Every person who intends to generate revenue in 2019 must have a robust social media profile. Whether you are looking to finally make it into the C-Suite, or scale your business, solid social media is essential and in 2019, video is going to be more critical than ever. If you have been camera shy or simply do not know what to post, the good news is that organic video viewing is on the rise – people want to see the real ‘you’ and not an altered reality.
Brands, and individuals, that can admit mistakes, and be vulnerable, appear to be more authentic and authenticity leads to trust. An article in Ad Week pointed to research illustrating that 58% of people prefer vulnerability. Going out there and admitting to the pimple on your chin, as I do in my bi-weekly videos, or sharing a story where you made a mistake, and learned from it, makes you more relatable. People tune in because they can relate. The more people tune in, the more opportunity you have to relationship build and in the very red ocean of online video content, having raving fans who can’t wait for your next video or LIVE is essential to building a business.
In 2019, video will become more essential than ever. Individuals, and brands, must have video presence over a cross-section of platforms. As previously mentioned, organic, ‘this is happening now,’ video makes a brand appear more ‘real.’ Think Gary Vee and his unique video content where he mentors fans live and you get the idea.
Two years ago, you could get away with posting one video on YouTube™ and sharing it across platforms. Now, it is essential to create video content that makes sense for the platform you are posting to. For example, LinkedIn™ is a B2B social platform. Posting videos of your daughter’s first steps may be cute, and fine occasionally, however personal videos on that platform should be about 20% of all of your content.
 Instagram™ on the other hand, can handle a wide range of content. IGTV (Instagram’s Video Channel) will continue to gain momentum in 2019. You will see more video on LinkedIn™, Twitter™, and across all platforms. For the solopreneur, creating unique video content must be about 70% of your content time in 2019.
If you are in doubt of the importance of video, here are 18 video stats to be aware of as you plan your 2019 brand development:
1. Including video on landing pages increases conversion by 80%. (Unbounce)
2. Brands that use video marketing grow their revenue 49% faster. (Wirebuzz)
3. 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. (HubSpot)
4. By 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic (Cisco).
5. Square-shaped videos get 275% more views, 482% more shares, 523% more comments, and 349% more reactions than other sizes (Wochit).
6. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text (Insivia).
7. According to Forbes, 90% of customers say video helps them make buying decisions and 64% of customers say that seeing a video makes them more likely to buy.
8. More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years. (Source: Insivia)
9. Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. (Source: Aberdeen).
10. 38% of brands upload video to LinkedIn. 75% found it effective. (Source: LinkedIn).
11. Video marketers achiever a 54% increase in brand awareness. (Source: Aberdeen).
12. 73% of people have purchased a product after watching a video. (Source: Wyzowl).
13. Having ‘explainer’ style videos on a website gave respondents an 81% increase in sales and a 53% decrease in customer service calls. (Source: Wyzowl).
14. 79% of customers prefer watching a video to reading about a product. (Source: Wyzowl).
15. The ideal video length to hold a consumer’s attention is under 2 minutes or from 6-10 minutes. (Source: Wistia).
16. More than half of YouTube consumption is mobile. (Source: YouTube).
17. Facebook video gets over 8 billion average views per day. (Source: Sprout Social).
18. 85% of Facebook videos are consumed with the sound off. (Source: Sprout Social).
Regardless of what kind of business you are in, video MUST be an important part of your 2019 strategy if you are going to have brand relevance.
