The Time To Look Beyond Text Is Now

A new era of video

A few years from now, the vast majority of the content that people consume online will be in video format. Those aren’t my words – this was the prediction offered in April 2016 at F8, Facebook’s annual developer’s conference, by company chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg.

At a time when digital communications have to be at once entertaining, informative, snappy and shareable, online video production and consumption is growing at an impressive rate. Zuckerberg also told the F8 conference that Facebook will be “mostly video” within the next five years.

Coming from a man whose social network has over 1.2 billion active monthly users, these are words that communication decision-makers would do well do heed.

A natural storytelling medium

Video is a great way for organisations to promote what they do, partly because it easily combines a number of elements to drive the message home, such as text, sound, visuals and other interactive elements including calls to action, competitions, and so on.

A well-crafted video can offer amazing value in terms of boosting brand engagement and strengthening customer relations.

People love to be told a story, and video works so well because we’re firmly tuned in to the idea that video is all about storytelling – all we consumers have to do is sit back and watch whatever unfolds before our eyes.

Contrast this to having to sift through a 500-word advertorial or article . . . there’s just no contest: savvy business leaders are fast catching on to the power of video for marketing, education and general communication.

The ROI potential of video

When done well, businesses can receive substantial returns on investment from their video content. In conjunction with a strong social media presence, there’s a considerable untapped audience base waiting to be wooed by organisations that are willing to get creative in attracting and retaining a broad client base.

One of the great benefits of video production is that it’s now easier and cheaper, and there are many platforms from which businesses can reach new and relevant audiences.

Of course, finding the time to produce high-quality video content can be a challenge, which is why a number of producers, such as LeaderonomicsTV, offer creative solutions using state-of-the-art resources that deliver results at much more affordable prices than in years gone by.

The new mobile classroom

More importantly, LeaderonomicsTV, which has more than 500 “learning” videos on YouTube, is an educational and communication outlet for us, the company.

All videos are available for free and can be accessed by anyone. We have a message about leadership which we want to share with the world and as media consumption trends among the masses have shifted to less reading and more video content viewing, we recognise the power of video in getting our message of leadership, love and national transformation to go out to the world and impact individuals.

In our partnership with numerous educational organisations, we have seen that video might well be the most effective way to educate and disrupt the learning space and democratise leadership development in a huge way.

Content marketing

Business leaders may be concerned about the number of organisations already utilising video for their content marketing needs. However, judging by the growth in online video production, organisations should be more concerned if they aren’t yet part of this flourishing trend.

The question is not “Can we afford to invest in quality video content?” but rather, “How far will we be left behind if we neglect online video marketing?”

As attention spans decline, the onus is on organisations to captivate their audience quickly and deliver a message of value and meaning. There is certainly a growing online audience lying in wait: what will you do to ensure that your company is the one that grabs their attention in 2017?

10 video facts savvy communicators should know

1. In 2017, online video will account for 74% of ALL web traffic.

2. More video content is now uploaded to the web in one single month, than TV has created in three decades.

3. On average, one billion YouTube videos are viewed on mobile devices per day.

4. Five hundred million people are watching Facebook videos every day, while 82% of Twitter users watch video content, and Snapchat users watch a staggering 10 billion videos every day.

5. Seventy-five per cent of business executives watch work-related videos at least once a week.

6. The time people spend watching YouTube on their TV has more than doubled in the last year.

7. When marketers included video in an email, the click-through rate increased by 200%–300%.

8. Fifty-two per cent of professional marketers worldwide named video as the type of content with the best ROI.

9. Ninety-three per cent of marketers use video for online marketing, sales, and communication.

10. The most viewed brand videos are on average 31–60 seconds long (32% of all views).

Sources:
highhq.com and brandwatch.com