In 2021 and beyond, video content will play an increasingly important role in how we communicate, entertain ourselves and catch up with friends and loved ones.
It’s no small secret that video has replaced text and images as the number one way to engage with and interact with others — particularly in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic — but it’s also big business, and brands all over the world are utilizing video to reach their fans and spread their message.
However, video content isn’t just for brands and big business — just about anyone can create and execute a video content strategy, whether they’re showcasing their talents to a few or to many. In fact, the importance of video in marketing can’t be overstated, and even if you don’t have a department full of subordinates, you can still create and benefit from the importance of video in social media.
Some see the COVID-19 pandemic as altering the landscape of video content, causing us to watch and consume more of it on a daily basis. But instead of spearheading a change, it’s merely fast-tracking existing trends in tech and bandwidth — as well as easy-to-use platforms that make creating, uploading and broadcasting video content a cinch — that has made everyone and anyone a consumer and creator of digital video content.
The Continued Importance of Video Content
While some may look at 2020 and see an aberration, the number of people both creating and enjoying video content aren’t going anywhere. Even once the pandemic ends, the conveniences and intrigue of live video chat, on-demand video and other types of video content will continue to dominate social media and the rest of the web.
Lots of new video content is short-form, such as what you can see on TikTok or in Instagram Stories, but there’s also just as much long-form content on YouTube and other broadcasting platforms. Truthfully, video has never been more popular, and by 2022, a Cisco study predicts that over 80 percent of all online content will be video content. That’s a lot of video, but if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a significant appetite out there for video content of all sorts.
Live Streaming Will Become Normal
Even though the first live stream occurred nearly 30 years ago in 1993 and it’s been more than a decade since YouTube’s first live stream on the Google-owned platform in 2008, of all the different video technologies, live streaming seems poised to have a moment.
Continuing off the success of live streaming in 2020, where artists, creatives and others realized that they could share their work with others, even if they were physically barred from being together, live streaming and video online video chat will be as common as it was in 2020, likely even more so.
While “going live” has been a feature of most social media platforms for years, bandwidth and technology have finally caught up with the demand for video content, allowing anyone with a phone and a data connection to broadcast themselves to the world and communicate in real time with fans and followers.
Even businesses and other brands that have been slowly adopting social media over the last decade dabbled in live streaming in 2020, many doing so for the first time last year. In fact, the live streaming gaming and music platform Twitch had nearly a 70 percent increase in minutes watched in 2020 over 2019, with an almost 85 percent increase in people who were streaming on the site monthly.
In 2021, the convenience, utility and novelty of live streaming should catapult this emerging video content practice into the mainstream, such as live streaming events, performances and other interactions that would have been unthinkable just years ago.
Influencers Will Continue to Grow
In the last few years, influencers have taken over social media with large follower counts, capturing the attention of brands that have turned to them in order to reach people that have largely tuned out traditional big-market advertising. Instead of directly selling their brand, they’ve leveraged influencers to reach an increasingly fractured audience that’s more interested in consuming video content created by real people.
One need only look at the sheer rise in social media influencers online, as well as their burgeoning audiences, to get a sense of the potential market. On the other side, brands are allocating big budgets to these influencers and their loyal fanbases, sometimes spending millions on a featured review or product placement in a lifestyle video. It might sound like a lot, but it’s actually a lot cheaper for brands that would otherwise have to pay more to reach an audience that may not even be paying attention.
Video Content Is More Authentic
Unlike images that can be edited and manipulated until they no longer represent reality, video is the more honest and authentic medium. Instead of a split second that looks great, video content provides a real look into what was happening both before and after. Also, since video features sound, it’s yet another way that people can engage with their audience and fans, amplifying their voice and whatever it is that they want to say.
Furthermore, video humanizes social media, turning what would otherwise be a static image into real-life action that tells so much more. Whether it’s utilizing live streaming or uploading more video content online, there’s no substitute for video and the connection that it can foster with your community and audience.
Video is also a great equalizer in light of #nofilter trends that seek to provide unedited looks to audiences that want more real content, which is itself a response to highly manicured feeds that can eventually turn off an audience. Nowadays, you’re more likely to see candid shots and other lifestyle snaps instead of manicured moments, which is just an extension of the #nofilter trend.
Video Content Allows You To Be You
Both online and off, it’s important to be you. Just like fakeness can be a turn-off in the real world, disingenuousness and being something you’re not are just as harmful to an online persona. More video content allows you to be more real to your fans and followers, and there’s no shortage of content that you can create to put yourself out there and in front of others that are waiting for your next post.
Some people and their brands are more natural and real, while others may want to promote a more refined aesthetic. Neither is wrong, but it’s important to be true to who you are and how you can more honestly reach your audience. At the end of the day, your video content should allow you to convey a certain message and emotion in some sort of visual context.
Video Can Foster Deeper Connections
Compared to the written word and a static photo, video content allows you to create more meaningful interactions between you and your fans. Instead of picking the most meticulously manicured moments, video allows you to peel back the curtain a bit, letting people see things that they would never get to see otherwise.
Instead of content creator and follower, video content allows creators to develop deeper connections and real relationships with their followers, giving greater access to their lives than ever before, and also engendering a more impassioned and interested fan base. The great thing is that not only is real-life content easier to create, but it can also be a more impactful way to spend your time online.
Aside from the behind-the-scenes moments, other types of video content that fits into the “real” bucket can be simple Q&A sessions, a morning or evening routine, or any other so-called “down” times where you can connect with your audience. Even with a smaller audience, each video you create is an opportunity to share who you are, which will allow you to create quality engagements and a tight-knit community that will ultimately be more rewarding than chasing the numbers game.
It’s About Consistency, Not One-Offs
For anyone that’s created an audience or community online, they know it’s not about that one great piece of content that puts you over the top. Instead, it’s about showing up every day and creating. Sure, you’ll have those posts that do better than others, but by engaging with your audience on a regular basis, you’ll be building a brand and community with each little step and post that you make.
Take notes from the content that does well and see if it’d be a good idea to double down, but don’t fall into the trap of not posting because you don’t have something to say or it’s too complicated to create a video or to go live. As the saying goes, just do it. After a while, your video content will become second nature, and that’s the true way to build an online presence in 2021 and beyond.
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With Loyalfans, you can create, share, connect, grow and earn revenue all from one, easy-to-use platform. Whether you’re an influencer, creative, artist, public figure or anyone else that has an audience online, stop giving away your video content away for free and start making money with Loyalfans, one of the most flexible ways to earn revenue online.