As BuzzFeed Tasty yet again sets the record for most views in a single month, one thing is clear — we’re witnessing an explosion of a brand new digital video format.
Bite-sized, typography-intensive videos are all over the place these days and marketers agree that this new breed of social video is on its way to becoming an integral part of any social marketing campaign.
It’s quite simple, really. Social media audiences are now used to consuming short and silent-friendly videos — a smashing 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound! Using smart visual effects and rich typography, marketers can easily create video content that gets lots of views, sparks a social conversation and doesn’t even involve complex image or sound editing.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new trend for social videos.
What are social videos and why are they so special?
Social video can mean many things. It can be a raw live stream on Periscope or a sophisticated Facebook commercial, a carefully crafted piece of branded content or an informative news video.
What all these video types have in common is their intention. They’re basically created to inform, while being seen and shared exclusively on social media. Consider this — Facebook has 8 billion average views from 500 million users — every single day!
This is also why social video differs from online video marketing as we know it. Sure, marketers have been publishing videos on social media for a long time — but they’re only beginning to realize the real potential of this format for social engagement right now with the emergence of this strong social video trend.
Why social videos?
Now that you know what makes social videos stand out on the online marketing scene, here are 4 good reasons why you should start crafting your own bite-sized videos right now.
1. Social networks favour video content
Practically all social media giants have video features in place and are planning to implement even more video-oriented solutions (think Facebook Live or Twitter’s 30-second video feature). Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter all promote video content. Take Snapchat, for instance — in January 2016, its daily video views topped 8 billion. (http://recode.net/2016/02/29/snapchat-users-now-watch-eight-billion-videos-per-day/) Not to mention platforms like Vine, YouTube or Periscope which are designed specifically for social video sharing. It’s clear that video is a social media format of the future.
Example:https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage/videos/829397843859142/
2. It works for B2BC and B2B
Video for B2C fits like a glove. Consumers relate to stories and develop preferences for brands which are able to entertain them with videos, whether it’s commercials, explainers, how-to videos, videos featuring their favourite stars (or influencers) or animations which either go retro to remind them of their childhood or use sleek and ultra-modern visuals for more aspirational communication.
On the B2B side now. If there’s one thing all B2B marketers look for, it’s a way to make their marketing messaging easier to digest. B2B products and services are often complex and require quite a bit of explanation. To put it simply, it’s pretty hard to make such messages appeal to consumers without a fair amount of education beforehand.
Social video is a great solution for B2B marketers because it allows to transform complicated marketing messages into series of bite-sized promotional or informative videos, which are engaging and efficiently educate the audience about the product or service.
3. Brands are already investing in videos
If you think social video isn’t worth your time, you’re making a huge mistake. This survey shows that 61% of businesses are already using videos as part of their marketing strategies. That’s a big jump from last year, when 66% of them had no interest in this format at all. It’s clear that the industry recognizes the power of video for engagement and conversion — and so should you.
4. Videos bring incredible ROI
This is an unbeatable argument. 72% of businesses that use video admit that it increased their website conversion rates. And things are only about get more interesting. As soon as 2017, 74% of the entire internet traffic is predicted to come from video.
Moreover, the global video streaming market is expected to grow from$30.29 billion of this year to a smashing $70.05 billion by 2021. If that’s not enough to convince you, we don’t know what is.
Some final thoughts
What makes social video such a powerful marketing tool these days is its accessibility. Video production used to be costly and marketers would usually have to wait for weeks before launching such content projects. Today, they can embrace real-time marketing opportunities and benefit from more flexible budgets that can easily cover social video expenses.
By the look of it, videos aren’t going to disappear from the social scene anytime soon — so buckle up and start crafting your social video content right now. Or maybe you’ve already tried your hand at this format? Tell us how it worked for your brand in comments at sayhello@clipatize.com.
This article appeared in Nowy Marketing and Interwaktywnie.com.
Image via unsplash.com here.
