Use video in a business setting

What are the three most impactful places to get videos in front of customers and prospects? They’re your website, your social media platforms and your emails.

Let’s look at each of these video marketing channels one by one.

Use video on websites

On your website’s home page, use a sales video in the “hero” area.  That’s the top banner that most people see first.

The entire hero region could contain a background video, as  shown in our home page. Or, you can just embed a supporting video as part of that region, as in our video service page. This last technique is especially effective when combined with call-to-action buttons.

Your home page is also a good place to feature social proof videos, such as customer testimonials.

Your website’s product page is the perfect location for an explainer video.

Consider replacing that boring “About” page with a brand video featuring your company’s story. You’ll be glad you did, and your website visitors will, too!

Use training videos on your home page, product page and support page. That can reinforce the usability and value of your product.

Finally, a special word about video on landing pages.

Landing pages are sometimes called “squeeze pages.” They’re web pages focused entirely on getting visitors to take a specific action. Desired actions could be a content download, webinar registration or trial purchase. Videos can be very powerful here, because they allow visitors to experience your call to action message with little effort beyond an initial click. 

Sometimes a video will be the centerpiece of your landing page. Sometimes it’ll work quietly alongside copy and images to win over visitors. Videos let you convey ideas that images and copy cannot. And, they do it in a format that’s universally compelling.

For all these reasons, adding video is one of the most effective ways to boost landing page engagement and conversion rates. 

Use video on social media

Videos can be used for social media posts, ads and stories. Whether your company has a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram — or all of these — video is increasingly the medium of choice for content consumption.

• Posts that feature a video get people to “stop the scroll” of their social media feed in order to view your video.

• Video ads out-perform text- and image-only ads in both exposure (ad impressions) and click-through (conversions).

• And Stories, particularly on Facebook and Instagram, are emerging as a powerful conduit for getting your message out there with video. As evidence, 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile per day – often driven by a video story.

Use video in email

Okay, this one gets a little tricky, but it’s important nonetheless.

It’s important because including video in emails can boost open rates by 19%. Videos increase click-through rates by 65%, and reduce unsubscribes by 26%.

Compelling, right?

But most email apps (such as Gmail, Outlook and others) don’t support embedding and playing video directly in the body of the message.

So instead, you need to use a still image “thumbnail” of your video.Overlay the image with a Play button, and hyper-link it to a web page where the video itself will play. This technique invites viewers of your email to “click through” to the video. And it increases the impact of your email campaign.

Other ways to use video in emails include a video thumbnail in your email signature, and personal 1:1 video emails.

Your Turn

Ready to try one or more of these techniques in your business? Head on over to our Easy Business Video page. Once there, order up some video magic, simply and affordably.