As the new year quickly passes, it opens the way for new possibilities for creative content. And today, more than ever, as digital marketing demands greater innovation, you need to plan your strategy to develop content that will generate high brand visibility among your users.
A video marketing strategy offers such an opportunity. For some years now, this content has proven to be unique in its ability to entertain and engage social media users and motivate them to involve more with your brand. And projections for 2021 seem to confirm this trend.
But don’t take my word for it. This guide is written to help you discover the advantages of video content for yourself! Backed with hard data, I will talk about six crucial trends to follow closely in 2021. In the process, you’ll learn about creative ways to build your new video marketing campaign.
1. Completion Rates Fare Better with Short Videos
For many marketers and content creators, a video strategy might seem intimidating initially, as they think it requires extraordinary work and effort. However, if we analyze the trends of recent years, we see that short and sweet pieces tend to be more popular among users.
For example, B2B videos lasting one minute or less had a 68% completion rate last year. In contrast, 20-minute or longer videos tend to be less viewed to the end, with only a 25% completion rate.
What it means for you: A video-centric strategy for promoting your brand should never feel exhausting. As users enjoy fast-paced content, you can consider creating videos that respond to this need. For instance, you can repurpose your content elsewhere to:
• Make short edits for trailers and ads.
• Join emerging trends, such as Instagram Reels and TikTok challenges.
• Re-share it again and again as stories (if you’re using Instagram, take advantage of the platform’s special effects).
• Create cool GIFs from memorable moments in your video.
By recycling your videos in one of these ways, you will have no problem keeping your content up to date.
2. Video Drives the Purchase Decision
Now the question we all want to hear about: Is video worth it? Make no mistakes about it: some videos (though by no means all) can be costly and tricky to produce. So before diving into this type of content, it’s good to know if it really helps your marketing and growth hacking purposes.
The data here are revealing. A recent survey shows that the majority of users—no less than 96% of them—turn to video to learn more about a product before making a purchase.
Video even proves to be indispensable for software services and apps, where eight out of ten buyers make their decision after watching a brand video.
What it means for you: Part of your video strategy should focus on explaining your products and services in detail. For this, product demos are fantastic to offer live stream presentations of how your solution works and how it can be leveraged.
But more didactic videos such as animated explainers can also be useful to immerse curious viewers in a story and familiarize them with your brand.
3. YouTube Is the Place for Educational Videos
Promotional videos should not be the only entry point for users to your brand. More often than not, prospects stumble upon new products indirectly, as they search for educational content that helps them perform the tasks they’re interested in solving.
YouTube is the place to go when it comes to educational content. According to one estimate, a staggering 86% of US users frequently use the platform to learn new things. With channels like Tasty, MasterClass, and thousands of other DIY creators, knowledge is at the fingertips of anyone eager to discover something exciting to do on their own.
What it means for you: How-To videos are a must in your content strategy. This kind of video focuses on teaching your users, step by step, how to do a job quickly and easily.
Although How-To pieces concentrate on the task at hand, you can take advantage of them to showcase your solution. As part of the creation process, don’t waste the chance to employ your product so that viewers can appreciate how it is useful and practical for what they want to do.
4. Mobile Views Dominate on Social Media
What do stats have to tell us about video optimization? Perhaps among the most revealing data for 2021 is that a very large portion of video consumption occurs via mobile phones. To be exact:
• Users are 1.5x more likely to view a Facebook video on mobile.
• On YouTube, more than 70% of total consumption happens via mobile phones.
• 93% of Twitter video views take place on mobile devices.
As desktop computers gradually make way for smartphones and tablets, users everywhere find it much more convenient to watch social videos from the comfort of an app.
What it means for you: When editing your video, you need to adapt it to the mobile formats of the platforms where you will upload it. Some of the key edits you want to be aware of are to:
• Go square—as these videos take up more space in the mobile feed news than landscape, giving you greater visibility and user-experience.
• Run it on mute—making sure that visually the video makes sense without the need for sound.
• Make subtitles big enough—so that users can easily follow the text you present there.
5. Live Videos Are More and More Popular Among Users
As the pandemic forced us to move every aspect of our lives to an online format, 2020 saw the rise of the webinar and live video as social media standards. But how have users adapted to this new digital landscape?
Surprisingly, they have done it extremely well. Stats show that users engage 3x more with live videos than with other types and that the former generates up to 6x more interactions in the form of comments and likes.
The cause? Many users (79%) report that the experience with live videos is more authentic. And still others (63%) claim that seeing brands and content creators go live gives these a human touch that’s unique to the format.
What it means for you: Live videos are wonderful for establishing yourself as a trustworthy business and thought leader. So, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to run a live session on social media from time to time.
You don’t need an unusual excuse to hold a broadcast. Some content creators take advantage of live video to announce their new products and offerings, while others set up Q&A sessions to address their followers’ concerns.
6. Users Favor Video Over Written Content
You may be wondering if all the stats we’ve analyzed so far don’t apply in a similar way to other types of content than video. After all, written content—whether in the form of newsletters, marketing copies, or blog posts—is still indispensable to bring visibility to your brand.
Nevertheless, video continues to be the leading format. One estimate states that retention rates for video content are over 52%—meaning that more than half of your users will listen to your entire message through to the end.
Compare that to the 75% of users who superficially skim over blog posts without taking further action on your site or social channel.
What it means for you: The lesson to take from this data shouldn’t be that written posts are irrelevant for brand promotion. Rather, it’s wiser to use your videos as reinforcement to optimize your content elsewhere.
For example, if your product has its own landing page, it’s good to supplement your sales copy and descriptions with an explainer video. This way, users have more options on how to inform themselves more about your offer.
Conclusion
If there is one theme that has come to light with our review, it’s that video content is dynamic enough to meet all kinds of your brand’s needs.
Make sure not to stick to preconceived formulas. As we’ve seen, all types of video have a place to serve your various marketing purposes on different social platforms. Just keep these useful stats in mind and you will see how your next video reaches new users.
