Last updated on January 1st, 2022
Written By- Aditya M
Category- Digital Marketing
“The single most important strategy in content marketing today is video,” says Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media and one of the most prominent personalities in the online marketing space. He couldn’t have said it any better. Videos are all over the internet and they have become an integral part of every online content distribution strategy, more so in 2018. This spectacular rise of video marketing isn’t just a fad, it is here to stay and for all the right reasons. Making video a part of your online strategy is a no-brainer these days, it is on an all time high and moving steadily on an uphill path. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and probably every social network with a huge pool of audience has promoted videos in their platform in one way or the other. And of course, there is YouTube, the second most popular website of any kind on the internet. This speaks a lot about the popularity and dominance of videos. But why videos? How has video marketing in 2018 become one of the most engaging forms of content marketing and what continues to fuel its rise? Let’s find out.
Videos Are the Best Story Tellers
Video Marketing in 2018 is all about telling stories and making people believe in it. What better than videos to engage your audience into something they immediately relate to. Unlike written content, videos can be watched by a larger audience in a much simpler way.
Image Source: valoso.com
Also, videos open up new dimensions of storytelling which brands love to experiment with. They can be engaging, thought-provoking, inspiring, emotional and probably everything that other mediums find difficult to be. The classic old example of Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ is a textbook example for all time best marketing campaigns and is so famous that it has a Wikipedia page dedicated to it. Even though it was a television advertisement campaign, it showed how powerful a video can be,as a viral marketing campaign. Check out the advertisement which made Old Spice an example for every marketing lesson:
Another great example of superb storytelling through videos in the recent times is the ‘Generation of Care’ campaign by Vicks India. It won the hearts of millions of internet users and shows how beautifully videos can stir emotions to put the point across. Have a look:
This heart touching video by Dabur is another great example of storytelling through videos. Very few brands will be able to match up with what Dabur did for Cancer Awareness with this gem of an ad:
Video advertisements stand out, long after they have been created. The only reason for this is that they tell great stories. Don’t do video marketing just for the sake of it or just because everyone else is doing it, do it because your story can be best told through videos.
Influencers Play Their Role
Every medium of content has some major influencers with a massive following who probably steer the trends for the future of that particular medium.
For videos, there are many such influencers, majorly on YouTube. Some also choose Snapchat as their primary video marketing platform and have created a massive following in a quick succession. If you still aren’t among the > 7 million subscribers of Casey Neitstat on YouTube, you definitely need to check out the channel. It’s just a single man living his life, showcasing it to the world but his daily videos are a great example of what good storytelling is. Nike, a brand which has redefined probably every medium of marketing, used Casey Neistat for a promotional video. The result, of course, was exemplary. Here’s the video he made for Nike’s Fuel+ Band some years ago, it has already garnered more than 25 million hits:
Influencers will always have a valuable role to play in content marketing of all kinds. Videos are just another medium where they continue to provide value to brands as one of the content marketing trends of 2018.
Ease of Accessibility
It is an undeniable fact that videos are way more accessible now than they previously used to be. Credit it to faster internet connections, cheaper smartphones, and adaptability of the videos by global platforms.
This increased accessibility is one of the key reasons for the rise of video marketing in 2018. As per credible reports, below are some startling facts about videos:
- 55% of people watch videos online every day.
- Online video now accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic.
- 78% of people watch videos online every week.
These numbers are testimony that a huge number of people are watching videos more than ever. Thus, marketers love to utilize the medium their audiences feel heavily invested into and for now, this medium is undoubtedly videos. Another reason why video marketing in 2018 will become massively accessible is that all the social platforms are integrating videos into their platform in their own way. No matter which social media you use, videos play a huge role and a lot of it is brands trying to garner eyeballs.
Moreover, live streaming is becoming a thing now. Almost all major social platforms are letting users and brands create live streams. Brand promotions and advertising campaigns are already tapping into the live stream feature for real time engagement from their audience. Even the concept of live streaming is possible today due to better accessibility. With increased accessibility, video as a medium has become an even stronger way of communicating a message in an engaging way. This is what video marketing is currently thriving on and will continue to do so, at least for the foreseeable future.
Conclusion
Videos are already huge and dominating a big part of the internet. Marketers around the world have been proactive enough to adapt to this shift of medium and make the most out of it. There is still a long way to go and you, as a brand need to fully capitalize on what videos have to offer. Video marketing in 2018 will see huge advancements. You constantly have to be looking out for creative ways to get your brand’s message across through videos. If you want to create an engaging advertising campaign in 2018, you need to go full fledged on videos and reap all that the medium has to offer. You will have everything going by your side and while you are at it, who knows you might create something which is referred to as historic decades later.
