Video content is no longer ‘the next best thing’— it’s the now. Remember when search engine king, Google, bought YouTube, the most popular video-sharing website? A decade later, hundreds of millions of hours of video are being watched by users daily and by 2018, it’s projected that 69% of total Internet traffic will be video.
Not only is video becoming the preferred media content by consumers, but popular social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are also prioritizing videos over the original still images. In recent updates, Instagram rolled out 60-second video capturing capabilities, 4 times longer than the original time limit. Similarly, Snapchat has affirmed their infatuation with videos when they launched a campaign aimed at brands to ‘go vertical with their video.‘
Moving forward, it is likely that Youtube remains the superior video content sharing platform because of the sheer mass of users, but there are advantages that give Instagram and Snapchat a dog in the fight.
Demographics
As mentioned previously, there are more popular platforms out there, but Instagram and Snapchat have cozy spots within the trend-setting, younger generation. Since these platforms are geared towards the younger demographic, changes are introduced more easily in comparison to the older Facebook demographic that dislike constant changes.
- Instagram has overtaken Facebook and Twitter as the network with the largest population of younger users.
- Snapchat continues to roll out new features that cater to their demographic. From shopping to filters, women under the age of 25 are some of their main targets. Knowing this, your content should replicate content that works for this demographic.
Mobile Accessibility
A college professor of mine once used to call cell phones ‘crack,’ because of what it was; addicting and accessible. Both Instagram and Snapchat are predominately used on mobile devices. With mobile use favored by the greater population, videos are easily created on both platforms and can be instantly uploaded and consumed.
Additionally, you can expect company’s to continue advertising through videos. This year, Instagram is expected to earn $1.30 billion in the US ($1.53 billion worldwide) in ad revenue. To put video consumption into perspective, on YouTube mobile, the average video viewing session is now more than 40 minutes at a time.
The Realness Factor
Videos capture and invoke immediacy and realtime moments. Consumers are watching more videos that are relevant to their lives and are in-the-moment from their favorite accounts. Instagram for example, extended their video time length from 15 seconds to 60 seconds for longer, more diverse stories from users. For Snapchat, ‘stories’ including live video content have become increasingly popular as users become more aware of the importance of video.
Conclusion
The great thing about Instagram and Snapchat is their tremendous growth rate and continuous efforts to change the way we use and view video. Here at Social Ape Marketing, we hope to utilize video in the near future to create unique content for our appropriate clients.
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