Why Use Video and Podcasts on Your Blog?

Why Use Video and Podcasts on Your Blog?

The age of having multitude of text on your blog to attract visitors to the website is passé. This is evident from a recent case study from a prominent marketing company on the advantage of video podcasting over traditional text. Here, a white paper was released by the company using video podcasting exclusively, and it experienced a 30% sign-up rate. This was a 200% progress from what had been achieved by the release of the same white paper as exclusive textual content. This, in a nutshell, summarizes the strength of video and podcasts as the new-age marketing tools to rivet the niche audience group’s attention on your blog or service.

So, what exactly are video podcasts?

Video podcasts are video clips that have been broadcast in order to be downloaded onto the iPod and played at one’s will. Usually, the screen-enabled 3rd Generation iPods (all excluding the iPod Shuffle) can play podcasts, and can be easily updated by the user while on the go.

So why is it important to have such videos and podcasts in your blog?

There are several reasons why a blogger should ideally have videos and podcasts on his/ her blog/site to attract the attention of online users.

• It is much more engaging than stand-alone text
• Retention increases multi-fold as videos tend to stick to the minds of users, much more than simple text
• It’s interactive and encourages participation from the user
• With audio-visual representation of the product/service or yourself on the podcasts, the user gets a realistic first-hand experience of you rather than just reading scores of text on you or your blog
• The niche consumer group you are targeting are more prone to relate to the video or podcast than simple text. This is because videos and podcasts offer a much more real-world representation– something that helps to develop credibility and authenticity and trust.
• Another advantage is the cost-effectiveness of podcasts. Unlike other high-end online marketing campaigns, videos and podcasts require relatively cheap hosting and download solutions. This makes podcasts much more user-friendly – both in terms of personalized marketing as well as monetary investments.
• Podcasts can be syndicated and subscribed for, thus allowing automatic download of uploaded content without user-support. Thus, with videos and podcasts, your every update is beamed right to the potential consumer, making your marketing campaign all the more effective as the niche consumer group is kept updated with all the latest information on your blog or services.

How can you use such videos and podcasts to effectively market your blog or service?

• Online Marketing – Use them to promote your enterprise to the millions of users online.
• Testimonials – Feature a happy consumer on the video. This‘ll double the number of potential sales opportunities than wouldn’t have been possible with text testimonials. This is because a video testimonial is much more believable and detailed than a few paragraphs of text.
• Brand Promotion – Video newsletters, online videos, podcasts on product launches, etc. can immensely contribute towards widening your niche consumer base, consequently improving your sales.
• Panel Discussions – Feature discussions, debates and presentations via podcasts, albeit on your company, blog or services you provide. Thus, automatically, you have potential consumers as well as industrial experts hooked on. An unbiased debate will also increase the authenticity of your blog and leave a lasting impression on the target consumer base.

So, now that you know the power of videos and podcasting in achieving higher conversion rates, start using it on your blog or site and notice the changes in sales statistics!