The world of technology is not into taking baby steps, instead moving in leaps and bounds towards the latest and greatest in digital. A few years ago, who could have predicted the popularity and sheer influence that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram would have over society? Today, they’re so ingrained in our daily routine that a life without them seems unimaginable.
While text and static imagery currently dominate the digital platforms, experts believe video will shortly become the tool of choice. In late 2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg exclaimed: “In five years, most of [Facebook] will be video.” Facebook New Zealand head Stephen Scheeler agrees, telling StopPress NZ: “When smartphones were born, people started taking photos and posting them in their billions for their friends (and the world) to see. But humans have always loved sight, sound and motion – witness the prevalence of TV and movies for over 60 years.”
Thanks to the advanced video creation technology of smartphones, there was a huge jump in the consumption of online video throughout 2014. In the second quarter of last year, there was a 43 per cent growth in the number of people who watched free videos online. That is 38.2 billion people, the majority of which utilised smart phones to do their viewing. For advertisers, this is game-changing information as it unveils a brand new opportunity to harness audiences they potentially have not yet had the ability to reach.
Scheeler suggests that for advertisers to succeed in the online video realm, they must keep three key things in mind:
1. Keep it short
Create short, interesting content that reels viewers in. “The standard 30-second TVC has all the attraction of War and Peace to today’s online audience. Short-form content that can grab and hold a viewer’s attention within only a few seconds will dominate.”
2. Target individuals
Online audiences want content specifically targeting them rather than a mass audience. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have tools to provide advertisers with insight into who is viewing their content, with success witnessed by those advertisers who best utilise this information to target their videos.
3. Less is more
No longer should brands be delivering a single piece of content to millions of people. Instead, they should be producing dozens - if not hundreds - of pieces of short-form content to multiple audiences of thousands of people. Sequential storytelling across multiple pieces of content is even better.
