MARKETING TRENDS: With summer going by quick, we once again are asking ourselves the question: “How will we be engaging audiences this season?”  Here are 5 video trends to look out for this fall.

In 2017 alone, 65-72% of all Internet traffic has been driven by video, with that number expected to jump to over 80% by 2021 according to Cisco. A large majority of this traffic trend is owed to live streaming, which has been gaining rapid traction with new user-generated content apps like Facebook Live and Periscope. Live streaming has proven itself to be both highly effective and adoptable across various industries as a means to promote new products and services. Studies have shown that viewers tend to stay three times longer on live stream videos than regular clips.

Live streaming has seen especially rapid growth in webinar platforms, with the resurgence of interactive features that allow viewers to participate via polling and multiple-choice clickables. In 2019, we can look forward to new innovative forms and trends of viewer engagement used by other industries that are looking to capitalize on this recent trend.

Global investment in mobile ads has recently surpassed non-mobile ads. Consumers are also expected to spend twice as much time on videos on mobile devices than desktop (an average of 36 minutes per day compared to 18.5 minutes). That’s a 25% increase in minutes watching video on the go. Whether you hate or love the fact that video players are getting smaller, it’s never too late to be making sure your videos can be played properly on a smartphone.

Right now, videos love mobile devices, and mobile loves video back – at least their news feeds do. If you’ve ever noticed on Facebook that new posts of online memes or selfies often are now in video format (usually with little moving watermarks floating about), there’s a good reason. Facebook’s news feed algorithm prioritizes video to still images when displaying content to your phone. Videos are also harder to copy from a news feed, which gives viewers more cause to share your post rather than copy/paste it themselves.

Explainer videos , which are videos that provide short and uncomplicated information about your company’s process and/or services, are a great way to provide meaningful visuals to your valuable content. In a recent study, researchers found that when given the option, website users are 4 times more likely to click on a video than read an article containing the same information. Explainers can be fun, simple, and highly effective.

Animation is often used in explainer videos to help make concepts both fun, and easy to understand. Check out below to see an AVA award-winning animated explainer video we created for the Town of Newmarket to explain a new stormwater charge on their property bills.

Explainer videos can drive strong results and are a means to building a follower base on video sharing platforms. We will certainly see more of them in the coming year.

We briefly mentioned user-generated content apps, but the people making and starring in these videos play a huge role in video marketing. Micro influencers are people that can hold and sway the attentions of 1000 to 100,000 people. They’re what you call “niche leaders,” but while their viewership may not be in the millions, their audience is much more engaged per posting on social media. Niche audiences are 4 times more likely to comment on a post by a micro-influencer than one made by a Hollywood celebrity.

According to Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising article, an astonishing 83% of consumers are willing to trust peer recommendation. Conversely, less than half of consumers trust online ads on their social media network. Given these numbers, 2018 may even see a new rise of “micro-micro” (audiences of less than 1,000) influencers on social networks being hired to leverage user-generated content as a means to push smaller groups of audiences toward social media marketing campaigns and landing pages.

Marketing used to be about making timeless sayings that stick for cycle after cycle. Unfortunately, marketing itself is always shifting, and limited-time media is just one of the current trends for next year. A concept that really blossomed at the peak of SnapChat’s popularity, audiences have shown to be thoroughly engaged by and eager to consume media that they know will disappear. With the advent of Snapchat Story, Facebook and Instagram have quickly followed suit by launching limited-time stories features of their own. Though it will require a steady stream of new content being created and distributed quickly, brands will certainly be looking to capitalize on this trend this year.

Hopefully, you’re excited about all the new things to be seen. The past few years has seen more videos being created per second than ever before, and at Arc + Crown we are thrilled to see the world become more and more of a video planet. The years to come have much in store, and we can’t wait to see it all unfold.

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