Bantter BlogBy Victor Blasco
Social video marketing, like many things in life, takes a lot of trial and error. You learn from your mistakes and hone your strategy with each of them.
However, as lovely as that may sound, no content marketer can deny that making the wrong move is a real pain in the neck, not to mention it’s detrimental to your business’ social efforts.
Now, nobody has the recipe for a flawless social video strategy, but I can offer you the next best thing: stats.
No, I’m not joking! Hard data is the most reliable tool you can leverage to make informed social media decisions and avoid wasting time and effort. Moreover, it enables you to know where your audience is and how you can improve their user experience.
So, if you are looking to enhance your social video marketing strategy without going through the burden of bad-but-enlightening decisions, you will find the data here useful.
More importantly, we have paired them with some handy tried-and-true tips to help you make the most out of it. Let’s jump right in!
Most People Watch Social Videos Through Their Phones
There are so many stats proving that mobile phones dominate the social video scene that’s hard to know which one to mention.
You see, the vast majority of YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook’s users watch videos from their mobile devices, but probably no number is as staggering as Twitter’s: 93% of the social network’s video views come from cellphones.
So, what does this mean for marketers? That’s it’s time to make your social videos as mobile-friendly as possible by resorting to square or vertical aspect ratios and doing without the landscape format, which is optimal for desktop screens. You should also consider making your video play well even on low-bandwidth connections, a problem that many mobile users have to deal with more often than not.
How-to Videos Triumph on Instagram
Who would have thought Instagram would someday help people enrich their knowledge?
Yes, the app you use to stalk your favorite celebrities has also proven useful to learn new things. As a matter of fact, videos that offer practical value – a.k.a.: how-to videos – are the most successful type of video content on the platform.
This data comes incredibly handy if you look at ways to up your Instagram content and attract or maintain followers. You now know that videos with practical value are something that your audience is likely to appreciate!
85 % of Facebook Videos Are Watched Without Sound
We have already established that most people enjoy social videos through their phones, so we can safely assume that many watch videos in public places: a subway, a café, a family meeting…
These aren’t places where you would like to listen to a video aloud and let everybody know what you are watching (shout out to all introverts there!). You then have two options: resorting to earphones – which is sometimes out of the question – or mute the video. Facebook users opt for that last alternative 85% of the time.
This stat puts videos that can be understood without sound at a fair advantage from those that can’t. It is no wonder then that many businesses are including captions and self-explanatory visual and text resources on their video content. You should take a page out of their book!
Tweets with Video Get 10x More Engagement
This is one of those stats that makes you realize why the video marketing wave has few – if any – detractors.
We are talking about a platform that was originally created to share short texts, but that its users are clearly enjoying its audiovisual content. So much so, in fact, that tweets with video get ten times more likes, retweets, and comments than a regular tweet. To call this a success would be an understatement.
Stickers Enhance Instagram Video Stories’ Performance
Can you believe that something as simple as adding a sticker to your Instagram video story can improve its results?
That’s right! As reported by Facebook, a sticker can enhance your video story performance 83% of the time. And even more so when talking about the polling sticker! In that case, people are likely to keep watching your video for three more seconds.
There is, however, something worth noting: too many stickers can actually harm your Instagram story’s performance, especially if its content is static, like images or text. That’s why the platform recommends using stickers only if they communicate a crucial message about your brand, product, or service. In other words, don’t clutter your story with stickers!
Live Videos Thrive on Facebook
Facebook users seem to have a soft spot for live streaming. Not only they are four times more likely to watch a live video, but they are also more prone to engage with it.
And this tendency isn’t stopping anytime soon. In fact, it’s only growing! From 2019 to 2020, live video’s watch time has quadrupled. You read that correctly: people spend four times more time watching live videos on Facebook than they did last year.
Sure, quarantine probably has plenty to do with that, but it’s not the only one to blame! The Facebook algorithm also contributes significantly to these videos’ success by favoring them on the feed.
So, what are you waiting for? You better start rehearsing for your next live streaming!
TikTok Is Great for Targeting Youngsters
If you are concerned about your mum getting on TikTok, you aren’t alone. The number of adults using 2020’s hottest video platform is steadily growing. Still, it’s nowhere near the number of youngsters using the app. To be precise, 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24 years old.
The numbers speak for themselves: this is a social network that aims mainly at teens and young adults. So, if this age group matches your target audience, you should consider promoting your business on this platform.
Do bear in mind, though, that the future of TikTok in the US is uncertain due to political controversies. But, by now, the Chinese platform is still enjoying a fair share of popularity.
The Takeaway
The road to wise social marketing decisions is paved with hard data, wouldn’t you agree? After all, being familiar with the most relevant social media stats enables you to make informed decisions regarding your video posts. Equally important, hard data allows you to enhance your audience’s experience and relationship with your brand. Now that you know which platforms they may be hanging out on and which devices they use the most, among other things, you can adapt your video strategy to their social media habits. That way, you can meet your audience where they are and provide them with content they are likely to enjoy.
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