5 Reasons Why Video Is More Effective Than Text
Telling your audience something is good, but what about telling them AND showing them? It can be so much more effective in every way. We’re talking video content and it can be a game-changer for your website and your next marketing campaign.
Reaching your audience with text means getting through to them with words. And sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes it’s the appropriate medium to communicate with them. However, the old saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ — meaning you can convey so much with just one image — is true for video too, many times over. According to a recent study, 72% of consumers say they prefer video to text, and you can’t argue with that.
Videos are becoming the go-to content for those who want to take their brand to new heights. In fact, many surveys have shown that video content has become more popular among businesses and marketers over the past year, with 91% of marketers saying video is more important than ever, and highlighting that the number of people who are planning to start using video marketing is up 10% from last year.
Why is video becoming more popular? There are many reasons brands and businesses are choosing video content over text and many instances when a video is the best choice. Let’s take a look at five reasons why video content is so effective:
- Videos get attention
You’re on a site and you’re scrolling, scrolling, scrolling and then — a video. If you’re like most people, here’s where you stop. There’s just something about a video that makes people take notice. And science backs it up: our eyes are made to detect movement and when we notice any sort of motion — like a video playing — we’re immediately zero in on it. These split-second, subconscious reactions are significant when it comes to attracting the attention of your audience. Adding a video to an article, or using a video instead of an article or banner ad can get more people to take a closer look at what you’re offering.
2. Videos are engaging
Getting people’s attention is one thing, but what you really want to do is keep their attention. You want people to watch your videos long enough to get the message, be sold on the product, be informed and — most of all — be engaged. Here’s where videos shine. Text is no doubt informative. And it can be engaging when used in the right way. But it can take a bit more mental energy and feel a little more like ‘work’ than watching video — and smart use of video content can get information to your audience while promoting engagement.
Do you remember being in school and reading aloud from the textbook? Then do you remember the feeling when the teacher would decide to put on a movie? It’s sort of like that. Video content is cognitively easier to absorb than text for many people, and many people would rather click on a video ad than other types of ad content. Videos are a different experience than reading — sometimes more of an escape, more immediate, more entertaining — but they allow for engagement on multiple levels. With videos you can show and tell; you can add interesting visuals, speech, and a more personal element; and you can elicit greater empathy and create a more emotional connection.
And sometimes videos work better with your audience in real life. Whereas reading a long article may require a certain kind of attention, the same amount of information can be delivered to someone via video — which they can watch while they multitask, take in without too much effort or get through in less time. Videos allow you to engage with people who otherwise might not stop to notice your content.
3. Videos make an impression
65% of people say they’re visual learners. That means they respond to images more strongly than they do to words. And it’s proven that people remember more of what they’ve seen in a video than what they’ve read in text — with a whopping 95% of information from a video retained compared to 10% retention from written text.
Video content helps people remember you. This is important for building brand recognition and creating customer engagement and loyalty. Just as people are more likely to recall a particular TV commercial, video content can stick in the head a lot longer than text can. A piece of text can get lost in a sea of other articles — there’s only so much variation among most written articles. But videos can be as unique and memorable as you can make them. Video content can really let your future customers
4. Videos drive traffic
If you’re thinking SEO — and you should be — then you need to be thinking about adding video content to your marketing strategy. It’s been estimated that a few videos on a website can increase web traffic by over 40% and can boost organic traffic from search engines by 157%.
Getting more people to go to your site and getting your website to rank at the top of search results is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies are for. Incorporating search engine-friendly videos into your text, website, and social media pages is something you should start doing.
Sharing videos on social media also helps with driving more traffic to a website. Videos get shared an astounding 1200% more on social media than written text does. With 5 billion videos watched per day on YouTube and millions of daily users on the most popular social media channels, this is an area you should have a presence in. Creating compelling video content will allow you to reach people on sites like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat and let them share your videos with others.
All of that sharing can mean more inbound links, which is great for SEO. You know those videos you’ll see at the top of a google search? They’re there thanks to ease of sharing and videos you add are more likely to get to the top of the search results page than text.
5. Videos encourage buying
This is the end goal of your marketing campaign — you want people to buy or take some sort of action on your site. This is what’s known as conversion, and videos are great for driving up conversion rates by showing a consumer that you have the solution they need. Demonstrations videos, videos about a product, and other video content can inspire consumer confidence and give them the extra nudge they need to add-to-cart. 64% of shoppers are more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video about that product.
The video marketing boom doesn’t mean that text is done for, but it does signal a shift in the kind of content that’s most effective online. Videos can be extremely valuable when it comes to marketing, and consumers love videos. A good mix of text and video, and the right type of video content can help your website and your advertising campaigns become more effective and profitable.
At Agency Rye, we’re here to help you create the content you need. Make the most of video advertising and let our creative team work for you. See our reel and get in touch to talk about how to maximize your ROI with lead-generating marketing videos.