Are you looking for new ways to boost your online engagement? Social video apps are the newest way to deliver content experiences.
What are social video apps?
Social video apps and platforms allow users to pre-record or livestream all types of activities. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of today’s leading social video apps:
- Periscope
- Snapchat
- Vine
The combination of social media, mobile devices and the cloud has paved the way for video to be easily captured, shared and viewed. Social video is also finding its place among the marketing mix. In fact, 82% of marketers believe video has had a positive impact on their business.
Social video offers new opportunities for brands. Here are a few stats to consider:
- 350,000 hours of video is streamed on Periscope daily
- More than 800 million snaps are uploaded on Snapchat daily
- 8,333 Vine videos are shared each morning
- Instagram users post 70 million photos and hit the ‘like’ button 2.5 billion times each day
Let’s take a deeper look into four of these apps:
Periscope
Allows you to stream video directly from your smartphone no matter where you are, at any time
Periscope is the most popular social video broadcast platform as it is a great tool for sharing what’s happening ‘in the moment’. This app (launched by Twitter) is all about live streaming and allows users to broadcast immediately.
This platform is perfect for Q&A sessions because the chat feature lets those watching via the Periscope app comment or ask questions during the live broadcast; you can spend time answering questions and helping your viewers in real time. It can also be used to provide a virtual tour, show how something is made, etc. Basically anything that is tangible can be Periscoped.
When your broadcast ends, the video stream can be saved onto your account’s camera roll. People who follow you will be able to see it for the next 24 hours before it disappears.
What will really attract your viewers is your title, so make your title interesting and the views will be sure to come!
Brands using Periscope:
- Madden (video game series) uses Periscope to get behind the scenes coverage of football players.
- The NBA had players answer questions from fans using Periscope.
Snapchat
Allows you to send private or public photos or videos (up to 10 seconds)
Snapchat users are engaging with the video app for an average time of 30 minutes per day. This app allows users to send snaps (pictures or videos) that are viewable for 1-10 seconds and then get deleted permanently.
Snapchat offers you creative tools that allow you to draw with different colors, add text and put filters over your photos and videos. You can even use “geofilters” which overly snaps with the name of your location along with a symbolic sticker. The newest Snapchat feature allows people to create specialized filters for private events.
When taking snaps, you can send them to your Snapchat Story which combines a series of snaps to create a longer piece of content. Your followers can view your Snapchat stories as many times as they want within 24 hours. After the 24 hour viewing period, your story will disappear.
Brands using Snapchat
- McDonald’s was the first brand to use geofilters. Whenever users were at a McDonald’s location, they would get a geofilter of a hamburger and French fries.
- Grubhub uses Snapchat to send users special offers, giveaways and discount codes
Instagram Video
In addition to posting photos, allows you to upload videos (up to 60 seconds)
Instagram is a community photo sharing app that also allows users to upload videos. To record a video inside the Instagram app, you must hold down the record button and release it when you are finished. The videos can be up to 60 seconds long.
Instagram offers a variety of filters and cover frames specifically for videos. The app also offers thumbnail previews, so users can view the video before playing it. Instagram videos create double the engagement as photos. If you have a big following on Instagram, you will get an even greater reach using Instagram videos.
Brands using Instagram
- Ben & Jerry’s released tips, tricks and how-to videos.
- Dunkin’ Donuts posted a series of stop-motion videos featuring their different drinks.
With the increase of social video, Periscope, Snapchat, Vine and Instagram provide the capability for brands of all sizes to deliver immersive experiences and engage with customers, fans and followers. Give these social video apps a try and find the tool that works best for you.