Using online video is rapidly becoming an essential part of any ambitious internet marketer’s skills. One of the most worthwhile ways in which anybody who has an online business can help to promote their business and encourage a higher conversion rate of visitors to sales is by using video online to help communicate directly with the visitors to the website in a way which text and images alone could never hope to achieve.
Of all of the forms of media, the one that helps to create the most interest and engage people in the most active way is video. There are a number of reasons why using video online is more effective than any other advertising technique, but perhaps the single most reason is simply convenience. Given a straight choice between reading several hundred words on a webpage or sitting back and watching a little video for a minute or two, most people would tend to opt for the video.
It is this convenience factor which means that there is a greater likelihood of your video being actively watched, and visitors engaging with your advertisement than with them concentrating on large blocks of text or flashy, animated banner advertisements. Although it is still not widely used, creating an online video marketing campaign is something which will appeal to many Internet users in today’s digital climate.
With broadband Internet access now the standard way of connecting to the World Wide Web, creating and streaming video has become much more realistic, and incredibly popular with many Internet users. This is clear from the success of websites such as YouTube, a website which allows anyone with Internet access to upload a video that is then immediately available for global viewing.
In fact if you are thinking of using video online as a technique to help promote your goods or service, or simply help to promote the name of your business, then taking advantage of the fact that YouTube allows people to link to the videos and help promote them on your behalf can work in your favor.
Many online businesses who decide to create an online video advertisement assume from the very start that it is going to be a slick and professional video advertisement, that is in the same sort of style as a television advertisement. It is highly unlikely that a television style video advertisement would work successfully online. Although this is not always necessarily the case, and there are always going to be exceptions to the rule, Internet video marketing is a brand of video advertisement which should be considered to be quite distinct from that which is used in television and film.
One of the ways in which some businesses have found that using video online can work successfully is through taking advantage of what is sometimes referred to as viral video marketing. Viruses spread beyond the control of the original infection, and this might be considered to be something that is negative. However video viral marketing is quite different, and involves the mass publicity and promotion of a video through all sorts of online community and communication channels because of its popularity. There are a few examples of videos which have gained almost cult status, and have been linked to, shared and embedded within a whole range of websites, blogs and emails. This active and secondary promotion of a product or service is something which television advertisers can only dream of.
In order to make your experience of using video online successful and productive it is important to put a good deal of planning and forethought into how your video will be structured. The first thing to make sure is that, assuming that your visitor will click on your video and begin playing it, they will continue watching it and be interested in what you have to say, or what is taking place. Usually it is the case that within the first 5 to 10 seconds at most, those watching your video will make a judgment as to whether the remainder of your video is worth watching, or whether to simply close down your website and try a different result from Google.
It is for this reason that having a 10 second flashy animated introduction to your video is unwise, as is a fairly dull and static introduction that explains what the video is going to be about, a little like a teacher introducing a lesson to their students.
Approaching the idea of using video online as a form of media which is distinct from any other kind of media advertising is important, as is having a clear understanding of your target audience, where they come from and what they might be looking for.
