Video Marketing Big Deal

Is Video Really That Big a Deal for Library Marketing?

Or …

Why Your Library Really Should Pay Attention to Video as Part of Your Marketing Plans

Have you had a conversation with yourself lately, or your boss or your community stakeholders, and asked “why on earth should I be investing my valuable, overworked time on video?”

Or you wondered, “do I really need a video strategy? Or this another social fad?”

Or have you found yourself in your Facebook feed, watching yet another video, pondering, “is everything going to be video on social now?! Is this thing really the golden ticket?”

And considering how many other library and marketing hats you’re already wearing, I know you are asking the question – “how can I realistically find time to spend figuring out creation, promotion, sharing of social video. I’ve got other things to do too!”

Yup. I hear you.

I have heard those questions.

BUT … you know you need marketing tactics that are efficient and effective, delivering big bang for the buck (or lack of bucks); tactics that are standing out in our busy, content-filled world and feeds of library users.

Right now, that’s video. Video IS bang-for-the-buck.

Video gives you presence, engagement, a way to be more interactive, to sound like the warm, caring humans you are, and really show off your library’s story. Literally show, not tell.

Still not 100% ready to believe me that video is a MUST-HAVE in your library marketing toolkit?

Ok. Research time …

We Watch a TON of Videos Online

• Globally, video will be 82% of all consumer web traffic by 2020 (up from 70% in 2015) [CISCO research white paper]
  • Ooyala research predicts video content to be 86% of all traffic by 2016
  • Cisco says online video now (2016) accounts for 64% of all consumer web traffic –
• YouTube says their mobile video consumption is rising 100% every year; and we watch more on mobile now – average viewing session = more than 40 minutes.

 

Find more statistics at Statista

• Over 100M Americans watch an online video once a day
  • 78% of people watch videos online every week
  • 55% watch videos every day
• Mobile and tablet users/shoppers 3x more likely to view a video as laptop or desktop users [via Forbes]
• 92% of mobile video watchers share videos with others [Invodo]
• 1/3 of ALL online activity is now spent watching video
• In the US, YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than ANY broadcast or cable TV network, and YouTube does that on mobile alone.
• 36% of online consumers trust online video ads [Nielsen Wire]
• 80% of users recall a video ad they viewed in past 30 days [Insivia report – research from Online Publishers Association]

 

Video Isn’t All Cats and Kids

Video, and YouTube particularly, is not all music videos, silly kids, or cute cats. Not that there’s anything wrong with kids or cats videos! But your community is already watching and sharing video. Video is a HUGE traffic and brand booster already for both consumer and business-to-business marketing – and it’s a growing part of the mix for nonprofits too.

Video is HUGE in Marketing Already – Other Types of Organizations and Brands Know This

Marketers Say Video Works

• 52% of marketing professionals worldwide name VIDEO as content with best ROI [research report from Adobe, shared by Hubspot in social forecast]
• 69% of surveyed marketing, sales and business pros have used video marketing; 31% plan to use it soon
  • Alternate stat says 93% of marketers are currently using video for online marketing and communications
• 76% of professional marketers and Small-Medium Business Owners that have used video, have seen direct, positive impact on their business [Adobe report; and Vidyard]

Video Can Boost Traffic

• Video in an email leads to 200% increase in click-through rates [Forrester research]
• Orgs using video have 41% more web traffic from search than non-users of video [Adelie Studios report via HubSpot]
• Video can drive a more than 150% increase in organic traffic from search engines, according to Brightcove
  • 62% of Google searches include video [MarketingLand]

Yes, Video Rocks on Social Media

• Facebook is now dominating as place to share and distribute video content – seen as almost 9x more impact than other social platforms. Probably because Facebook shows preference to native FB uploaded video vs. shared YT links -> higher reach [research from video animation/editing tool Animoto; backed by Adelie Studios report]
  • Facebook now has 8 BILLION daily video views!
• But YouTube is still platform projected to see most growth in paid video promotion
• And people still watch 10X more video (on web and in-app) on YouTube vs. Facebook [VentureBeat]
• 87% of nonprofit marketers use video as part of their content strategy [CMI]
• YouTube is the 3^rd most used social platform for sharing content among nonprofit marketers: 77% use YT (behind Facebook and Twitter – each with their own large video presence) [CMI]
• 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound.

Nonprofit Marketers Like Video Too

I’ll get into this deeper in other posts, but just because libraries and nonprofits aren’t “selling”, doesn’t mean you don’t have a product and a market, right? You still have to ‘sell’ and communicate your ideas, your programs, services and your core message to your community. Video offers a huge potential to boost visibility, sharing and interaction in your community. You’ll be joining a growing crowd of nonprofits using this tool as part of their content marketing strategy.

• CMI’s research among Nonprofit marketers shows they rank videos as more effective [65%] than print pubs, infographics, webinars or case studies
• 25% of higher ed institutions are using online video as part of admissions process
• Nonprofits are in the top 5 of industries using video – along with healthcare, software, education and marketing firms [VentureBeat- Crayon Report State of Video]
• 80% of respondents say video is important to their nonprofits [study of nonprofits by YouTube, Edelman and See3]
• See also the DoGooder Video- Creator For Good Awards – sponsored by YouTube, See3, NTEN.

 

So, yes, video marketing IS a really BIG deal and your library needs to be paying attention. And you need to figure out how video fits in your marketing plans, your content promotion, your social media strategy. If you aren’t already using video (YAY!), then after seeing these stats you know you need to be using the power of video to tell your library’s story!

And I’m here to help you do just that.

… “stay tuned for more” …