Online video - the next big thing

Daniela Grech

The interesting thing about an online video is that it gives the business owner or sales person the chance to talk with customers and interact, much in the same way as a personal meeting.

Research has shown that especially in the US, online video is growing extremely fast as a sales tool. With mobile phones and handhelds now becoming ever more connected, the facility to post online videos as a sales tool becomes even more common. There are also various ways of measuring your success with online videos especially when one uses analytics to gauge the effect and also conversion rates.

Online video can also save customer service costs by as much as 40 or 50 percent according to some small US companies. Some companies say that to service the cost without video, they would have to employ around five additional employees.

However one must also measure the success. Like Google, YouTube generally follows a cost-per-click or cost-per-view model so advertisers pay only when users click on ads or watch ad videos. Advertisers can view metrics such as number of impressions, conversions and viewer demographics via their Google AdWords or YouTube Insights accounts.

Ads can be aimed at customers based on demographics, keywords or interests. For example, a person who searches for “ceiling tiles” might see a particular video titled “make an ugly ceiling elegant” highlighted as a promoted video atop the YouTube page. The same goes for several other service companies who are taking to the new medium by storm.

A recent survey undertaken by  ASCYS Interactive which surveyed a number of US hospitals ranked the following social medium platforms as very effective: online videos (33.7 percent), Facebook (22.8 percent), Twitter (14.9 percent), podcasts (12.9 percent), Facebook ads (9.9 percent), and blogs (5.9 percent).

Hospitals also reported that within the next two years, their marketing efforts will shift dramatically from traditional methods of print, direct mail, and radio and move to online mediums. Currently, 9.9 percent of survey respondents said online is at the core of their marketing efforts. By 2013, 36.6 percent said online channels will be.

All of these stats point to online video as being the next best thing for conversions. Sales can increase dramatically if the tool is used properly and the costs savings are quite substantial. So get on your high horse and post that online video today!

Tip: Always use your best product when launching the online video. First impressions are crucial and when this is such a competitive market, they become even more so.

Daniela Grech is a PR and eMarketing specialist at       web design and development company ICON