Video in Your Content Marketing Strategy

Okay, we all know that “Content is King” and that compelling content is essential for the success of a business… but, we live in a highly visual world, one which is rapidly shifting towards video as the most powerful form of communication. Video breaks boundaries and tells visual stories in a way that text and photos never could, thus changing what kind of content should be king for your business.

Consumer adoption of video supports this, with video projected to drive about 80% of total global internet traffic in 2020.

The Rise of Video on Social Continues

Between April 2015 and November 2015, the amount of average daily video views on Facebook doubled from 4 billion video views per day to 8 billion.

Take a moment to wrap your head around that. There are currently 7.4 billion people on this planet, with a little over 1.6 billion of those people on Facebook. That means that on average, each person on Facebook watches a little under 5 videos daily on the network, double the amount since April 2015. Without having to click or tap play, videos come to life in News Feed and start playing without sound. If you haven’t noticed, videos under 30 seconds also auto-loop! I’ve even caught myself watching the same video multiple times without noticing… Yes, it was a cat video.

Can you guess which social network’s video views are even greater than Facebook’s?

Snapchat  averages over 10 billion video views a day. Snapchat is becoming a place where brands, celebrities and influencers connect with their audience on a more personal level. With the addition of Snapchat Memories, users can now post pre-edited video directly to their story. This is HUGE for brands. We checked in with Toronto company, inkbox, to see how they are #winning on Snapchat with cinemagraphs. For more on that, plus some helpful tips, check out our blog, 3 Reasons Why You Should Use Cinemagraphs in Your Snapchat Marketing.

Video isn’t just booming on Facebook and social; it leads to noticeably better results on email, websites, and landing pages. Video is transforming the whole content marketing landscape. Check out the stats from a recent Hubspot blog below.

It’s clear that every smart marketer should have a strong video strategy, not only because it’s what works, but it’s also what your customers now expect.

The problem is, video is HARD to create.

There’s no getting around that. You need to have the resources, time and money, let alone a stellar idea, to succeed with longer form video.

Don’t fret just yet…

What does the shift to video in your content marketing strategy mean for you?

The bright side about this shift to video is the focus on micro-video; bite-sized content, packed with a punch. These short videos capture attention while scrolling through a social news feed. Long enough to hold attention, but easier to create than traditional video spots. They work great with Facebook’s auto-playing and auto-looping function.

Micro-video is leading the race. Evan Neufeld for L2 Inc. said it well…

“This mobile-first impact on video viewing is already being felt, with the average duration of a YouTube video decreasing more than 60 seconds since April 2015, and 15 second videos on Facebook having double the average engagement rate of videos between 30 and 59 seconds.”

Marketers and advertisers are searching for ways to keep up with the demand for video content. We’ve got a secret… Creating stellar micro-video content that tells stories, holds attention, engages and works perfectly with auto-play, isn’t as hard as one may think.

 

As the shift towards video increases, social media is also becoming more conducive to executing your video strategy.  Video now auto-loops and auto-plays on Facebook, Instagram, Vine, and Tumblr. Snapchat allows you to share well-crafted video through Memories, and you can upload your own vertical video content to your Instagram Stories. The best part: cinemagraphs are the perfect medium for any of these conditions.  They are much easier to create than standard video, and just as engaging! You can also embed them on your website, and landing pages, in emails, and advertisements… anywhere you can use a video, you can use a cinemagraph. You can even create them on-the-go with your iPhone or iPad using Cinemagraph Pro for iOS.

Brands are all over the cinemagraph medium, and for good reason. You too can create stunning video content in minutes. As our CEO, Phil LeBlanc, puts it, “We democratize video advertising for everyone. Small businesses can now compete against the Nikes of this world by doing content that’s just as beautiful and engaging.”