hdfcbank-videoOne of the recent trends has been the rise of video on social networks, particularly Facebook, with the introduction of autoplay in most parts of the world. Between 2014 end and 2015, video views worldwide per day on Facebook rose from 1bn to 4bn, with an average of 1.1 hours of video being watched on digital media per day, per consumer. Video allows richer storytelling, combining sight, sound and motion, and provides larger opportunity for brand building. With both users and advertisers after it, video has become integral to social media.

It is for this reason that Vloggers have become so popular in recent times. What was once a hobby is now a full-fledged career. According to data analyzed by GlobalWebIndex, 42% internet users watch vlogs every month. Vloggers are particularly popular among youths, who enjoy the more intimate connection they can have with these identifiable idols (who have really huge fan following – with the most popular vlogger leading the race with 8.2 million subscribers). Therefore, brands who want to target a young demographic might want to work with vloggers – paying them to feature in “advertorial vlogs,” i.e., videos created in the usual style of the vlogger, but the content coming from the brand.

So what does that mean for the Brand communicator?

Since autoplay on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter starts with the video muted and most people don’t take the extra effort to turn on the sound; Brands need to consider silent images interspersed with text and graphics into their marketing plans. They can’t still be running the same TV commercials online – it won’t work. They might consider creating short videos that people consume in their feeds without sound. Consider the conversion ratio. Most people will see the video as it plays once, a subset of those interested in the content will play it with sound on, and if they really like it, most would share on their timelines and newsfeeds. A 30-second video could get as much as 400X higher online impressions of other content forms. Most part of brand content on Facebook might be video in the years to come by. And that is reaffirmed by the fact that more than 300 brand marketers and agency executives voted for increasing spend on digital video, in a poll carried out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau in April 2015. This means the world will see $10.3 billion digital video this year, a 43% increase over 2014 budget.