Video Marketing Trends: How to Win With Video Speed
Roughly 80% of businesses use video as a way to reach consumers. If you're not following this trend, it can reduce your page visibility and prevent your customers from gaining access to your valuable goods and services!
Video marketing is one of the best ways to boost your content strategy. After all, roughly 80% of businesses use video as a way to reach consumers.
If you're not following this trend, it can reduce your page visibility and prevent your customers from gaining access to your valuable goods and services! That means losing out on business and falling behind the competition.
One of the biggest factors affecting your video marketing strategy is your video speed. Here's what to know about video speed in the industry.
But First, Some Video Marketing Trends
Before we dive into video speed specifically, let's take a look at some overall content marketing trends concerning videos. Doing so will help us understand exactly why video matters and how speed is such a key component of your strategy.
Live Video
Thanks to the global covid 19 pandemic where in-person events were no longer possible, live video has seen a huge increase in popularity. Live video allowed influencers and businesses to reach their audience without being physically present.
Even as the pandemic winds down, live video remains hugely popular with users. In fact, users engage with live video content far more than they do with recorded content. And, that trend is only on the rise!
For video marketers, this means putting an increased focus on live video in the coming years. It will provide a way for them to connect with their audience and boost engagement.
Smartphone Videography
One huge trend in the world of video marketing is smartphone videography. With Apple creating better cameras every year, users now have access to better quality cameras which means better quality video content!
With so much smartphone content being generated every day, users are becoming accustomed to a different type of video. Video is now more accessible, making flashy advertisements less appealing than they were in the past.
For video marketers, this means jumping on the bandwagon and taking advantage of smartphone video production. With content that was filmed on a mobile phone (or looks like it was), brands make themselves more relatable to users.
Their new video content allows them a way to connect with their audience and put a human feel to their brand persona. As such, this trend is one that's going to be of rising importance in the coming years.
SEO Video
Search engine optimization is how digital marketers ensure that their web pages rank at the top of results pages on Google and other search platforms. It's long been used to help websites receive attention from audience members.
However, traditionally SEO practices have only applied to web pages and written content. It's focused primarily on optimizing blogs and specific pages on a company's main website.
One new trend for marketers to be aware of is the use of search engine optimization for video. Swarmify and other video hosting platforms now allow you to add tags, alt text, and other digital marketing techniques to optimize your videos for SEO.
Having solid video SEO is going to be a game-changer for putting your video in front of your audience. This trend is one that's here to stay, and that's important to jump on if you want to reach your audience before the competition.
Vlogging
In the past, the written word was what grabbed users' attention and kept them up to date on what a company was doing. However, blogging is now fading to grey in the light of vlogging.
Vlogging is essentially the practice of creating recorded blogs. They're a brand storytelling strategy that connects with and engages your audience by recounting stories and experiences.
In addition, vlogs get roughly four times as many views as other types of content. That means that customers are looking at vlogs as a way of learning about brands and products.
With so many people watching video blogs online, vlogging is a trend that can help your business grow. By creating vlogs, you add more personality to your business and help create a human connection with your customer base.
Social Media
Another trend that won't be going anywhere any time soon is the use of social media in video marketing. Social media has always played a big role in content marketing, but the stories feature on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat only boost that role.
Stories are a more casual way for businesses to connect with customers. They show off a brand's personality and give users an insight into what your business is like behind the scenes.
On top of that, stories allow companies to post numerous types of content. They can engage with users through Q&A sessions or can post unedited "outtakes" of what happens during daily life at the office.
No matter what type of stories you're posting, these are one video marketing trend to stay on top of. Stories are a new and better way for users to engage with your business and are only expected to improve in the coming year.
Silent Videos
If you've ever scrolled through your Facebook or Instagram feed, you've probably come across videos that start playing without the sound activated. This feature of social media platforms allows viewers to watch videos without having to automatically start playing audio clips.
The caveat is that not all videos make sense without sound. Those that don't often get passed by for videos that viewers can watch without having to turn up the volume.
For video marketers, this means changing the way that they produce content. Videos now have to grab the attention of the user without using sound to do so.
Marketers heading into 2022 should plan to put an emphasis on creating eye-catching videos through visuals only. Doing so will help them stay on the playing field with their competitors and ensure their content receives views.
The Need for Speed: Why Video Speed Matters
Okay, so we've talked about video marketing. However, what's the story with video speed and why is it so important? Let's take a look at a few reasons why video speed matters.
Better Customer Retention
The first reason why video speed is so important is that it improves customer retention. Customers are more likely to stick around on websites with videos that actually load.
Otherwise, they're left waiting for a video that never buffers. This can lead to frustration and cause visitors to jump off the page and head over to a competitor's site.
What's interesting is that even improving your video's load time by a few milliseconds can help improve your user retention. Just by tweaking your video's file size or embed process, you can keep more users on your page.
Higher Conversions
The second reason why video speed is so important is that faster videos mean higher conversions. After all, when users bounce off your page, they're not going to make a purchase!
Slow sites have been linked to reduced revenue thanks to lost customers over poor wait times. In contrast, fast sites have been shown to increase conversion rates and entice people to make a purchase.
This is partly due to the fact that people expect high-functioning videos. When companies don't deliver, clients lose confidence and get frustrated. Both of these factors make them less likely to make a purchase.
Improved User Experience
User experience is important for both customer retention and conversion rates. And there are fewer solid ways to improve your user experience than by improving your video speeds!
To improve user experience, you need to focus on two things:
- Providing customers with what they're looking for
- Providing customers with fast service
When your videos function quickly, you're able to accomplish both of those goals. This makes it easier for you to improve customer conversions.
Rank Higher on Google
It's no mystery that search engines love websites that load quickly. And the same can be said for videos that load quickly! Just by having videos that don't slow down your site you can improve how high your page ranks on SERPs.
What's more, platforms such as Swarmify also take speed into account when showing your videos to users. Your content is more likely to get put in front of customers if it loads properly.
Having fast-loading video content is important for ranking individual pages and blogs on your site as well. Any blog or page that has a video has the potential to rank at the top of SERPs. The more speed-efficient your videos are, the faster your pages will load and the higher you'll be able to rank.
Pro Tips for Stepping up Your Video Speed
So, are you ready to step up your video speed and take advantage of this video marketing tactic? We've got your back. Here are some of our pro tips for improving your video speed.
Reduce Your File Size
One of the first (and easiest!) ways to improve your video speed is to reduce your video file size. Smaller videos mean fewer data to load, which in turn speeds up how quickly your site can load the content.
The key to reducing your file size is to not over-compress the videos. You want to make sure that you preserve the video quality while still reducing the total file size for the video.
Embed Your Videos
The most common mistake businesses make in video SEO is uploading their video directly to their site. When businesses upload videos to their websites they inadvertently add huge amounts of data that make the site heavy.
The heavier a site is, the more slowly it will load. And the more slowly the website loads, the more slowly the video content loads and frustrates your clients.
Instead, use an embed code to place your video on your site. You can embed your video after uploading it to Swarmify and other video hosting providers.
Use Supported Formats
There are tons of video formats out there to choose from. And many business owners simply think they're all the same!
However, some formats are better for uploading to the web than others. To help boost your video's speed, you'll want to choose the correct video format.
If you create your video in an HTML5 supported format, you won't have to use a plugin to deliver your video content. The most common HTML5 supported video format is MP4.
Eliminate Audio in Muted Videos
Remember how we mentioned that silent videos are a rising video trend? With viewers watching so many videos without the sound, many businesses are adapting their strategy and creating videos that are entirely muted.
If you're going to do this, make sure that you remove the original audio clip. Doing so helps reduce the size of your video, which will boost its speed on your site.
Use a Content Delivery Network
A content delivery network, or a CDN, will create a cache of the static assets on your website. While that might not seem to have a lot to do with video speed, it's actually a great way to reduce load times!
Since a CDN stores your static content, it helps your website to load faster. And it stores data which means your videos don't have to download and buffer.
Don't Fall Behind, Boost Your Video Speed Today!
Having good video speed is part of creating a solid video marketing strategy. By reducing your page load time and increasing your video playback speed, you can transform the way customers connect with your business.
Are you ready to transform your video marketing efforts with boosted video speed? Get in touch with Swarmify and we'll help you with video hosting and playback today!
