5 Reasons Why Online Video Rocks

It’s the fear, the gear and the excuses we make to ourselves. That’s what Ian Anderson Gray told my friend Eamonn O’brien when he asked him why businesses struggle to do video.

When I started making videos it was just something I thought I should do. I didn’t think twice about getting in front of the camera and it’s never been something I regretted. Did I make mistakes? Of course? Are my videos always perfect? No, some have been terrible. But I’ve learned from every single one and I’m so glad I started.

I know it’s not that easy for everyone. If the fear and the gear are getting in the way it’s time to have a good talk with yourself. You need to be using video, here’s why:

1. People get to know you

Who do you deal with in your bank? Do you know? I do, in fact I chose my bank because of the people in the branch. I know they’ll bend over backwards to help me. Even if the institution itself is faceless it’s the people I deal with on a day to day basis that matter.

That’s not an isolated example, time and again I’ve made decisions on who I’ll do business with because I get on with and trust the person I have to deal with.

Video is one of the best ways of letting people get to know you. They see your face, they hear the tone of your voice, they can look you in the eye. As long as you are sharing valuable information you’ll start forming a relationship with your viewers that beats text and even photographs.

Even better, with live video you can talk to people in real time. It’s the next best thing to meeting people one to one.

2. Show the workings of your business

I’ve become obsessed with those TV programmes that show you behind the scenes in a business. We’ve met the people and the processes behind the London Underground, food factories, Greggs The Bakers amongst others.

These shows are always fascinating, they peel back the shiny marketing layer and show us what goes on inside.

You can replicate this with your online video. Who are the people you work with? What does their job involve? What does your office, factory, kitchen look like? Show people with your videos.

3. Good for spreading the word

If we want to reach new customers we need to get the right people sharing our content. To make that happen we have to know what sort of content our ideal audience will value and make sure they see it. If we get it right our video will resonate with people and they’ll share.

I’m often surprised by the videos of mine that do best. On YouTube it’s always the tutorials and it seems that this is common.

Social video tool Animoto recently did a study on social video marketing and the results were eye-opening.

They discovered that people will:

“Like” Behind-the-Scenes Videos,
“Like and Share” Funny videos
“Share” Educational Videos
“Like and Share” emotional videos.

With that in mind we should be aiming to create helpful and emotional content. Take your how to video and mix in you and your personality or a behind the scenes view and you could be on to a winner.

4. Brand lift

Does sound like one of those terrible marketing terms? According to Viget Brand lift is

“…an increase in interaction with a brand as a result of an advertising campaign, and is primarily used to identify a positive shift in customer awareness and perception.”

It’s people getting to know about you and your business. As long as those people are potential customers or advocates that’s got to be good news.

Video helps with that as well. Neilson conducted a study on Facebook video ads measuring:

Ad recall – people remembering the ad
Brand awarnesss – people remembering the business
Purchase Intent – people intending to buy from the business

All three rose with video ads. If it works for ads it can work organically too. So if you want people to remember you and buy from you video could be the best solution, for Facebook at least.

5. Your competitors are doing it

If you’re not doing video yet and your competitors are you could be losing valuable ground. Look at all the advantages they could be getting that you’re not.

If you find they’ve beaten you to it don’t worry. Look at ways you can do it differently and better.

Now you know why you should do video, pack up those excuses, pull out your phone and give it a go.

Still unconvinced? I asked some small business owners and experts to tell me why video is a good fit for business: