Most business buyers prefer to research purchase options online, as do many shoppers. No wonder online retail sales in the U.S. rose by 32.4% in 2020—an impressive gain of $105 billion.
For B2B and B2C businesses, text-heavy websites are no longer adequate in attracting shoppers. Instead, engaging visual media—spin images, videos, 3D models, augmented reality—are becoming a must for conveying eye-catching details and differentiators about products or services.
User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool. Not only does video complement marketing efforts for e-commerce by enabling customers to explore products in greater detail, but UGC also adds an element of trust. As a bonus, user-generated video is an exceptional opportunity for e-businesses to attract website traffic without their marketing team having to create promotional videos from scratch. User-generated content drives conversions and brand loyalty as a direct result of authentic interaction.
In early 2020, Cloudinary was planning its fourth annual ImageCon conference, a two-day event in the heart of San Francisco, where we’d congregate with curious digital-media minds to brainstorm best practices for media management. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the entirety of ImageCon 2020 online. As with all other events being planned, we had to overhaul the content to be communicated on video. Gratifyingly, we found the right partner—the event platform Bizzabo—to turn that into a reality.
In a previous post, I discussed how “going live” is gaining popularity across industries and verticals. What began as a way for gamers to jam together has evolved into a medium for broader entertainment and business purposes. To continue the conversation, this post unpacks the current trends of shoppable live streams to shine a light on how brands are leveraging “lives” to connect with shoppers in new ways.
“Let’s go live.” For decades, that’s what newscasters say as they cut to real-time footage of a colleague reporting in the field. The live-video feed adds visual interest and perspective to a story beyond what can be communicated by someone sitting behind the news desk. In the same way, live-streaming video nowadays adds context to other consumer environments. From gaming and events to shopping and social media, “going live” enhances everyday experiences, and it’s something anyone can do with relative ease.
When planning a live broadcast or stream, companies often overlook the redistribution phase, but live-stream videos are useful well beyond their initial streaming. Why? Because not everyone watches the first run. For a wider audience, it makes sense to repost live content on your website under an “events” tab, on YouTube, and other social sites for video on demand (VOD). However, preparing footage for reposting can be a lot of work.
Cloudinary offers powerful APIs for uploading, managing, transforming, and delivering images and videos, enabling developers to treat media as code and to capitalize on media’s full potential. However, performing simple editing tasks with APIs and SDKs might be too overwhelming for nondevelopers, who might prefer UI-based capabilities instead.
Social media is now one of the most effective channels for attracting customers. That’s because not only is the content readily accessible worldwide, but also entrepreneurs are rapidly building products for global consumption. A visit to ProductHunt will show you that such a phenomenon is happening faster than you think. The richer and more captivating your content is, the more visitors enjoy engaging with your site, ultimately leading to an impressive expansion of your customer base over time.
Videos are a powerful visual medium that fosters engagement by adding emotions and empathy. Web developers are often required to work with videos for websites or applications and must be equipped with the relevant knowledge and expertise.
Rich and engaging media helps build customer engagement and trust but can be time consuming to stage. Developers save a tremendous amount of time by preparing videos for social media with Cloudinary. That’s because Cloudinary’s interface, widgets, and application programming interface (API) transform raw media into polished content, optimizing footage and enabling effortless customization and publishing.
