In a recent column I authored in Production Hub, I examined the unquestionable effectiveness of video marketing, and how it differs from video advertising.
A key ingredient behind the rapid growth of content marketing is the increasing, almost universal consumption of video across multiple channels. Over the past year, we’ve seen video play a growing role in inbound marketing strategies, aided by social media companies adding new video capabilities to their platforms. Twitter, for example, launched video autoplay to its feeds, Facebook gave advertisers the option to buy video ads, and live streaming video through Periscope became an overnight sensation.
As I wrote in Production Hub, it’s not surprising that video is taking off. According to Brightcove, social video generates 1,200% more shares than text and images combined. And, video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more, according to research from eyeviewdigital.com.
A recent phenomenon that highlights video’s viral potential is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which began in the summer of 2014 with a single video depicting professional golfer Chris Kennedy pouring an icy bucket of water on his head and challenging his sister, whose husband has ALS, to do the same. After posting the video on Facebook, it was seen by other ALS sufferers (and their friends and family members), and it took off from there. By the end of the year, 17 million people had uploaded their challenge videos to Facebook; these videos were watched by 440 million people a total of 10 billion times, and the ALS Association raised more than $100 million.
While any company would be thrilled to achieve a portion of the buzz generated by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, there are several lessons that can be learned from this cause marketing event, including the importance of understanding the distinction between video marketing and video advertising. Click here to read my opinions on this subject matter as they appear in Production Hub.
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