Nearly 75% of all Internet traffic will be video by 2017, according to a recent study by Cisco. Along with this, most of the Internet video traffic will be viewed on mobile devices by 2018. Billions of dollars are shifting, as online video becomes one of the fastest growing forms of digital media.

The SMB space is helping to drive this progression in Transmedia marketing (TM). This shift to online video is a valuable statistical insight into how online video is evolving in the SMB space. What is sparking current local growth in online video? There are several key factors impacting this development that can be seen in online video.

SMB may be familiar to you. For some, this concept may be entirely new. SMB is an acronym for small and medium-sized businesses. Combined with the word “marketing,” SMB refers to a specific method of selling products or services to small and medium sized businesses, as opposed to large corporations.

This business-to-business selling incorporates marketing strategies and techniques that address the unique needs of smaller and mid-size companies. These needs often are based not on a company’s size, but on its lack of capability in specific business functions – as in the case of marketing.

Marketers offer more hand-holding in the form of customer training, support and service. These businesses look for vendors and suppliers that can provide them with deep expertise and less-expensive options in these areas, often outsourcing services they don’t use every day or in which they have little or no expertise.

SMB awareness is a key factor when it comes to transmedia storytelling. Organizations who are transmedia providers impact the significant growth for small and medium sized businesses seen in online video. Advances in media technology have lowered the cost of entry for small business while new software suites allow for the creation of extremely high quality videos for a portion of what it cost five years ago. Transmedia providers are partnering with their clients to deliver high quality, reliable and lower cost marketing solutions.

Another key factor influencing growth is the surge in mobile video consumption. As mobile video usage soars, targeted promotional opportunities grow alongside social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest. This offers tremendous targeting for SMBs in delivering great results across both desktop and mobile devices. It is dramatically easier for smaller and medium-sized businesses to deliver a strong, engaging message on a smaller screen using video than it is with text. As mobile devices and networks get faster, and video compression technology gets better, there will be a large growth in mobile video marketing (according to Cisco).

Rich Content Transmedia Marketing strategies including multiple videos are being introduced to businesses by their TM solution providers. These videos are being used on webpages and landing pages, Social Media campaigns, email campaigns, SEO strategies and lead generation campaigns. Small businesses are no longer viewing high quality video as just a single component, but now video is seen as a key ingredient in many of their online strategies.

What roadblocks are holding back SMBs online video growth? Solutions like keyword advertising on search engines (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and even Social Media Marketing are sometimes difficult to explain to small and medium sized business owners who have little to no expertise in these areas. Education and empowerment is an important factor, and the more people who know about their options and opportunities, the more likely they are to embrace them.

Filmed presentations have an incredible ability to help improve the performance of many other components of a digital transmedia marketing strategy. This development of solutions truly leverages all of the benefits available through online video, skyrocketing SMBs growth.

Captivating video content can consistently and dramatically improve organic page rank, however only if it is embedded and indexed properly on the page. Video can improve user time spent on the site and decrease bounce rate if it is positioned properly on the page and loads quickly. Video can also produce significant improvements in email campaign open rates and click through. This campaign tactic must be accomplished in a way that uses the strength of video as a transmedia marketing tool.

As Cisco has indicated, there will be an explosive growth when SMBs start to weave the benefits of filmed presentations throughout all of the other pieces in the digital transmedia marketing solution. In other words, the future looks very bright for transmedia storytelling. As little as ten years ago, SMBs were attempting to understand if they needed a website. Now, it is clear that not only do they need a website, but it also must be mobile friendly. Today, many SMBs are adding a single video to their site. In the future, they will have a library of video content to describe their products, talk about their special initiatives, answer frequently asked questions and deliver testimonials from satisfied customers.

As digital solutions embrace the benefits of online video and consumers watch more video content, there will be incredible growth within transmedia marketing platform. Small to medium sized businesses should be encouraged to invest time into learning how SMB and transmedia marketing can positively impact their business within the Internet and on mobile devices. As traditional outreach methods are quickly being supplemented by Internet marketing, learning about this new technology could be the difference between success and failure for your company.

To learn more about Transmedia Marketing, visit us at our website.