This article was written as a part of the SEMrush Big Blogging Contest.

Brands, companies alongside public figures and artists depend upon the virality of their content via Social Media. It is one of the important parameters which shows whether their brand is powerful or not. When it comes to marketing, content is always the king. It can be in any form – depends upon on your target audience. Youths generally prefer short videos instead of reading a full page analysis. Some prefer the latter for a deeper understanding and in-depth knowledge.

Video content is gaining popularity amongst marketers. Various studies have shown that if you want your visitors to your website, to share and interact with your content, the video is the best way of doing so. A report said that a human brain can process a video 60,000 times faster than text. Now, think of yourself, if I ask you to choose between video and text, then you are more likely to opt for video. It’s because when you read something, you need to focus on it. It requires active attention for a longer duration. It is an active process –  you need to visualize what you are reading. So, you aren’t only reading the words that are in front of you but also trying to create a picture of it. When you are reading, you are also giving an effort to understand what you are reading.

On the other hand, a video is purely audio-visual. It’s all about visualization. You just need to look at it. This reduces our efforts. Now, most of us believe in ‘Smart Work’ and we are always attracted towards it. Isn’t it? :p

The presence of ‘Human Touch’ in Videos

When you are reading any text, you are actively trying to process the text that is present in front of you. Sometimes, you may not be able to form the right picture of it. But, in a video – everything is present in front of you. You don’t have to form an impression or any kind of picture. You just need to watch it. Some videos give you an immersive experience. It means you can actually feel and experience everything that is happening on screen. This is the biggest advantage of using video as a marketing tool. You can add a layer of ‘human touch’ to it. You can express yourself, people can see your expressions. These factors make videos as the most powerful tool for marketers. Videos can also contain demonstrations or real-life experience. This can influence your visitors to a large extent which can boost your conversion ratio.

The Numbers – What do they speak about Video?

A report stated that a human brain remembers 80% of the things that we see and 20% of the things that we read. Experts estimate that by the end of 2019, videos will comprise 80% of the search traffic. Cisco predicts that it will rise to 82% by the end of 2021. Google claims that 70% of the users refer to Youtube videos to find a solution to their problems.

Video vs Text

Video in any form – Youtube, Vine etc. is a great tool to influence your visitors. But, it doesn’t mean that every video is going to be successful. Here, also you need to take care of the content. The video must be crisp and relevant to the content. It should be interesting so that the viewers watch it till the end.

Videos are meant for getting an overview of something in a short time. For a detailed analysis, text content would be better. Creators can’t add every minute details in their video as it would increase the length of the video which may make it boring.

Studies have pointed out that when a person wants to take an important decision – they are more likely going to refer to the text. Most of us have a tendency to give more preference to written documents. Secondly, you need to follow a separate approach to make a video. If you make a video of textual information, it may turn out to be boring. The rule of thumb is the content (text or video) must be prepared, as per the interest of the audience. Text content becomes boring without using any kind of graphics or visuals.

Thirdly, video requires a high-speed data internet connection. Else, you will experience buffering and bad video quality while streaming. For text, it works well even with 2G speeds.

Videos are an attractive way of presenting information, but it isn’t always suitable for everything. It can be time-consuming and expensive as well. For text content, one simply needs to type the information that he wants to convey.

Author’s Views

I use both text and video – for different purposes. In some cases, we may find it easier to present things using video. For others, text content serves the purpose.

Video content is definitely becoming an important tool for marketing, but I don’t think it can replace text. If you ask me, I would personally prefer text content. I love to read because it is self-paced and helps me to understand something deeply. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t watch videos. I refer to them for understanding the concept behind any matter.

Let’s us take an example, The electronic media came at a much later date than print media. In today’s world, most of us have smartphones with a news app installed. Did it close the print media? Did people stop buying newspapers? No, People still read the newspaper while sipping their morning tea, even if they have news apps on their smartphone.

If you decide to proceed with the ‘Video Only’ approach, then it won’t help you in the long run. Search Engines can’t read from videos. You need to add an SEO friendly description to make it rank. My personal opinion is videos can be as a supplement to your text content.

Verdict

There’s no doubt that video is becoming popular among netizens. However, videos don’t guarantee success always. It needs to be crisp and interesting so that the viewer watches it till the end. Be it videos or text, it’s the content that plays the key factor. At the end of the day, the visitors want something interesting. As I have earlier said, content is always the king. I feel that a page full of text with videos embedded in it would be the optimal solution.