Source: Enterpreneur

Like everyone else around the world, we in the UAE are being mandated to “stay home” in the interests of safety over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. I, for one, am a homebody, I love the opportunity this period presents to focus on personal projects, reset the mind, re-prioritize, declutter, and more.

But besides all of the productive sides to staying at home, I am, like many others, falling into a few unproductive traps as well, and consuming more content than ever before. In fact, Nielsen reports that consumption of content has increased by 60% whilst the world is staying at home.

Being a video strategist and having worked in the field for over 20 years, I see this as a massive opportunity! I have been talking for years about the power of video, and 2019 finally saw the video industry gain credibility as an important marketing tool, resulting in the highest engagement with audiences. We were finally popular! 

2020 has now made video creation a necessity. It is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have, and now is the time to double down on it, whilst there is a very engaged, attentive audience at home looking for your content to consume. As such, it’s time for you to shift from being a consumer to being a creator, and here are the top three reasons why you should do so:

1.  Stand out from the crowd

To make an impact with your content, you need to be consistent. It takes time. An audience needs to repeatedly see your messaging and content, before they are ready to trust you and do business with you.

Through my experience as a member of Business Network International (BNI), I came across the acronym, VCP- the principle is, that for someone to do business with you, your relationship needs to go through three stages: Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.

The same applies with your content. You need to be consistently visible for an audience to remember you and keep you top of mind. You need to make sure the content you are creating is valuable to the audience, and over time, you will be seen as credible. By being both visible and credible, once someone is ready for your product or service, you will be the first person they think of, which will lead to profitability.

It all starts with visibility, which means now more than ever you need to make sure you are releasing new content and standing out from the crowd. The good news is that it is now much easier than ever before to stay visible. As well as well-produced video content, consider including live updates through the live feature on most social media platforms.  

In 2020, live streaming is expected to account for 82% of all internet traffic. Studies suggest that you can attract a new engaged audience faster through live video content as this helps to create conversations and build a community. Try incorporating webinars, live Q&A’s, or giving viewers an authentic behind-the-scenes peek into your company. This is the best time to show your customers that your company is stable and can take on any challenge.

2. Quality content takes time, and now you do have that resource

Creating quality content takes time, and time is the one thing we have abundance of right now. This is the perfect opportunity to think through your video content strategy, decide what content is most beneficial to your audience and customers.

 

Remember the most Googled terms are “how to” and “how do I,” which means people want to learn and be informed. Plan videos that will fill a need for your customers, and that will hook them to keep watching and coming back for more. 

It isn’t always easy to find time in a busy schedule to think through your content and produce something that will leave an impact, so take advantage of the time we now have.

3. Increase market share

Most people retreat in a downturn, and they often don’t know how to move forward.  History has shown that those that do successfully double down on their marketing and content strategy during a recession end up taking a higher market share and increase their ROI. An example of this is Amazon, who in 2009 actually grew by 28% due to increased marketing.

By increasing your video content in particular, you are also increasing your lead generation possibilities significantly, as video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year, according to OptinMonster.

Additionally, 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media. Seeing as most of us have increased our social media consumption as of late, this could be the most effective tool you use to attract new customers in what is a challenging time for all businesses.

I hope the three reasons above has convinced you that now is not the time to slow down your marketing efforts, but to actually double down and take advantage of all the eyeballs that are scrolling through feeds today, ready to consume your content.