People don't read as much anymore and if you don't believe it, check out how many bookstores closed last year and how many newspapers went out of business, with newspaper circulation facing it's greatest decline since 2010. Just check out the chart below. It's been caused by the Internet and other factors and one of these is the video explosion.
Sources: journalism.org
With everyone getting bombarded constantly by phone calls, texts, emails, ads, junk mail, etc.--people like videos because they cater to our short attention spans. There are more than 82 million videos on YouTube currently and people download more than 300 hours of new content every minute on the site. Eight out of every 10 people ages 18-49 watch at least one video online every month, so video is here to stay and gaining momentum.
More and more companies, including every aspect of a car dealership, including parts and service, are using short, professional-looking videos for a wide range of reasons. Some are produced for training purposes, employee morale and customer retention, but many them consist of testimonials by satisfied clients and valuable business partners.
We already know the value of good testimonials, because we see them every day in one form or another, whether they are reviews online or full-blown "case studies". Large high-tech companies such as Cisco Systems, Apple and eBay have entire staffs of professional writers that do nothing else than interview customers about how much they love their products and how they use them.
If you're still a doubter when it comes to the undeniable power of video, here are some statistics to consider:
- YouTube is now the second largest search engine – bigger than Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL combined.
- Before reading anything on a website, 60% of site visitors will watch a video if available.
- 56% of all consumers in the U.S. believe if a company has a website, it should have video content.
- The average user spends 18.5 minutes every month watching online video ads.
- 80% of all consumers say a video showing how a product or service works is important to them when learning about the company.
- Video search results have a 42% higher click-through than plain text results.
- Half of all marketers believe that customer testimonials, tutorial videos, and demonstration videos are the most effective types of video content used.
- 8 out of 10 consumers say demo videos are helpful.
- Your website is 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of a search engines results page if it includes video.
- People stay two minutes longer on your website on average if you have video content.
In an upcoming blog, we will discuss how to easily produce videos for your service department as we all enter the video revolution together.
Sources: Etail Insights, Animoto, Forrester Research and ComScore
Ed Attanasio
Editor, AutoBody-Review.com
Ed has been a professional writer for more than 35 years and his specialties include B2B reporting, blogging, ad copywriting, public relations and general editorial.