With more than a billion users, YouTube has become one of the internet’s premier destinations — and the source of hundreds of millions of hours of video viewing each day. By next year, video is expected to account for nearly 70 percent of all consumer traffic on the internet.
There’s no doubt that just about everyone is watching video online, and savvy businesses have jumped in as regular producers — indeed, video looms as the expected major player in content marketing in coming years. The question is, “Why is video so popular?”
Video Tells Stories in Highly Motivational Ways
As the flow of available digital content grows on a daily basis, our attention spans have shrunk in recent years. In fact, a recent study found that the average human attention span is just eight seconds — a sharp decrease from 12 seconds in 2000. Goldfish now beat people when it comes to paying attention, experts say.
Video is naturally engaging — more engaging than text, if we’re being honest — and easy to digest. In other words, our short attention spans make video all the more attractive, because we get the gist faster than with text. And often, video leaves positive impressions on viewers. Fully 70 percent of people say they have a better feeling about brands after watching their engaging video content.
A skilled writer can certainly paint a convincing picture of complex emotions. But seeing is believing, and we can closely relate to the situations and resulting feelings experienced by people in videos.
It’s easy to put ourselves in a subject’s place, which can motivate us to act. For example, many of us can relate to video of a senior dealing with declining physical abilities — and choosing to move to a senior living community. When we relate to the subject, we also can relate to the motivations and the resulting actions.
Video Taps Into Human Nature
Why are people so drawn to video? Do they just not feel like reading anymore?
The answer is much more complex, psychologists say, and it involves both human nature and human physiology. From infancy, people are hard-wired to pay attention to faces; doing so gives us valuable information that has helped us survive and reproduce. The skill of grasping others’ emotions has numerous benefits, including being accepted in a social group and finding a mate.
We’re also very tuned in to the sound of human speech, and we gather a significant amount of information not only from the words spoken but also from the volume and tone. In addition, people naturally share with others, and we have a strong ability to feel the emotions that we believe others are feeling.
Video Can Boost Your Google Search Placement
Using embedded video on your website benefits you in several ways. First, when you upload videos to YouTube, you create additional content that will receive a ranking in search engines.
It’s also important to note that Google owns YouTube. While Google doesn’t reveal the intricacies of its search algorithms, it’s clear that YouTube videos generally receive high rankings in Google search. And your video is given a higher authority score in Google when it has a high ranking — continuing the cycle of appearing higher in search results.
Simply by creating a channel on YouTube and uploading content, you take powerful steps to improve your search rankings. In addition, you can attend to some specifics of your embedded video to further advance your SEO. You can use Google AdWords or Google Trends to identify keywords that may work for your specific targeting needs; using your keywords, be sure to complete the description field for your video. Include the URL for your site as well.
Consider adding a transcript for your video; Google provides tips on formatting it correctly. By including a word-for-word transcription, you gain another opportunity to use your important keywords. You’ll also want to make sure to link to all your videos from your website, which can help boost your views. More views can help improve your search rankings.
Most importantly, you should leverage your social media presence to increase your video views. By sharing your videos with fans through email newsletters and social media posts, you potentially increase traffic to both your video channel and to your website. Appropriate creation and use of video is a complex — and quickly changing — segment of content marketing; an experienced marketing agency can assist you with all the details.
Are you producing and sharing video? If not, you’re missing out on a compelling, highly motivational method for telling your community’s story.