7 Social Media Video Stats Every Marketer Needs to Know

A new year begins, and more people are rethinking promotional strategies and implementing new practices to boost brand visibility. But in the marketing world, there are dozens of content types to choose from, so it's not always obvious which one you should go for.

To help you explore some alternatives, today we'll make a case for a social video content strategy. 

And, while you've likely heard wonders about this type of content already, we want to do something more than just sing praises. 

We'll discuss factual data about the video marketing scene as well as actionable advice on what to do with them!

Along the way, we'll also look at some useful tricks and considerations to better implement your next video campaign.

1. Increasing opportunities with video during the pandemic

Let’s explore the video marketing landscape in a world that has been impacted by a pandemic.

Many companies have adapted very well to the online format that we’ve all been forced to embrace today. And video content is a core part of that success story. For example:

• 91% of marketers think that developing a video strategy after the pandemic is more vital than ever.
• 74% of them plan to increase their output of video content this year.
• 60% of strategists expect to adapt their budget to make way for more and more videos.

Consumers now watch 68% more videos than before the pandemic. Now’s the time to discover video content that could work for you. Start by looking at the brands in your niche: How are other companies making use of video for their promotional efforts? How are they using this content to build new interactions on their social channels?

In the process, you'll discover that success with video doesn't depend on a single strategy but a strong mixture of different kinds of content. So what are the best video formats for your business?

2. The most popular types of videos among users

In the process of defining your video strategy, you need to be aware of your audience's needs and help them solve their concerns. Correspondingly, the type of video you produce should respond to what your audience demands the most.

Among the different types of video out there, the most helpful among prospects are:

• Explainer videos—which 96% of users report watching to gain more information about products to buy.
• Product videos—which help you boost conversion rates by up to 80% when added to support landing pages.
• Live videos—which fosters brand trust, motivating users to watch them three times longer than prerecorded pieces.
  

Use social listening tools such as social media, email surveys, or services like Buzzsumo or Sprout Social to identify what your audience's pain points are before opting for any type of video. This  ensures that your efforts will be time well spent.

3. Recommended video length for each social media platform

A crucial question that every video marketer soon runs into is how long their content should be. You want to hit the right balance between videos that your audience will watch to completion and engage with while still allowing you to explain your value proposition in detail.

In general, shorter videos tend to favor engagement on different social platforms:

• Most Facebook users will watch a full video if it’s 15 seconds long, while two to five minutes is a good range to maintain high interactions.
• Instagram feed videos are recommended to be around 26 seconds.
• According to LinkedIn, videos that are under the 30-second mark have a 200% boost in completion rates.

The obvious lesson to take from these stats is that audiences crave fast-paced content. So, producing short trailers or even joining trends like 15-second TikTok videos or Instagram Reels can help you keep your networks updated.

But perhaps more relevant is to repurpose your existing videos. For example, if your YouTube channel features a 10-minute interview, why not break it up into shorter segments for distribution on your other social media channels? This way, you won't always have to continue coming up with new ideas from scratch.

‍4. YouTube is the go-to place where viewers discover new products

As the second-largest search engine in the world today, YouTube is an essential component of your strategy for which thousands of companies invest large amounts of time and money every day. But does it tend to have the expected result on users?

Everything shows that it does. When comparing various online products and services, 55% of customers consult YouTube before making a purchase. Whether it's to solve specific questions, find new solutions, or watch reviews, YouTube videos are an indispensable ally in the prospect's consideration stage.

Your YouTube channel should become a resource to help your viewers decide whether to buy your products. Therefore, try to keep your channel updated, offering different playlists where you:

• Explain in detail the features and operation of your product.
• Show users how to use it to perform new creative tasks.
• Go over FAQs that come up in your prospects' minds.

By having a good range of videos to offer, you will ensure that your YouTube presence is effective in bringing visibility to your brand, and contributing to – often difficult – tasks like social selling.

5. SEO is key to reaching new audiences

Video content is an effective way to attract new customers to your brand. For years now, companies invest a lot of effort and resources in producing video ads to distribute on different social platforms.

However, search engine optimization proves to be even more crucial than paid ads. According to one estimate, SEO is 5.66 times more effective than paid promotion in targeting new customers.

As users rely more on Google's organic results than on advertising, you need to optimize the different features of your video to make it easier to find.

When customizing your video, be sure to conduct proper keyword research. Use tools like Google Trends and study similar content to yours to determine a list of effective keywords to add to your titles, descriptions, and tags.

6. Video content greatly boosts your email strategy

Creating an exemplary email newsletter for your brand is a marketing feat. The truth is that—unless your users are very familiar with your products or you offer a promotion that you can't say no to—most people choose to ignore promotional emails before marking them as spam.

Fortunately, video can give you a great advantage to distinguish your brand and stand out to your mailing list. According to one estimate, featuring a video in the body of your emails boosts your click-through rates as much as 300 times!

Similarly, subject lines that include the word “video” are 7% more likely to be opened by users.

Videos can be great samples of all the value your brand has to offer. As part of your weekly emails, try to link to or directly embed pieces that help you to:

• Capture the attention of new audiences via short trailers.
• Showcase your products through explainer videos or demos.
• Offer news, updates, or inspirational stories through interviews with prominent thought leaders.

7. Pay attention to users’ behavior with sound

One of the most relevant behaviors to observe is how users scroll down their news feed. As you know, people are constantly exposed to a wealth of information coming from all places and are very likely to follow pages with offerings very similar to yours. So, what can you do to distinguish your brand?

The sound of your video is very important here. Or rather, the lack of it. Because as recent data shows, 85% of Facebook videos are viewed without sound, which users have to manually activate if they want to listen to the video.

While this trend is similar for Instagram feed videos, it's a different one when it comes to Stories. There, as you can expect, up to 60% of users watch the content with the sound on.

While users turn to Stories to hear what influencers have to say, the same is not true for regular feed videos. Captions are key to generating interest in your message and clarity about your value proposition. Therefore, you must make sure:

• Not to rely on automatic subtitles but add them yourself to the video.
• That the fonts and colors are easily readable from the video's background.
• To add no more than two lines of text per frame.

Conclusion

There are two meta-lessons we can draw from our review:

• There are no formulas set in stone. As we saw, every type of video has a potential role to play in your social campaigns, so you must use all your creativity (and courage!) to define the one that will suit you best.
• User experience is everything. As an artistic product, your video must be oriented to what your audience is looking for. This applies both to the content you'll cover in the piece and to optimize it for best viewing.

So, knowing this, you can now get down to work and start crafting your next successful video formula!