2018 State of Social Video Consumer and Marketer Trends Report

Animoto, the company that makes it easy for anyone to create professional marketing videos, released its 2018 State of Social Video: Consumer Trends Report and its accompanying 2018 State of Social Video: Marketer Trends Report. These two releases explore how consumers are influenced by brands on social media and how marketers are reacting to the growing demand for video.

Video was ranked number one by consumers as the preferred form of content that they want to see from brands on social media. Video ads were ranked as the top medium through which consumers have heard about a new brand or product on social media. Forty-six percent of consumers stated that they watched more video ads on social media than they do commercials on television, with 57 percent of millennial respondents reporting they do so.

The marketer trends report uncovered that video content has the best return on investment (ROI) for marketers on social media. Eighty-eight percent were pleased with the ROI of their video marketing efforts on social media. Ninety-three percent reported having landed a new customer or client thanks to a video on social media.

As published on Forbes by Rebecca Lerner: Here's Why Video Advertising On Social Media Is Crucial For Small Businesses

Mark Zuckerberg said last year that video is a "mega trend" — and results from a new Animoto survey are proving him right.

Animoto, a video creation service focusing on small business marketing, released its consumer and marketer trends report today after interviewing over 1,500 consumers and marketers. For small businesses, investment in social media and video is specifically imperative — 46% of consumers watch more video ads on social media than on TV and 73% of consumers have been impacted by a brand's social media presence when making a purchase decision.

Video ads are the top way that consumers find out about a new brand before purchasing, with Instagram standing out as a purchase driver this year. The social media giant is showing the biggest increase year over year of any platform. However, consumers still rate Facebook and Youtube as the first and second best platforms for watching socials videos from brands.

"The foundation of all these amazing studies and stats and results is that video is how people want their information. What we as businesses need to make sure we’re doing is delivering our message and content in a way people actually want information. That’s why we see video everywhere," says Jason Hsiao, cofounder of Animoto. "People recall six times the amount of information from a video than from text. Video gets three times as many shares as text and images combined."

While video is quickly becoming consumer's favorite kind of branded content on social media, there are still reasons for marketers to be weary of it. Video creation from scratch is time-consuming, with prior knowledge necessary to operate the complex tools and software. Animoto, which has 120,000 subscribers paying annual fees ranging from $100 to $500, has pivoted their business model to help small businesses speak the language of video.

"Our aim in this world is how do we help empower businesses of all sizes to speak in this world that is video first?" says Animoto CEO Brad Jefferson. "How do we give small business a voice in the intimidating area of video?"

In just the last three years, the landscape has changed dramatically — and the challenges that prevented small businesses from investing in video aren't there anymore. Small business has become Animoto's bread and butter, with the development of a pre-made template that allows customers to easily drag and drop content into the software.

"As technology is evolving and there are more DIY tools that are available to small businesses, they're able to hop on this trend of video," explains Hsiao.

In order to succeed on social media, small businesses need to be doing more than just creating brand awareness campaigns — they need to show people the products and services they have to offer. Over 30% of consumers look at a brand's presence on social media before going to their website, meaning social media can make or break a decision to buy.

"With social media, there’s no hoping people find you. You have the opportunity to take your message to where the conversation is actually happening," says Hsiao. "Your dollar goes a lot further when you know all your content is being seen by people who should be interested in it."