Social media channels you should consider for video

It’s not rocket science, it’s just video marketing

Ever since video marketing became an integral part of inbound marketing in more recent years, it hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Video has become the most popular type of content ….duh you probably could have already guessed that. Almost every social media site has found a way to optimize there site for video, but can the same be said about companies and individuals usings these services social media sites provide. Noticing video as a means of curated advertising, it's no longer a mere option, rather it has become a must use tool for any brand or individual seeking to reach and connect with a broader audience. As humans are a very visual species it’s understandable why we find video content more engaging, stimulating and more popular than any other type of content out there. Nowadays, it’s the medium of choice for particularly everyone out there looking to distribute content and increase engagement. A quick Google search reveals the following;

72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rate. (Wyzowl)

52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions. (Invodo)

65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video. (Forbes)

As interesting as those stats are, the landscape of video is actually changing, raising the question, where is video going, and more importantly what platforms should be considered in 2019.

Video is going live

Live streaming isn’t new, you’ve probably seen a friend attempt to go live a few times, if you’ve been using social media for a long enough time. It’s become a mantra on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and other popular social media channels to see brands, influencers and friends going live. Here’s why it’s important and why its on the rise. Research indicates live streaming influences more audience engagement and retains viewers longer than pre recorded video. According to one source, 80% of people would now rather watch a live video than read a blog, hence why we’ll probably be making a vlog to go alongside this blog, and 82% rather preferring a live video from a from brand to a social post.

Video is dominating shopping experiences

You’ve probably seen that post on Instagram that brought you to a brands website, and you probably ended up purchasing a product. Wait, let me guess, that ad was probably a video? I knew it! With shopping video content on the rise, brands are now testing ways to give user the ability to swipe -to- buy through a seamless experience that it almost feels natural. We’ve all been guilty of it, including myself especially on social media sites like Instagram and Snapchat. 96% of consumers now find video helpful when making a purchasing decision and its not said having a video on an eCommerce product page increases the order value by at least 50%.

Video is not static its turning 360

Might sound a bit silly referring to video as static, but you’d be surprised by how much video content out their just takes a static approach to content creation, when we say static we are referring to a singular dialogo i.e. not allowing the perspective viewer to engage with the content in front of them. The recent advent of 360- degree video content enables viewers to control their perspectives for more immersive and interactive experiences.

Some the content people want to see in 360 degrees :

1. Sports - 60%

2. Live entertainment -55%

3. Movies -39%

4. News and Documentaries - 31%

5. Television shows -30%

Video is getting search friendly

As algorithms improve on search engines such as the likes of Google, Bing and Yahoo the searchability of video content is beginning to see a more gradual shift in growth. There are different types of videos that can be uploaded to every social media site. Such as:

1. Promotional videos

2. Behind the scenes Vlogs

3. Interview Q/A

4. Feature/Product Review

And depending on which style or combination of styles you go for will ultimately decide which social media platform you’ll go for.

3 video platforms to consider for social media

Now, with so many social media sites, it can be pretty overwhelming. The main thing to understand is that you don't have to be on every social media site out there. Stick with the ones you'll be able to manage, and we say this because most companies when they start off have the tendency to want to be on as many platforms as possible, not realising they’ve got to manage these platforms. The platforms mentioned below all gaining close to billions of MAU’s (Monthly Active Users), which is just an incredible amount of people to market to.

Why Facebook made the list

Facebook has over 2.23 billion MAU’s. Facebook is the biggest social media site around and if you were to take a crash course on social media marketing, Facebook Advertising would surely come up at some stage given it has more than two billion monthly users. That's a very large piece of the population.Facebook watch: As of now, according to Facebook's Newsroom Blog, there are “400 million people monthly and 75 million people daily who spend at least one minute on Watch and on average, these 75 million daily visitors spend more than 20 minutes in Watch.”The ability to connect more deeply around content is what sets the video experience on Facebook apart. They learned that Facebook Live is incredible because people can connect with each other around videos in real time. So make sure to keep your eye out for some serious updates as the platform continues to prioritize video and unify people in more ways.

Pros:

• With well over 2 billion MAU’s, facebook provides you with massive exposure on a global scale.

• Through suitable links you can grow Brand Awareness & Traffic.Facebook Ads is the most sophisticated social media ad platform available.

• The social nature of Facebook also makes it an excellent forum for engaging directly with the audience.

• Advertising on Facebook's is relatively cost effective when compared with other advertising options available.

Cons:

• Standard Facebook pages are free of charge for personal users but business accounts that have advertising opportunities come with a price.

• Rival business owners can easily pose as friends/fans to gain access to your content.

• Time and resources is one of the biggest drawbacks of having a Facebook page.will need a dedicated member of staff who can monitor and respond to posts on a regular basis.

Why Instagram

Instagram has more than 1 billion MAU’s. Instagram is a photo and video sharing social media app. It allows you to share a wide range of content such as photos, videos, Stories, and live videos. Instagram generates more than 4.2 billion likes a day and with 500 million active monthly users you can use it to reach a vast audience. In fact, when it first introduced videos, more than 5 million were shared in just 24 hours. What’s more, the platform is owned by Facebook, which means you can take advantage of many of the same paid advertising data and segmentation options available on there.

Pros:

• Instagram ads allow you to include clickable links as part of a promoted posts which would drive traffic to your website.

• When boosting an Instagram post, the post will appear in the newsfeed of your target audience without seeming too out of place.

• Increasing brand awareness.

• Businesses can use their Facebook Ads Manager account to set up ads on Instagram. Instagram ads are linked with facebook making them stronger.

Cons:

• It can be hard to direct viewers away from Instagram to your website.

• Unlike Facebook which transcends most age barriers, Instagram has a relatively young demographic limiting its usefulness for some. 

Why Youtube

Youtube is a video-sharing platform where users watch a billion hours worth of videos every day. It has 1.9 billion MAU’s which is almost a third of all the people on the internet and has always been a source of entertaining content. It is also the internet’s second largest search engine (after google) and will without a doubt improve your overall brand presence. Ultimately there is no real reason why you shouldn’t be using Youtube. To get started, you can create a YouTube channel for your brand where you can upload videos for your subscribers to view, like, comment, and share.

Pros:

• You can use YouTube videos to drive viewer action by adding annotations to your youtube videos that link back to your website.

• Unlike most video sharing websites, youtube allows you to upload videos for free as well as earn money from ad revenue sharing.

• Since youtube is owned by google its videos are ranked higher than those hosted elsewhere.

Cons:

• One of the biggest problems on YouTube is that it tends to suck viewers away from your youtube channel by recommending other videos.

• The success of a Youtube video will to some extent depend on how much it and your channel are promoted by YouTube. Which is determined by Youtube's algorithm.

• YouTube can’t protect you against illegal downloading of your videos if someone steals your content, posting it as his/her own will affect your websites SEO ranking.

If I could only pick one It would have to be ?

Facebook wins it

There are plenty of reasons to pick Facebook,the main reason being the ability to have a more precisely targeted audience.The fact that Facebook ads links to Instagram ads is also a very compelling reason to video advertise on this platform. Saying this in all honesty it depends on your industry.