Using video content for marketing is not a new concept, but video is no longer just a nice way to showcase your brand – it’s a powerful tool that you can use to attract, convert, and delight prospects and customers. IF you use the right video platform.
As data-obsessed people, we know that making a great video means nothing if we can’t see how that video performs. This is one of the reasons we decided to partner with video hosting platform, Vidyard. This allows us to report on metrics such as video views, audience retention, and conversion rates to further inform our video marketing strategy and future video creation.
But why should you, as a marketer, consider a video platform like Vidyard for business instead of a free social media platform like YouTube? Here’s an explainer video from Vidyard expert, Yaniv Siegel, giving us a breakdown of the benefits of using the right video platform for your business:
In the video, Yaniv highlights these five key benefits:
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You can host video content on your own assets
Eight out of 10 companies in South Africa host their videos on YouTube. It’s a fantastic platform as a channel, for SEO (search engine optimisation) purposes, to create an audience, etc. But for hosting your content on your own assets, like your homepage, a landing page, or a blog post – it is not a platform meant for that type of video hosting. And the reason for that is the lack of data and the presence of competitor content.
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Get real metrics and report on the ROI of your videos
When people watch a video on YouTube, the only measurement you can really get is the number of views. But if we were to ask you, “out of all those people who watched your video, how many of those actually became a lead or a marketing qualified lead or a customer in your funnel?” You wouldn’t be able to answer.
With a platform like Vidyard you have the ability to see what type of content is actually driving leads for your business.
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Eliminate distractions and keep your target audience focused on your brand
Did you know that the very first YouTube video was uploaded in 2005? Now, over 500 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s a lot of content from a lot of different people and brands all fighting for attention. This means that a video that is likely embedded on your website leaves people seeing content that has nothing to do with your product or service.
When you use YouTube, for example, it suggests content based on what’s most likely to get the next click which will keep your visitors on the platform and going down the “cat video” rabbit hole. Plus, because they watched your content, YouTube will start serving up competitive content, since that’s what interests the visitor. When you use Vidyard, for example, you are able to own your content and the brand experience.
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Add additional call to actions and lead capture opportunities
Another challenge with using free video platforms is that there is no way for you to capture any leads on the video. With tools like Vidyard you can put a form or button directly into the video at any point. This also makes the video more interactive, rather than a static video.
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Pull viewer data into your CRM
One of the most important benefits is that you can integrate your video engagement into a CRM or marketing automation solution like HubSpot. So if someone were to watch a video and are a known contact in your CRM, you can capture the data to the contact record. So, for example, you can see if the contact watched 100% or 2% of the video. In a nutshell, you can see exactly who's watching what and how much of that video is being watched. With this data, you can start measuring if the people who watch videos become leads or even customers. You can also measure the Rand value associated with each video.
Don’t forget to watch Yaniv’s full video above for a more in-depth breakdown and examples of these benefits for your business. If you’re ready to start changing the way you do marketing videos, contact us for a demo.