artist Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video—which reached more than 1 billion views in 2012—have made video an integral part of the typical social media strategy.
The popularity of web video with viewers aside, though, how does it generate a measurable return on investment?
Advanced Video SEO Services and More
Web video isn’t just for the viewer’s benefit—it’s for yours, too. Uploading video can be as complicated or as simple as you make it, and the benefits are directly related to your approach.
Internet marketing agencies that offer advanced video SEO services create what they call “video sitemaps,” which provide search engines with data. That data allows search engines to more easily find and understand your videos, resulting in better placement on search results pages.
Getting your audience to your website is just part of what web video can do—studies also show that, on average, users are more than 60 percent more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. With the right strategy, your web videos can act as a useful tool for attracting more visitors to your site and turning them into customers.
Getting Started with Web Video
Whether you’re interested in implementing a sharing-based social media strategy, delving into advanced SEO video marketing services or benefiting from the other potential uses of web video, now is the ideal time to start implementing this increasingly-popular content marketing strategy.
When you do, you’ll see for yourself how it benefits your visitors and boosts your marketing’s overall return on investment.
