Take Action on These 7 Digital Video Marketing Trends of 2017

Online video has turned into one of the most important tools for marketers to reach an audience, connecting business to consumer now more than ever. By 2019, 80% of all internet traffic will be credited to video views. Currently online video viewing makes up one-third of all internet activity. Creating a video marketing strategy online that actively engages an audience will keep your brand in the consumer’s mind.

As an agency specializing in Orlando digital marketing, we’ve compiled a list of some of the top video marketing trends of 2017. Check them out and see how you can incorporate videos into your content marketing strategy to get the most out of your online presence.

1. Live Streaming

Facebook Live has been around for less than two years and it’s already turned into one of the trendiest ways to market your brand online. Live streaming is expanding and other businesses are incorporating the concept in the form of apps or website tools. Watch out for one app popular with businesses in particular, Twitter’s answer to Facebook Live, Periscope. Other popular apps jumping on the bandwagon include Instagram and YouTube with their recent live broadcasting capabilities.

These livestream video apps give marketers the chance to actively engage with their consumers in real-time. When you go live on Facebook, your followers get a notification to inform them to head over and watch your video. With these instant updates, your audience can engage via live comments, giving you a chance to learn about your audience and give you the feedback you need to make the changes they want.

2. Webinars

Similar to live streams, webinars let business professionals broadcast information to their audience in real-time. In fact, 94% of businesses that use webinars believe they’re effective as a digital marketing tool because they can directly educate an audience, build a community and broadcast a highly relevant and valuable topic in an exclusive setting.

To participate in a webinar, most often a viewer has to submit their personal contact information. This allows businesses that host webinars to not only learn about their audience, but to receive information they can use to personally reach out to that audience, further strengthening and personalizing their relationship with the consumer.

3. Temporary Stories

A growing trend in recent years, temporary stories are featured on apps like Snapchat and Instagram. The concept involves posting a series of photos or videos to your followers that only lasts for 24 hours. From geofilters to bitmojis, this trend could expand to be the new standard for digital video.

This technique is a strong, interactive branding tool and a great way to reach a younger audience. By the end of this year, Snapchat is expected to have 217 million daily users. Putting temporary stories into your video marketing strategy will help in attracting a much larger online demographic.

4. 360° Videos

Gone are the days of standard video. 360° videos give businesses a chance to give the audience a front row seat to the company’s latest news. This technology gives the viewer the ability to scroll around the video and get a 360° view of the entire environment instead of just seeing the standard reel of what’s in front of the camera.

360° video has already proven itself as a format to watch out for. Videos that are formatted for 360° capability are viewed 28.81% more than the same video in the traditional format, supporting YouTube and Facebook’s decision to integrate 360° video viewing. This is a trend your business will want to integrate into your video marketing strategy to maximize your video views and increase engagement.

5. Virtual Reality

A hot topic in the technology industry, virtual reality will soon make its way to social media sites, particularly Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg announced his plans to expand the social media site to include virtual reality capabilities using the Oculus Rift, creating a virtual social environment for all its users. With Facebook’s recent announcement of its Facebook 360 for Gear VR app, Facebook users can now explore virtual reality via the Oculus Rift through 360° videos. There are currently 25 million 360° photos and one million 360° videos in the platform for users to choose from.

6. YouTube Continues to Grow

The popular video website, YouTube, has grown from simple video sharing to including entertaining channels and making celebrities out of social media influencers. YouTube recently updated to now let users include end screens to videos in order to direct viewers to subscribe, watch more videos or even promote merchandise. Owned by Google, this site is crucial in getting your videos and brand seen in the digital space.

It’s been found that teens and young adults watch videos on websites like Youtube 2.1 times more than they watch traditional television. With the future looking like it’s going to lead to YouTube-controlled content, incorporating a YouTube video marketing strategy into your online presence should be a top priority to grab your target market’s attention.

7. Silent Videos

With the growing popularity of mobile viewing, 85% of Facebook’s videos are viewed without sound, causing more and more brands to develop videos that automatically play in silent mode. Silent videos typically include closed captions or graphics that play in sync with the images, increasing viewership by keeping the audience’s attention longer than three seconds, the time it takes for a view to count.

Stay in touch with this growing trend by creating videos that can portray your message without sound. This will prevent your audience from scrolling past your video and increase the chance of them understanding the main point without having to actually listen.

To get the most out of these video marketing trends, you’ll need the assistance of a creative advertising and video professional. From corporate videos to video streaming, a professional video studio can guarantee you get the most out of your video marketing strategy and develop compelling videos that are sure to grab and keep your target audience’s attention.

Press play to engage videos into your marketing strategy. Appleton Creative is an award-winning, full-service video and film production studio located in Orlando, Florida. Appleton works with local, national and international clients to deliver compelling visual stories that speak to audiences in the most influential way — through their emotions. Your video and film production goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.

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