Video needs to be your top priority in 2022
If you’re thinking about one thing to prioritize in your social media marketing — it needs to be video. Look at the stats.
People prefer video content
85% of social media users want more videos from brands.
People share video content with friends twice as much as any other type of content.
Half of social media users prefer video over other types of content.
Facebook Watch attracts upward of 1.2 billion users per month.
91% of users watch videos on Instagram weekly.
More than one billion hours of video content are consumed on YouTube daily.
And video is translating into results
93% of companies have acquired new customer(s) via social media video.
73% of businesses report acquiring new customers from an Instagram Story.
Half of users say they have visited a brand’s website to purchase a product or service after seeing it featured in Stories.
Users are twice as likely to buy something if they saw it in a YouTube video.
Social media users want to consume more video content and social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube have heard them loud and clear. Instagram came out and said video is one of its top priorities so that means it needs to be yours too.
Video is Instagram’s priority in 2022
Instagram head Adam Mosseri laid out Instagram's priorities for 2022, which include doubling down on video. He said Instagram will “consolidate all of our video products around Reels and continue to grow that product." In October of 2021, the platform removed IGTV to bring all videos into the main feed.
2022 Priorities 📝
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 28, 2021
This next year is going to be pivotal for Instagram. In addition to our industry-leading safety and wellbeing efforts, we’re focused on these four key priorities.
Hope you’re all able to get some rest over the holidays. See you in the New Year! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/iY8uQ1EnMZ
Plus, video is synonymous with TikTok
We can’t talk about video without also talking about TikTok. If you need a refresher, check out my previous blog post ‘What the heck is TikTok.’
Originally launched as a short-form video sharing platform in 2016, TikTok has grown into a beast of a video platform. In Sept. 2021, the platform hit 1 billion users globally.
Instagram and YouTube saw the popularity of TikTok and launched their own versions — Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.
TikTok is exploding and even if you’re not ready to expand into another platform, you can still take advantage of posting video content on the platforms that you’re already on.
The ideal length of social media videos
So what length should you aim for when creating video content? The ideal length will vary by platform and of course by topic. But make sure you know the parameters you’re working with for each platform.
The max length for Reels and YouTube shorts are 60 seconds. TikTok increased the max length from 60 seconds to three minutes — though this does not mean your videos should or need to be three minutes long. Always ask yourself, ‘would I want this entire video?’ Generally, the rule of thumb is the shorter the better.
58% of viewers will watch the entirety of a business’ video if it’s less than 60 seconds long.
Instagram videos that are around 26 seconds long receive the most comments.
Two to five minutes is the length to shoot for to get the most engagement on Facebook.
15-second Twitter video ads garner three times higher completion rates compared to 30-second video ads.
Finally, don’t forget to make your videos accessible
Accessibility matters. There are also roughly 466 million people in the world who are deaf or hearing impaired. That’s a huge audience that all of your video and social media content needs to be accessible for. In addition to people who are hearing impaired, approximately 85% of consumers view video content without sound. Closed captions should be added to all your video content.
The social media platforms have been focusing more on accessibility. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube will auto generate captions for you. Inside Instagram stories there is also a caption sticker that you can add on top of your video content. Apps like Clipomatic can also help add captions to videos.
Time to get started
The hardest part is always getting started. A few ideas to get you started:
Introduce yourself and why you started your business
Show the behind the scenes of a day in your life or what goes into making your product
Show a before and after
Offer tips and tricks
Give a sneak peak of something new coming soon
Constantly get the same questions? Create videos answering them
How-to and tutorials
Showcase your product or service in action
Check out these ideas and more here. Happy creating!