mayfield media guide to online video

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Why Invest in Online Video?Your Guide to Online Video

85% of online shoppers are morelikely to buy a product or serviceafter watching a related Video

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Telephone: 02392 344094 | Email: [email protected] | www.mayfieldmedia.uk.com

INDEXIntroduction

The SEO Benefits of Online Video

Increase Conversion with Online Video

Promoting Video with YouTube and Facebook

Conclusion

About Mayfield Media

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Telephone: 02392 344094 | Email: [email protected] | www.mayfieldmedia.uk.com

Telephone: 02392 344094 | Email: [email protected] | www.mayfieldmedia.uk.com04

INTRODUCTIONIn a world where digital marketing changes almost daily, it’s important to make sure you’re staying ahead of the competition.

The newest and best way to do this is with Online Video.

Video can be of huge benefit to your business, and to help you understand exactly why, we’ve written this short guide to tell you what Video can do for you.

In this guide you’ll find all the information you need about the benefits for search engine optimisation (SEO) and conversion, as well as how to use Video on social media to drive traffic and brand awareness.

Telephone: 02392 344094 | Email: [email protected] | www.mayfieldmedia.uk.com 05

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS?What this means is that internet users, or in other words – your customers – are regularly consuming Online Video and paying less attention to image and basic text posts.

By getting stuck in with Online Video, you’re making sure you don’t miss out.

LET’S START WITH A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE VIDEOOnline Video is any Video (including both animation and film) hosted on a website, blog or on social media as well as platforms like YouTube. The popularity of Online Video has increased almost exponentially over the last 10 years. Thanks to smartphones, tablets and faster internet connections, Video has never been more accessible.

Millions of hours of Video are now available online, created by countless individuals and businesses. The revolution isn’t just happening on YouTube or Vimeo, it’s happening across almost all social networks.

3.5 billion Videos are now watched daily on Facebook.

Twitter, Vine, Instagram and Google+ also facilitate the creation, sharing and consumption of Video. We even have TV programmes dedicated to Online Video, such as RudeTube or Virtually Famous.

Content marketing has moved past text and images.

Video is now the medium of choice.

INTRODUCTION CONT.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER BENEFITS OF ONLINE VIDEO?

CONVERSIONThe benefits don’t stop there – Online Videos can actually improve your overall conversion rate. Whether using them on social media or placing them on your website, statistics show that …

85% of shoppers are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video.

This makes your Video a very powerful piece of content.

This improvement to conversion, combined with an increase in traffic, can only mean great things for your business.

SEOVideo doesn’t just help you to get noticed, it can also help you better your visibility in search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing all like Video, and regularly feature Videos amongst search results.

In fact, Google likes Video so much, they bought YouTube in 2006. This means that by producing Video, you’re not only ticking Google’s SEO boxes, you are also increasing your overall visibility and hopefully increasing your traffic.

INTRODUCTION CONT.


SOCIAL MEDIALast but not least, Video opens up a range of new opportunities for your social media strategy. There are multiple ways of using Video on social platforms beyond simply posting it to your business’s page or feed.

You can use Videos in your social media pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, or used as a welcome message. You get instant feedback on what viewers and potential customers think, not to mention the increase in conversion.

To show you why Online Video is so important, let’s discuss these benefits individually and in detail. First we’ll take a closer look at the SEO benefits of Online Video.

85% of shoppers are more likely tomake a purchase after watching a video

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INTRODUCTION CONT.



Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is vital if you want your website to rank highly in search results. It involves optimising both the back-end and front-end of the website, or in other words, the structure behind the scenes as well as what’s written on the customer-facing pages.

WHAT IS SEO?Google and other search engines use what are called spiders or bots to ‘crawl’ websites and understand what they are about. What the spiders find is what’s returned in search results. They look at everything, from site title, headers, meta description and keyword density, to load speed, image tags and readability. These are what Google refers to as ranking factors. SEO is therefore all about making sure your site aligns to Google’s recommendations, as well as making sure it’s relevant for the search terms you’re interested in ranking for. The trick is ranking higher than your competitors, and that’s why SEO and plenty of great content is so very important.

THE SEO BENEFITS OF ONLINE VIDEO

THE SEO BENEFITS OF ONLINE VIDEO


CAPTURE ATTENTION WITH VIDEOOne of the main benefits of Online Video is that it increases the time a visitor spends on your site. This in itself can be a ranking factor for Google, as it suggests that your content is relevant to whatever the user searched, and compelling enough to keep them on your site.

Videos, by their very nature, are far better at grabbing and holding attention than text or images alone, especially if they are engaging and have been professionally produced.

The human brain processes images 75x faster than it does text.

Pages of text and product images can seem stale, or scare away potential customers with their complexity.

Videos can not only grab attention immediately, but hold onto it as well.

Placing a Video on your landing pages means that customers are more likely to stick around, increasing your SEO score and learning more about your business and services in the meantime.

SOLVE A PROBLEMAs we discussed earlier, Google and other search engines now displays Videos in the search engine results pages (SERPs). The SEO benefit here is that even if your site doesn’t rank on the first page, your video might. Online Video therefore has a two-pronged approach.

That’s why it’s always a great idea to produce video that answers questions or solves a problem.

That’s the key to generating traffic and views from relevant and interested customers.


INCREASE CONVERSIONS

VIDEO MAKES IT EASIER FOR YOUR VISITORSOnline Video is a very effective method of capturing attention.

You have just a few seconds to convince your visitors that yours is the website they want.

This can be done with design, images and clarity of information of course, but what better way to describe your offering than with a Video?

Video enables you to package up all your information into one neat and good-looking source, and put it all in one place.

All of this helps potential customers to make up their minds about your business, and quickly too. If your customers are shopping around, you’ve made the decision a lot easier for them by making the relevant information extremely accessible.

If you customers are in a rush, you haven’t wasted their time with pages of text and graphics. Video has benefits for every type of visitor.

Video Rascal conducted a survey that shows 85% of online shoppers are more likely to buy a product or service after watching a related Video.

That shows that Video is a powerful conversion tool, but why and how does it work?

‘EXPLAIN YOURSELF’ WITH AN EXPLAINER VIDEOUsing animation as the primary visual element, explainer videos are an excellent way to convey messages, especially if they are of a technical nature.

Using engaging cartoons will give the viewer a much greater understanding of the concepts being communicated, with the likelihood of increased conversions.

INCREASE CONVERSIONS CONT.


TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT TO DOVideos can also increase conversion by including a strong call-to-action (CTA). This means telling your customer what to do next – what action to take.

Your Video can clearly instruct them to call you, email you or buy your product. This is key to making sure your visitors take the journey you’ve designed for them, one that hopefully ends up in a sale or sign-up.

MAKE MORE FROM YOUR VIEWSOnline Video also increases the average order value (AOV).

Research into retailers such as Best Buy and Under Armour showed that the AOV had increased at least 50 percent for customers that had watched a Video on a product.

Not only will your customers be converting, but they’ll be buying more too.

TAP INTO PSYCHOLOGYIt’s even more effective when you use a person to talk visitors through your services or products, or show off testimonials from real customers. Research shows that customers respond better to visuals featuring humans, especially if they are of a similar demographic. It’s wired into us, psychologically-speaking.

Human communication has existed for about 30,000 years, whereas text-based communication has been around only 3,700 years.

Videos can increase conversion in a number of different ways.Studies by storage retailer StacksandStacks in 2011 found that their customers were …

“ 144% more likely to make a purchase after seeing a product Video than those who didn’t ”

The reason behind this statistic is that people like to see the product they are buying before they buy it. That’s one of the reasons why Apple stores are very successful, as they let you hold and play with their products. If you’re an online store, using Videos to show off what your business has to offer is the next best thing.


PROMOTING VIDEO WITHYOUTUBE AND FACEBOOKOnline Video cannot only help you drive traffic organically via SEO, but actively through promotion on Facebook. Here’s why Online Video is important to your social media activity.

Posting a Video on social media is just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to what opportunities are open to you. Online Video enables you to increase your reach, improve your engagement, drive traffic and improve customer feedback.

LET’S LOOK AT FACEBOOK FIRST.Facebook is focusing more and more on Online Video …

so much so that 3.5 billion Videos are watched on Facebook every day across the World.

That’s almost enough to rival YouTube, especially with 1.3 billion monthly users.

What this means is, if you’re not producing Video, your content might not get seen as much as you would like. Facebook’s algorithm pays special attention to Video posts, especially if uploaded natively, or in other words, not linking to YouTube. By producing Video, you can reach a wider audience, and also engage on a deeper level with your prospective customers.

There are also many great PPC options with Facebook. By putting a budget behind your posts, you can boost and promote your Video to targeted audiences, reaching the people you want to reach. Your Video can appear in news feeds, on mobiles and tablets, and in the sidebars of pages.

Once again, if this Video is smart, well-produced and has a strong CTA, you’ll be driving traffic to your website, or page, where you may be sharing other content that’s of interest.

PROMOTING VIDEO WITH YOUTUBE AND FACEBOOK CONT.


YOUTUBEYouTube is almost a search engine in itself, and without Video, there isn’t much you can do on this great platform.

YouTube also allows you to run PPC campaigns, meaning your videos can be seen in search results, before videos and beside videos as well.

With a potential audience of over 1 billion, it’s no wonder why more than a million advertisers use YouTube, the majority of which are small business owners.

All you will need is a great-looking video that’s compelling and straight to the point.

Just remember that ads on YouTube can be skipped. The great news is that you only pay if your ad is watched.

With YouTube’s creator studio, you can also make sure your Videos link back to your site, and not just your channel. This once again ensures conversion, and means you can be clever with how you use your Video.

YouTube lets you place annotations, links, and comments over your Video, which you can use to get your CTA across and direct traffic straight to your website.

They are very easy to implement, as is managing all your Video’s information and generating custom thumbnails.


CONCLUSIONWe trust this guide has been useful to you, and shed some light on what Online Video can do for your business and how important it is.

From SEO to social media success, Video can benefit your whole marketing strategy.

By offering a sight, sound and motion experience for your potential customers, they will be more engaged with your products and services and hence more likely to make a purchase.

We hope that you’re now inspired to get started with Online Video.


ABOUT MAYFIELD MEDIAMayfield Media represent an in-house team of highly experienced and dedicated professionals. Each team member is an expert in their specialist field with productions gaining regular exposure on both TV and Radio.

We will engage with you fully throughout the entire collaborative process to ensure your Online Video matches both your commercial and budgetary requirements.

We provide a great range of Video services that can help you stand-out online and on social media.

If you want to know more about what we can do for you, get in touch with us on 02392 344094 or watch our video at www.mayfieldmedia.uk.com.

Free Consultation & Free Quote

To establish your complete needs and thereafter define the required

Workflow and associated costs.

Script WritingDevised by either yourself or

Mayfield Media with your input.

StoryboardingDrawn up by Mayfield Media with

your full consultation.

Voiceover ProductionDelivered by either yourself or a

Mayfield Media professional voiceover artist (celebrity or

non-celebrity).

Animation / Film ProductionYou choose between an animation

or film production (or a combination of the two) - this will

be strongly influenced by the nature of the products/services

you are offering.

Sound DesignMayfield Media provides musical accompaniment either created in-house at Mayfield Recording

Studios or purchased ‘off the shelf’.

Post Production & Final EditsThis is led by you to ensure

complete satisfaction over the entire production is achieved.

Online DistributionFinally, we will ensure your online

video is available via the most appropriate medium e.g. YouTube.

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www.MayfieldMedia.uk.comFor more information, please visit

mayfield media guide to online video

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