A new survey by Wyzowl, an explainer-video company has revealed that LinkedIn is catching up with both YouTube and Facebook on video marketing due to its effective nature.
The recent research by the Manchester-based company shows that LinkedIn offers a surprisingly effective channel and as a result two-third of marketers globally plan to use video on LinkedIn in 2020.
“87 percent of LinkedIn video marketers say it’s an effective channel,”
The employment-oriented service platform adopted native video in 2017 and introduced live video and enhanced its video measurement last year.
According to Wyzowl LinkedIn yields high organic reach to a professional audience and has been striving to catch up to Facebook and other networks.
YouTube, used by 88 perecent of marketers, remains the favourite channel for video marketing, followed by Facebook (76%), but Wyzowl said LinkedIn’s popularity and effectiveness is “surprising.”
LinkedIn currently sees a 25 percent year-over-year increase in engagement spanning sharing job updates, business reports, collaborating to share creative strategies, and bringing a community together to remember the loss of a basketball player whose life and career inspired generations of fans.
“I’m excited to see how stories will bring creativity and authenticity to the ways that members share more of their work life so that they can build and nurture the relationships necessary to become more productive and successful,” Pete Davies, LinkedIn’s Head of Content Products said.
Meanwhile, about 4.71 million Nigerians are reported to have been using LinkedIn as at August 2019. This accounts for an estimated 2.3 percent of Nigeria’s entire population. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest users group (3million).
The Wyzowl survey revealed that marketers believe Facebook has become more effective for video marketing than YouTube (85% versus 83%).
“That highlights Facebook’s recent emphasis on video, as well as its widespread popularity. Despite public concerns of privacy, it remains the most-used, if perhaps not the most-loved, social media network,” an industry expert said.
On what consumers want, the survey revealed that they like short videos; consumers named explainer videos and product demos as their favourite types.
“Two-thirds say they prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service, and 86% would like to see more video from brands in 2020,” Wyzowl said.
Analysis of the 2020 survey Wyzowl shows that most businesses (85%) use video as a marketing tool, down slightly from 87 percent in 2019.
Wyzowl predicted that video marketing will rebound this year, given that practically all marketers (99%) who use video plan to continue using it and most (92%) regard it as an “important” part of their marketing strategy.
According to Kristin Graham, principal of culture and communications at Amazon it is advisable to distil long town hall meeting videos into short clips.
“Very few people will watch an entire 30-minute video. Most watchers, including professionals and employees, view video clips on social media with their phones,” Graham said.
For production, you don’t need fancy equipment or a studio. You can shoot video with a smartphone. Viewers consider videos from phones more credible than slick productions, Graham advised adding that good audio and lighting, especially with a smartphone, increase viewer satisfaction.
Further analysis of the survey report shows that many marketers adopted video for the first time in 2019. One in five video marketers said were using it for the first time.
A combination of factors, including affordability, accessibility and deeper understanding of video, prompted the trend. Expense, time and questions about its return on investment hold back non-adopters. However, 59percent of non-video marketers say they expect to start using videos in 2020.
“The proliferation of videos has increased competition. Marketers must think long and hard about how to grab—and hold—audience attention,” the report read.
