Success comes full circle, or square, with social media marketing when it comes to video content. Video content is everywhere and it just goes to show how powerful video is for user engagement. However, what’s also powerful is the way in which video is formatted. With the exponential increase of mobile content consumption twinned with the fact that Facebook alone boasts 1.09 billion mobile active daily users, it’s crucial that businesses optimise their content for the mobile user. So, why square?
A recent study was conducted across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, testing the use of square video (1:1) against landscape video (16:9) and the results were trans-four-mational… One outcome that really stood out was the idea that square video on mobile is 78% larger than landscape video in the sense that it covers more screen space at any one time. Ultimately, a larger video and a larger piece of content, is going to create greater engagement. The stats are there to prove it: square video resulted in 30-35% higher video views and an 80-100% increase in engagement compared to landscape video. And the cost benefits are a bonus!
Although square video (measured across video views, completion, engagement and reach between mobile and desktop) beat landscape video for overall video success, it’s important to note that landscape video actually resulted more popular for views and completion on desktop. It would appear that the amount of screen space that landscape video covers on desktop is irrelevant due to the larger screen size, therefore people are likely to view or complete videos on desktop, no matter how small. We were surprised to learn of this. But moving forward in the mobile world, we think squaring is caring for successful video engagement.
Another key finding that we found interesting was the type of image used on the opening frame of the video. The results show that video’s containing a text-only opening frame had significantly fewer users watching 3 seconds or more of the video in comparison to opening frames with image plus text or video plus text. What this means is that your opening frame must instantly grab the attention of your desired viewer. Think about when you’re scrolling away on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram and there’s video content that stops you dead in your tracks. Why did you stop? Why did it engage you? Create that video content that halts the thumb of a serial scroller!
So, the next time you’re on social media, make a conscious effort to note the videos that you engage with; do you engage with square video more than landscape? According to this study, it’s clear to see that square is leading the way in the mobile world. Consider the above or why don’t you trial and test your own square vs. landscape video marketing?
Let us know where you found success if you did trial square vs. landscape video marketing, we’d love to hear your comments.