6 Social Video Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022

Year over year, social media platforms have become more video-centric. In 2022, video traffic is estimated to account for 82% of all consumer Internet traffic. Not only are consumers watching, creating, and engaging with more video content than ever, they are seeking out videos to discover new brands and learn more about their products before purchasing.

To help you stay on top of the top video marketing trends, we conducted a survey on 500 consumers and 500 marketers to figure out how businesses are using video, and how consumers are interacting with it. Our findings reinforced that marketers are catching on to the power of video. In 2021, 93% of businesses landed a new customer after sharing a video on social media and ranked video #1 in terms of ROI.

In this blog, we’ll share the successes marketers have seen with video content, how consumers interact with video, what they want to see more of, and what trends you can integrate into your video marketing strategy in 2022.

Keep reading or skip ahead to learn more about the video marketing trends that will impact your business the most.

• Key takeaways
• About the survey
• Video consumption trends: What consumers are looking for in video
• Why is video marketing so effective?
• 6 Video trends to incorporate into your 2022 marketing strategy

Key takeaways

• Video ads were the #1 way consumers discovered a brand they later purchased from.
• Consumers rated video the #1 most helpful form of content when shopping online.
• Consumers are more likely to engage with video content across all social media channels.
• Video has the best ROI (return on investment) for marketers advertising their business.
• 93% of businesses landed a new customer after sharing a video on social media.

About the study

In 2021, we conducted a survey of 500 marketers and 500 consumers to find out how and where they are using and consuming video content. Not only did we want to find out how the landscape has changed for digital marketers and where they are seeing the most success with video, we wanted to track the video consumption habits among consumers and identify how your brand can make a stronger appeal to these consumers in 2022.

Video consumption trends: what consumers are looking for in video

With the push for more social videos comes higher screen times and more video consumption. Of all 500 consumers surveyed, 65% reported watching videos more than once a day, including videos from brands, with no video burnout in sight. Not only did the majority of consumers surveyed find video to be their favorite form of content from brands, they also found video to be the most helpful when shopping online. What’s more, 15% even said they would like to see more video content online.

What platforms are consumers using?

In 2021, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok were the most commonly used social media platforms among consumers, with 47% having more than 4 active accounts. Not surprisingly, video consumption was most common on sites where video content, and particularly short-form videos, have been prioritized. Heavy video-consumers (those who watch 6+ videos per day) are engaging with videos primarily on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook Feed, Facebook Stories, and Instagram Stories.

What do consumers want out of video?

Users are embracing video content not only for entertainment, but to discover and research new brands and products. About 34% of respondents said they first discovered a new brand and subsequently purchased something from them after being served a video ad on social media, even higher than through a friend’s or influencer’s posts. After discovering a new brand, 26% of consumers travel to the brand’s website to purchase and learn more or to the brand’s YouTube channel to watch more informative videos from the brand.

Overwhelmingly, consumers said that they would prefer to watch a short video about a product or service rather than read an article or infographic, attend a webinar or event, or participate in a sales call. This illustrates that video content is not just an effective tool for top-of-funnel marketing efforts – consumers view videos as a resource to discover brands, check their credibility, and learn more about the product before going on to purchase. In today’s digital landscape, video content helps bring consumers further and further down the funnel, all the way to conversion and retention.

What types of social video content converts?

Of all social media marketing efforts, marketers found video content to have the highest ROI. Of all social channels, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok were the top 3 social platforms on which consumers watched videos that led to a purchase. Luckily for digital marketers, consumers perceived these three platforms as having the most popularity and potential for growth in the future too.

Why is video marketing so effective?

Year over year and algorithm over algorithm, video content continues to outperform static content. In 2021, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced that the app is “no longer just a square photo-sharing app,” since it's pivoting its focus to video. Then, in 2022, Facebook shared that about half of all time spent on Facebook and Instagram is spent watching videos as reels continues to grow in popularity.

Meanwhile, TikTok continues to disrupt the social media landscape. While Facebook and YouTube took about eight years to gain a billion users, TikTok hit this number in just five years and is expected to reach 1.5 billion users by the end of 2022.

So what is it about video content that makes it such a powerful marketing tool? Video content is more effective because it:

• Stays visible longer on social feeds
• Tells more than a single image or infographic
• Gets more engagement
• Is versatile
• Is more personable
• Ranks higher in search
• Feeds growing social media sites’ algorithms

6 video trends to incorporate into your 2022 marketing strategy

Small and mid-sized businesses are getting the most out of their marketing efforts by leaning into video content. In 2021, 47% of marketers reported that they created 4+ social media marketing videos per week. Nearly half of these videos were organic, and half were paid. Marketers are also finding success creating videos for their websites, the first place many consumers visit after learning about a brand.

This year, marketers are planning to increase the amount of video content they create in place of static images. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and create more videos that convert, keep an eye on these 6 trends.

1) Focus on relevant platforms

Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok were the top 3 social platforms on which consumers watched videos that led to a purchase. Each of these platforms have different requirements and are optimized for certain kinds of video content. To make a truly solid video marketing strategy, you need to post more optimized content here and more often. For example, square product promo videos may be best suited for Facebook, whereas landscape product demos can do well on YouTube, and short format promo videos will get more engagement on TikTok.

2) Share more how-tos, customer stories, and promo videos

It’s not just the quantity of videos that matters, but the types of videos that you share. Consumers said the top 3 reasons they follow a brand on Instagram are for info about products/services, entertaining or funny content, and inspirational content. Consumers also said how-to videos are their favorite type of content from brands, with customer stories and promo videos trailing close behind. To keep consumers entertained and engaged, video variety is key.

3) Reprioritize TikTok

Consumers and social media experts alike expect TikTok to be the #1 social media platform in terms of popularity, but marketers predicted YouTube to come out on top. While marketers intend to invest the highest ad spend on YouTube in 2022, consumers will be flocking to TikTok to browse, discover, and purchase. If you haven’t already created a TikTok account, now is the time.

4) Create social-friendly content

In 2019, 39% of consumers watched more video ads on social media than on TV. This year, that number rose to 58%. Each platform has different requirements in terms of dimensions, video lengths, caption lengths, audio usage, and more. With Animoto, you can quickly resize video content for multiple channels with the click of a button, saving you time and effort.

5) Be first in the feed with paid video ads

This past year, 94% of marketers said paid video ads had a positive ROI for their business. Marketers are planning to spend even more to have their content prioritized in social feeds and stand out. Stake your claim in consumers' timelines by investing in paid ads while maintaining a cadence of helpful, entertaining, and inspirational organic content.

6) Be consistent with video

Video burnout is not on the horizon for many consumers; 74% of consumers visit social media more than once a day, with 64% watching social videos at least once a day. By maintaining a regular posting schedule, not only does this feed into the algorithm and help your content to have better engagement and views, it builds credibility in the eyes of the consumer and helps your brand to stay top-of-mind.

Start creating stunning videos

If you haven’t made video the centerpiece of your marketing strategy, it’s time. With Animoto, you don’t have to be a professional video creator, editor, or dedicated content creator. With drag-and-drop tools, a library of thousands of stock videos and images, licensed music tracks, and hundreds of video templates to choose from, you can quickly create stunning professional videos and scale your video marketing strategy.

Start creating professional videos for free with Animoto.