2020 Video Marketing Trends And Predictions

Osama Khabab is the Founder and CEO of MotionCue. He helps businesses rapidly grow their impact on web and social through video marketing. 

The popularity of video as an information and entertainment conduit is on the rise. Cisco has predicted that by 2022, the video will make up 82% of all IP traffic. 

Video has undoubtedly become a marketer’s favorite when it comes to online content. In fact, according to my company’s research, 78% of the marketers we surveyed believe that video has helped them get new customers. Another company found that including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. 

Being involved in the video marketing industry for close to 10 years, I have seen how businesses have increasingly adopted video in their marketing efforts and how, over the past few years, consumers’ video consumption behavior has evolved.  

In this article, I’ll share my thoughts on the current state of video marketing and offer a few predictions on how it may evolve in the near future. 

With 66% of U.S. employees working from home at least part of the time during the pandemic, I’ve noticed that many companies have realized the importance of creating training videos for their staff to use as a substitute for conventional face-to-face training and onboarding. Video and other forms of digitization have long been options for employee training. However, the current global situation seems to have acted as a catalyst in the wider adoption of such methods.  

If done well, training videos can be extremely cost-effective compared to organizing comprehensive in-person training sessions. Often, businesses can use these videos over the course of many years. I predict that we’ll see more video training being used in the future. 

Here are some ways to experiment with video training. 

At my company, about half of my employees work remotely, and we’ve incorporated simple screencasts for training new recruits. And since not everyone on my team is a video production expert, we’ve used screen recorder software, such as Camtasia, to create the content. But for more professional-looking results, I recommend Adobe Premiere Pro. 

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You can make a video interactive by adding forms and multiple-choice questions. This will allow the viewer to review what they’ve learned and may help them retain the information better. 

Over the past five years, the number of businesses that see video as an important part of their marketing strategy has been growing steadily. We found that 82% of the businesses we surveyed are publishing one to four videos a month. The popularity of video content among marketing teams means that the internet is experiencing video content saturation. Now, more than ever, people rely on information that comes from trusted resources. 

For a well-rounded strategy, I’ve found that it’s best for businesses to invest in short-form and long-form content. If you’re wondering whether long-form content is worth the investment, then consider that video streaming is set to become a $70 billion industry by 2021, and a lot of the content that people stream is categorized as long-form video. 

The current digital landscape provides plenty of opportunities for businesses to capitalize on longer video content to build trust with audiences. You could film video interviews of key opinion leaders of organizations, behind-the-scenes videos, or any other piece of video content that intends to deliver valuable information to build a connection and trust with your audience. 

I believe that because of how engaging long-form content can be, businesses will continue to invest in it in the hope of communicating authentically. 

Here are some tips for creating quality long-form videos. 

Social listening is a great way to find out what your audience wants. You can then use these insights to help create your long-form video content. 

If you’re going to create long-form thought leadership videos, then make sure you do plenty of research and add value to the conversation. Edelman found that subpar thought leadership content can do more harm than good for a company. 

Your video script will lay the foundation of everything that comes next. Make sure you think it through and take the time to refine it. If you’re going to broadcast live and don’t want your stream to feel too scripted, prepare an outline of important points so that the conversation flows naturally but stays on track, too. 

Video personalization is another trend to look out for. A simple way to understand the concept is to imagine receiving an email from a brand that contains a video that was seemingly made just for you. It likely would make you feel special and pique your interest in the message. 

This trend may sound impractical; however, in the recent past, we have seen new technologies emerge that are making this possible. And therefore, it won’t be surprising to see brands starting to using personalization in video moving forward. 

Here’s how you can get started with personalized video. 

Platforms like Vidyard and Data Creative allow you to make personalized videos. You can target individuals, groups, or even companies. 

If you’re making a personalized video, it would make sense to send it only to your intended recipients via email. You can use your regular email marketing tool to track how your campaign performs. 

Many online trends seem to have a limited shelf life. One thing that I don’t expect to change, though, is the popularity of video with consumers. As long as you continue to experiment, adapt, and optimize, there’s a good chance you’ll stay ahead of the curve when it comes to using video marketing to build a stronger brand. 

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