Video is becoming increasingly important within B2B electronics content marketing. Video is a visual, audio and written language. It shows and it tells. Beyond what it says overtly, video communicates notions of quality, aesthetics, technological and commercial sophistication. It is a far richer method of engaging audiences than image and text. With video the experience of comprehension is more immediate. The amount of information that can be communicated in a short time greatly outweighs that which can be read. Those who disagree with this idea, who would argue that text is a medium refined over thousands of years, are steadily decreasing in number.

According to Cisco by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic. 64% of marketers say that they expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future.

Reach and inherent sharability

YouTube is the number two search engine in the world. YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors every month and one in three Britons view at least one online video a week. Engage viewers and they will share a video with others. They will spend longer on your website and more time interacting with your brand. It is a brave or more likely ill-prepared social media or SEO campaign that sets sail without a video.

The value of video

The value of video is threefold:

  • Improved user engagement
  • Brand awareness
  • Search engine optimisation
  • Lead generation

Through video, one is able to recreate the experience and advantages of being physically present, far more effectively than through audio, image or text. This presents a human face to a company but also brings a lot in the way of the acceptance of a message.

People scan written web content for what is of interest to them. Video offers more clarity and less ambiguity. It provides no ‘scan option’ — you either watch a video, or it fails to hold your attention and you stop watching, the latter being the case then you can see when people stop and get metrics from that.

There is still relatively low uptake of quality video within electronics, so it can provide a way of standing out from competitors.

According to Electronics Specifier, when an engineering video is used instead of a banner advertisement within its email newsletters  it will  attract 10 times the number of click-throughs.

Why is video a more effective communication medium than text?

One interesting perspective is presented by psychologist Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D. , her thinking is that video is a more impactful medium for four reasons:

  • The fusiform facial area is a part of the brain that makes us pay attention to faces – this is a brain function that hard-wires us to use the human face as a gathering point for information and believability.
  • Voice conveys rich information – the simple sound of a human voice speaking to us has a way of converting information into meaningful content.
  • Emotions are contagious – body language plays an important part in communication. People recognise and respond above all to emotion and it is this that is hardest to convey via simple text.
  • Movement grabs attention – the importance of peripheral motion is thought to be an important, perhaps residual, aspect of psychology wherein we humans have survived by noticing movement.

How does video improve SEO?

A video hosted on YouTube provides a valuable link back to your own website that Google recognises; this was true even before Google acquired YouTube. YouTube allows you to add a link, title, description, and keywords to your video which increases visibility across search engines. A well-optimised video is twice as likely as text to appear on the front page of a Google search.

Video also improves SEO by generating increased traffic through rich snippets 
in the Google search engine results pages (SERPs), thumbnail images are sometimes attached to the results to indicate that the web page contains a video, these image enriched results typically have higher click-through rates.

How do videos help with PR?

In PR terms, video adds legs to a press release. There is an increasing editorial preference for Video News Releases (VNRs). These are increasingly desirable within an online world where news channels are trying everything they can to make their news stand out. Static text predefined by the nature of print is now archaic, or at least only a part of what editors are looking for. Where once editors ran stories or not based on the quality of the accompanying images, they now look for a quality video to add depth to a story.

This is an exceptional infographical video example of how to ensure a video played across news sites (hint: make it really good).

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

PRs are often better at making videos than traditional production houses because they have a better understanding of the media landscape and what editors are looking for.

So, should electronics companies be making videos?

Yes, definitely. Video production kit is now affordable and the editing process has become much simpler, so costs have fallen dramatically. Perfectly good videos can even be made using smartphones, so now is a good time to encourage staff to video events as standard, interview interesting people within the field and demonstrate how products work. If your team isn’t up for it consider bringing in external production skills, it’ll still be worth doing. Pay attention to sound quality as this is the element most often overlooked in amateur production.

Videos are essential if you are considering something like kickstarting your electronics B2B marketing, or if you are looking to define your message or broaden your reach through social media channels. A short video defining your business or product makes a strong introductory asset to your website. It speaks of competence and considered messaging. Give it a go: measure, refine, repeat.