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The year 2020 is synonymous with the type of shifts that most people didn’t see coming and many of us still can’t believe. One particularly stark change was the incredible pivots in every area of society ‒ school closures, remote work, shuttering of brick-and-mortar businesses, lockdowns ‒ and how abruptly it resulted in discussions about what this meant for the longer term ‘norm’.
A major takeaway that supersedes much of the ‘pre’ times is that businesses can transition to digital operations with the right tools and that, even with reopening, digital has a vital role to play in the post-Covid-19 landscape.
In fact, data from McKinsey shows that in a multi-industry survey with more than 50% of businesses reporting that moving forward they will be investing in technology for competitive advantage and even “refocusing” their entire business around digital technologies.
The Reign Of Online Video Content
In a brave new world where almost every business is determinedly focused on digital, there’s even more pressure to stand out. This brings to mind the question of where to focus creative energy and resources.
Without a doubt, every business needs to invest in video for digital marketing. Before delving into just how businesses can do this, let’s quickly review the data around video content.
Even with the global disruption of the last 12 months, one thing that’s remained decidedly unchanged is the demand for video content. While the logical jump would be assuming this is tied to people being at home with nothing else to do, then, yes, absolutely there’s infinite demand for video (Netflix subscriptions almost doubled original projections for Q1 2020).
However even prior to 2020 the reign of video content was already fairly unshakeable and the pandemic did little to impact on that. Data extrapolation also shows that the desire for video content is about the content itself rather than it being a default choice.
This is most obvious in terms of the average daily consumption of online video: the minutes watched per day have grown steadily at a median rate of 32% a year from 2013 to 2018 with Zenith now forecasting that this will reach an average of 100 minutes a day per person in 2021. No matter where people are or what or how, they’re simply consuming huge amounts of video content.
Using Video For Targeted Business Activity
Despite the incredible quantity of rich media out there, one of the unexpected benefits of video content is that it can be hyper-specific and even one well-produced two-minute video can make a splash when it’s planned properly.
Daniel Glickman emphasizes this in the context of a post-Covid-19 world, writing for ClickZ, “The rise of video is unprecedented – Cisco estimates that by 2022, 82% of all created content will be video.” In this era, video is an incredibly powerful tool for connecting, educating, informing, reassuring, and building relationships with all stakeholders.
Moreover, with so many platforms to choose from it’s actually easier now to ensure that video content is produced then shared where a business wants their target audience to see it.
For example, LinkedIn now offers robust native video hosting meaning a B2B-focused enterprise can position themselves for engaging in professional conversations. Or, a smaller operation can use the SEO functions of YouTube to create their own channel then embed their videos on their website to launch a compelling SEO newsletter campaign with video instead of standalone text.
These are just two examples of the literally myriad ways businesses can embrace branded video in the short-term of recovery after lockdown as well as outline longer-term plans for producing resources, training videos, and so, so much more.
Ready to Use Branded Video? Here’s an Infographic Guide to get Started
Dig even deeper into this topic with this infographic resource from One Productions.
The visual guide ‘The 101 of Creating Branded Video To Re-open After Lockdown’ is designed for every size of business and every industry! Read on for insights, strategic guidance and a comprehensive evaluation of the eight types of video for businesses to try in 2021 and beyond. Check out the full graphic below and here’s to connecting with customers using video!
