THE UNSTOPPABLE RISE OF VIDEO
When social media first arrived on the scene, I have to admit that I was a little afraid of what that would mean for the future of video. Without the hindsight that we have today, it looked like social media might potentially connect people in a way that would make video irrelevant. I could not have been more wrong!
Fortunately for my industry, social media has only created more of a demand for video content, and with the rise of smart phones, that demand has only increased. Each new year brings with it a host of new studies on user trends in social media, and I continue to be blown away by the massive demand for video that follows every social media channel. Each new platform allows for consumption of video content in a unique style that requires us to adapt in various ways, but the demand for video remains constant.
In their recent report on expected social media trends in 2016, @Bitly invited pros from across the industry to give their predictions on where social media is going. https://t.co/lpEtdMT4Uy It’s exciting to see how different platforms are adjusting to the content needs and demands of their user base, and how the massive rise in mobile device usage is affecting how that content is delivered. As usual, one of those trends that continually arrises in this report is an increased demand for video content.
Whether it’s Facebook’s debut of “live broadcasting,” or Twitters experimentation of “Moments,” it’s clear that every growing social media channel has the inclusion of video content front and center of it’s platform development. In bitly’s report, Simon Ensor, Managing Director of Yellowball shares these insights:
“Consider these stats: videos average 62% more engagement than photos, video shares increased 43% at the start of this year, and Facebook just announced that it sees an average of eight billion views a day from 500 million people.
The capability of viewing video has increased twofold on mobile devices, and most of us have become comfortable with things like Skype and Facetime.”
The challenge for production houses like The Reid Effect is in how to meet this growing demand in a new environment where one size does not fit all. In the early days of social media, we continued to provide high-end, brand specific video content that clients would then roll out on all available platforms to engage users. As time went on brands began to realize the short lifespan of content on social media channels where users news feeds are constantly updating with new material. This led to a change in production where a single piece of video content was broken into multiples that could be rolled out via social media over the course of days or weeks such as this sizzle reel we did for xbox, one of many surrounding this event: UFC on Xbox
This important trend not only allowed for brands to stay in front of consumers with quality video content and sizzle reels, but the trend towards shorter video content also tracked with the shorter attention spans of a society increasingly on the go. Users are less willing to devote more than a few minutes to any particular subject, so brands opted to break their content down into bite-sized offerings.
The challenge ahead of us is to continue to deliver excellent video content that is not only content specific, but platform specific. Users interact with video content in different ways based on the social media platform they’re on, and formatting video content for various platform requirements offers an additional level of complication. Look to production houses like The Reid Effect to take on these challenges and more as the demand for video content continues to grow throughout 2016. One thing remains clear – the demand for authentic video content is growing, and brands that embrace that demand are the ones who stand to gain the most as they seek to connect with their audience.