In this guest post, Hamish Brown (pictured below), sales manager ANZ at Brightcove, says brands are turning themselves into media businesses and it’s all thanks to video marketing…

I’m not here to tell you that video needs to be part of your marketing strategy in 2018. You’ve all seen the staggering stats such as video will represent 82 per cent of all internet traffic by 2021 or that one-third of online activity is spent watching video. But what brands can achieve with video is rapidly picking up steam.

In 2017, Brightcove delivered around 1.3 billion hours of video across 34 billion streams. 2018 will see this skyrocket even further. More and more video content is being produced and that’s creating a lot of noise. So if you’re looking to cut through the noise, consider some of the up and coming trends for video marketing in 2018.

Video is the hero

Hero videos are large header videos on a website that offer an immersive, visual experience. We’ve seen the trend of hero images make its way into website design this year and digital-savvy brands are cottoning on to hero videos as a way to immediately engage website visitors. In 2018, we can expect to see these become the new norm for home pages.

We’re seeing hero videos increasingly used with autoplay capabilities to give audiences an immediate, rich taste of a product or service before they purchase or sign up. This is particularly growing with experience businesses like festivals and performances, with consumers expecting to get a feel for the event before purchasing tickets. Sydney Festival and Sydney Opera House are perfect examples of this,  integrating hero videos with autoplay capabilities across its website to act as ‘visual previews’ of the event or venue.

Brands as media companies

With brands vying for a slice of attention and media consumption habits changing, the way companies connect with customers is undergoing a major facelift as we head into 2018. More brands are acting like media companies, becoming more audience-centric, more consistent with content, and more focused on engagement.

Companies like Xero, Mitre 10 and Endeavour Drinks Group are nailing this strategy, publishing short-form and long-form video content across a number of mediums. Whether it’s small business advice, DIY how-tos or wine education, these brands are producing content to own their space, build trust amongst their audience and drive engagement.

Video without the price tag

Producing video is still perceived as having a hefty price tag attached. Yet, heading into 2018 this couldn’t be further from the truth – it’s now more cost-effective than ever to produce video content. Whether brands want to shoot and edit content themselves, or outsource the whole workflow, they can now leverage providers specialising in online video without big budgets. We’re seeing an increased use of video across marketing teams all over the globe thanks to these cost-effective offerings.

Using video across the whole organisation

In addition to marketing, video is increasingly being used across entire organisations to drive employee engagement. Modern employees are now expecting video across all areas of the workplace.. From corporate training to human resources, internal communications, and customer support, in 2018 we’ll see businesses using video content in new and innovative ways to educate, communicate, and engage a variety of internal stakeholders.

We’re seeing an increasing number of organisations, including the likes of Mazda Australia, AMP and Dunkin Donuts, use video to build trust, productivity, and an energised culture. Company-wide video hubs, live and on-demand town hall meetings, and video training are all ways to better engage employees across an organisation.

Sharing information visually is a huge trend in staff development, and in 2018 we expect to see more and more businesses using video, complemented by quizzes, for training and certification purposes.