This month YouTube hit the grand old age of eight. And what an eight years it’s been; who could imagine life without YouTube today? The video-sharing site marked the occasion by revealing a couple of landmark stats about the service. Writing on its blog, it unveiled that a phenomenal 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, equivalent to over four days of video each minute.
This stat alone not only highlights the explosion of video, but also points to the fact this form of content has become a part of our everyday lives when it comes to learning, sharing and having fun. And with more than one billion people visiting YouTube every month, the site’s prominence is only set to grow. But is self-broadcasting finally gaining real resonance with B2B marketers?
Well if you go by the results of B2B Marketing’s upcoming 2013 Content Marketing Benchmarking Report the answer is yes. Video was the most popular form of digital content, used by over a third of respondents. When the number of those implementing video was compared to the deemed effectiveness of the channel, the results were very similar (30 per cent said it was very effective).
Which is all well and good but makes me think, if more B2B marketers embraced and regularly used video to communicate with their target audience, maybe its true value would come to light. As information continues to emerge as the real currency in this digital age, so does the problem of content overload, and maybe snappy videos are the solution.
On the other hand video isn’t always right for everyone. Remember to consider if it fits with a campaign you’re running. Think about your content strategy and brand message, and assess whether you have the right resources in place. Good luck.