Susan Tormollen

According to the 2011 Social Media Market Industry report, 90% of marketers say social media is important to their business. As social media continues to gain importance in the local marketing mix, small business use of video will also increase. This is due to the ability of video to enhance the social media experience, increase SEO results, and increase the overall effectiveness of multiple Local Web media channels. 

• 86.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in 2011¹
• Video ads accounted for 14.9 percent of all videos viewed¹
• Nearly 60% of those online will watch a video before reading the text on any given web page — and they’re more likely to make a purchase²
• Cisco predicts that 80% of all internet traffic will be video by 2015³
• 77% of all marketers planned to increase their use of video in 2011. While this was the first choice for all marketers, small businesses lagged behind their larger counterparts (82% of large businesses saw this as a key growth area)⁴.

There is a learning curve to including video in the local marketing mix, and we predict 2012 is the year local marketers will experiment and learn. They will learn both how to cost effectively and quickly produce videos, and they will become comfortable with incorporating video in to their various social media and local internet marketing channels. Most importantly, they will respond to consumer preference for video.

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

Fun Facts:

1) Viewers remember 58% more when learning via a combination of audio and video vs. print alone.⁵

2) Infographic: What Kind of Videos do Americans Admit to Watching on their Mobile Devices at Work

¹ comScore. Oct 2011

² Forbes Insight Survey Dec 2010. Article

³ Cisco. Article

⁴ 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

⁵ Allan Paivio, University of Western Ontario