In the modern digital world, social media is where your prospects spend most of their free time. Cutting through the clutter and holding their attention long enough to get your message across presents big challenges you need to overcome.
Luckily, video content can be the tool that helps you do so… if you develop a strategy that makes sense by backing up your decision-making with accurate data.
To help you do just that, I’ve compiled a list of hard, actionable stats from some of the best video marketing agencies that show you just how effective social video can be.
So let’s take a closer look at video content’s performance and how you can use it to level up your social media strategy going forward.
1. Watching Video Is One of the Main Social Media Activities
While the original purpose of social media was to help people connect with others, nowadays, users log in for a wide variety of reasons, one of which is to watch videos!
Believe it or not, it’s been found that 59% of social media users spend a quarter or more of their time-consuming video content.
But what does this mean for your social media marketing strategy? Well, for starters, it means that you have a big window of opportunity to reach your target audience if you use the right type of content.
It’s not rocket science. If they’re using a social media app, chances are people aren’t in the right mindset to read a blog post or page through an in-depth whitepaper. So, it’s going to be a hundred times easier to connect with them via content they’re already looking for.
59% of social media users spend a quarter or more of their time-consuming video content. Click To Tweet2. Viewers Want to Be Entertained…
Now that you know why you should consider devoting at least your marketing efforts to social media videos, you might wonder exactly what kind of content you should produce.
Well, social video stats show that 73% of people want to see “entertaining videos” on their preferred platforms.
Leveraging video merely for product or service promotion won’t work in today’s social media landscape. While you can certainly still share that kind of content and get good traction, you have to be smart about it and sprinkle it in between pieces that your audience will find interesting and entertaining.
Bear in mind, though, that “entertainment” isn’t only limited to the latest gossip or funny skit. You could also make throwback and unboxing videos, run contests and giveaways, and even share your expertise with a tutorial or how-to video.
73% of people want to see “entertaining videos” on their preferred platforms. Click To Tweet3. …and They Love Storytelling!
If you’re not sure how to go about creating entertaining content, using the storytelling method is a good place to start because over 80% of customers want brands they follow to tell stories. So, instead of going over your product’s awesome features and benefits in a boring and monotonous list, pack the information in a relatable and engaging narrative!
The objective of storytelling is to evoke an emotional reaction to support and reinforce your key message.
Through this strategy, you’ll avoid coming across as “salesy,” helping you establish an authentic and meaningful connection with your followers and still getting all the relevant information across in a package your audience will appreciate. Something I can attest to myself, as I love basing our videos around telling cool stories!
Over 80% of customers want brands they follow to tell stories. Click To Tweet
4. Video Length Matters — A Lot!
The latest social video stats have something important to say about video length as well. While it can be tempting to go on and on about your brand and your products, the truth is that only 52% of viewers watch a video all the way through, and only 25% stay for videos longer than 20 minutes.
With this in mind, it’s important to choose one single topic or aspect to focus on and build your video’s script around it.
If you still feel there’s more you could say about it, you could always work on a video series and devote one piece to a different angle of the same topic, as this type of content also tends to do well on most social media platforms.
5. You Have a Few Seconds to Impress Your Audience
Closely tied to the previous point is this video marketing statistic that says you only have 2.7 seconds to make an impact and grab your follower’s attention.
I know it sounds crazy, but attention spans are getting shorter than ever, and that’s particularly true for social media channels, where users are constantly bombarded with all kinds of content in quick succession.
For this reason, I always suggest putting a lot of attention on hooking your audience with either emotional, thrilling, or visually-captivating beginnings that keep them from clicking away before you can actually deliver your message.
6. That’s Why Shorter Videos Are More Effective
If you’re struggling with getting social media algorithms to show your content to a bigger audience, then I have the solution for you. Yes, you guessed it — video content —but not just any video; short ones. Those that are just a bit longer than a minute at best.
It’s no secret by now thatsocial media platforms tend to favor video content over others. But do you know why? Because video keeps users on the platform for longer sessions.
As a matter of fact, videos that are 90 seconds or less boast a 50% retention rate.
The math is simple: if you publish videos, the amount of time that people spend on the platform will increase, and, in turn, the algorithm will reward you by getting your content in front of more people. Win-win.
7. Not Just Any Kind of Video Will Do, Though
There are many, many different types of videos out there. However, not all of them will perform well on social media.
A survey revealed that 72% of marketers leverage explainer videos, with 49% favoring presentation videos and 48% opting for testimonials. Sales videos and video ads are still popular, with 42% of marketers choosing them.
With this data in mind, you can start thinking about the kind of pieces you should devote your resources to, depending on the marketing goals you want to achieve with your social media strategy.
For example, you could go for explainers if you want to generate leads or choose testimonials if you want to convert those leads into customers.
8. Focus On a Few Platforms at a Time
Considering the number of social platforms out there, each with its own unique requirements and unspoken “rules” for content sharing, knowing exactly which one(s) to focus your efforts on will save you a lot of time (and money!).
Social media video stats suggest that 88% of marketers share videos on YouTube, followed by 76% on Facebook, 66% on LinkedIn, and 65% on Instagram.
If the experts favor those platforms, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to follow in their footsteps. Once you know for sure where your audience is, you can just concentrate on those channels as a priority.
9. Mobile Video Is Highly Shareable
If your aim is to increase your reach on social media, then I have excellent news for you! It’s been found that an astounding 92% of users who watch videos on their mobile devices will share that content with others.
This behavior pattern might come as no surprise since it seems we’re always on our phones and are prone to share content we like. In fact, you might be reading this post from your own phone or tablet right now. Maybe someone even sent you the link!
Even if this information is nothing new, it serves to reinforce the importance of optimizing your video content for mobile viewing. So, keep in mind your video’s size, resolution, orientation, and any other elements that can improve the viewing experience, such as activating mute play, including captions, and disabling autoplay.
10. Quality Over Quantity — Always
Once you discover how effective social video can be, it might be tempting to start posting videos all the time.
But, in the long run, it doesn’t matter how many videos you post if they’re not good enough to catch your audience’s eye.
As with many other aspects of life, quality content rules over quantity. To give you an idea, businesses publish, on average, 18 videos per month, which amounts to about 4.5 videos weekly.
A good idea to keep organized and consistent with your posting is to use a content calendar. With that, you can easily start planning when and how often to share your videos.
Wrapping Up
If you came here looking for new ways to improve your social media strategy, I hope you’ve paid close attention to the social video trends that are making a big splash in the marketing world. The numbers don’t lie, and they tell us that video marketing is worth it.
The social video stats I’ve shared with you today should’ve helped shed some light on how video content can boost your social media strategy. Hopefully, you can now leverage video with confidence and start reaping the rewards soon!
