Why should you be using video on your social channels? – 5 Reasons

Over the years video has transitioned from being a “nice to have” on social media to total a necessity. As of last year, 86% of brands were using video as part of their online strategy, a massive increase from only 61% in 2016. So if your business isn’t already using video, you could be running the risk of missing out on many potential sales. In this article we give our Top 5 reasons why you should be using video on your social channels.

1. Better Engagement

Getting your audience to engage with your content can be a challenge, but videos can significantly help boost the amount of likes, shares and comments you receive:

• Facebook videos get at least 59 percent more engagement than other post types.
• Videos receive around 49% more engagements than images on Instagram
• Tweets with videos receive 10 times more engagements than those without
• LinkedIn users are 20 times more likely to share a video over any other type of post on the platform.
• Videos generate 12 times as many shares as images and text combined overall!

2. Greater reach

As a rule of thumb, videos generally perform very well in algorithms across platforms due to videos keeping attention for longer. If you have logged onto any of your social media accounts recently, chances are you have seen a video in the first 10 seconds of scrolling your feed. In addition to this, new video features such as Instagram Reels are being constantly added to social platforms which can lead to massive exposure when adopted early.

Looking to maximise your exposure on your social channels? You might be interested in these resources:

– A few things you should know about Social Media in 2021

– Steps for Setting up a Social Media Marketing Strategy

3. More memorable

In addition to being better at catching your audience’s eye, it has also been found that video holds attention for 5 times longer on average. Videos help make long-winded topics easier to digest and it has been found that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to only 10% in text. What also makes videos so powerful is that a combination of both image and sound means that it appeals to both visual and aural learners, so there is also a greater chance that viewers will also retain that information after they move on from the video can if it were sound or image alone.

4. Return from investment

Many businesses are put off using video on their social channels because they feel like it would be a waste of time or money, but this is far from the case. With 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video, this can be a hugely effective way of getting your audience to convert. It’s no surprise in that 93% of businesses say they earned a new customer after they viewed one of their videos on social media. Your product or service does not even to be a physical commodity to reap the rewards of video, with eight in ten people stating they have been convinced to buy an app of piece of software after watching a video of how it is used.

Ads that use video can also give you more bang for your buck. On Facebook alone, it has been found that sponsored ads using video have 20-30% higher engagement rates than photos and their click-through-rate is double.

5. Video is still growing!

Cisco estimate that by 2022, online videos will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic – 15 times higher than it was in 2017! It is safe to say that online video has not reached its peak yet and will continue to evolve and grow in the coming years.

Make the most of video on social media

Standing out from your competitors in a highly saturated online sphere can be a challenge, but video provides great opportunity to get ahead on social media. We are of the opinion that there’s no “right time” when all your ducks are in a row to create video content for your social channels, you’ve just got to go ahead and do it! If you would like further help in creating video content, get in touch with us today about our video development services. We can work with you create bespoke animated videos tailored to your brand that can help you make in impact online.