Bold statement: If you’re not using video in your social media, you’re
- Making a huge mistake
- Being penny wise and pound foolish
- Not truly understanding where social media is, and where it’s going.
Choose any two.
First there was the radio, an experience that was eventually improved and enhanced (some say) by the invention of television. Fast forward about 50-60 years and the personal computer begins to emerge. Then came modems – linking them all together. Soon there’s there BBS method of communication, then the ‘world wide web’ and then email. Email soon is improved and enhanced (some say!) by social media and chat.
So where are we now? We live in the age of Social Media. People have settled in and now tweet and update their statuses all very comfortably. But don’t get too cozy. Because the next enhancement and improvement to your social media efforts is already here. It’s called video.
These days if you’re only using text in your status updates, or DMs, or tweets – you’re really missing an opportunity to grab your customers and prospects attention. You need to get good at incorporating video in your social media. To do anything less and you might look like the rotary phone of the internet!
Here are 5 reasons to embrace video in your social media campaigns:
- It’s intimate. Videos give you a chance to really let your customer get to know you. Even if you balk at the idea of you yourself being on camera, you can still get so much more of your brand across via a video than you ever can via text.
- It’s fun! Putting a video together using Animoto or iMovie is far more fun than staring at blank screen with writer’s block.
- It’s educational for them. If you are trying to teach your clients or prospects anything complex, a video can do in 2 minutes what might take you 1000 well written words to achieve. And, btw, that’s assuming they’d bother to ever READ 1000 words.
- It’s educational…for you. Creating video is the perfect reason to really think about how you really want to come across to your clients. What tone of voice you want your brand to convey, what kind of music you might choose. It all goes to strengthening your brand. So if you never thought of these things before – videos will force you to take this very important step.
- It works! Video sells better than text ever could. In fact, Internet Retailer “reports that visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not, based on OnlineGolf.com results.” (Internet Retailer, April 2010)
That alone should convince you. But if it doesn’t, I’ll soon be posting 5 more reasons. I’ll have you using online video if it’s the last thing I do! 😉
Are you using video in your social media? Is it working? Not working? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.