Video isn't all that

Is video really the big deal social media platforms and experts want you to think it is? I share my hot take on why the stats tell a different story.

Digital in 2022 report: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2022/01/digital-2022-another-year-of-bumper-growth-2/

Alexis' links.
I hang out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexisbushnell/​
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Join the club to learn more about ethical and effective social media marketing: https://socialmediaforhumans.club/

Voice over by Hawke Wood: https://www.spotlight.com/3490-9081-8844

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Alexis' links.
Me on Toot Wales: https://toot.wales/@alexisbushnell
Or on Calckey Social: https://calckey.social/@AlexisBushnell
I hang out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexisbushnell/​
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Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialMediaForHumans
Join the club to learn more about ethical and effective social media marketing: https://socialmediaforhumans.club/

Voice over by Hawke Wood: https://www.spotlight.com/3490-9081-8844

Transcript

Hawke: 0:00

Hello and welcome to Social Media for Humans, the podcast that empowers you to do social differently. Your host, Alexis Bushnell, and her guests discuss their experience of social media as business owners, users, and ultimately humans. With insights and advice to help you find an effective and ethical strategy that works for you. Grab yourself a drink and join the conversation.

Alexis: 0:22

Hi, hello, hi. I'm Alexis Bushnell, my pronouns are she her, I believe I forgot to mention that in the first episode. So hi, that's me if you're new here, or if you're old here and I haven't mentioned that before. Welcome to Social Media for Humans, this is your quick tip episode and I'm going to talk about video again but specifically I am going to talk about why video is not the, like, big thing everybody wants you to think it is. Oh boy do I expect some pushback on this episode! Hear me out okay? I had a little peruse through the Digital in 2022 report that's put out by We Are Social, Hootsuite, a bunch of other people, I will link to the whole report in the doobly-doo bit somewhere so you can read it yourself, you can see the numbers. It's a really interest... Okay so I find it a really interesting report. If you're not interested in social media and stats and stuff you're probably just like "300 pages of this? What?!" Love it, love it, here for it! Anyway! I had a mooch through that and we actually had a chat about it in the Social Media for Humans Club as well. We went through all the sort of key information and what it means for small business owners on social media this year and their strategy. And one of the kind of standout things for me was really the stats around video. Because to me, the stats very much show that platforms are pushing video but actually people are not consuming it in the way the platforms want you to think they are. And this also goes for like very short form content. Now I am absolutely not saying that like, TikTok is not popular that YouTube shorts are not massive, that short form content and video content is not something that is doing well on social media. What I'm saying is it really depends what you're doing. Because again, in my opinion, I am but one "expert" in quotes, but in my opinion, a lot of the reason TikTok is so popular and with especially Gen Z and a younger generation is that. It's not just that it is short form video, it is the culture that is on there, and it's the fact that their parents aren't on there. Like, I don't know about you okay, I was, I'm old enough to remember when Facebook started and I'm also old enough to remember when like my parents and that generation got on Facebook, and Facebook was so not cool anymore. And I think we have to remember that every generation, they don't want to be hanging around with their parents all the time, not because I'm sure their parents are wonderful and they do want to like hang out with them and spend time with them, and that's great, but they also want a space that's theirs. They want to stake ownership on something. They want to create something new. They want to be around people who who get it, who have grown up in the same world that they have, who have the same culture and understanding. And so, for me, I think a lot of the reason TikTok has taken off, is actually the culture on TikTok and the community that has grown there. It's not specifically the fact that it is short form video content. Obviously their algorithm helps but for me, that is what I see to be the main driving force behind TikTok's success, and I don't think that's something that any other platform is going to be able to replicate. Because you can you can replicate the short form video content in the form of reels but you can't replicate the culture, because the stuff you see on reels, apart from stuff that is reposted from TikTok, it's different. Like it's a... there's a different vibe on Instagram. There's a different vibe on Facebook. Each of these networks has its own feel and the people on them expect different things. So for me, that was one of the the big things, was like TikTok is fabulous and it's great, and if you love it have at it, go for it! But I just don't think that the success of it is only down to the fact that it is short form video content. Something that's also reflected in the stats is that video is not especially engaged with compared to other types of content. Amazingly, on Facebook now, just text posts are doing better than any other type of posts. Like just text with no media, no images, no videos, nada. And on Instagram the best type of performing post at the moment is carousel posts again. Video has now overtaken static image posts in terms of engagement on those posts but carousel posts are still massively ahead on Instagram. And so I feel like this push towards video is very much from the platforms more so than the people on social media. And I think for businesses what this means is you need to be using video, if you want to use it, in a way that it is part of your strategy and it... you'reusing it for a specific goal. Now this is true of all content that you create on social media. You should have a goal for every single piece of content. Not every piece of content is gonna do the same thing, it doesn't serve the same job, but if you're gonna use video, use it because you want a boost in reach, don't expect that to turn into engagement. If you are struggling with engagement, video is probably not the way forward for you, you need some engagement focused posts, which I will, I'm sure, talk about in a future tip episode. So video is doing really well for reach still but again, a lot of video view counts are still counted on like three second views. To me, three seconds is more I nipped to the loo came back, "oh there's a video playing, I'll stop it." It's not... Or in my case often actually turn away to deal with a dog situation, "oh no, this video is playing, I'll stop it." Three seconds to me isn't really a view and the the drop off rate is prettyhigh, pretty high. It is difficult to get people to stick around and watch a full video which is frustrating for small business owners especially because video is a lot more involved. Like it takes more time to create a video, arguably it takes more tech and more tech know-how to create a video. So you're investing much more in it yourself but then people to watch for 10-15 seconds and not actually engage with it. And even if they watch for the sort of, the whole video, they're still not very likely to engage with it, because, I think, again in my opinion, this is largely because we are used to consuming video content even though it has been around on social media for so long now, but I think we we are used to consuming video content in the same way we consume sort of television. That we watch it, we take in what's happening, but we are distanced from it. Whereas on static images, text posts, stuff like that, we, because that has been how social media has grown, when we see that content on social media we are more likely to engage with it because our brain is in that place of like "oh, this is a social media post, this is somebody saying something that they think about this, or their opinion on this, or their advice about that, I'm gonna leave my own thoughts on this, I'm gonna double tap to like! So that's that's just my thoughts. My thoughts are that video is not the massive, you absolutely have to be doing it thing that a lot of people are telling you that it is. So if you are stressing about video and feeling like "oh, I need to be, I have to be creating video, video has to be on my radar this year, I have to do some video," you don't. Like, genuinely, you don't. If you hate it, if you haven't got the capacity for it, you haven't got the time, the resources, whatever, you don't have to create video. And I realise that there are people all all over social media everywhere who are telling you "video, video, video," so if you need to listen to this podcast again or you know, fast forward to this bit where I say you don't need to do video. It's okay. You don't have to do video. Video is not gonna save your social media presence, it is not gonna give you the the one viral post that you think you want or need to suddenly take off on social media, it is not going to bring in a load of sales if you have not already been making those sales, it is not going to change your social media fortunes, if you will. So if you want to try video, great, I am behind you. Do it! Give it a go! But don't pin all your hopes on it and don't beat yourself up if you're not doing it, because it's fine. Like, it's okay. You genuinely do not have to be doing video content. Okay! That's it, that is tip two sorted, finished, check. If you would like to understand more about the goals of your individual posts or how to use video effectively as part of your strategy, or how to have an effective strategy without video, I would love to see you in the Social Media for Humans Club. It is 30 pounds. You can buy just one month, just one month and then renew it if you want, or you can join on a rolling basis where you are a member monthly. Either way you get access to all of the trainings, all of the content, all of my support and you-do-you advice. We have guest sessions in there as well with some incredible guests. So yeah, I would love to see you there. Follow me on social media, obviously, Alexis Bushnell and also Social Media for Humans on many, many, many, many networks and I will see you next week for a fabulous a guest interview. Yes, have a lovely weekend slash week slash whenever you are listening to this. Take care.

Hawke: 12:05

If you want more regular reminders to find your own way to use social media follow Alexis on your social platform of choice, all the links will be in the show notes. Until next time, be a human.