There's a lot of talk in social media marketing circles about Facebook native video - how Facebook native video is generating the best reach of any content on the network, how Facebook native video has overtaken YouTube as the main source of video content on The Social Network. But what about native video on other platforms? What about native videos uploaded to Twitter - are they also performing better than posted YouTube links?
The answer, according to a new report from social analytics firm Socialbakers, is yes. Socialbakers analyzed the video links posted by the top 500 largest brand profiles on Twitter, from January to July, and found that natively posted Twitter videos are closing in, and set to overtake YouTube links on the network very soon.
Socialbakers also found (as above) that brands are now posting more video content from Periscope than they are from Vine, which is pretty amazing, considering Periscope had only existed for four months within this period of measurement.
The finding underlines the potential of live-streaming, and that brands are using this new medium to boost their brand message. While the rise of Periscope content could also be attributed to the app's 'newness' by comparison to Vine in this report, the fact that that growth has been sustained goes some way to explaining why social platforms are so keen on live-streaming as a new content option.
But even more important than both these findings, Socialbakers also found that natively posted Twitter video is generating way more engagement on the platform than any other video content.
This makes sense - more interactions with natively posted video content likely means more brands are going to post native video, so the former fuels the latter, giving us some explanation behind the growth of natively posted Twitter videos. But it also means brands have another element to factor in to their video content strategies - while brands should be uploading their video content direct to Facebook to maximize reach potential on The Social Network, they should also be doing the same for Twitter, as native Twitter video is also performing better and getting better reach (through interaction).
Also interesting, there was a big boost in Vine video interactions in July. ReelSEO, which tracks the performance of the top Vine users, made specific mention in their July 2015 report of the growing number of Vine influencers who are working with brands - among them is Logan Paul, whose most popular Vine in July was this one (which has been viewed more than 34 million times).
The rise of Vine influencers working with brands is no doubt a contributing factor in the increase in Vine video reactions among video content posted by the top 500 brands - it'll be interesting to see if that number increases in coming months, as it will too with Periscope.
So what does this mean for your video marketing strategy?
- Posting video content direct to Facebook AND Twitter is the best way to generate maximum reach and interactions on each platform. While posting to YouTube does give you access to additional revenue through YouTube video ads, brands need to match this with their strategic goals for their video content in order to best connect with the widest, most relevant, audience
- Live-streaming is a content option all brands should be considering. The top 500 brands on Twitter are sharing more Periscope content, which is likely drawing more audience to the platform. Periscope currently has 1.9 million daily active users, a huge audience to access, while only a small amount of users are actually creating content. Now may be a good time to get in and reach them while demand for content is high - and feasibly, soon, that audience could be amplified significantly
- Vine influencers can generate response. The numbers here indicate that more big brands are generating response and reach from Vine content, and as highlighted in the example above, Vine content, done well, has huge viral potential. Learning from what those influencers are doing, or working direct with them, could be a great way to increase the reach of your brand message