Videos are increasingly becoming important in content marketing. The last couple of years have been important for visual marketing as many trends started and are here to stay. It is predicted that by 2019 videos will make up 80% of internet traffic. This is a much higher figure compared to the 16% in 2014. Video and visual content are thus going to play an important role in digital content marketing.

This article looks at vital new trends that are transforming visual marketing and making it more potent and effective.

Trend #1: Branded Video Content is Becoming Popular

Because of YouTube, branded video content is gaining more value with each passing day. YouTube is one of the most visited websites and search engines with a few billion views every day. As a result, content marketing is shifting from conventional blog posts towards video blogs and YouTube channels. Digital marketers need to recognize this trend and prepare accordingly.

What is branded video content? These are videos created and distributed prepared by a brand to engage users, offer value, and compel to them to take an interest in their product or service. The content includes product promotions, shorts, behind-the-scene looks, interviews etc. Brands are focusing on producing fresh content that is relevant and meaningful to their customers. It is easy to create branded video content as you can simply modify your existing content and convert it into videos. This is made possible by streamlined editing solutions and platforms that make creating video content pretty simple.

Trend #2: Videos on Product Pages and Home Pages

YouTube video channels and other publishing websites are useful, but we are also seeing video content being posted on branded URLs. Marketers are finding new ways to place videos on their websites to make them more immersive and less boring. Product pages and home pages are two particular places where videos are being placed. Videos on product pages are powerful because they can provide explanations to the complex services and products of enterprises. You can place short videos to inform and guide customers and enhance conversions.

Your brand’s homepage is a very important place for you on the internet. Therefore, you should strive to make it compelling by adding interesting and engaging videos. Check out the following sites to learn how this has proved effective.

You can also place videos on the “About Us” and landing pages. This is not to say that textual content will disappear, but it is clear that video will be integrated into web design more effectively in the future.

Trend #3: Social Media is Making Good Usage of Animated GIFs

Short videos and animated GIFs are becoming pervasive on social media. For example, Twitter’s most popular content has some visual elements in it. Visual posts are being widely used because the average person has a short attention span. Therefore, social media buffs are not going to read entire articles, they just want the basic details.

GIFs are short animations that are great for telling short stories. Their attraction lies in the motion of the images that appeals to viewers who are tired of crowded verbal newsfeeds. As a result, we can expect greater usage of animated GIFs in the future.

Another interesting trend in the growing popularity of Vine video shorts which are videos of six-second duration. Brands are recognizing their increasing acceptance and you can expect them to make good use of this medium to engage their customers.

Trend #4: Use of Live-Stream Social

Live-stream platforms such as Periscope and Meerkat have become widely accepted and popular. You can use these websites for real-time storytelling via live-stream videos to your followers.

Periscope has become big because it offers a great blend of video and social media that has attracted the attention of savvy digital marketers. You can view examples of how brands are using Periscope to enhance their online marketing strategies.

We can also expect that brands will use the live-streaming medium for contests, behind-the-scenes videos, live Q&A sessions, celebrity takeovers, product promotions, sneak peeks and more. Thus, social live-streaming offers exciting prospects for digital marketers and you can safely predict that this medium will evolve and continue to grow tremendously in the future.

Trend #5: Video will Enhance Email Marketing

Email marketing is becoming less important because marketers are paying more attention to growing mediums like SMS and social media. However, we expect video to boost email marketing in the coming years and such solutions already start to gain traction among top 10 marketing software services.

Marketers will replace text content with compelling videos to encourage viewers to engage with their company and brand. It is crucial to develop good quality videos that are short in length. Ideally, an email marketing video should be about three to four minutes long which gives you enough time to promote your brand and yet not long enough to bore the viewer.

Trend #6: Interactive Videos are the Key

Interactive videos are boosting conversions as they transform the viewing experience and encourage customers to enter into a dialogue with the brand. Marketers are creating two-way conversations with their viewers to boost the levels of engagement. YouTube supports this trend as it allows 360-degree videos on its platform.

Interactive videos give more power to viewers. They can decide what they want to do. Viewers can opt to check out the engagement buttons or they may just prefer to browse casually around the content. Top brands such as Samsung, Rogers, and Tippex are making use of interactive videos and we can surely expect creative and interesting interactive videos from leading companies in the future.

Trend #7: Smartphones are Changing Video Watching

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used to watch videos which is making marketers to focus on mobile advertisements. Mobile phones have become ubiquitous and marketers are wracking their heads to leverage this trend and target their customers on this medium. This has resulted in the popularity of services such as PressPlay.tv which provide a seamless video watching experience to mobile users.

Another growing trend is the use of vertical videos as seen from the popularity of Snapchat, Periscope, and Meerkat. Snapchat reveals that vertical video advertisements are viewed nine times more than conventional horizontal video ads. Media analysts and marketers are becoming aware of this development and are charting strategies to make use of it.

Trend #8: The Word ‘Viral’ Gets a New Meaning

The burgeoning numbers of website visitors to Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest is giving a new meaning to the word ‘viral’. This is the direct result of the growing popularity of videos and visual content on social media networks. As a result, marketers are focusing on creating and uploading promotional videos that are compatible on multiple social media websites. This means the visual players in the social media field such as Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest are having a big impact on digital marketing.

Facebook and Twitter are not lagging behind and are allowing videos. As a result, video virality is set to take a huge leap. Learn more about watching and sharing videos on Twitter and get tips to make viral videos. Facebook and Twitter understand that a huge percentage of smartphone users like watching videos and cater to this audience. Digital marketers therefore understand that Facebook and Twitter users are a great audience for their brand’s promotional video content.

Bottom line

The above trends show that it has become essential for digital marketers to prioritize visual marketing. By doing so they can enhance the benefits they gain from digital content marketing.

Feel free to share your views on this article as well as any new visual marketing trends that you may have come across.

By: Alex Hillsberg

Chief editor of review team at FinancesOnline Alex Hillsberg is an expert in the area of B2B and SaaS related products. He has worked for several B2B startups in the past and gathered a lot of first hand knowledge about the industry during that time.