Ask someone a question they don’t know the answer to and they’ll often “Google” it or they’ll ask an AI like Siri or Alexa for help. Ask someone how to do something they’re unfamiliar with and they’ll probably turn to YouTube for instruction.
In a recent article in HubSpot, the author Amanda Zantal-Wiener wrote about a study by Market Intelligence Central that listed the highest visited websites in the US as Google, Facebook, and YouTube, in that order.
Yet, things may be changing.
Under a lot of negative scrutiny about privacy, Facebook is losing some of the market share (roughly 2.8 billion visits each month over the past two years) while YouTube is gaining.
At the same time in an article on Market Insider, a new survey from Slidely revealed more people claim to watch videos predominantly on Facebook (47%) than YouTube (41%).
So which is true and what does it mean for your business?
The issue at stake is really not which site is more popular. Those kinds of things fluctuate and while you should pay attention so that you are participating on the platforms where your audience gathers, it’s important to note the bigger, uniting issue in both of these articles.
Video is the new black.
More than ever before, people are turning to video to learn how to do things from solving complex math equations to playing video games. In order to capture a portion of the video-viewing audience, you need to think about different ways in which you can start using video for your own business.
Today’s Video Is More Than Just Commercials
Only a few years ago, when video marketing first started taking off, video was largely promotional. Commercials, tours of your company, services you provided, and other promotional ideas were all the rage only a short time ago.
Today’s business video has evolved. What audiences are looking for now is entertainment, education, and inspiration. If you’re not providing that in video form, they’re likely ignoring you.
Modern Video Ideas for Your Business
YouTube is the second largest search engine outside of Google. It’s bigger than Yahoo, Bing, and AOL combined as it processes over 3 billion searches a month.
A key to getting found is the content of your videos (and how they’re tagged). Today’s video viewers are looking to learn something, be entertained, or walk away feeling a need to take action. Here are a few ideas on how you can do that with your business video.
Information/Education
As mentioned earlier, a large number of people are performing searches on YouTube to find out targeted information. They have a need or a question, and YouTube videos provide their answers. Keep this in mind when creating videos for your business.
Video content ideas include:
- How to use your product or answering popular questions about it
- How to succeed in your industry
- How to create something with your product (Sharpie markers has a slew of user-made videos you can reference.)
- TedX-type discovery videos
Entertainment
Entertaining your audience is another great way to get shares and engagement with your videos. Some businesses create entertaining videos that have very little to do directly with their product or service.
Entertaining video is probably the most popular type of video on Facebook. Queue the cat reel. Keep in mind, fewer people would search for how-to videos on Facebook than they would on YouTube.
Video content ideas for entertainment include:
- Telling your ideal audience’s stories. Check out Converse’s All the Stories Are True videos.
- Video challenges. There are tons of them out there but two of the most famous are the Ice Bucket Challenge and Police Lip Sync Challenge.
- New uses for your product or service no one thought about (try a little humor).
Inspiration
Inspirational video is the type of thing that evokes emotion and a desire for action. There are millions of them on Facebook and YouTube.
Video content ideas that inspire include:
- Sharing your favorite cause with the community.
- Telling your career story. What made you want to go into the business you chose? Or share a struggle you encountered along the way.
- Sharing your 10 greatest customer moments.
These are just a few ideas to get you started on different ways of looking at video for your business. Viewer habits are moving away from heavy commercial type videos. They’re looking for something to inspire, entertain, or educate them. Your audience is searching for video that will help them solve a problem or teach them a way to do something.
This type of search is very much ingrained in the younger generation. They think to go to YouTube first when learning a new skill, sometimes even before “Googling” it.
Are you prepared to meet this growing demand for video?
Christina R. Green teaches small businesses, chambers, and associations how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, and Writer’s Weekly. She is a regular blogger at Frankjkenny.com and the Event Manager Blog.
She’s a bookish writer on a quest to bring great storytelling to organizations everywhere.
