Over recent months I’ve noticed that more and more self-published authors are creating video trailers and marketing to promote their books. It’s really effective and something which, I think, works incredibly well for books as well as businesses.
Since I have no experience of video production, I thought I’d ask a guest expert in this field to come along and answer a few questions for us. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi Naomi, thanks for agreeing to be our Guest Expert. Can you tell us a little about your business and where you are in the world?
I work from home in a small village near Retford, north Notts. Via my award-winning business Value Added Video, I help my clients get noticed online by creating affordable, no-filming-required video and Facebook Ad campaigns that build interest in their products & services, create trust, and get more people saying yes to working with them. I offer a range of done-for-you video and Facebook Ads services as well as one-to-one training.
How important do you think video is for getting your book/brand/business seen online these days?
Since 2014, video has become an increasingly essential aspect of marketing strategy for all businesses. Online attention spans are constantly reducing – the current estimate is 7 seconds. If your message doesn’t grab attention more or less instantly, people just scroll by. Today’s online world is very much a visual environment, where images and videos, rather than plain text, stand out.
Research has shown that the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and it’s been estimated that 1 minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words (would you want to read 1.8 million words?) It’s also worth remembering that YouTube (owned by Google) is the world’s second largest search engine, and a web page that includes a video is 53% more likely to appear on page 1 of Google.
To cut a long story short, if you’re not using video in your marketing, you can expect to become invisible online in the near future.
What would you say are the three biggest benefits of video marketing?
Keeping your business visible online.
Building trust with potential clients – and staying engaged with existing clients.
Flexibility – there is so much scope for using video, and you don’t have to appear on camera (this is a major fear for many business owners).
What kind of video content do you think works best to get seen and noticed online?
I’d recommend using different video formats and styles. “Talking head” videos are great for sharing your expertise and building trust with potential clients – you can do these as livestreams or pre-recorded videos.
People love “work in progress” videos – if you make things, these are a great way to show off your latest projects.
Tutorial videos, where you share your screen and show viewers how to do something, are very worthwhile for consultants and trainers. Did you know that “how to xxxxx” is one of the top search terms in Google and YouTube?
Explainer videos using animation are very popular and are a great way of clarifying how particular products or services work.
Ideally, you’d look at doing a mixture of all these video formats, depending on your business. It’s worth keeping in mind that the majority of people view videos on social media on mobile phones with the sound off, so captions are more or less essential if you’re talking about or explaining things. And also, be aware that because of the prevalence of mobile phones, it’s best to optimise your videos for these devices – use portrait or square format as these display far better than the traditional landscape / horizontal video.
That’s so helpful, Naomi. Thanks very much for sharing! If you’d like to follow Naomi on social media here are her links.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/valueaddedvideo
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/naomijanejohnson
Instagram: https://instagram.com/valueaddedvideo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/valueaddedvideo
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/valueaddedvideo
