Why Video Content Will Be King Of Content In 2018

Preparing your content calendar for 2018? Here are three super important stats to ponder while reading this article. First is that YouTube shared that mobile video consumption grows by over 100% every year. Second is that 45% of internet users watching an hour or more of video each day. Third, we are living in a world where 65% of the population claims to be visual learners, according to the Social Science Research Network. If you’re already doing video content, great! If not, here is a good place to start.

Mobile Video Content Is Readily Accessiblevideo content

Most companies producing video content currently share around 20 videos per month, and it’s expected that video content will match the volume of email, written and graphic design content equally in 2018. Wifi is available pretty much everywhere and network speeds faster than ever, so videos are easy to stream. You will no longer cancel loading out of frustration due to a lag in time. Expect 2 videos for each piece of written content in the future. If you’re planning to produce video content, that would be great too.

Persuasive AND Informative Video Content

Because they provide a multi-sensory experience, videos trigger emotions stronger than text or an image is able to do. By integrating components such as the appropriate music, personal testimonies and curated text, viewers can relate on an intense emotional level triggering emotions like happiness, sadness and even anger.

For product marketing, demonstration videos increase product knowledge, in turn increasing the likeliness of a sale. Showing a product in action is visually informative and helps the consumer imagine themselves using it. Not to mention, they learn every great detail about your product!

Video Content Provides SEO Benefits

Marketers have always believed that video content was great for SEO. However, there was never data to back it up. We now know that videos keep users on the page longer. To Google, this means the site is attractive to users, which is great news for SEO. Adding video is definitely a great way to help you in the search rankings. But how much is too much?

Social Media Today shared that videos up to 2 minutes long receive the highest engagement. Additionally, 65% of people who open a video for 3 seconds will watch for as least 10 seconds. 45% of people will watch for at least 30 seconds. Experts believe that budgets for this content creation will become much larger now with proven SEO benefits.

Ease Of Video Content Creation

Producing quality video content is not a far-fetched task.  Companies have invested in or outsourced full production including top-of-the-line cameras and tech in the past. It’s worth noting that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, when sound was traditionally the measure of quality. Now, the focus is more on creating authentic content that is relevant and relatable to your audience. 

Studies show that millennials prefer content that is relatable and find it more entertaining. Videos uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram match their interests through short videos. Most of these videos are no longer than 60 seconds. They are produced by young users and are recorded on their personal cameras or smartphones. Popular users receive hundreds of thousands of views per video.

Businesses can take this same approach or pay these individuals to create content to use themselves. Businesses can also sponsor a video post to the page of an “influencer” to reach their respective, potentially massive audience size. If you want to come up with your own content, there are tremendous new services like Slidely that allow you to create high-quality videos for cheap, on a subscription basis.

YouTube is a great home base for publishing, but every social media platform provides great opportunities to share video content. Check in with our social media series regularly for tips on sharing videos across the different platforms.

85% of businesses now have internal teams producing exclusive video content for their brand. 73% plan to increase their production of it. A quarter of marketers and small business owners feel they need to up their video content marketing efforts. Needless to say that content planning focus will shift to the learning and creation of video throughout 2018.

Will you be prepared?

Going The Extra Mile With Client Satisfaction

keeping clients happyKeeping clients happy 24/7 is a heavy weight to carry on your shoulders. The stress of daily life and other outside factors are things that you as a business owner will never be able to control. What you can control are your efforts to keep them satisfied, especially when things go wrong. Your clients will recognize when you go out of your way to meet their needs in an unfavorable situation. Here are some tips to for keeping clients satisfied.

1. Understand Client Needs

Be fully aware of their wants and needs as a client before you start a project or provide a service/product for them. You might spend weeks perfecting a financial plan or an ad pitch, but if you don’t understand their goals or their company values, you’re running the risk of missing the mark — big time! You also just wasted your own valuable time. Nowyou’re back to square one, with a client quickly losing their patience.

2. Admit Faults Right Away

Call out your mistakes when the problem is on your end. Openly taking responsibility will let your client know you’re a trustworthy person and not into games and gimmicks. Address your mistake and keep moving forward. Admitting faults naturally comes with a heightened sense of awareness, which can be achieved with mindfulness practice.

3. Thoughtfulness vs. Generosity

Constantly showering clients with gifts, promotional items, etc. can often be perceived as sucking up, especially when you’re in the wrong. Being purposeful with your gifting for business milestones, career milestones, awards, birthdays and various accomplishments will be the most genuine and appreciated gestures. Adding small perks when you do slip up never hurts, though. Just do it wisely.

4. Consistency Is Key!

Match these efforts when things are going right, too. Holding yourself to an advanced level of customer service at all times will not only create a positive name for yourself, but will strengthen the relationship between you and your client. When your client is happy, everyone is happy.

The New GOP Tax Plan: What It Means For You

the new gop tax planThe Senate worked overtime as they felt the heat to pass their tax bill. After many last minute revisions, the new GOP tax plan – a $1.51 trillion dollar plan passed in the early hours of the morning – provides tax cuts for businesses and individuals with the end goal of America competing at the top of the world market.

When you break down the new GOP tax plan, many of the benefits are presented to corporate entities. The proposed 25% rate on pass-through income tax is fantastic compared to the almost 40% rate that some LLCs, sole prop, and s-corps currently face now. However only 30% of your income will be taxed at the 25% rate as business income. The other 70% is wage income and will be subject to the regular tax rate. Unfortunately, this lower rate really only applies to the medical field. Anyone practicing law, accounting, engineering, entertainment, and other major fields do not receive such direct benefits. The new plan highlights tax write-offs for equipment, etc. which currently start at $500k and are proposed to expand to $5 million. This may or may not trigger economic activity. That is the goal of the bill, however whether what will happen remains to be seen.

At the end of the day, we’re individuals filing taxes, regardless of being a small business owner or not. Mark J. Kohler, a CPA and attorney states that this new plan is focused on “simplifying tax planning”. While the tax code can be frustrating and overwhelming for many Americans, Kohler explains that the new GOP tax plan will attempt to simplify tax filing by eliminating write-offs. The motivation to participate in activities such as donating to churches, clothing drives, or support adoption services will decrease. It may even turn some individuals away from doing so altogether.

The objective of this plan is that small and large businesses will stimulate the economy. Some career fields may be adversely affected by the bill. It’s safe to say individuals will lose motivation to partake in charitable contributions. The rest only time will tell.

Social Media For Small Business Owners: Getting Started (Part 1)

social media for small business ownersIf you’re just now joining the world of social media, we’re going to prepare you to hit the ground running. Social media for small business owners is one of the most valuable things you can learn. Each week we will focus on a new social site to help guide your content creation on that specific platform through our Social Media Series. Topics and keywords we will cover include driving sales, “how to”, product knowledge, customer support, and customer engagement. To get started, here are our guidelines to keep at top of mind before hitting the “post” button.

Delegate responsibility on social media.

You will most likely be active on multiple social media platforms. It’s important to share content that comes from one voice (your brand’s) and flows seamlessly across these platforms. Select one person to handle all content creation and posting or create a team to tackle it together. Choosing between one person and a team should depend on the number of platforms you will utilize and how often you will be posting. Because social media is such an incredible (and free) marketing tool, consider candidates with a marketing or PR background. They understand your brand identity and how you want be portrayed in the media.

Know which platforms are right for you.

Throughout this series, we will focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube. We consider the first three the standard platforms to be on. Not every platform is appropriate for every type of business. With its diverse user base and all of its features like text, photos, videos, live streamed video, and more, Facebook is a great place to start.

Target the right demographic.

Social media is very generation sensitive. Are you looking to reach the pre-teen/Gen Z crowd? You won’t find them on Facebook. Try Snapchat or YouTube instead. Facebook is better suited for Gen Y, Baby Boomers and most millennials. When you start to develop your content calendar, you will learn who you want to reach and how you want to reach them. Selecting your platforms will make perfect sense.

What is a content calendar?

A content calendar is a way of organizing the content you want to share with your followers. It includes which platforms to post on, and when you will share it. Blog posts, Instagram photos, tweets, and Facebook statuses are just a few ways to share content. Each method will receive very different feedback. Wondering where to start on content creation? You should first decide what your purpose is for being on social media and what target market are you trying to reach and go from there.

Check back next week for our Facebook guide where we’ll highlight engagement monitoring, paid advertisements, trackable URLs, and live streaming. Along the way, we’ll also share cool (and mostly free) social media tools to help you save money.