10 Stats to Improve Your Video Marketing Strategy

We’re well into 2018 and, in case you didn’t notice, this promises to be a defining year for video marketing in general and social videos in particular. People are watching videos more than ever, platforms are shifting towards a more video-centric approach, and almost every brand out there is putting some money into audiovisual content.

As exciting as this context may be for video marketing, it’s also a challenging landscape. There are more competition, new consumption habits and even new tools and features that force us to be up-to-date if we’re looking to stay ahead in the game. It’s our job to understand what’s happening all around us to make the most out of it.

Hopefully, the following 10 stats will help you get a clearer picture of the state of social video today and provide some needed insights for you to apply in your video marketing strategy.

1. People spend 3x longer watching Facebook Live videos than regular videos

You’ve probably noticed that a lot of brands have been hopping onto the Facebook Live train. They are streaming events, presentations, Q&As and practically anything they can think of. The reason is simple – people are more likely to keep watching a live video than a regular video.

At least that’s what happening with Facebook Live videos, where users spend 3x more time watching them. What’s the explanation? People love to be the first to learn about something. Besides, the fear of missing out is also at play here, compelling audiences to watch an event as it develops.

What you should do: Streaming a Facebook Live video is a very simple thing to do. Think of something worth broadcasting live (an announcement, some sort of training) and give it a go – you’ll be surprised at the results.

2. Facebook Live videos have 10x times more comments than regular videos

People don’t just watch live streams – they also take part in them. That’s because the very nature of live videos, combined with the features to turn them into two-way conversations, put audiences in a more active role than when they are watching a regular video.

By commenting, audiences feel like their voices are being heard and they feel closer to the brands. That’s why Q&As work so well with this format, though any other live event is also worth streaming. Of course, this works better when the people streaming (AKA you in behalf of the brand) acknowledge what’s being commented and address them directly.

What you should do: Putting a live video on Facebook will surely have people commenting, but it won’t hurt you to encourage your audience to engage even more. Let them know you’re answering questions, make some remarks about funny or interesting comments and always pay attention to what people are saying to ensure you’re guiding your stream in the right direction.

3. Facebook videos have 135% more organic reach than photos, links and texts

I know that getting a good organic reach on Facebook is quite hard these days. However, if you want to get a higher reach, then you definitely need to upload your videos to Facebook.

That’s because recent research has found that videos have 135% more organic reach on average than any other type of content.

There might be several reasons for this: people are more drawn to videos, videos are more likely to be shared, and of course, the recent Facebook updates to its algorithm have put videos in the spotlight (making them more visible, in line with its new video-centric approach).

What you should do: Make video content a constant in your social media marketing. The days where you uploaded a single video to Facebook every once in a while are gone. If you want a bigger audience without paying (that much), then you have to put videos on your timeline on a weekly basis.

4. 85% of people watch Facebook videos on mute

Though I love to speak of videos as ‘audiovisual content’, people surely don’t care about the ‘audio’ part that much. Blame that on the autoplay feature on most social networks, which would be a nightmare if the sound was on. Can you imagine going through your Facebook feed to a broken symphony of the first seconds of all the videos you come across?

That’s why learning that 85% of people watch Facebook videos on mute shouldn’t be surprising. We’ve grown accustomed to watching videos with the sound off simply because turning the sound on every time a video catches our eye would be exhausting.

What you should do: By all means, think of a good audio to go with your video. The fact that most people won’t hear it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have it. What it means though, is that you should ensure people get your message across, even on mute. In other words, use captions, subtitles and essential quotes of what your video is about to make sure everyone watching gets the point.

5. 45% of the people that watch your Facebook videos for 3 seconds will watch them for 30 seconds

Getting people’s attention on Facebook is hard enough, but there’s a consolation in this stat: 45% of the people you manage to hook on your video for 3 seconds will keep watching it until the 30-second mark (while 65% of them will bear with you for the first 10 seconds).

So, you only have a very brief shot at getting people to notice what you’re saying. If you play your cards right in those first few seconds, you’ll buy yourself some extra time to get your point across (even when you won’t get THAT much time).

What you should do: start off strong, make your point and get out, all in 30 seconds. Be sure that your message is clearly stated in the first moments of your Facebook video and keep it simple and entertaining after that.

6. Video ads aren’t intrusive for 73% of Twitter users

This surely is a shock for many brands and marketers. Many were convinced (and still are) that people just hate ads and will jump on the chance to skip them as soon as possible. Yet, Twitter says that’s not the case – at least on its platform.

A recent survey showed that 73% of Twitter users don’t see video ads as intrusive with 67% of them even being ok with those ads being placed in the First View position (AKA one of the first things to appear on their timelines). How come? Twitter users log into the platform to get their news fix and get informed (and good video ads can be precisely that).

What you should do: get your videos on Twitter and put some money on them to see how well they perform. You won’t have a guaranteed success, mind you, but with enough trial and error you’ll end up nailing what your audience on Twitter is looking for – and your message won’t be ignored.

7. Videos are 6 times more likely to be retweeted than photos

Want another reason to upload your videos to Twitter? Perhaps the fact that Twitter users love videos so much is that they are 6 times more likely to share them when compared to photos is enough to get you going. That’s not all.

Videos on Twitter are also 3 times more likely to be shared than GIFs.

These numbers come to confirm that videos are quickly becoming the best way to spread a message. Considering the exposition you get from a single retweet, a video uploaded to Twitter can gain you significant visibility in no time.

What you should do: upload videos to Twitter consistently. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should only share videos there but, considering the numbers; you should think of videos as an instrumental part of your Twitter strategy, especially to get out your message to your audience.

8. 93% of Twitter videos are watched on mobile

93% of videos on Twitter are watched on smartphones and tablets. This figure is important because, knowing how essential videos are becoming for modern marketing, it speaks volumes about the consumption habits of a significant portion of audiences. But it’s also a number that suggests a path to follow for all brands and marketers: in other words, videos have to be developed with smaller screens in mind.

What you should do: create videos with mobile users in mind by making them simple, short, with big text and without that much detail. Chances are your Twitter videos will be watched on the go, so you’d better not force your audience to pay that much attention for your message to get across.

9. Videos represent around 13.2% (and growing) of all Instagram posts

If you’re seeing more and more videos on Instagram, that’s no coincidence. Some time ago, the platform understood that to keep being relevant, it had to support videos. That’s why the social network born to share photos branched out to videos.

And while Instagram videos may not be as popular as they are on other platforms, their importance is growing with each passing day. Sure, today Instagram videos account for only 13.2% of all posts, but people are starting to get accustomed to finding videos on there. Perhaps Instagram videos won’t reach the popularity they enjoy on other platforms, but they also work in here.

What you should do: don’t dismiss the power of Instagram videos. They work just as well as they do on other platforms. Just be sure to learn the Instagram discourse to create relevant videos (short, informal, to the point) and don’t overuse them, at least not right now.

10. 1 billion YouTube users watch 1 billion hours per day

Indulge me while I state 3 certain things. 1 – YouTube is the no 1 video platform in the world. 2 – Every brand and marketer that’s putting out videos is in there. 3 – Google’s video platform is the place to start with video marketing. The 3 of them sound evident, right?

Well, those notions get a whole new meaning when you check the numbers that support them. As of today, YouTube has more than 1 billion users that watch 1 billion hours worth of videos per day. It’s hard to wrap our heads around those numbers, yet they are clear enough to understand that no video marketing strategy is complete without YouTube.

What you should do: upload your videos to YouTube without thinking about it twice. But also learn which kind of videos work best on there (a hint: educational videos are among the most watched) and prepare content specifically for the platform.

A final thought

The 10 stats above speak only of the landscape of social video marketing today. I’m pretty sure these numbers will change in just a few months, as social platforms and video marketing tools continue to evolve and add new features. What won’t change in the near future is the importance of both social networks and videos in our digital lives.

That’s why the bottom line is simple yet worth repeating:  as the world turns to a more video-centric focus, so should you – as long as you want your brand to stay relevant, that is.