What's the deal with explainer videos?

Are they useful for the current social media generation?

Could they actually be your greatest social media marketing tool?

Around seven years ago, blooming social networks were the "it" thing among online business experts. Almost every company was wondering and evaluating how far could they reach their goals with social media marketing.

Then, that initial social media boom bounded with an online video boom where, through the so-called social media generation, video has turned into the easiest online content to share. On Facebook, photos are liked twice as much as text, while videos are shared 12 times more than links and text combined. And, on Twitter, 700 videos are being shared every minute.

So video posting, watching and sharing is now defining a new era of Internet users. Major and small online companies alike are turning their efforts to video content, and that's where animated explainer videos are playing their main role: by effectively telling potential customers about a product or service in less than 2 minutes, they have become the latest and greatest online marketing tool.

But what are the precise reasons why they could boost your social media campaign? Let me sum them up:

1. They're the most cost-effective and engaging online content

Internet and social networks are increasingly turning to visual, emotional and quickly engaging media. An animated explainer video combines those three aspects, while describing your product or service better than any other online content, and doing it in a cost-effective way: 52% of marketing professionals worldwide mention video as the online content with the best ROI (CopyPress). This is why we say it's the perfect marketing tool for the social media generation.

An explainer video delivers complex ideas in a simple way, creates engaging visual metaphors by combining those ideas and, at the same time, entices experiences on an emotional level. It can then be shared because of its explanatory and effective content, because video can grow conversions up to 60% on average; but also (and most probably so) because of its handsome visuals, attractive storytelling or even its lovable characters:

2. They're easily measurable

Every marketing specialist knows that all your efforts must be measurable in order to know the real reach and success of your campaigns.

The great thing is that measuring your video's social media performance can be easier and more thorough than with any other online content. On YouTube, for instance, you can analyze the exact time when your video was watched, if it was played all the way through or not and also how many times it was shared.

Apart from free basic metrics like the ones YouTube or Vimeo offer, there are more complex leased services (such as Wistia or VidYard) that lend more indepth information, like the number of re-watches from the same user or full viewership rates of your video. Besides that, you should already know that every social network has paid promotion services for your video posts that allow you to closely follow your campaign performance.

Here's an example of a successful explainer video by Yum Yum Videos with nearly 45 thousand visits on YouTube only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5SkOEAi_mE

3. They could be viral

Viralization is a social media user phenomenon that, due to video's sharing possibilities, genuinely generates free distribution and even free advertising.

Let's clear some stuff: being shared is not the same as being viral; there's an enormous leap of quantity, and you also need to know that some videos are more likely to be viral and others... not so much. There's no "viralization secret," but we know for a fact that comedy (50%) and how-to videos (38%) are the most viral ones.

Animated marketing videos have the inner assets of both, because they explain product or services and do it in an engaging and even funny way. So, if they're good enough, they could easily be viralized and eventually boost their marketing benefits for your business.

The Dropbox case is of the viral ones: short, straightforward and successful (like more-than-4-million-views successful!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4eTR7tci6A

4. They're mobile-friendly

Video content though social media is quickly moving towards mobile devices.

Video currently makes up 50% of all mobile online traffic and is expected to grow to 61% in the next two years (Cisco). In the same line, iPhones and Smartphones hold 40% of YouTube's global watch time. This trend will do nothing but keep increasing, so every online business is now focusing on creating mobile-friendly videos, so they don't lose that market.

We already know that an animated marketing video is engaging, short and easily embedding on any platform; so it also becomes the ideal content for mobile marketing purposes.

5. They're useful on any marketing campaign

An animated explainer video is not only a perfect social media tool, but it can be equally effective on your website's landing pages, shared through e-mail marketing and applied to your business presentations.

With a single investment in an explainer video production company, you can boost every one of your marketing campaigns. The great thing with animated marketing video is that it's visual, it's emotional and it's effective everywhere.

Being engaging, potentially viral, mobile-friendly and easily objective-driven, an explainer video can be the greatest business tool to boost your social media marketing. It's also a cost-effective investment that generates true branding, boosting conversion and sales, and it can also be used in every kind of online campaign.

If you're interested in widening your explainer video knowledge, we invite you to download Yum Yum Video's free eBook "How to improve your Marketing Campaign with an Explainer Video", for many more tips that can help to enhance all of your marketing video campaigns.