The State of Social Media Marketing: It’s Time to Embrace Video
Year after year, conference after conference since about the dawn of social media (late 2000s) it has been hailed that the video revolution in marketing is coming. Brands have sat back and waved it off. With advances in technology like iPhones and shifts to user short attention spans, short-form video is paving the way to make that long-time prediction true.
What does that mean for your brand?
The land of online marketing has always consisted of early adopters who will stand out over those who are afraid to stand out -- online marketing survival of the fittest, so to speak. I’ve been in marketing for 23 years and it’s not a secret that if you put the time and effort into marketing your business consistently, you will stand out. The more omnipresent your brand is, the greater reach you’ll have. One thing that I see over and over of small, bootstrapping entrepreneurs is the lack of omnipresence. They will put all their eggs in one basket and pick one social media platform, which causes them to burn themselves out, and not see results, then quit.
The focus should be on messaging/content that offers clarity to the customers who are buying the products and services. When you do this, the messaging goes on a website as a FAQ/blog and THEN content is amplified for social media channels and email marketing. This is where the repurposing magic happens.
You’re probably thinking, “Where does video play into this?” Video apps like TikTok and video features through social media networks like Lives, Stories, etc., have seen the biggest growth and early adoption to marketers.
Just a few weeks back, Instagram declared they were no longer just a photo sharing app -- video was the future. It’s not a surprise since all the features for this platform released since 2016 have been video based. It’s also hard for Instagram to ignore that TikTok has surpassed the Facebook owned apps (which include Facebook, Instagram, Whats App, and Instagram) as the number one downloaded app. Is photo sharing going away? No! They’re merely saying start using the video features to get exposure.
Here are the stats:
On the Instagram/Facebook app, more people are viewing Stories.
Instagram said that your feed content isn’t getting seen and that 500 million people are viewing the Stories.
TikTok has surpassed the Facebook company apps where Instagram created Reels.
The majority of brands are not using the features to the fullest extent and most are merely STILL posting photos.
The bottomline: Add video marketing to your strategy. If you’re afraid of video, now is the time to get uncomfortable with it and give it a go with inspired messy action.
Action steps: If you’re seasoned when it comes to video, download TikTok and start an account or start viewing Reels on Instagram. Notice I didn’t say start doing short-form video? If you’re seasoned when it comes to video, go give the app a look, maybe start playing around. If you’re terrified of video, be a voyeur.