My eye doctor begs to differ, but I don’t think it’s my poor vision that causes me to squint at my mobile phone. No, it’s the itty bitty words and pictures that I and many others find difficult to see on our tiny, mobile devices. And if I’m like the average American, I apparently spend around 5 hours a day consuming content on my mobile phone.

A third of online activity is spent watching video. And according to Wordstream, more than half of video content is consumed on mobile devices.

Why? This squinting issue of mine is one of the many reasons mobile consumption is shifting more and more toward video content, in comparison to text and images.

Why We Love Videos for Mobile

According to the stats, if you want your marketing messages to stand out on mobile, they should incorporate video. Why exactly is that? Is there something wrong with images or text?

  • Videos are easier on the eyes compared to reading strings of text on a mobile device.
  • The movement in videos makes them more engaging and eye-catching than static imagery.
  • Video can be passively consumed, while text and images require more energy to digest. (Put simply, videos spoon feed consumers content, whereas text and images do not.)

Videos Encourage Engagement…and Clicks

Humans aren’t the only ones who love video content. Search engines, social media networks and display advertising channels are partial to video too.

Search Engine Optimization

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), sites like Google prioritize web pages that display video content, offering up these pages in top results pages more frequently than those that don’t.

Pro tip: If your web pages are both mobile-optimized (with a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes) and they include video, you’ve vastly increased your likelihood of getting found when consumers search online.

Social Media

65% of people who watch the first 3 seconds of a Facebook video will watch at least 10 seconds of that video. 45% will increase that amount of time watched to 30 seconds. And when it comes to clicks, a Facebook video receives, on average, 135% more organic reach than a Facebook photo.

Display Advertising

“Display advertising” is a type of online advertising that comes in various forms. It includes things like banner ads on the edges of web pages, and other rich, eye-catching media that stand out from the main content being consumed. According to eMarketer, the most popular types of rich media when it comes to digital advertising are video ads that play between paragraphs of text and in social media feeds.

Use Video in Your Marketing – 4 Steps

Here’s the hard part. Where do small businesses, most of which have limited marketing budgets and little-to-no video production resources, get in on the video marketing revolution?

1. Build Your Library

You can’t create a strategy for deploying video content to mobile users without, well, videos! So the first step in your journey should be building up your library. Think about what type of videos your customers would be interested in.

Video content ideas for small businesses:
  • A “Who We Are” about your business
  • An inside look at what you do
  • Product or service showcases
  • How-to demos
  • Friendly tips and tricks

What’s great about the explosion of video consumption on mobile is that it makes it much easier and more accessible. Gone are the days when you needed expensive equipment and professional videographers to get things done. Now, just about anyone with a smartphone and a clever idea can create eye-catching, high quality videos on the cheap. And since they’re made via mobile, they’ll be well-suited to share on the same medium.

Once you’ve built up your video repertoire, it’s time to choose which videos are best suited for each marketing channel you utilize.

2. Liven Up Your Website

Your website should serve a few purposes for your business, and video content can enhance its ability to achieve these goals.

Goals like:
  • Get you found when consumers search online.
  • Educate consumers on who you are and what you do.
  • Convert leads by getting them to contact you or buy from you.

Whatever your goals are for your website (they’ll vary from industry to industry), choose and organize your video content accordingly. Not sure where to start? Place a 60-second “Who We Are” video on your website’s homepage or landing page. This will improve your SEO and engage site visitors better, making your site more “sticky.”

3. Share More on Social

Social media channels are rapidly adapting how they display video content on mobile devices. Facebook, by far the most popular social channel out there, is constantly improving how they feature video content in their main feed. It started when they began playing videos automatically as users scrolled by them and got even better when they introduced live streaming with Facebook Live. And social media networks like Instagram and Snapchat are evolving right alongside them.

How to use videos on social media:
  • Keep them short and sweet, catering to users’ limited attention spans. 15- to 30-second videos should do the trick.
  • Share more friendly, helpful content here, as opposed to “selling” content. Share videos your friends would enjoy.
  • If they include sound or voice-overs, use captions! Why? Because 85% of Facebook video is consumed without sound.
  • Branch outside of regular posts into boosted posts and ads, and measure how video ads convert compared to single image ads. You’re likely to be pleasantly surprised.

4. Don’t Shy Away from Display

Like any other advertising channel, display ads can be both effective and challenging. It’s all about measuring the return on your investment and adjusting along the way. Luckily, that’s where display ads can be really helpful for the small business marketer.

Tools like Google’s Display Network help you track clicks, impressions and even conversions throughout your campaigns. They let you choose your ad format, choose where your ads will run, and cap your budget wherever you feel most comfortable. Then, Google matches your ads with relevant keywords and content.

Where does video come in? Since display ads are so widely used, they’re also widely ignored. Static text and image ads can tend to blend in with the content around them. But video ads are much more engaging, helping them stand out among the clutter.

When it comes to the type of videos you use in display ads, now’s the time to whip out your “selling” content. Lean on product and services showcases here, and make it clear how consumers can convert with a compelling call to action.

Cut! Lost Your Director’s Hat?

If you’re not feeling like becoming a videographer is up your alley, Thryv can help. See how.