Why Use Video To Market Your Books

When it comes to marketing your books, there are many options available to you.

As a self-published author, you want to make sure you have the right marketing strategies and tools in your marketing arsenal.

Using videos is one such strategy which can effectively be applied to build and complement your other marketing efforts.

If you think video is not for you, then think again. Take a look at these five compelling reasons why you should use video to market your books:

1. People Love Videos

The simple fact is that more people are watching video than ever before. Today, 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55 percent view online videos every day. In fact, by 2020, videos are expected to make up 80% of web traffic.

You’ve probably also noticed that there are a lot more videos now on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. That’s because a whopping 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day and 82 percent of users watch videos on Twitter.

I’m sure by now you get what these numbers are saying—that people love watching videos.

When video and text are both available on the same page, 72% of consumers prefer video to learn about a product or service.

As an author, these statistics tell you that you should consider using video in your marketing strategy.

People are engaging with video better because it gives them a multi-sensory experience and since 65% of the people are visual learners, one of the best ways to get your message understood by your audience is through video.

2. Emotional Connection

When people see the face of the person writing all those books, they tend to trust you more. And trust is the number one factor in driving engagement and sales online. Video can help. Whether you create vlogs or informational videos, your audience gets to see glimpses of you as a person. You convey essential information through body language and non-verbal cues, and this connects with your viewers on an emotional level.

This creates an empathetic connection because it much easier for people to attach emotionally to something they watch on a video than compared to someone they just read about.

Research tells us that when this happens, our brain releases a chemical called oxytocin which enables us to feel empathy, make emotional connections, and build trust.

The biggest strength of video is that it enables 80% of the audience to recall a video they watched a month ago. That’s because video is highly visual and auditory, and viewers tend to remember messages from videos better than text-based content like a blog. This translates into higher sales and leads for you.

Using video in your marketing strategy gives you the opportunity to engage with your readers—current ones and new ones—as you share your stories, insights, and information. They begin to build a persona of who you are, and as a result, they feel closer to you. This converts viewers into buyers and advocates for your book.

3. More Video Shares

Because video has the power to engage dynamically with your audience, they are more likely to share video content with others. It is estimated that 92% of video watchers will share videos with others.

Videos are visually stimulating, easy to recall, and relatable which makes them share-worthy. In fact, social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.

Video is a powerful tool, and it’s an excellent way for authors to expand their presence online and increase their reach.

4. More Traffic

With video, you develop a more authentic relationship with your audience through visual and emotional cues. Your audience is much more inclined to be attentive to what you have to say. As a result, they are more likely to take action on any call-to-action in your video such as visiting your website, subscribing to your blog posts, or even buying your book.

According to KISSmetrics, a call-to-action with a video produces 380% more clicks than a regular sidebar call-to-action from your website.

In fact, 64% of people are also more likely to purchase after watching a branded video. This means that authors and writers have an excellent opportunity to drive more sales to their books and improve conversion rates.

Video also enables better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your website as more people visit your website after watching your informative and relevant videos.

SEO is crucial to get organic traffic to your website through search engines like Google and Bing. As your SEO improves so do your rankings on search, resulting in more new visitors to your website.

By adding videos to your website, landing pages, and content offers, you can improve your SEO overall by increasing the amount of time visitors spend on your website.

In fact, 62% of Google’s universal searches includes a video. This means that people searching on Google are more likely to come across your video early on in the search results than any text results. And now that Google owns YouTube, you will notice that 80 percent of the results are from YouTube. So it’s a great idea to start a YouTube channel and feature some great content on it so your ideal readers can find you much more easily online.

According to YouTube, mobile video consumption is increasing by 100% every year. Since people prefer to watch videos on the go and the number of smartphone users is growing every day, it’s safe to say that the reach of your videos will get bigger and bigger over time.

5. Good Return on Investment

Although producing a video is not the easiest or the cheapest task, it does generate a good ROI according to 83% of businesses surveyed in 2017.

Businesses that use video marketing get higher conversion rates compared to those that don’t use video marketing. Video marketing also helps generate more leads, and it requires fewer unique visitors to create the same amount of leads because you’ll have higher conversion rates. In other words, you spend less per lead when you use video as a marketing tool.

The time and money you spend on producing videos have a good chance of creating the results you desire from your videos.

Nonfiction Writers Using Video Marketing Successfully

Get inspired by these nonfiction writers who are already using videos in their marketing strategy.

Gary Vaynerchuk:

Gary is four-time New York Times best-selling author of books like Crushing It, Crush It, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. He also runs Vaynermedia, a full-service advertising agency and is chairman of VaynerX, a media, and communications holding company. Gary also hosts the extremely popular and successful #AskGaryVee Show, on YouTube where he answers questions about marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship.

Tony Robbins:

Tony Robbins is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and a business strategist. He is the author of six internationally bestselling books, including the recent New York Times #1 best-seller MONEY: Master the Game and Unshakeable. Robbins has empowered more than 50 million people from 100 countries through his audio, video, and life training programs and he too has a successful YouTube channel.

Jordan Belfort:

Jordan is an author, motivational speaker, and former stockbroker. He published a memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, which was adapted into a film, released in 2013. In his recent book, Way of the Wolf: Straight line selling: Master the art of persuasion, influence, and success, he gives readers access to the exclusive system he used to create massive wealth for himself, his clients, and his sales teams. His YouTube Channel is called Wolf of Wall Street.

Joanna Penn:

Joanna Penn is an Award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers under J.F.Penn and also writes non-fiction for authors. She’s an award-winning entrepreneur, podcaster, and YouTuber. Her site, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 websites for writers by Writer’s Digest. She runs a helpful YouTube Channel where she shares information and inspiration about writing fiction, writing non-fiction, self-publishing, book marketing, and making a living with your writing.

Christiane Northrup, M.D:

Christiane Northrup is an author, visionary pioneer and a leading authority in the field of women’s health and wellness. Also, a board-certified OB/GYN physician, Dr. Northrup’s work has been featured on Super Soul Sunday on OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, The View, Rachael Ray, Good Morning America, 20/20, and The Dr. Oz Show. Her books include Goddesses Never Age, Making Life Easy and the more recent Dodging Energy Vampires. She also has a YouTube channel besides featuring videos on her website.

Some Ways to Use Video in Your Marketing

Here are some of the ways you can use video marketing to market your books and build a strong web presence:

1. Create content based videos discussing your books
2. Start a YouTube channel and produce a vlog or an informative channel
3. Create tutorials or instructional videos
4. Add a video to your landing page and book pages
5. Engage with your followers on Facebook Live
6. Share videos on social media
7. Produce movie-style trailers for your upcoming books
8. Use video in addition to your blog posts

Conclusion

Video consumption is on the rise, and as more people watch videos, marketing strategies that include video will get better results.

Videos don’t just sell books, they help you connect with your viewers on an emotional level, and they help you build your reputation and your brand.

So consider looking at various video strategy options that you can best use as a writer.

Set goals for your video marketing strategy and get started today!