If you are a business owner, the chances are that you run marketing campaigns involving either videos or images. But which is the most effective? In this blog post we’ll compare the pros and cons of images vs video to help you decide which is right for your campaign.
Should I use images?
Images are great for capturing moments that may be missed on video, like someone’s expression or gestures. They are quick to take and edit, can be used on all social media platforms and, the chances are, they will be supported indefinitely, meaning they could be viewed a long time into the future.
However, they aren’t particularly immersive and only allow the viewer to see one angle of the product or experience you are sharing. Multiple shots could work in this scenario, although you may then decide that video is a better medium to capture what you wish to share.
Or should I use video?
Videos allow your product, service or experience to be shown in action, giving you the ability to showcase each angle, or even talk through an experience. This doesn’t work well with photos, unless you use a slideshow which can feel stilted and uninspiring.
Videos allow viewers to see how products work without having to open a website or read an article about it, increasing the chances of retaining a potential customer’s attention, and they have been proven to capture attention spans with more ease than other mediums; one study suggests that a video is worth 1.8 million words! Wow!
So, which reigns supreme – video or images?
The downsides of videos are that they take more effort than photos — you need time to set-up, record, edit and upload. If something goes wrong, it’s not as easy as simply taking another snap — you’ll probably need to record the entire video over again (unless you’re a dab hand with a video editor).
We’ve all heard the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ and it turns out that video may be even more captivating, so they both really add something to the mix, but in our opinion, keep images as the main event on a web page or blog, and embed videos from the likes of YouTube, Vimeo or similar for more in-depth explainer/instructional/marketing related videos to support the page content, and to help make the page/blog more engaging to your visitors.
If you want some more guidance on marketing your small business, speak to our team today!
