Video is widely understood to now be the core content on social media. Even so, some publishers and their leaders remain reluctant to fully commit to social video. Whether that speaks to you directly or your social teams already have your support in exploring video opportunities, 2017 is shaping up to be the year to pull out all the stops.
For CEOs thinking about what social means for their media organization in the coming year, here are a few key takeaways to keep in mind.
It’s the best tool for growing your media brand’s audience
Social video is now, more than ever, the most effective way to grow your outlet’s following. Video can be used to build familiarity, loyalty, and interest in your brand, turning one-off viewers on social into dedicated followers. Having built that relationship, it becomes ever-easier to drive the audience to your properties from social.
Video is more engaged with on social, earning the most organic engagement on Facebook of any type of post. There’s no better way to get your content into new feeds than through social engagement. As part of an overall marketing strategy, social video deserves your full support.
The revenue potentials are growing
The ROI of social video has long been a balancing act. YouTube offered ad features for some time now, but over the last couple of years, Facebook has become the leading place for social video.
Facebook has favored video in its algorithms for some time. This pushed publishers and media companies to produce and share ever more video content on the platform, but there was no financial reward (outside of the difficult-to-quantify benefits of growing identity). Finally, that’s changing.
The news that Facebook will be testing mid-roll ads for video means that publishers will finally be able to turn their social video stream into a revenue stream. If you’ve been reluctant to fully invest in a strong video presence on Facebook or found yourself wondering if the expense – in dollars and staff time – is worth it, 2017 may hold your answer.
Everyone in your organization can make video
From your marketing and social teams to editors and journalists, video should be a company-wide pursuit. There is no story to be told that won’t benefit from a social video push.
Remember that aggressively pursuing video is no longer the expensive proposition it once was. Everyone in your organization carries a high-definition camera in their pocket, and you shouldn’t be afraid to let them use it.
Nor do they need to be experts on video creation or rely on pricey software. Tools such as Wochit now exist that make video creation – from finding and collecting assets all the way through editing and publishing – simple and intuitive for anyone. You should empower your teams at every level to add video to their suite of content.
Social video is more important than ever
You hear this every year, but with good reason. Social video viewing has consistently grown year-to-year and shows no signs of slowing down.
Video has proven to be the content type that works strongest on social, and all the major platforms continue to push video-first strategies. An effective social strategy absolutely requires video.
If you’ve held back a full commitment in the past, 2017 is the year to embrace social video wholly. The benefits you’re sure to reap are considerable.
