If you run a website, blog, online or offline business, you probably already know that Video is the present and future. Video engagement continues to make up an ever-growing portion of the content we consume online.

The benefits of video for SEO and for boosting traffic to your site are well documented. Cisco recently reported that video will make up 79% of all consumer internet traffic by 2020. Search engines recognize the trends and rank video content highly. WebPages with video are 53 times more likely to end up on the first page of Google search results.

Of course, not all video content is the same. Plenty of sites rank high on SERPs and get a lot of traffic but also have high bounce rates and low user engagement. Therefore, when it comes to producing video for your website, you want to make sure you're creating content that will increase engagement rates with your site.

Engagement—or conversion—rates are the percentage of users playing your videos and interacting with your content and are a good measure of the popularity and interest that users have in your information and products. Explainer videos are especially effective for increasing user engagement rates on your site because they provide information that is beneficial and informative to your users.

So let's investigate how and why explainer videos improve user engagement on your site and how to best deploy them.

What are explainer videos?

The name says it all: explainer videos are videos that explain or introduce your company and your products and services. They can also be about topics and issues related to your industry or about explaining confusing subjects that might be hard to understand. Explainer videos tend to be short and straightforward and are meant to convey useful information to viewers. They are often animated, but can be live-action, or even narrated slide show presentations. Many of our clients are realtors who have virtual real estate presentations of their listings. As shown:

Explainer videos not only inform users about your company, website or industry, they also give users a sense of your brand identity and the personality of your business. If you want to strike a personal tone, you can make a video of yourself speaking directly to viewers. Alternatively, you can use humor or inspirational imagery so as to give off a specific tone that matches the personality you want your business to have.

A business's personality, moreover, gives a relatable, human face to your company, which builds trust with visitors to your site. Trust instills a sense of loyalty and is huge in ensuring that first-time users or visitors keep coming back.

Benefits of explainer videos

One of the most salient reasons that video is so effective is that it is far more memorable than text. It's the same reason that reading about a confusing subject is often less effective in imparting core ideas than listening to a knowledgeable speaker explain it. Users only retain 10% of the information they get from text-based sources whereas they tend to retain 90% of the significant information in videos.

These retention rates mean your customers or users are more informed about your business and industry, which makes them much more likely to use your site or buy your products. And while you don't want users to think you're just trying to sell them something, you can include links or information at the end of your video to make downloading or purchasing a product easy.

In fact, 85% of people are more likely to buy a product after watching an explainer video about it.

Where to place explainer videos

Explainer videos need to be strategically placed to maximize their effectiveness. That's why videos appearing on homepages, landing pages and on social media platforms tend to be the most viewed and lead to the highest rates of engagement. The key is to tailor the content and quantity of your videos to the webpage on which they're being posted.

Explainer videos on your landing pages should be directly related to the keywords and phrases that users include in the search queries that bring them to your site. That means researching the demographic breakdown of your visitors and the search terms that they're using.

When it comes to social media, you want to think about shareability. Whereas written content will only appear on your website, videos can be posted on a variety of platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and LinkedIn. That alone expands your brand presence and also allows for the easy sharing of your content.

So think about what kind of explainer videos will appeal to your followers and also compel them to retweet, repost and share them with their own social networks. Social networks are a key to business growth today. They allow you to target your ideal market because people tend to follow similar minded individuals.