Have you ever found yourself sucked deep into a Facebook video dive, finally coming up for air and wondering, “Where did the last three hours of my life go?”.

Well, you certainly wouldn’t be alone and it’s no coincidence. With Facebook rolling out the autoplay feature in 2015 it’s been all about video ever since.

Viewing of branded native videos on Facebook has increased a whopping 258% between 2016 and 2017 and is not expected to slow down anytime soon. But why are users willingly watching ads you ask? The answer is camouflage – content is created to blend into its surroundings, so nothing seems out of the ordinary. When these videos are based on an element of storytelling and less about a sale or product they become a welcomed addition to a newsfeed.

And speaking of opening the floodgate – Instagram stories now have upwards of 300 million active daily users, and video content is out to play! High-quality video (and images), that may not otherwise be “aesthetically curated” enough to make the cut are now happily housed within users Stories. Plus, with the recent addition of Story Highlights, this content no longer has an impending expiration date.

 

So with video upping the social media content ante, how do we keep up?

Step one: Understand your user. Who is the audience, and will they find the content engaging? Video may be king, but engagement is the ultimate overlord.

Step two: Create awesome video content. With new programs and apps making video creation more accessible than ever, a lot can be created from a little. And don’t forget – about 85% of video content is played without sound.

 

Happy video binging!