This is the age of visual media – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram are all completely focusing on this aspect. If you look at the growing trends in the last 2-3 years, Visual Content has already become a critical element in all successful marketing strategy.
A picture is equal to a 1,000 words, and a video is equal to 10,00,000! Get the gist? What a video or picture can convey in seconds, words may not be able to convey even when we fill up pages.
Videos have tremendous potential. They can convey high-quantum data and information within seconds. And that too by taking you away from using your imagination based on words to actual realistic portrayal based on visuals. It is therefore key to communication success that we embrace more and more videos in our overall communication strategy.
Look at the number of platforms that have engaging videos and visuals – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, your very own website or blog, WhatsApp with its plethora of engaging videos and visuals, infographics through mailers … the list goes on. And the engagement through these platforms are increasing day by day. Not to mention the proliferation of innumerable news channels across the country (as of last there were over 400 functional on-air news channels).
The World is evolving, and along with it, communication trends are also evolving. The latest trend is the use of video in communication. Visual communication is a powerful asset for engaging your community, raising brand awareness and generating media attention. The digital landscape is overcrowded with photos, videos and infographics; make sure your content stands out and gets your organization the attention it deserves. Video is a crucial part of any content and social media marketing campaign. If you utilize it, you can connect with customers on a more personal level, provide visual learners with content that they will readily digest, and tap into audiences across varied platforms.
Video usage is growing at a rapid pace, and now is the time for you to find your target audiences’ demographic and create content that they’ll enjoy. According to a Cisco study, video traffic will account for 79% of all consumer traffic on the web in 2018.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, and a video probably a million words, but have you as a marketer turned a strategic lens on optimizing the ROI from your visual media content investments? More importantly, do you even have a visual media content strategy in place? According to various studies, 65% of senior marketing executives believe visual assets are core to how their brand story should communicate, but only 27% have the ability to aggregate, organize and manage these assets across marketing and non-marketing teams.
Visual Assets, including photography, illustrations, infographics and videos, are core to customer engagement, and the usage is increasing YOY. Video usage is going to increase exponentially in the years to come along with infographics, photographs, and illustrations.
Because visual assets have long been the domain of creative or agency resources, the conversation around maximizing value across the organization has fallen off the priority list. But as customers continue to react in meaningful ways to visual media, marketing cannot afford to stand aloof and not include visuals in the content ROI agenda.
As per a consumer research, 40% of customers respond better to visual information than plain text. Marketers have to shift content production to include vast quantities of graphics, videos, photographs and illustrations.
There are a number of video platforms to choose from, and all of them offer different benefits to your business. Some will increase your followers count and likes on social media, while others may bolster your relationships with your customers.
YouTube has been the all-time favourite for video uploads and sharing. It continues to maintain its numero uno position. But other platforms are closely following on its heals.
Facebook has been on the up with its videos, and as per the latest claims the social media site now boasts more than four billion video views per day. When people are on Facebook, they want to be entertained and distracted. Your videos should be fun and light-hearted, as well as humorous. They should also be short.
Instagram – if you have a large following, or you want to build it up, try posting video on your account. People who use Instagram already like to consume visual content, so you’re already ahead of the game when you use it for marketing purposes. Instagram videos can be fifteen seconds long at most.
Here are some extremely insightful data:
- 90% people feel that television is the most effective channel to influence consumer decision (Nielsen Study)
- India shipped 26.5 million handsets between April–June 2015. Set to overtake US in terms of number of smartphones by 2017. It is already the most widespread screen in the country, and globally.
It is now time to integrate video communication as part of your regular communication, outreach and brand-building initiative. Think about it!
He is a Communication & Brand Consultant with over 18 years of multi-faceted experience – spanning media, journalism, PR and brand management.
Prasun can be reached at prasun@vnrmediaworx.in
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