Try opening a webpage these days without a video auto-playing or popping up somewhere on the page. You can hardly avoid it.
Everybody wants video these days, and content creators are obliging.
Because many of us carry around digital video studios in our pockets these days, the demand and production of video has gone up significantly, especially in content marketing. Video has rapidly pulled alongside, and in many cases passed, written content as the dominant medium on companies’ marketing websites and social media accounts.
This year, it’s expected that 80 percent of online content will be video. Video consumption rises on mobile by 100 percent every year.
The barrier between marketing teams and clear, crisp video content is down. But does that mean it should be a company’s go-to form of content?
As with most questions like these, the answer is “it depends.”
There are a lot of advantages to using video, the biggest one being audiences (especially younger ones) appreciate it. The explosion of video-focused websites like YouTube and Vimeo is all the proof you need to see people want to consume video content. More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day.
Video allows the content creator to be dynamic, use visuals and express a clear personality or voice, something that can get lost in the written word. Those qualities allow the piece of content to be more interactive and connective than a traditional blog post.
Video is also the most shared form of content across social media platforms. Because social media is the new “word of mouth,” video is the language that translates best and lets you spread your message.
But video may not always be the right choice. If you don’t have a magnetic personality, eye-catching visuals or proper production capabilities, the content can come across as forced. That kind of presentation could make your content look inauthentic and unprofessional and reflect poorly on your company.
Sometimes, the classic written word is still the best avenue to pursue for your content needs. First off, it requires a lot fewer resources. All you need is a keyboard and an active mind.
Written content can also allow the creator to really go in depth on a topic. Most successful videos aren’t longer than a couple minutes, which forces the content creator to keep the subject matter fairly high-level. While no one wants to read a novel-length blog, readers are more open-minded to reading a couple thousand words on a topic they care about. The average length of blogs has actually gone up in recent years, and long-form content is ranking better than short-form content in search engine results.
Conversely, a quick dump of information often lends itself to written content. If the audience needs fast, informative content – like a flash sale or a product update – you likely don’t need to use the resources necessary to produce and edit a video.
Clearly, each medium has its place. Many successful content marketers use both for the same topic, making sure the audience’s preferred form is covered. The most popular news sites have videos at the top or alongside their written content.
The audience is the ultimate judge on what kind of content you need. Some audiences just don’t want to be bombarded by videos when they open up their laptops or phones. Others don’t have the time (or attention span) to stop and read a thousand-word blog post.
Content, and using different forms, can be a game of trial and error. You often won’t know something won’t work until it doesn’t. The audience will let you know. And then you adjust.
And if you didn’t make it this far down the blog, we will make a dynamic video to get the same point across.
