The One Thing You Need to Win at Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is made up of a lot of moving parts. The best marketers find themselves juggling written content, social media promotion, audience research and more. While having a multifaceted approach is generally important, there’s one aspect of digital marketing that can have a much greater impact than others: video.

If there’s one thing your business should focus its advertising efforts on, it’s video. While other content types are also important, it’s clear from current research that filmed content is more attractive and engaging to online users, thus making it a more effective form of marketing than many of the other options available to you.

Of course, it’s also harder to perfect and requires more investment than other content types, so it’s understandable if your company is hesitant to pour money into video marketing efforts. If you aren’t sure it’s right for you, read on to find out more about the benefits that focusing on video can bring:

It’s what consumers want to see

It’s increasingly clear that internet users are much more interested in seeing video than any other form of content. In fact, this kind of viewing is becoming the most popular way to consume video, with six out of ten people preferring to watch online content over live TV according to research from Google.

Video is also consumers’ favorite type of branded content on social media, with 45% of people listing this as their number one preference in a study from Animoto. It’s also the most common way users find out about new products or brands, and 64% of people said they’d made a purchase after being influenced by a video on Facebook.

People pay more attention

Online, you’re constantly in a battle for people’s attention. While you might be able to get users to consume your content, there’s no guarantee the message you’re trying to get across is actually going to get through. However, with video content you have the best chance of creating something that’s going to stick with the people watching it.

According to HubSpot, video is the content type most likely to be consumed thoroughly, with only 38% of users skimming it. In comparison, 64% of people skim through eBooks without paying much attention. This increases to 73% when it comes to blog articles, and 78% for podcasts.

It gets results

Did you know that visual content on Facebook increases engagement by 65%? For many marketers, this on its own would be an excellent victory and a good reason to utilize video. However, for businesses seeking a greater ROI, there’s plenty of evidence showing that video is one of the most effective tools a marketer has access to.

Animoto asked marketers to list the types of content that provided the best ROI, and 63% selected video as either their first or second choice. In fact, 80% of marketers feel good about the ROI on their social media videos. Aberdeen Group even found that video provides marketers with 66% more qualified leads each year than other content types.