• by John Fitzgerald , September 24, 2013

It’s no secret that online video is booming. The average American watches 22 hours of video each month. A recent comScore study reports that 187 million Americans watched nearly 50 billion online videos in July 2013.

With numbers like that, you’d think that businesses large and small would be rushing to create their own branded video content. On the contrary, only 24% of national brands are using online video to reach potential consumers, and only 22% of small businesses plan to create online video in the next 12 months

So for the small business owners and brand managers who have yet to jump into the world of online video, here's six reasons why you should begin drafting a video strategy:

1.) Your Customers Are Watching. Roughly three-quarters of U.S. Internet users are watching videos regularly -- this includes many of your current and potential customers. If you aren’t producing videos to reach these people, it is a huge missed opportunity.

2.) Videos Build Trust and Loyalty.Research by Digitas indicates that 49% of Internet users are likely to watch a video that is posted by a brand that they follow on social media channels. Furthermore, 46% of viewers are more likely to research a brand or product that is mentioned in an online video.

 3.) Videos Make Great ‘Heavy’ Social Content. At my company, we quantify the value of social content by assigning relative weight properties to it, based on its content and value. Short text posts (Tweets) are the “lightest” form of content, while in-depth, well-produced videos are the heaviest form of content. The “heavier” the content, the more likely it is to be Liked, Shared, ReTweeted, etc. On Facebook, photos receive twice as many Likes as text posts and videos are shared more than 12x than photos and text combined.

4.) Videos Offer Branding Opportunities That Aren’t Available with Text or Photos. As the “heaviest” form of content, videos allow you to include your logo, photos of your storefront, product photos, etc., to more closely match the style of your website and printed promotional materials. Additionally, you can develop a “video look” that is unique to your business, by using consistent production elements, including titles, music, editing style – and, most importantly, you and your staff.

5.) Videos Increase Landing-Page Conversions. Multiple studies have shown that placing a video on a landing page will increase conversions by as much as 80%. For an excellent primer on optimizing your landing pages with video, check out this guide from ReelSEO.

6.) Videos Help SEO. Study after study has shown that web pages with embedded video achieve higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Additionally, videos appearing in search results have a higher click-through rate than “regular” web pages. Actual data varies by study and several widely circulated studies are now a bit outdated, but that doesn’t change the underlying point: Video is an essential component of a well-planned SEO strategy.

Videos are a powerful tool for delivering information and engaging with customers, but the value of a video goes beyond the quality of the video itself. A well-made video can act as a force multiplier by enhancing your existing social and SEO strategies.