It's no surprise that video continues to be one of the most popular ways to share information. In fact, more than a billion people visit YouTube every month to watch over 6 billion hours of video content.

In addition, 2013 proved to be the year of micro or short-from video for the mainstream with sites like Instagram, Vine, and Vimeo. While the numbers of active users on these platforms are less than YouTube - Instagram at 150 million, Vine at 40 million, and Vimeo at 65 million - their fast-growing user base is still producing and sharing great content.

Like any social platform, there is a core group of users creating posting great content that can impact your brand's image, reputation, and business. The key is to locate that great content and show it off to more people. Many marketers may find themselves asking how to do that.

The answer is simple: share it via email! Data from ExactTarget's 2012 Channel Preference Survey confirmed that a staggering 77 percent of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email. Furthermore, new data released from global information services company Experian found that when marketers used the word "video" in an email subject line, open rates rose seven percent to 13 percent.

Videos are highly engaging, but not if your brand fans don't watch them. By powering brand-generated and fan-generated videos into your email marketing campaigns, brands can convert interest and attention into action and conversions. Feeding video content into your email will help engagement rates soar.

Marketers know there's no universal video format that allows every individual who receives an email with embedded video to hit play, but it's not actually hard to incorporate video into email marketing initiatives. Many marketers avoid putting video into their email campaigns all together to avoid those technical hurdles, but FanCentric's app, Content (Ctrl), curates and includes video in a format that allows anyone to watch videos anywhere, anytime, on any technical platform via email.

Content (Ctrl) doesn't just embed videos, it links to the videos and channels superficially -- which increases click-through rates. A study by performance marketing agency Performics states that people are most likely to engage with branded content on social media that contains pictures (44 percent) and videos (37 percent). More so, 75 percent of automated email providers reduced their numbers of subscriber opt-outs by 75% when emails incorporated video (Eloqua).

So, don't be scared to include video in email. It's what people want right now, so don't miss out on being part of the conversation.

To learn more about Content (Ctrl) or to request a demo, visit http://contentctrl.com/.

Have you included video in your email campaigns? Tell us how you've done it.