Videos are a great way to tell a brand story as it can encompass myriad emotions, content, and imagery to connect with a brand’s audience, using various video formats. As the digital marketing landscape becomes more competitive, it becomes increasingly important to grab the attention of your demography quickly with quirky, engaging and informative videos. Latest stats state that people are watching over 100 million hours of videos on Facebook and over five billion YouTube videos every day. Even more interesting, 80% of all internet traffic this year is coming from people streaming videos.
If you seek to enhance your brand’s digital video content, you can always engage an agency and find out the various types of video formats that can work for you.
Here are some of the key trending video formats on social media:
Hold It Straight With Vertical videos
Are you one of those people who hold their smartphone vertically, even when watching a video? If so, do you create video content that takes up the vertical space? If not, then why not? Smartphones have changed the way videos are consumed today. Over 60% of online video played today are on mobile devices. Furthermore, social media researchers have also found that 94% of users hold their phones vertically when watching a video. Gone are the days when one had to tilt their phone horizontally to get a full-screen display.
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram now support vertical videos. Snapchat video ads are all vertical. What’s more, Facebook and Instagram are pushing hard with their Stories feature (more on it below) and Instagram has gone one ahead with the launch of IGTV. Vertical videos are the new black. In fact, a Facebook study found that 65% of users find brands using vertical videos more innovative, with 79% stating the format was more engaging than a horizontal layout. Vertical videos are more natural but don’t come with its critics. Play and experiment with your video content. Break it down frame by frame to enhance the scrolling experience.
Go Live With Live streaming videos
As the name states, it is a live recording best suited for an event, live interaction. It is raw and unedited which adds a new dimension for brand channels where it gives your audience a chance to engage directly, ask questions, and react to your video, all in real-time. Live streaming video on Facebook and Instagram or Periscope on Twitter, gives behind-the-scene access to your audience who may curious to know about your company and people. It is also a great way to display product launch, doing an interview which boosts user engagement. A bit of trial and testing before going live will give a great idea on how to use this feature.
Be Unique With Stories Videos
No video content is complete without mentioning the ‘Stories’ feature across all the social media platforms. Made popular by Snapchat and later adopted by Facebook and Instagram, this feature adds a bit of fun to your videos. These videos, however, will disappear 24 hours after recording – a feature that made Snapchat popular. While critics can comment on the ephemeral content of this feature, Stories are a great way to create an excite or buzz for a product launch, or simply a CTA. The mobile-friendly layout and 24-hour nature of displaying content are quite popular among the younger demography and it is something marketers should consider. This format is constantly updating with means of stickers that enables a business or brand to display a text or simply ask a question and even take a poll. Instagram has recently launched a music sticker that allows users to play music of their choice.
Not Just A Gif, Do Looping Videos!
Everyone is familiar with Gifs format. It’s been around since the late ’80s. Gif is a series of looping images and is mostly made using popular culture, sometimes with texts as an add-on. Looping videos are like this format and is becoming more popular on social media. Looping videos are short and has become popular since Vine came on the scene on Twitter. Boomerang is a feature launched by Instagram which allows users to create a short which is repeated for a few seconds. This video format is quite appealing due to its short form and fast-paced visual. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has stated that these videos lasting six seconds or less show “higher brand metrics across the board.” The average human attention span is 8 seconds and thus this video style is not going away anytime soon. Talk of the town is, WhatsApp is now toying with the idea similar to Boomerang where it will allow users to create looping videos in their editing tool.
Animated Text videos
Also known as animated visuals, this video format is like any other image or creative still but with moving texts, and it’s literally moving (animated!). Animated text videos are great to highlight key content such as a quote, information, stats and the like, as it visually pops out and grabs attention quickly. It makes an otherwise bland static image come out alive and is best to visually convey a message or drive home a point.
Personalized Videos
If you’re on Facebook and most probably you are, chances are you might have come across their ‘Friendship Video’ showcasing when you and one of your mates became friends on that platform. It shows a series of images where both of are tagged in or shared with each other. This is personalization at its best. Personalized videos offer a great engagement with your audience as it revolves around them. For instance, Cadbury ran a product marketing campaign focusing on their customers (after they had consented to share their data with the chocolate company), where Cadbury matched them with a flavor of their chocolate. This not only gave the users a personal connection it also allowed the brand to place themselves in the centre and saw an increase in engagement with their audiences.
AR Videos
With 5G rolling out soon, this is one video format many marketers are keen to capitalize on as it offers a whole new personalized experience with their audience. Snapchat has been a pioneer in AR video effects with its Lenses, allowing users to change their appearance or insert virtual objects into their videos. Their filters are all about AR which is responsive and remains a popular tool. Facebook is exploring opportunities for brands to tap into AR video effects. It also allows brands to create their own AR filters.
360º Videos
This video format offers an immersive experience and is one of the most engaging format on social media. 360º video is also known as VR videos and puts the user in the centre of action as it allows them to be in control of the visual content by moving their phone or VR headset in any direction they like. Marketers can also put in texts and other visual content to keep the video form interesting. The best part of having a 360 video is that it is multi-channel meaning it can be posted anywhere from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to YouTube.
