COVID-19 has changed the way we shop, with new consumer shopping behaviours now firmly ingrained.

According to Australia Post, a whopping 80% of Australian households continue to shop online regularly.

The ecommerce boom shows no signs of slowing down, with 6.2 million Australians expected to spend $8.8 billion in stores and online this fast-approaching End of Financial Year (EOFY) sales season. With thousands of sales and bargains available, retailers are under pressure to stand out in a crowded marketplace, especially when it comes to creating “stand out” social media marketing campaigns.

According to data from iStock’s VisualGPS platform more than 33% of Australians believe people waste too much time checking/scrolling/posting in social media, building as consequence a very wary market more sceptical and quicker to call out the drawbacks social media carries, including those in advertising. To cut through all the noise, video may just be the deciding factor to grab consumers’ attention and, ultimately, drive them to purchase.

iStock’s marketing research revealed that 70% of brands found that video produces more conversions than any other content. Further, 64% of consumers are more likely to make a purchas5e after watching a video and are spending 88% more time on websites with video.

Still need convincing? Let’s explore a couple of reasons why video is the greatest weapon in your marketing arsenal to move consumers from discoverability to engagement to conversion this EOFY sales period.

Video can help to unlock authentic messaging

Video is one of the most effective ways to engage your audience and help them retain authentic brand messaging. One factor for this comes down to ease of use. Hubspot found that while consumers tend to skim or multi-talk when looking at written content or listening to podcasts, video requires them to pay full attention. This helps to foster more engagement and an emotional connection compared to still images or text.

Video can also help to make your product more relatable, with 94% of video marketers reporting that video has helped to increase consumer understanding of their product or service. Video is able to humanise products, particularly technology, to show its real benefits, in an authentic and relatable way.

Video captures the full spectrum of experiences

Video concepts that appeal to real-life experiences and emotions are equally as important to consumers as futuristic video concepts. For 1 in 2 of Australian consumers, seeing products and services portrayed in a “real-world” setting is the most effective selling point.

Video is also an effective way to create authentic and inclusive storytelling, and capture the diverse narratives of peoples’ experiences across age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion and more. It’s a powerful tool for empowering positive perceptions in marketing and advertising, particularly for women who have traditionally been underrepresented and portrayed in ways that maintain outdated stereotypes.

Video allows you to find the middle ground

Video allows you to meet consumers where they are, on the platforms they frequent. This is predominantly on social sites such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube – ​​in fact, it is predicted that the number of Australians who use social media for online shopping will increase up to 6.4 million by the year 2024.

In addition, video offers economies of scale as a single piece of content can be re-mixed and re-used in a number of inventive ways across social channels, turning a small investment into endless possibilities. In fact, 89% of marketers find video provides a strong ROI with a limited budget for content creation.

Still not sure where to start?

Executing a video campaign can seem daunting, with 80% of marketers saying they would create more videos if they knew of an easy way. Just remember, with the right tips and tools, it doesn’t have to be expensive, time-consuming, or difficult to create impressive social media videos for your business.

Fortunately, the creative industry has made rapid advancements in this space, offering free editing tools, a wide range of stock video and pay-per view subscriptions that help make it easy for SMBs to produce high impact video content with little design or editing experience.

Kate Rourke is head of creative insights at Getty Images and iStock.