Video Killed the Text Star? Social Video Drives More Engagement on Facebook Than Text

Social media may be a relatively new concept for most brands and digital marketers, but the its way of working is already changing. It is a constantly evolving world where one needs to be completely tuned in to be abreast of the situation. People’s tastes shape what we see on social media platforms.

In the early days, we were all happy with textual content and posts on social media platforms. However, this quickly changed and people wanted more appealing content like photos. As bandwidths got bigger and as mobile devices became more functional and capable of handling bigger files, the demand for social media started increasing too.

Social video is now!

This is the age of social videos. They are more interactive, attention-grabbing and inclusive than images or textual content. Many have touted it to be the future of social media marketing.

Two such people are Dave Swartz and Andrew Maltin – the founders of Hang w/ - a platform that allows people to create live streaming videos easily. They believe that people are getting extremely comfortable in front of the camera and that live videos will be the next biggest trend on social media. 

Success of social video

They also believe that video content will be more organic as time goes by and that people as well as brands will want to engage with others through their videos in real time. This is the truest form of social video.

We have already seen how social media users love interacting with others via video – the biggest example being Google Hangouts feature on Google+. Google+ has been slowly gathering a massive following and the hangouts features is one reason for its success.

It has been so successful that Google has now released Hangouts as a standalone application. 

Many brands, industry experts, gurus and celebrities have already used the hangouts features to connect with their fans, followers and well wishers in real time to immense success.

Facebook also has its own chat application, but the video feature has not been used to its full extent by users.

Applications like Hang w/, on the other hand have been used quite extensively to create “live videos” or social videos and have gathered a lot of engagement on Facebook. In fact, according to Swartz and Maltin, their social videos have generated more engagement than other forms of social media. This is because live videos or social videos are often unscripted, more spontaneous and much more compelling.

Hang w/ creators also noticed that fans would rather engage with social videos than with other kinds of content on social media platforms. Social videos are getting more popular than textual content because the viewers don’t have to spend a lot of time reading the content.

Also, there is always some thrill and unpredictability involved with live or social videos that make them more intimate, encouraging fans to respond to them on a more emotional level.

Social videos also give the feeling of exclusivity where social media users get to “hangout” with the key players in their favourite brands, their favourite celebrities and so on.  

Hang w/ user analytics reveal that fans on Hang w/ are more likely to Tune In to a celebrity's three- to nine-minute live broadcast than fans are to engage in the following social media activities:

Hang w/ Tune In versus Facebook like: 5:1

Hang w/ Tune In versus Instagram comment: 19:1

Hang w/ Tune In versus Twitter favorite: 153:1

Hang w/ Tune In versus Twitter retweet: 195:1

Hang w/ Tune In versus Facebook share: 250:1

Social videos are also a great way to communicate any message very quickly to a responsive audience. Creators of social videos can also clear up doubts and quell the anxieties of the viewers instantly.

They also give the feeling of collaboration as the people in the social videos are able to discuss pertinent points with the viewers, allowing everyone to feel like a part of the group.

Due to all these reasons, social videos are bound to grow exponentially on Facebook and may even cause a huge dent in the amount of textual content on Facebook.

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