Last year, consumers spent an average of 84 minutes per day watching videos online. And, with time spent consuming online video expected to increase in the next two years, not to mention the reported increase in video consumption during the current COVID-19 pandemic, marketers have a clear opportunity to reach potential consumers through video marketing. Indeed, 85% of social media marketers surveyed for the latest annual report [download page] from Social Media Examiner are using video. Here’s a look at which platforms they’re using and plan to double down on in the near future.
YouTube continues to be the most widely used platform by social media marketers, with 55% reporting its use this year.
YouTube is followed by Facebook video (49%). However, while YouTube is used by more respondents, both YouTube and Facebook video are considered the most important video channel by a similar share of marketers (24% and 25%, respectively).
On the other hand, Instagram Stories is only cited as the most important video channel by 14% of marketers. Nonetheless, it is the third most-used video platform, with 46% of respondents using it this year. What’s more, its use has grown considerably over 2019, more than doubling the 22% from last year’s study.
While LinkedIn is being used by 6 in 10 (59%) social media marketers, it is lagging behind other platforms in terms of video use and importance. The video capabilities of the business-oriented social network are used by only 16% of respondents, and a mere 5% considered it to be the most important social video channel. That said, LinkedIn video use does skew more towards B2B than B2C companies, with 27% of B2B respondents saying they used the platform compared to 10% of their B2C counterparts.
Use of Live Video Low
Recent research by Sprout Social reveals that more than half (56%) of the marketers surveyed are planning to try live video this year. Social Media Examiner’s survey shows that there’s plenty of room for growth, as a majority (54%) said they’re not using live video – surprisingly up from last year (44%).
Overall, Facebook Live (38%) is the most popular live video platform, followed by Instagram Live (17%), YouTube Live (8%) and LinkedIn Live (8%). And, when respondents were asked which live video channel was most important to them, the majority (64% share) cited Facebook Live, while fewer preferred Instagram Live (19%), YouTube Live (10%) and LinkedIn Live (5%).
It should be noted that Social Media Examiner’s survey was fielded in January 2020. As such, it does not take into account the unexpected cancellation of many in-person events. This will have forced marketers to find viable alternatives, including the use of live video, and has prompted LinkedIn to release its LinkedIn Virtual Events tool.
Future Plans For Video Marketing
So, what does the future hold for video marketing? The majority of marketers say that, in the near future, they intend to increase their use of the big 3 platforms, YouTube (69%), Facebook Video (66%) and Instagram Video (70%), with another 46% saying they plan to increase their use of LinkedIn Video.
The increased use of these platforms, along with the majority of marketers choosing not to explore the use of newer video options such as TikTok (74%) or Twitch (87%), indicates that most marketers are preferring to stick with the tried-and-true video platforms and could miss out on the opportunity to capture youth and gaming audiences.
The full report can be downloaded here.
About the Data: Findings are based on a survey of 5,243 global marketers, fielded in January 2020.
