Video Shifts in Social Media

As 2015 begins, it ‘s important to look at recent shifts in social media and what your business can do to take advantage of new trends for the coming year to reach potential customers. One of these changing trends is video in social media. We’ll take a look at what’s changed, what the opportunities are, and how businesses can gain advantages.

Video Shift Shakeup

In a 2014 study by Socialbakers looking at video uploads between YouTube and Facebook, research showed that more businesses are bypassing YouTube to instead upload video content directly to Facebook. In fact, there was a 50% increase from May to July 2014 of marketers using Facebook video and it looks like in 2015, for the first time ever, Facebook will surpass YouTube in video uploads.

I’ll go out on a limb and say it: Facebook will overtake YouTube and become the leading video viewing and hosting platform online in 2015!

This was unheard of just a few years back as YouTube had massive marketshare of online videos, but 2015 looks to be the year that Facebook changes that. Why is this happening? Why does it matter, and what does it mean for small businesses today? I’m glad you asked!

Facebook Use Per User at 40 Minutes a Day

It’s happening because time spent per American user on Facebook each day is at an astounding 40 minutes! This blows away any other social network by nearly triple the time and to businesses it means Facebook is the best online place to reach their potential customers. Combine this with the fact that Facebook is enhancing their video products, like adding call-to-action options free per video, as well as rolling out specific video ad tools, and the video power Facebook offers businesses is leading edge!

Beyond that, Facebook data is showing that users are engaging more and more with video, making it a “go-to” post-type for businesses to use when trying to capture the attention of Facebook users. And finally, Facebook is the most popular social site of choice for mobile users!

Put all these factors together, and video on Facebook will continue to explode in 2015. Wise businesses will find ways to use video. These videos do not have to be long and professional. In reality, short works best, and users have become accustomed to quick and simple self-made videos. If you have a Smartphone, you can make a Facebook video!

One example of a way to use video is to create a short video introduction about your latest blog post and share that on Facebook using the call-to-action option so that when users finish the video they are prompted to click through on Facebook and go read the blog post. Note: Since you already have the video, you might as well load it to YouTube as well!

So, as 2015 begins, your business will be well served to give adequate attention to exploring videos for uploading to Facebook. It’s working for many brands and Facebook has paved the way for your success with video on the social network. Businesses that want to do well on the web need to integrate their online marketing plans which can include video creation and sharing.

Got questions? Let me know!