Have you noticed that more and more of your Newsfeed on Facebook is chock full of videos? There’s a reason why that’s happening, and it all has to do with the way Facebook recommends content to your newsfeed. As Ad Age reports, “Facebook’s content-recommendation algorithm gives preference to its own video player when determining what content to show in people’s news feeds…” This concrete example demonstrates how video marketing is becoming more and more present.

Why video will play a more pivotal role

An infographic by Accenture Interactive reported that next year, in 2018, 84% of all marketing communications will be visual. And, to top it off, by 2020, video will make up 80% of web traffic. This means that the numbers are clearly moving towards more video. A recent survey about video marketing from Contently reported that 74% of Chief Marketing Officers they surveyed said that they would be investing in video in the next five years. That was more than other initiatives such as social media, blogs, interactive content, and infographics. While the talk about video becoming a more vital part of the marketing mix has been around for the bulk of this decade, it appears that the spend on video is catching up. Contently, in the same article summarizing the results of the survey, cited numbers from IAB that said that video makes up 56% of digital and media buyers are spending 67% more on video than in 2015.

But there are a lot of obstacles stepping in video’s way

While social media is a lot more ubiquitous for B2B and B2C companies, the truth is that there is still some progress to be made in incorporating video. The Content Marketing Institute, as mentioned in the Contently article, reported that only 60% of B2B and B2C companies are currently using video. And there the reasons that can explain it are not surprising: cost, difficulty in measuring, and complexity.

This means that despite all the interest in the world for video marketing there could be, the problems in execution (and of course, having an unlimited budget to do so) are the significant barriers to entry into the field. That’s not to say there are more cost-effective solutions out there, like Madrid-based Stark Crew, which has a global network of freelance video producers that help produce high-quality branded content while saving the costs related to taking crews on location and capitalizing on local knowledge with a global presence. There are also platforms like Vidyard that are trying to remedy the difficulty in measuring (and this way, you’ll be able to have video KPIs that are easy to track over time) video’s performance that’s needed to justify a more sustained investment in video.

What this implies is that there are loads of potential benefits for using video marketing, but given constraints on the digital marketing budget, it seems that questions regarding cost and the fact that many brands may lack the in-house expertise to do so can be a greater impediment to video marketing than ever. The question is whether we will see these phenomena regarding video marketing come to fruition.

What’s the verdict?

We wrap up this course talking about the latest trends that will inevitably be impacting digital marketing in the future (and starting off now). While it may seem like video does not have the same panache as concepts like AI and Big Data, the truth is that emerging formats and the benefits that video can provide will mean that it becomes something to consider in the future.

Ready to join in on the action?

If you’re eager to know more about the Digital Marketing, Social Media and Analytics: An Omnichannel Strategy HiOP, check out our homepage and click here to get a copy of our informational brochure. And, if you’re already set on joining us, get started on your application.