Going without video content and a professional video content company is no longer an option.
Matt Gahan, Beast Director at work in The Cayman Islands for CaymanLuxe
2017 is the year when video content went from a “nice indulgence” to a “must have marketing tool”.
Video has become a huge part of people’s lives already, and it is only going to become more important to consumers as the year progresses and time moves on. It is rare that we go through a day without watching some form of video content; be it on social media platforms or on TV.
Video is dominant today, but it is critical tomorrow
The power of video marketing is incredible and it will soon be an indispensable resource – in other words, you won’t be able progress your business without the use of video. You won’t be able to tell your brand story without it. You won’t be able to launch a product without it. You won’t be considered a legitimate business, without it. To prove my point, I’m going to go through some statistics and facts with you, just in case you can’t take my word for it.
Increased viewing of video content
I can’t remember the last time I scrolled through Instagram or Facebook without stopping to watch some form of video content, can you? Social media used to be full of photos of people’s cats, now it is full of videos of people’s cats, and there is the difference. The ways we use social media and our methods of communication on it have changed completely.
When Instagram first arrived on the scene it was purely for photo sharing, there was no option to upload digital content in the form of video. In 2013 you could share 15 second videos, in 2015 you could share widescreen content, and in 2016 the time limit was upped to 60 seconds. Now, you can share multi-video posts, allowing you to share up to 10 minutes of video content at a time.
YouTube are telling us that viewers around the world are now watching 1 billion hours of content daily (you can read their blog about it here). YouTube decided to measure in hours watched, rather than number of views as it was more relevant. If you think about how little time we all say we have in this day and age, it goes to show how important video is to us.
More people watch video content than have smartphones in the UK according to IAB. Around 64% of people are smartphone users, but 65% of the population are watching digital content at least once a month. This means that viewing this kind of content is one of the most popular digital activities.
CISCO has predicted that 82% of internet traffic is going to be video related by the year 2020; in 2016 it was 73%. They also predict that in 2021, a million minutes of video content will be crossing the network each second. Based on this, it would take more than 5 million years to watch all the video content crossing networks on a monthly basis – an absolutely staggering figure.
A look back to video content in 2016
As you know, the viewing and creation of video content increased immensely last year and in 2016 we saw the rise of ‘live’ video content options. You are now able to stream live video to Facebook and Instagram; this increases engagement massively. Your audience gets a notification when you live-stream, enabling them to connect with your video right away. Live content is often seen as more natural and “off the cuff” and lots of viewers fins this more enjoyable to watch. The idea of storytelling links in particularly well with live videos and your audience likes to feel involved in your story.
Branded videos were on the rise and we started moving away from using the internet to watch ‘fail’ videos, where we see people cycling into trees, and began watching more branded content. Branded content could be a promotional product video or something like a brand story video. Videos also began to feature more prominently on homepages of brands and lots of sites have been making videos their background.
Companies became more aware of video content for different platforms and devices. Instead of creating a ‘one size fits all video’, brands and content agencies began to recognise the benefit of tailoring their digital content production to the platform it would be shown on. This gives a much better experience for the viewer.
A look to the future of video content
It will be interesting to watch the rise of VR. Virtual reality and 360⁰ video are on the verge of something completely revolutionary. With Samsung at the forefront of this technological feat, we suspect that this kind of content will soon become the norm. In the not too distant future you will be able to involve your far away friends and family in your wedding and it will be like they are right there with you.
The scope for digital marketing agencies using VR is huge and the possibilities are essentially endless. Imagine if you could view a house without having to leave your home? Imagine if you could take a tour round a cruise ship before booking your holiday? There are some serious opportunities to be had here.
Video content will be reaching audiences in their living rooms. As more and more TV is viewed using platforms such a Netflix, videos will be optimised for viewing here.
B2B video will become really important as a tool for sales teams and creating video content to market products to buyers will be on everyone’s to do list. You market to your audience using video, so why not give this tool to your salesforce?
Whatever happens, video content isn’t going anywhere and it is only going to get more prevalent. We will be watching more and more content online and there will be a huge volume of content out there so creating unique and interesting content will be key for your brand to rise to the top. Brands are really going to have to work hard to make their content engaging and keep viewers interested.
Victoria Taylor Creative Director