Online video ad spend is growing so fast that Forrester predicts it will grow in the U.S. to $5.4 billion by 2016 (from $2.0 billion in 2011). Yet the percentage of SMBs using video is virtually nonexistent. During their panel at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local conference last week, Valentine Matrat, global video lead of SMB video at Google/YouTube, Olivier Katz, CEO of Blue Pixel Media, and John McIntyre, CEO of Sightly, gave their insight into the tremendous opportunity for SMBs in online video marketing.
The panel set the stage with some statistics about video ad consumption saying that over 50% of web traffic on a mobile phone is video content and 40% of online video watch time is on mobile. Given the consumption of videos on mobile phones, Valentine said that SMBs have the opportunity to reach people right where they are.
All three of the panelists had some valuable advice when it comes to developing video content for SMBs. They said to:
- Share a clear concise message.
- Make a strong impression.
- Have a call to action.
- Create content, not commercial.
- Localize the ads.
- Generate detailed reports for clients.
- Know your target audience.
- Be responsive to feedback.
- Act as an expert.
- Refresh ad content.
- Use automation to manage bids and budget allocations.
For me, the biggest takeaway from the panel is that SMBs are looking for conversions from their video content and a way to track engagement. Just seeing how many views a video has is no longer enough. SMBs want to know who is watching, how did they react and what the conversion rate is of the video ads they push out. This requires a much more sophisticated approach to video advertising.
