Clear Signals You Should Invest In Video Campaigns on Facebook vs. Search

Video Advertising beats search advertising at every turn. When Airbnb first introduced photography to their listings, their responses spiked significantly. When they increased their investment to include high-end photographers, their conversion rate jumped.

Imagery that captivates, engenders good faith amongst viewers; it also creates a viewer investment in a given product/service. Video strengthens the bonds between past, present, and future customers and our emotional connections. Imagery bypasses the “gatekeepers” of our logical brain, making connections directly to the emotional center, through which we make the majority of our decisions.

If decision-making is impacted by the emotional center of the brain, it is safe to say that the higher the quality of a video, the deeper the connection to it. It is imperative to make side-by-side comparisons when examining video advertising versus search advertising. Google offers both types of products in Adwords PPC and InStream Video ads. Both are scalable, both are budget-friendly, and both are customizable. The difference between Google Adwords and Google InStream Video ads lies in the engagement success with each.   On a given campaign, with a $1,000 budget for each, the InStream Video campaign had approximately five times better return on investment over Adwords. This increased return on investment demonstrates without question that digital video advertising beats search advertising at every turn on a quantitative level. On a qualitative level, you also gain recall and retention, where Adwords has no retention benefits.

According to Google, “there are a number of unique advantages to using Display Ads. While Google search ads are great for reaching potential customers with a clear intent, who are further along in the buying cycle, they are plain text, making it difficult to stand out. Display ads allow for advertisers to create more appealing ads, increase brand awareness, and extend their reach to new potential customers they may not normally interact with.” In other words, Videos are a LOT more persuasive than a Google AdWords campaign.

In Business Insider, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook chief operating officer said the following, regarding video campaigns on Facebook :

“I think all marketers have the opportunity to do video, and that’s pretty exciting, including SMBs [small-to-medium businesses] who would never be able to hire a film crew and buy a TV ad. We’re seeing those put video in. Over 1 million SMBs [small-medium businesses] have posted videos and done really small ad buys around them. And that’s pretty cool because I don’t think there are probably 1 million advertisers who have bought TV ads in that same period of time.

Yes Sheryl, that is pretty cool!  One million businesses against 1000 Fortune companies means a ratio of 1:1000!  These SMBS represent the new, long-tail businesses that are just beginning to tap into the power of video advertising for the first time.  According to BusinessInsider.com, “online video ad revenue will reach nearly $5 billion in 2016, while TV ad revenue will decline by 3% per year during the same time.”

This statistic alone reflects the tremendous growth and emotion associated with digital video advertising. However, according to a recent BI Intelligence report, one can see even more clearly the impact of digital video advertising on today’s marketplace.   “From our research, video ads have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 1.84%, the highest click-through rate of all ad formats.”

Nowadays, digital video advertising is becoming more omnipresent, although it is still a relatively untapped market for advertisers. Video represents an intangible vision of a company, reaches a target market on an emotional level, appeals to potential customers’ needs and wants, and entices them to learn more about the advertiser.

A recent article in Entrepreneur Magazine probably summed up the key differentiators between digital video advertising and search advertising. “People know a great ad when they see one, but getting that ad to the right people at the right time is an art unto itself.” Understanding how to reach your target market is an art and the methodology by which you achieve this is your canvas. All things being equal, there are four central questions which must be addressed with all advertising. First, will your target market listen? Secondly, what content will they engage with most? Third, How can your target market be reached; and, finally, what is the most efficient method to reach them.

Between 2013 and 2014, mobile video and tablet consumption grew over four hundred percent. This is a tremendous statistic that tells us that advertising viewers are watching digital ads significantly more than ever before. Second screen is quickly catching up to first screen. According to Entrepreneur, “mobile viewers are a captive audience and mobile video ads take advantage of this undivided attention.” In short, the concept proffered by Entrepreneur answers all four key questions.

In the final analysis, as immersion of mobile viewers continues to grow, so will the capacity of digital video advertising to reach them. Many theorize that, by 2018, we will see an 800% increase in digital video ads and the bonds they create with their markets. While search advertising is going to be around for the foreseeable future, the growth of that market is nowhere like that of digital video advertising. Search ads are static; video ads create emotional bonds that engage viewers with products more directly. That alone, is a very definite reason why digital video advertising is more efficient, cost-effective, and humanistic than search advertising at every turn.