Did you know that the millennial 25-34 age group are the most avid viewers of video content on social according to Forbes AND that over any other social platform, Instagram saw the largest increase in purchases thanks to video, year over year (48% in 2018 from 31% in 2017)?

Before getting into why you definitely need to be adding video content to your social content and a few tips on getting started, I have to share a little secret.

One of the awesome things about having a business partner is that you get to boast about their work without ANY shame whatsoever. ;)

With that said, you MUST see some of Kristen’s latest stop motion and long-form video creations.

CAUTION: you will most likely be very hungry or thirsty after watching.

OK lets get down to it. Should you consider adding video to your content marketing strategy?

Most simply, yes.

Video allows you to connect more deeply with the minds and hearts of your audience and when developed strategically, video assets can do a better job at telling a story than text and static imagery can alone. In fact, our brains process imagery 60,000 times faster than text alone and according to studies, the average viewer remembers 95% of a message when watched vs 10% when read. This is partly due to how our memory works where the combination of iconic memory (visual) which lasts less than half a second and echoic (sound) which lasts a bit longer - 3 to 4 seconds.

Based on a Animoto’s 2018 State of Social Video Marketer Trends report which surveyed 500 marketers and 1000 consumers, they found that video ranked #1 as consumers’ favorite type of social media content from brands.

The breakdown of preferred social content includes:

• 45% video

• 22% photo

• 13% link

• 10% text

• 10% N/A

73% of consumers state that they are impacted by a brand’s social media presence when making a purchase decision. We’d say using video to showcase all that your brand can be for your ideal audience is key.

As noted in the beginning of this post, the same study by Amimoto above also also revealed that Instagram was the platform that saw the largest increase in purchases thanks to video, year over year. Up 48% in 2018 from 31% in 2017. The biggest jump across the board.

Watch the video below for more.

Now that we know why video is important…

How can we rethink video marketing?

1. You worked hard to drive traffic to your owned platforms, don’t send them away to another platform to watch videos. As much as possible, host and embed video content on and into your site. You’ll be able to fully understand the analytics and ideally drive them to another place on your website to learn more, signup for an email, purchase, etc. We see this misstep with email A LOT. :/

2. Video doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be a mix of many things from, text, music, images and more. Consider the above video from Animoto which helped share a lot of information (in an engaging format) without requiring much from the viewer other than to click a single play button.

3. We tend to put all our eggs in one basket when creating video. Most are designed to attract your ideal audience but consider placing throughout the buying cycle to help close the sale. For e-commerce, product videos can give your potential customer a higher level of comfort as it relates to individual characteristics and how it works when placed on product and checkout pages.

4. Consider subtitles for longer video content to improve comprehension and engagement (improved engagement of 66% without subtitles as compared to 91% with subtitles). Studies show that people prefer to watch videos with subtitles even if they don’t have to. It may be for a variety of reasons but they just understand it better.

5. Hubspot research shows best performing videos by platform include 26 seconds on Instagram, 45 seconds on Twitter, 1 minute on Facebook and 2 minutes on YouTube. Depending on the platform, there are definitely optimal lengths of time for your videos, HOWEVER, as much as shorter videos are being created, longer ones get the most engagement. It’s just a matter of being strategic for where they live and how you promote them. For example, you may want to create a 20-30 sec snippet from a longer video to use Instagram that links out to the full version on your site/blog and you get more content out of one production.

6. Even though videos can be simple, they are still an investment of time and energy. We want to maximize the type and amount of content we are creating. In order to know what content and length of time works best for your brand/business, you have to test and put in place ways to measure effectiveness. Consider the following metrics:

   1. amount of plays

   2. likes/shares on social

   3. engagement (how long did they watch)

   4. conversions

   5. leads generated

Today, there is an enormous amount of access and tools available to make quality video content along with low-cost stock options which means brands can no longer dismiss video as a part of their marketing mix. With that said, sometimes just getting started with the right concepts for your biz is half the battle. In some ways, it’s similar to how we approach any form of digital marketing, there should be goal in mind and it should be providing value - education, inspiration, etc.

We love working with brands to develop holistic campaigns that include integrated concepts for all of your digital marketing (social, email, blog, ads and more) AND we can create the videos to go with! When that time comes, we hope you’ll think of those delicious videos you just watched and reach out for a chat.

Written by Arica Rosenthal