Social media is continuously evolving. Most social networks began with text, shifted to photography, and now support HD video as a means of expression. Video breaks boundaries and tells visual stories in a way that text and photos never could. Earlier this year, Facebook released an unbelievable stat that really drives home the point that it’s all about video on the world’s most popular social network.

Everyday there are 4 billion video views on Facebook. Take a moment to wrap your head around that. There are currently 7.3 billion people on this planet, with around 1 billion of those people on Facebook. That means that on average, each person on Facebook watches 4 videos daily. Without having to click or tap play, videos come to life in News Feed and start playing without sound. Auto-play has lead to an increase in daily views, as Facebook counts a 3 second or more watch period as 1 view. It also helps that native video has a better organic reach then status updates, links, and photo posts. See the stats on Facebook average organic reach below.

It’s not only on Facebook that we’re seeing an increase in video content. On Twitter, 70 percent of users report watching videos found in their feed. What this means is that many users are discovering new video content on Twitter, which is a key insight for advertisers when looking at running campaigns on the platform.

It’s a worldwide video revolution

Even with the somewhat questionable view calculations on Facebook, the desire to create, collect and engage with content on social media is becoming a natural part of human nature. Not only are people watching more videos, they’re creating more too… a lot more. In just one year, the number of video-posts created per person on Facebook increased 75% globally. Thinking back to a year ago, scrolling through the Newsfeed, you’d encounter lots of status updates and photo posts, with the rare video hidden between the banter. Now, it seems like nearly every third post is a video, breathing life and movement into our daily scrolls as we thumb through the latest posts on our mobile phones.

Advertisers love auto-play

Garett Sloane for Adweek notes, “Autoplay video has become a standard format in social media and one that is supported by advertisers, who like the fact that their content makes more of an impact.”

In October, 2014 Instagram released auto-playing video ads, and more recently an auto-looping function.

In December 2014, Facebook released auto-playing video ads.

Just a few weeks ago, Twitter released auto-playing video ads, with a 100% viewability promise.

It’s clear that auto-playing video is here, and auto-looping is also becoming a standard on sites such as Instagram and Tumblr.

Micro-video is forcing marketers to produce better content

Though we don’t always like to admit it, size does matter, at least when it comes to holding audience retention.

Video is one of the most demanding types of content to create, and marketers are now being pushed to create this content in order to gain the desired reach on platforms such as Facebook. Though creating a 1 minute video seems harder than a 15 second zinger, the latter is often the more difficult of the two. Known as micro-video, honed by apps such as Vine, Snapchat and Instagram, these short 6-15 second videos are clearly not a fad. Auto-playing, micro-video is pushing creators to:

1. Make content that leaves an impression on the viewer in a short 1-15 seconds. This impression has to be made without sound, too.
2. It has to actually capture the user’s attention within a short window of time in order for the viewer to keep watching. A clickable title can help, too.

 

Cinemagraphs: Auto-playing micro-videos that hold attention

All of the above news, statistics and insights point towards cinemagraphs as the perfect medium for this video revolution. 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. Creating cinemagraphs with Cinemagraph Pro is both easy and ideal for this video mania bestowed upon us. If you don’t want to take our word for it, just take a look at some of the news written this year about cinemagraph ads.

Along with other notable publishers, Adweek has written two articles pertaining to cinemagraphs as the “unicorn” of social media video advertising.

A post by Garett Sloan on cinemagraphs being a secret ad weapon, states that “Facebook, along with its mobile photo network Instagram, wants more brands to try them [cinemagraphs] out as it quietly introduces advertisers to the potential of this half-video, half-photograph style, according to digital marketing insiders.”

Shortly after that, the first Instagram/Facebook cinemagraph ad campaign was released by the high-end fashion brand, Stuart Weitzman.

More recently, Lauren Johnson of Adweek highlights 5 mesmerizing cinemagraph ads on Instagram, one of which was created by Flixel for Bates Motel, the hit TV show on A&E.

TADA. Should we say more? Try creating your own cinemagraphs for free, today.