Video marketing is the top area of marketing investment in 2012 as found by the Social media marketing industry report for 2012 by Social Media Examiner. The study has found that a significant 76% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube and video marketing, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2012.

In this article we take a look at the top benefits of video marketing and why it is essential for your business to capitalise on this trend.

1.  Increased Engagement on Social Media

Videos promote better engagement on social media than standard text content. Watching videos  is among the top 3 most popular activity on social media. Creating and sharing videos on social media sites such as Facebook improves your chances of getting noticed and being shared by users. By supplementing text content with Videos, you have a better chance to go viral.

2. Retain Website Visitors for Longer

Offering videos on your website helps to retain visitors on websites for longer. A recent ComScore study showed websites that contain videos hold a viewer’s attention for more that two minutes longer than sites without video content. If visitors spend more time on your website, search engines take note and consider your site to be more relevant. It can also improve conversion rates.

3. Better Search Engine Ranking

Videos are now also included on universal search engine results. Therefore publishing videos offers additional opportunities to get listed on search engines.

According to a Forrester research study, having a good online video marketing strategy can actually increase your likelihood of achieving first page Google rankings by up to 53 times.

Additionally, creating quality videos on your website can also be used as an effective link bait technique which will in-turn boost the overall rank of your website on Google.

4. Higher Click-through Rate on Search Results

A recent study from aimClear has found that  in search engine result videos have a 41% higher click-through rate than standard text results. Thus creating and publishing branded videos on your website can be an effective way to improve visits from search engines.

5. Get Competitive Edge

In spite of its benefits, video marketing is still relatively underutilised by businesses. Videos thus offer an excellent opportunity for businesses to get ahead of competitors.

However this window of opportunity is closing fast as more and more businesses invest in video marketing in the coming years.  We have already reported at the start of this article that 76% of marketers plan on increasing their use of video marketing, making it the top area of marketing investment in 2012.

6. Increase Your Overall Reach

The global online video community has already surpassed 1 billion users. By 2014, video online will dominate global IP traffic according to Cisco.

Videos are also one of the fastest growing areas in mobile internet. According to April 2012 survey from QuickPlay, 35% of mobile subscribers have tried mobile TV and/or video services, with 27% saying they are current service users.

7. Better Brand Recognition

A study by Unruly has found that 68% of viewers who had browsed the video correctly recalled the brand when prompted. Viewers who enjoyed the video they watched demonstrated 139% higher brand association, 97% higher purchase intent, 35% higher brand favourability, and 14% higher brand recall than their counterparts who did not enjoy the video. Thus it is important to create quality videos that your targeted audience will find valuable instead of purely promotional videos.

8. Traffic From Video Sites

Creating videos also allows businesses to tap into the huge user-base of popular video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and MetCafe, which would not be possible to do with standard text content.

Quality videos can easily get thousands or even millions of views, providing huge exposure for your brand. You can also drive some of this traffic to your website through links in your videos as well as in description and profile.

9. Establishes Trust and Credibility

Trust and credibility are particularly important on the web. Videos with quality information helps build credibility and trust in your brand among customers. As a result they will be more inclined to avail of your services.

10. Improved Sales

Studies have shown that sales pages that include video are twice as likely to seal the deal and lead to a sale. This means businesses that include video clips on product pages have higher conversation rates than products without video. Take a look at a few case studies below.

Online Golf, the largest internet-based golf company in Europe, saw an average increase of 88% in conversion rate for people viewing a product video.

Diamond Jewellery United based in Antwerp Belgium, saw their sales increase by 65% four months after implementing product videos.