Video Engages Consumers at Every Stage of the Shopping Process
You don't have to look any further than the social networks you use every day to see that video is hot, hot, hot among consumers. Instagram has recently added video to its image-sharing social network, letting users create and view videos, and Twitter began allowing its members to post Vine videos to their feeds. It's logical that consumers will also look to their favorite retail brands to feed their desire for online video.
The key to getting shoppers to notice your online videos is to get as much mileage out of them as possible. That means thinking beyond product pages. Sure, they're the logical place for your videos, but there are many more ways to place videos in front of consumers’ eyeballs — at the beginning of the shopping process, in the middle and after browsers become buyers.
SEO Campaigns
In terms of making good use of your videos, the best place to start is with your search engine optimization efforts. Video can be a very effective tool for cutting through the clutter of search results and convincing a prospect that your link is worth clicking on. When you upload your video site map to search engines, you instantly boost the placement of your videos in searches. Video is currently showing up with greater frequency in Google's Universal Search results, which includes listings from its vertical search engines for news, video, images, local and book search engines. When you add video to more pages on your site — e.g., homepage, checkout — you're more likely to get page one placement.
Social Networks
In addition to SEO campaigns, you can use social networks to extend the reach and viewership of your videos, as well as entice people to visit your online storefront. Creating a YouTube channel is a great first step. As one of the world's largest social networks, YouTube will bring your videos to the widest possible audience. It also has easy tools for letting viewers share your videos with their social networks. Every time you post a product video on YouTube, include links to the pages on your site that carry the video. In addition, promote your YouTube channel on your website, in email campaigns and in print collateral such as catalogs.
Your Facebook page is another smart place for videos. And you'll want to give a good bit of attention to Pinterest, which is getting a lot of buzz for the rapid growth of its audience and its easy and fun tools for sharing images and videos. Think about creating a pinboard on Pinterest for your retail business, and add videos as well as product pictures. You can encourage sharing of your videos onto Pinterest pinboards by placing "Pin it" badges near each video on your website.
Retargeting Efforts
If your online marketing efforts include retargeting ads, which are aimed at people who have visited your website but left without making a purchase, than videos can increase the ads’ impact. Adding video to retargeting ads can also help improve conversions, since people are more likely to click on a video than a static image.
Strengthening Relationships Post-Purchase
Once you succeed in turning a browser into a buyer, you can continue to use video as an attention-getter in future customer touchpoints. For example, you can add videos to direct marketing emails to get more clickthroughs — e.g., promoting products that are similar to what customers have bought in the past or other products from the same brand.
Research also shows that by simply including the word "video" in the newsletter email subject line you can boost open rates. In fact, once a customer has opened an email newsletter, adding a call to action to view a video can increase clickthrough rates by 300 percent or more. You can use this same strategy in emails you send about purchase and delivery confirmations.
Consider it a win when you use video anywhere along the path to purchase. Consumers are demonstrating that they have a growing appetite for watching videos, so every placement of video is sure to reap benefits, ranging from basic brand awareness to larger orders.
Dr. Melody King is the vice president of marketing at Treepodia, an e-commerce video platform provider.
