Beyond YouTube – How to get the most out of video on social media

Blog

Our PR agency helps your business keep on top of all the latest digital media trends


The age of Visual CommunicationWe are living in a visual age, so welcome to our essential business guide on Visual Communications. PART FOUR is our at-a-glance guide to the new and emerging video sharing platforms that can help your business go far beyond YouTube.


 

Beyond-YoutubeWHEN people think video, they tend to think YouTube.

So, if your business already has a YouTube (or Vimeo) channel and is embedding useful, entertaining and informative videos on its website,  then you’ve made a great start.

But don’t stop there. The world of video sharing is always changing and there are plenty of other ways your business could be benefitting. So here’s our simple guide to navigating the many emerging new video tools.

Firstly, there is absolutely no doubt that digital video is now the ‘Big Thing’ on social media, with the dominant platforms of Facebook and Twitter releasing regular updates to encourage the uploading of more video content to their sites.

In fact, digital video is now generating up to 10 times more engagement than blogging and Facebook combined, with 79% of UK consumers being exposed to video on a weekly basis. The soothsayers of the digital world are also predicting that video will make up 72% of mobile traffic by 2019.

While many brands have just got the knack of YouTube, there are many other ways in which your company can use and benefit from video – ways you may not even have heard of.

This is a guide to the rising stars in the world of video sharing and real time broadcasting. While Facebook and Twitter are now ubiquitous, there always new and upcoming platforms emerging to challenge the status quo. So here’s our hand refernce to the hottest platforms of the moment:


INSTAGRAM

Instagram_Icon_Large copyWhen our client Tigerlily underwent a £500,000 refurbishment, we convinced the boutique hotel, restaurant and cocktail bar that Instagram’s 15 second format would be the perfect platform on which to spread the word of its new look.
We put together seven of the 15 second videos to showcase Tigerlily’s dramatic and impressive makeover.
The short videos earned high levels of public engagement, securing 129 likes and many positive comments.

Instagram is the ideal social media platform for reaching a younger audience looking for a quick fix of “snackable and shareable” videos.
While we advise clients to consider using professional video services (like ours!), you don’t need be Spielberg to make an Instagram video. With a decent camera phone and a little pinch of creativity, you can still make an eminently watchable piece.
Many major brands have invested in the Instagram format as a fun and entertaining way to reach new and existing customers, as these examples show.
Jamie Oliver’s guide to creating a simple salad dressing for kitchen beginners also saw him coin a new catchphrase – “shake it a like a nutter”. Meanwhile Coke earned huge applause for using a dancing bear to teach dance moves to nervouse American teenagers worried about how they’d perform on the dancefloor during the prom season.
As is always the case at Holyrood PR, we make sure we help clients squeeze every drop of value from the work we carry out on their behalf.
So we made sure those seven short Instagram videos were also edited together into a longer clip which was also uploaded to YouTube, meaning Tigerlily got the best of both worlds.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5tdyefAWvs?modestbranding=1&autohide=1&rel=0]


VINE

Vine logoIf you thought Instagram’s 15 seconds was short, then prepare to have you video time cut even more drastically.
Meet Vine – a sharing service on which users post six-second-long looping video clips.
It’s another platform popular with the younger demographic, so Vine’s looping videos have the potential to be used effectively by marketers to spread their messages across social media in innovative and powerful ways.
Indeed, for an audience that is bombarded with adverts on a daily basis, a succinct, creative, entertaining visual message from your brand may be what cuts through and grabs attention.
Once again, you don’t need to be a cinematographer to record a decent video on Vine – in fact, the platform is made for phone users. However,  as users have  such a limited time to get your point across, extra creativity is required.
That can be extremely simple, like the Vine delivered by American cookie brand Oreo, featuring a magic device for delivering biscuits at the press of a button.
Or you can push the boat out and really go for it, like online property rental service AirBnB, which created the first ever short film made completely of stitched together Vine videos.


SNAPCHAT
snap-ghost-yellow copyAs anyone with a teenager is likely to know, one of the biggest mobile apps in video right now is Snapchat, which allows users to send photos or 10 second videos
to each other – which disappear as soon as they have been viewed.
Originally viewed with suspicion as a “sexting” platform, Snapchat has shaken off that unwanted mantle to become one of the hottest digital newcomers on the planet, with a valuation of almost £10.5 billion.
It is being courted by news outlets and many big brands are sniffing around to explore possible advertising and marketing opportunities – so worth keeping an eye on.


MEERKAT
Meerkat logo
Nothing is hotter at the moment than live streaming platforms.
It seems that recorded video is a little too last minute – and today’s audiences want to see what you’re doing, as you’re doing it. Not only that, they want to be able to comment as events unfold live.
Welcome to real time video – where there are two main players to be aware of.
The original, live streaming app (before Periscope entered the market), Meerkat enables users to broadcast videos live via their Facebook or Twitter accounts, by simply using a mobile phone to record whatever is happening in real time.
It gained enormous popularity after its debut on website Product Hunt and was widely used during the influential South by Southwest Interactive Festival in March 2015. However, Twitter’s launch of competing app Periscope just months later somewhat stole Meerkat’s thunder, thought it still remains extremely popular among tech early adopters.


 

PERISCOPE

Periscope logoWhile very similar to Meerkat, Twitter’s £56 million acquisition of Periscope gave the platform the boost its predecessor so desperately lacked and threw the buzz of real time broadcasting a massive leg up.
Celebrities, bloggers and the mobile tech savvy generation have already been generating live interactive broadcasts to pioneer new trends, give previews and partake in general rantings in a far easier manner than uploading a video to YouTube.
What makes these real time broadcasts hugely popular is that viewers can comment and provide feedback while events are unfolding live.
Never one to miss out on the opportunity to experiment with new social platforms, Red Bull was an early adopter of Periscope, alongside Spotify and Mountain Dew.
And we practice what we preach here at Holyrood PR, with our committed PR team also jumping on the Periscope bandwagon.
We have been live streaming our weekly broadcast of Holyrood PR TV via our Twitter page, and have so far enjoyed some substantial viewing figures as we announce our fantastic coverage updates in real time.


BLAB

Blab logoTaking the hot trend of live streaming up another notch, Blab enables a public video chat among four participants at a time – something that iPhone FaceTime users have been hankering after for years.
It is owned by original social media platform Bebo (remember when we all had an ‘other half’?) and was only just launched in April so is still very much finding its feet.
However, it has been termed ‘Periscope for groups of friends’ and the concept of having four people video chat simultaneously while an audience watches, comments and can request to switch places is something many people online are getting extremely excited about.
Watch this space.


 

DON’T FORGET THE CLASSICS

YouTube-social-icon_redAll this said – YouTube is still the daddy when it comes to video. But are you getting all you can from its ever-growing functionality and features?

The most important features that every marketer should be drooling over are the ability to measure how long viewers watch their video for, how long they stay on your website or engage with your social media accounts and whether or not you are making videos about the right subject matter.

Once you’ve pulled metrics from this, why not place a clickable link within your video so everyone watching the first thirty seconds doesn’t miss your website link?

“Clickable links” may sound like a novelty, but with an average attention span of eight seconds for a typical viewer, and an average view time of 75% of a one to two minute video, clickable links allow you to direct your audience to your website and all the products and services you have, without putting them off your video work with hard sales tactics.


 

Isn’t it time you were using video to boost your business (before your rivals do)?

We have helped dozens of businesses to enjoy even greater success, by supporting and guiding them when it comes to video and digital platforms. That includes helpign them to:

  • Analyse their audience
  • Keep up with the latest trends, features and technological advances
  • Plan and produce current and visual content to engage effectively with the right customers
  • Be viewed as a thought leaders in their field.

With so many benefits to be had for your brand, there really is nothing stopping you from jumping on the digital bandwagon. All that’s left now is to press the record button…

If you would like to find out more about why we’re so passionate about video and the measurable benefits that it bring to businesses, then we’d love to speak with you.

You can contact us by phoning 0131 561 2244, of fill in the simple form below and we’ll get straight back to you.

Contact Form