Do you remember what was the best thing that kept you hooked to your phone? If your answer is videos, then you are just like the countless others who spend around 3 to 4 hours a day on their phones. With the increased usage of mobile phones, video is arguably the most powerful medium today. They are known to capture attention and connect with people more than anything else.
According to Cisco, by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer Internet traffic. Therefore, using videos for advertising and marketing is a no-brainer. There’s a variety of video types but one of the most recent ones that are trending are native video ads. This new form of advertising has proved to be influential for the growth of brands.
Before getting to know what a native video is, let us understand native advertising first.
Outbrain defined native advertising as “any paid content that is in-feed and inherently non-disruptive.” The word native makes it quite clear for us to be able to comprehend the real meaning behind this term. This type of advertisement is formatted in the platform which hosts it. It is used to highly target audiences and engage them through information rather than being fully promotional(nobody would want their viewers to go back discouraged). They are usually found in social media feeds or Web pages but do not fully resemble display or banner ads.
Let us now dig deep into native videos.
In a nutshell, native video refers to uploading your videos directly to the platform.
There might have been times when you have shared the link of your YouTube video on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, to reduce some time and effort of uploading it over all platforms. It is actually NOT a good way to access the full potential of your video to be seen.
The solution to maximizing your video is using native video. IAB defines native video as the concept of “promoted video within one of the six IAB native core ads.” It is basically an in-feed video with a description that is uploaded directly to or created on the platform itself and is generally autoplay enabled.
It’s better that you upload the video directly to Facebook to get the native video. You get more controls in-app and will open to more options to sync with your marketing strategy. The best thing about taking the trouble to upload directly is that you don’t have to open a new window to view the video. It’s less disruptive for audiences as they won’t be forced to another platform.
Video is said to be the most engaging content that brands adapt and one of the primary reasons behind it is the fact that over 8 billion videos are viewed on Facebook. Leave aside Facebook, even Instagram, which has a story feature that has around 500 million video views per day.
Viewers are more inclined towards watching videos these days because these are enjoyable and give them what they want. People tend to be more convinced to purchase something by watching a video. However, consumers want to be in control of what they want and have the desire to watch content that is authentic. Additionally, they prefer to be ‘uninterrupted’ while watching their videos. All of this leads us to think that native video is one of the best ways to tell an engaging story without any disruption.
1. They act as Attention seekers – Many of us have this habit of dodging videos or pop-ups that come up on Facebook and annoy us. But brands want to gain attention and make people watch their videos. Native videos are better than just sharing a link from YouTube as they make the experience memorable and capture the attention of the viewer. Instapage conducted a study and revealed that native ads gain 308x more attention than banner ads. Most of the brands are replacing display ads with native ads. Thus, to capture attention just make native videos a part of your campaign and get ready to see the wonders!
2. They give higher engagement – Native videos offer higher engagement rates among audiences as compared to links shared on Facebook. One of the main reasons this happens is because people have to go off the platform and it is not easy to access. But, native videos allow you to watch and comment also without having to leave Facebook. A comparison between YouTube and Facebook showed that native videos were shared ten times more on Facebook than YouTube. Furthermore, the autoplay function on Facebook and Twitter has given people more reasons to watch videos.
3. They provide better reach – Facebook added the news feed algorithm to promote users to upload native videos. The chances that Facebook will promote a YouTube link is less as they wouldn’t want their users to go to other platforms. Facebook will try its best to keep people on their platform. Quaintly, conducted a study where they found that people engaged 4x more on Facebook native videos than those from YouTube and Vimeo. That’s interesting! Thus, to significantly widen your reach use native videos.
4. They build a video gallery – Many of us know that when we post any image to Facebook, it saves the image automatically to the gallery. Do you know that the same applies to native videos too? It’s really helpful if you have a fan page and the native videos can be found by your fans for replays.
It is like your store box where users can come and find videos they like thus increasing your views and engagement rates. What’s more – there is a featured video section where you can choose content that is the best and deliver your message clearly. This will stay at the top of your page for as long as you want. Moreover, grouping videos can enable people to find videos in a snap.
For Twitter, you can pin your video on the top of your profile as the visual library constitutes both images and videos.
5. They make editing easy – Facebook and Twitter have in-house editing features that can be used to improve your videos quickly. Although the features are not as comprehensive, it can still be used to do some simple editing.
Facebook offers some basic features like adding subtitles and/or captions, adding a CTA to the end of your video, choosing a thumbnail, and enabling autoplay or not.
Twitter also has an easy drag and drop feature that can help you to capture clips directly from the mobile app and enables you to rearrange or delete clips and trim the length.
6. They give detailed analytics – Tracking your analytics for your social media campaigns teaches us what are we doing right or wrong.
Native videos have their own sections in the pages insights which gives an idea about how many video views you have received which are above 3 and 10 seconds. Finding out what are your top videos and how they interact with and engage users is also possible. This in turn can lead you to modify your social media campaign and put in more effort wherever required.
1. Infusionsoft – By giving a step by step guide to Facebook live, Infusionsoft promoted itself through native ad. This video featured a heading, subheading, a description, and a link at the video’s end. A download CTA button also enables viewers to click through it at any point. This in turn leads users to a landing page where you can download the free guide by just filling in some details.
2. Microsoft Office – They have a native ad wherein they convince users to register for their small business academy webcast. Here, there is a CTA button at the bottom of the video and also a link at the end of your video. It leads to a landing page to register for their webcast.
3. HelloFresh – This is an Instagram native ad that is bent on showcasing their healthy food delivery service. HelloFresh creates a sense of urgency among the people to order right away because of the deals that they offer, which is a compelling 50% off on the first order. Additionally, there is a “learn more” tab which directs to a dedicated promo page.
The main purpose behind native video is entertainment and education related to the brand. Thus putting up a video with infographics, reviews, and editorial content can increase the effectiveness of it and give more views.
Always try to portray a story. A story that is captivating and doesn’t seem to put any pressure on the audience for taking action but simply letting the content do its work. For instance, if you are a shoe brand, you can show a story of some 1 to 2 minutes where a normal housewife gets motivated to follow her dream of becoming a sportsperson. This will promote the brand but also convey a story. A real-life incident or testimonial can do wonders as well.
After all, the main purpose of a native video is to let the word out on social media platforms.
1. Short, sweet and engaging – Native videos have to be creative but at the same time, they also need to be short and attractive. This helps the viewer to understand the purpose behind the video.
2. Customising content – Your audience across all social media platforms are different, so making content that will be appropriate for them is crucial. One piece of content cannot function in all the social media platforms equally therefore considering your audience and then modifying it based on the media platform is going to give you great results. For an effective digital campaign, it’s not necessary that the native video is forced on all your social platforms. Use it where you see you can get more views and desired results.
3. Create a video that speaks for itself – Many of us like to watch our Facebook videos with no sound at all. So, make a video that considers this fact. Make your video understandable even without sound. Creating something which is meaningful even without sound will be impactful.
4. Try Live video options – Whether it is Facebook live, Instagram or Twitter periscope a native video has the potential to provide raw and authentic content. This could include a behind the scenes or a sneak peek into what is going to happen next. Many viewers will watch your video content since raw content is capable of enticing the audience.
So, if you are willing to update your digital marketing strategy and include native video ads in it you can get more users. This helps more people to be invested in you. A lot of social media companies have tasted the results after including native videos.
Offeo helps you to create native videos according to your ideas and vision. This doesn’t take much of your time and doesn’t require you to be a professional. You can build up an exciting environment with these videos. Offeo enables you to edit your video and customize it. Our platform is very user friendly and converts your ideas into breathtaking videos. Editing text, adding images or graphics all can be done through our platform.
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