Videos will be responsible for nearly three-quarters of all internet traffic by 2017, potentially outpacing brands’ investment in them.
Earlier this year, Brafton reported that just 70 percent of marketers are making video content a priority. The latest data suggests all companies should invest in video marketing if they want their target audience to click to their sites from across the web.
According to data from Syndacast, videos will be responsible for 74 percent of all internet traffic by 2017.
Video traffic growth is fueled at least in part by rising search clicks, as thumbnail images are eye-catching in
SERPs. Images may catch more search clicks than hyperlinks because they seems trustworthy, more tutorial or even just more personal and friendly.
How to choose a video thumbnail for traffic wins
Last year, Georgia Tech and Yahoo Labs conducted a study about Instagram success and found people are more likely to engage with images of human faces than other posts. Pictures with faces are 38 percent more likely to earn Likes and 32 percent more likely to receive Comments.
The bottom line? Images of people are bait for online engagement.
“Faces are powerful channels of non-verbal communication. We constantly monitor them for a variety of contexts, including attractiveness, emotions and identity,” said Saeideh Bakhshi, of the Georgia Tech College of Computing Ph.D., who led the study.
By producing videos, you let your audience in on your brand’s personality. When possible, choose thumbnails that put a face to the brand to build instant connections.
Why video marketing wins attention from on-the-go users
As videos are becoming more effective tools for marketing campaigns, they’re also becoming more popular with busy mobile-device users:
- 33% of tablet owners watches about an hour of video on their devices every day
- 28% of smartphone users watches a video on their devices at least once a day
Many web users who want to be simultaneously entertained and educated prefer video content – as long as it doesn’t take more than a few minutes. Mobile web users have notoriously short attention spans, and even desktop viewers are unlikely to wait around for a long video to load if they even commit to watching it.
The key to creating effective video content that drives traffic is a strategy for short, high-impact clips. It’s a tall order when you must also pack personality into each video: People respond to formats that feel personal and accessible. Video content that educates and entertains yields the ultimate ROI.
Traffic may be the reason more brands invest in video marketing, but this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the format’s marketing potential.
For more on effective video marketing, check out these related resources:
