Why Should a Video Blog Complement a Traditional One?

Why Should a Video Blog Complement a Traditional One?

If you’re just starting to build a brand online, choosing the right way of presentation is the key to success.

Both traditional text and video blogging have their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, both these formats can help you make a profit online. But what if we say that to rock the market, you should combine both formats?

Why is video blogging beating traditional text?

In the XXI century, the Internet has become the main source of knowledge and contact with the world. Information is poured in in a continuous stream, and people find it more and more difficult to cope with it.

In addition to the growth in the amount of information, the speed of its processing has also grown. Remember how in the morning you fluently scroll the news feed, check your mail, not really reading the letters, look at the new posts of your friends on Instagram.

However, many adults have trouble concentrating. This is also due to push notifications on our phone, contextual and targeted advertising, algorithms, endless social media feeds. Will a person read your text when there are so many things around that can captivate them? Isn’t it more effective to make a video or launch a vlog on YouTube?

Well, the answer is yes, it is. Check the following stats to get the proofs that video is a more powerful content marketing tool than text:

video content is 50 times more likely to attract organic search traffic than regular text;
63% of people are more likely to buy a product if they see it in a video;
according to HubSpot, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from the brand or business they support.

However, it would be wrong to force you to make a video blog. You have to decide for yourself. So here are the facts: the pros and cons of each type of blog.

Pros and cons of video blogging

First of all, let’s come up with the main strengths of video in blogging.

Pros:

If you use a platform like YouTube, creating a video blog is completely free (you just need a free Gmail account to create a YouTube channel).
You can get views of your videos on YouTube from day one (if you start using attractive thumbnails, titles, and descriptions).
People spend a lot more time watching videos (unlike blogs, where most people tend to read content).
Video blogging can be quite an engaging occupation (for most people, creating video blogs and promoting them online is much more interesting than creating text blog posts).
YouTube video blogging can attract a MASSIVE number of subscribers online and therefore provide a greater monetization (thousands of YouTube channels from zero to a million subscribers in a year).
There are many ways to make money, from video marketing, sponsorship, and promotional videos to selling affiliate products, your own products, advertising on YouTube, etc.

However, there are some weaknesses too.

Cons:

Vlogs aren’t suitable for all niches;
Sometimes you need to be captured on camera (so video blogging can be extremely difficult, especially if you’re an introvert or you like to create an anonymous brand);
Video blogging can be time-consuming (from video creation to video editing, each episode takes hours).

Benefits and weaknesses of text blogs

Pros:

The text makes you think. You have to delve into the text to find something important and new just for you.
The video is difficult to evaluate right away. The text is simpler. Bad content is immediately visible. You can skim the article with your eyes, read the table of contents and headings to see if it is worth reading or not.
It loads quickly. On a slow Internet connection, the video will take much longer to load than the article.
It is more convenient to search for the information you need. You can read, re-read, scroll to an interesting fragment.
You can read the text anywhere and anytime without disturbing other people. For example, while waiting in line, traveling by transport, sitting on a bench in the park. All you need is a mobile phone or tablet. To watch a video clip and not disturb other people, you need headphones.
The text directly affects the blog promotion in the search results. Promotion for most keywords is impossible if there is no text on the page.

Cons:

Lack of clarity. A person needs to concentrate to understand what the text says. However, this problem is solved well by high-quality illustrations and infographics.
Low emotional involvement. The text seems to us more “dry” in comparison with the video. The user will scroll a boring text and close it, while the video has a chance to catch and hold attention longer.
The need to use your brain. You have to think about the text, use your imagination. Sometimes you have to re-read the same line several times in order to grasp the meaning of what is written.
Poorly designed text will not be read. If an article is a sheet of characters, no subheadings, no selected lists, and no images, the text will not be read.

So, no matter how much the text format is buried, books continue to be published, news comes out every day, and search engine algorithms still use key phrases in the ranking of sites. But video is an extremely powerful marketing tool. It is great for blog introductions, emotional engagement, and entertainment. So we advise using both of the formats.

Requirements for creating a traditional blog and video content

Personal qualities

Text. Basic knowledge of speech styles, grammar, and authoring style will come in handy. The writer should be diligent, attentive to detail, and interested in graphic design and typography. These skills help to create a powerful article and design it beautifully.

Video. Basic knowledge of frame construction is necessary: plan, light, composition. Vloggers are good at speaking: they speak loudly, clearly, without stuttering or with wrong accents. It is also useful to train the voice and facial expressions to add meaning to storytelling. Openness and public speaking skills are important.

Technical aids

Text. The blogger writes on popular blogging platforms or their own website. Blogspot and WordPress services offer a built-in text editor and provide the ability to choose a font, font type, and alignment, as well as the ability to insert illustrations and hyperlinks. It’s also necessary to use some useful tools like SMM planner to duplicate content in social media for better blog promotion.

Video. The blogger needs a video camera, a microphone to record the soundtrack, and a video editor. Additional equipment includes a tripod and lights.

Getting ready to publish

Text. The blogger thinks through the material based on experience or gathers information from other sources. They work out the structure: introduction, main body, and conclusion, think up a title, subheadings. Moreover, they must pre-write text in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, add photos and illustrations. It is easier to find them on the Internet. Adobe Photoshop or a more user-friendly photo editing tool will do for processing photos.

Video. The blogger chooses a location to shoot – a public place or a studio. Lighting and soundproofing are important there. You can shoot in advance the company screensavers and interludes and add photos and captions during editing. Props and software like a screen recorder for educational or how-to videos, video stabilizer software for enhancing shaky video, and video converters to make a unified video format will come in handy. If the blogger is broadcasting live, they should prepare a plan in advance.

Interaction with the audience

Text. As a rule, readers write opinions and feedback in the comments under the post or its announcement on social media. Communication happens in writing. Unlike video, the text is faster to load and easier to navigate: the reader can quickly return to the desired part of the post.

Video. The author of the video also gets feedback in the comments. In live broadcasts, viewers write comments in an online chat, and the blogger responds to them on camera. It’s possible to change topics and behavior depending on audience reaction. Broadcasts can be edited only after the fact when the recording is published.

When someone comes up with the idea to start a blog, all they have to do is to choose a format and a platform to be published. But which way to go: text or video? We’ll answer this question in the article.

Final Thoughts

Blogging or video blogging are great ways to create content and promote it online. So which should you choose: one or both? Well, we are sure that choosing both is the right possible decision.

Even if you already have a blog, consider creating a YouTube channel to introduce your brand to a new audience and promote your blog. Likewise, if you already have a successful video blog, you might consider starting your own text blog to diversify your traffic.