The Power of Video and Images in Content Marketing

While marketers have come to recognize the power of content marketing and the need for it to be strategic, web visitors and social media users have begun to wonder what to do with so much content. So how can marketers get the attention of people who are becoming saturated with so much relevant content?

We’ve been researching this question, reading analytics and attending numerous seminars and events. Here’s what we think works best and is not going to require a big budget or more staff.

HubSpot, one of the most vibrant marketing software B2B’s around, analyzed whether using visuals increased click-through rate. They found that, “Marketers who are using interesting images to their advantage can increase traffic to their websites — just as long as they remember to include links!”

Another powerful tool for boosting website traffic is video. Marketers may think production cost is too expensive but videos don’t need to be television-quality. In fact, a video shot with a pocket video camera that looks less commercial will feel more personal.

In a recent Marketing Sherpa article, “Content Marketing: Videos attract 300% more traffic and nurture leads,” a case study of a B2B company that posted videos regularly demonstrated:

• site traffic spiked;
• average time-on-site per visitor increased;
• time spent on pages with video was about twice as long as without video.

So, how can marketers best use images and video to engage users?

1. Use an image, or even better, a video at the start of your blog posts. According to an Oracle/Eloqua newsletter, “Videos tagged with metadata about a specific topic within a post can help your SEO efforts. Google recognizes pages where a click leads to longer time spent on a page, so a video capturing viewers’ attention on your blog for even two minutes longer can make your content more sticky and more likely to show up in Google search results for a particular topic.”
2. Use video in email campaigns. Email campaigns can serve as tremendous opportunities to leverage your video marketing for lead nurturing. In a GetResponse study of nearly a billion emails, those containing video had a 96% higher click-through rate when compared to non-video emails. 
3. Use video (and interesting images) in social media channels such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Hubspot found that compared to text-only posts, Facebook posts that included interesting images received 84% more link clicks.

 

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For help on how to include video in your email campaigns, here’s a useful link:

http://www.vidyard.com/blog/how-to-use-video-in-email-marketing/

At a recent Boston Business Journal event we attended that featured a discussion about winning practices for social media, panelists concurred on this point:

The best marketing is marketing that does not “sell,” but instead promotes the experience that the business has to offer.

By showing photos and/or video of customers enjoying a particular brand, marketers can combine best practices for offering up strategic content marketing that gets readers’ attention.

I was so captivated by a photo a friend posted on facebook of museum goers experiencing a recent installation at the Guggenheim, that I went to the museum website, clicked on a link to the video, and proceeded to buy tickets to for the exhibit.

 

James Turrell’s “Light” exhbit at the Guggenheim and people “experiencing” the exhibit

 

Featuring video and photos on your website and periodically providing links to videos on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook can increase site traffic. And the image or video needn’t be as arresting as the Guggenheim clip. Videos of product demos, customer testimonials, introductory explanations and interviews offered on a straightforward b2b site, can be used to draw in and develop leads. And repurposing video across marketing tactics can make them an even more successful means of content marketing. For more tips on how to use video:

http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/11007/four-tips-to-improve-your-video-content

http://goo.gl/qmUspn

http://moz.com/blog/building-a-video-seo-strategy

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/videos-attract-300-more-traffic

To YouTube and Beyond! 5 Places Where Including a Video Will Boost Results

http://www.vidyard.com/blog/how-to-use-video-in-email-marketing/