There are well over one billion smartphones around the world. Translation: there are well over one billion “photographers” and “videographers” around the world. Thanks to the popularity of Vine and the video setting on Instagram, video is quickly becoming the norm in the social media world. Facebook is even toying with the idea of adding video ads to your timeline. Nothing is launching in the near future, but don’t be surprised if you see video ads on your timeline in the next year or so.
One of the benefits a company gains by using social media is being able to connect more personally with current and future customers. Think of how much easier it would be to demonstrate your product or service’s features and advantages rather than writing up an article that might not translate well to everyone reading it. One statistic shows that 17% of people spend less than four seconds on a website, but they are willing to spend 2.7 minutes watching a video on the internet!
Even the job search process is being impacted by the use of video resumes and interviews. A video resume allows an employer to get a better feel for a candidate that a paper resume cannot show. Some companies are conducting initial interviews with out-of-state candidates over Skype or similar services rather than flying them out for an interview. Using this service allows a company to get an initial feel for a candidate before they fly them out and interview them in person, saving both time and money.
Video has been proven to more likely be shared online and has a greater chance of going viral. In Google’s index, video is much more searchable and it is over 50 times more likely to appear in front page search results. Did you know that the average person has a better ability to retain information when both auditory and visual senses are being used?
In April 2013, over 60 million people in the US watched video on Facebook. Do you remember Kony 2012? Of course you do, because it only took six days for it to reach 100 million views and I bet you were one of them. You don’t need to shell out thousands of dollars to hire a film crew to come in and make your video, but be careful you aren’t recreating “The Blair Witch Project” with your in-house videos. YouTube is the second largest search engine only behind Google with the most searched phrase being “How to.”
Your clients are already engaged in video…are you?
