Are you a building material manufacturer whose website is heavy on text with little or no video? It’s time to acknowledge that attention spans are short and add video to your website. It will translate into more educated and engaged visitors on your site and more specifications of your products.
Educate Customers
If a photo is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. It’s an excellent tool for educating new and existing customers about what your product can do, why it’s a good fit for their project and why it’s a good value.
A video is one of the best ways to showcase a product and answer how it can solve a problem.
Boost Engagement
There’s so much information available to potential customers. Why not make the research process easier for them? This isn’t about dumbing anything down. It’s easier for the brain to interpret videos and visuals than it is to interpret text.
“Processing print isn’t something the human brain was built for,” Marcel Just, director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University, tells Nieman Reports. “The printed word is a human artifact. It’s very convenient and it’s worked very well for us for 5,000 years, but it’s an invention of human beings. By contrast Mother Nature has built into our brain our ability to see the visual world and interpret it.”
That’s not to say your building materials manufacturing site shouldn’t include text. To be engaging, your site should include text, images and video.
What Types of Videos Can A Building Material Manufacturer Create?
There are a surprising number of video options to try. And don’t be intimidated; many of them are easy to do.
Product overviews: If you’re taking a cautious approach to incorporating video into your website, this is the one to test. Videos can help potential architects and contractors understand your product and how it can solve a problem for them. For example, Buechel Stone uses Project Showcase to help their customers envision their next project by showing their products with real-life examples.
How-to videos: This is just what it sounds like — showing someone how to use your product. Using 3D video here can be especially handy because it gives contractors and other customers confidence in the installation process.
Success stories: Customer success stories with your products can be especially powerful. It’s proof of concept and personal.
Expert interviews: This could be someone in your company or a partner with expertise. As with success stories, this is a good way to offer information while also making it personal.
That’s just a few examples. This post from partner Venveo walks through eight types of videos to consider.
And remember: It’s not about video quality so much as video value. If you are answering a question a customer might have, then it’s useful. A good video doesn’t require a video team of four; a video taken on your iPhone can do surprisingly well.
It’s more important that the quality of the video matches your brand and tone.
How Adding Video Can Improve SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings are one of the key ingredients to brand success because it helps customers find your products. There are several best practices for SEO for building material manufacturers, but one of the simplest to execute is adding video.
You don’t have to start from scratch. You can add video to existing product pages or to introduce members of your sales team on your About Us page. Video is just one more layer of information.
There are a few key steps that will help increase your website’s Google ranking when you add video.
Add a Title and Description to Your Video
Title and meta description are essential for your video and website to rank well with search engines. Spending the time to craft an engaging title and description for your video to focus on your key audience.
It’s important to be honest and accurate. If your content doesn’t deliver what a title promises, users are unlikely to stay on your site and proceed to the sales stage.
Showcase Your Videos
Videos are most successful when they are easily accessed. Make them easy to find on your website. Place a video near the top of a relevant page. The video may be the first and only interaction a website visitor will have with your content, so make it worthwhile.
It doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. Upload your video to YouTube and embed the link on your website. YouTube and other apps makes it easy to share your video on all your social platforms.
Final Thoughts: Videos Help Your Building Material Manufacturer Website Stand Out
Videos can help your building products website stand out from the competition.
Videos can be anything from 3D product videos to instructional videos, all of which provide opportunities to build your brand. When architects, contractors and others are able to virtually engage with products, they will develop a better understanding, which can lead to more specifications and purchases.
Written By Candace Shackelford