If your current dwelling isn’t under a large sedimentary object, you’ve probably heard that video is playing a large part in the future of digital marketing. Video technology has come a long way in the past few years and it has made it easier than ever to film, edit and upload a video in no time at all. Many CMO’s and marketers are increasing their efforts on digital video marketing in 2016. With so many video platforms available, how is it possible to know which the best platform is? I’ll break down what some of the more valuable platforms are and give you some ideas on how you can take advantage.
Facebook is desperately trying to beef up the video side of their network in order to combat other platforms like YouTube. By making videos more prominent in the news feed, Facebook is now claiming they see that 100 million hours of videos are watched daily. By implementing the autoplay feature on the Facebook Newsfeed, video views on the platform have gone through the roof. Many brands and companies are starting to use videos to engage their audience, and they are seeing tremendous results. We launched a video campaign for one of our clients and he helped bring in over $100,000 for their crowdfunding campaign. It’s safe to assume that more companies, both big and small are going to start to favor videos more heavily on social media.
YouTube
YouTube is currently the king of all the video platforms and doesn’t seem to be relinquishing its crown anytime soon. With the launch of YouTube Red, the platform is starting to becoming a direct rival of broadcast television. Marketers are finally starting to see the power of ads on the platform, and now that YouTube rolled out a variety of ad types, ad spend has increased by 40% YoY. The company is dedicated to allowing its creators to create better content which will bring in even larger audiences, giving marketers a field day when targeting their ads. The volume of traffic and engagement that YouTube receives makes it a solid lock as the frontrunner for video platform of the right now and future.
Snapchat
Many digital marketers have pegged Snapchat as the platform of the future. With over 100 monthly active users and a firm grasp on the millennial generation, Snapchat is going to make serious waves in the future. 60% of Snapchatters are under the age of 24, so the majority of the platform’s userbase is not going anywhere any time soon. The company has been working on several different ad types including sponsored lenses and sponsored stories. Discover ads are the main source of revenue for Snapchat and are one of the ways that brands are getting exposure through the platform. However, Snapchat does have very limited statistics and doesn’t reveal specific numbers for ads that are running. This makes it difficult for marketers to track engagement. With the limits of different types of ads and the inability to measure engagement, marketers may be hesitant to go all-in on Snapchat. It still could be a few years away before Snapchat can rival Facebook or YouTube.
While Facebook is making great strides it is still lacking a content ID system and that is holding the platform back from beating YouTube. Much of the content on Facebook is ripped from YouTube and uploaded on Facebook. Facebook is currently working on a content ID system and once that system is in place you will start to see more original content on Facebook. Currently, YouTube offers the best service to marketers and advertising professionals, but Facebook and Snapchat are closing in. Depending on your type of business, you could easily find value in video marketing in all 3 platforms – it’s all about knowing your audience.
