Six major trends in video marketing!

Video content is experiencing unprecedented growth in 2016, but so far, the growth of video content has not yet reached its peak. Below, I will present to you the six future trends in the field of video marketing .

The concept of video marketing is not new, but in 2016, the growth of visual content is undoubtedly the most powerful one in content marketing. Different types of visual platforms have brought better diversification to content marketing. Hyperfine media recently made a very clear infographic on "The Big Trends in Video Marketing in 2016". Below, the author will make relevant analysis on the infographic.

1. Brand video content

According to relevant data forecasts, by 2017, 69% of Internet traffic will come from video consumption. Nowadays, many brand owners have also begun to strategically plan their video content, which mainly includes:

• Brand Introduction
• Brand Promotion
• Product Promotions
• Increase user reach
• Promote user engagement
• Business Promotion

When it comes to video content, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat are undoubtedly the three giants today. Brand owners can benefit from any of these social media platforms depending on their audience, established goals, and strategy. Facebook is now the world's largest social media platform, with 1.65 billion monthly active users. The demand for videos is growing year by year. From 2014 to 2015, the growth rate of video information has reached 75%.

Native videos in Facebook user news feeds are particularly popular among users, and unsurprisingly, the growth rate of video content increased 3.6 times between 2014 and 2015. Brand owners are also exploring how to use videos to carry out their marketing strategies on social platforms such as Facebook, and Buzzfeed's Tasty channel is undoubtedly the best example of video content marketing.

Buzzfeed’s Tasty is a very interesting one, it has a separate page on Facebook that focuses on recipe videos. It now has 65 million likes and is very popular among users. Tasty is just one of Buzzfeed's many creative special pages. The interesting features of these pages can help Buzzfeed reach more audiences.

Even more exciting is that Facebook launched its own 360 video earlier this year, which can be played like a video clip . At the same time, each frame has a 360-degree viewing angle. This means that there will be more potential opportunities for video content marketing and National Geographic, etc. From the perspective of brand owners, there are more opportunities to attract the attention of more audiences, especially when the content produced by the brand owners can hit the target of the audience.

YouTube has more than 1 billion users. As the proportion of mobile users gradually increases, user engagement on YouTube is also getting higher and higher. Since 2014, more than 50% of users have spent an average of 40 minutes per day viewing videos. Jamie Oliver's FoodTube is one of the most successful channels on YouTube due to its extraordinary storytelling ability and teaching brand owners how to use video content to promote brand influence. It now has 2 million subscribers. This can also be seen from Papi Jiang , who became famous in China at the beginning of this year for her original short videos . Her videos have clear values: advocating truth, abandoning hypocrisy, complaining about all pretentious behaviors, and advocating individual freedom, which is exactly what the younger generation pursues. This is why Papi Jiang's videos can resonate so widely.

As a new social media upstart, Snapchat is one of the most popular social platforms today. The average daily views of videos released by Snapchat have now reached 10 billion, and these views mainly come from heavy users who refresh their information feeds at any time. Today, Snapchat's unique vertical videos have attracted more and more brand owners, and these brand owners have indeed benefited greatly from Snapchat, such as increasing user engagement.

2. Landing page video and product related videos

Nowadays, whether it is on the login page or the product promotion page, more and more e-commerce companies are beginning to realize the great magic of video marketing: video content can increase the user conversion rate to 80%, and 88% of users will stay on the product display page for more time.

For example, Zappos’ video content is set under the “About Us” option on the page, which introduces its company and culture to users in a more intuitive way, and has achieved very good results.

What’s more, many e-commerce companies will embed videos introducing product features on the product browsing page, with the aim of providing users with a more intuitive and in-depth product introduction experience. For example: ASO S built a catwalk show of its clothing styles into the video. As for users, they also feel that this method can show them more real and comprehensive details of the products, thus increasing users' trust in sellers a lot. Unlike pictures, there is always a big contrast between the colored one and the real thing.

3. Use of GIFs on social media

In content marketing strategies, GIF animations are a very effective measure. We can also regard them as short and concise videos. As a lightweight version of video, GIF animations are now frequently used by brand owners in social media and email marketing , whether for brand promotion, user services, increasing user engagement or promoting corporate culture. There are even many brand owners who use GIFs as responses when engaging with users on Twitter. Tumblr and Disney, two of the most popular brands on Twitter, are both great examples of this.

4. Storytelling through live streaming

The trend of live video has now spread across the globe, and it is something that brand owners simply cannot ignore. Therefore, Facebook's decision to enter the field of live gaming has also enhanced Facebook's market competitiveness on the other hand. Data shows that users spend more than three times as much time watching live videos on Facebook as they do watching regular videos.

Of course, Facebook is not the only company eyeing the live streaming pie. Snapchat has also spent a lot of energy on developing the live streaming field, placing the best videos in user-related information streams, aiming to present users with the wonderfulness of every moment in the world. Although the "Discover" feature is very popular nowadays, live video has attracted 10-20 million views per day, so live video also provides brand owners with another opportunity to conduct content marketing.

Periscope is a live streaming service operator . Through Periscope, users can broadcast video and audio to others. The live broadcast and comment functions are all completed within the Periscope app. The live broadcast link can be shared on Twitter to allow more people to participate.

5. Video in Email Marketing

Using video content marketing in emails has been proven to be very effective: CTR increased by 50% and user loyalty increased by 35%. As for users who receive emails, they are even more willing to look for the word "video" in the email. This move increases the chances of users opening the email by 19%.

And for brand owners, which types of video content marketing are suitable for?

• Product Promotions
• Increased brand awareness
• Explanatory content
• customers' testimonials to thank users
• Product details display

In terms of video types, training-type video content is now the most popular among users, followed by product samples. In contrast, the effect of displaying products in the form of pictures is not satisfactory, and brand owners are not willing to pay for it.

6. How to produce more video content

Whenever a brand decides to invest in video content, or even if it’s just a tiny fraction of its budget, it’s a smart move that will yield the desired results (assuming the content is relevant and engaging enough). The unique characteristics of video experts can also help brand owners reach more users more accurately and ultimately improve ROI.

Short videos (even GIFs) are a good start in video content marketing. For brand owners, there is no absolute right or wrong in strategy. The best strategy is the one that suits the goals set by different brand owners.