As online video comes of age, Instagram is set to further the platform’s appeal to brands by exchanging the heart-shaped like button for a view counter under the video player.
This will tell marketers how many are watching their videos for longer than 3 seconds.
Short videos telling brand stories are the perfect engagement tool for an app that has taken the social media world by storm.
Only six years old, Instagram has 400 million monthly users sharing 40 billion photos with a daily engagement rate of 3.5 billion; figures that surely satisfy its parent company Facebook.
In 2013, Instagram incorporated a short video format for the first time into what had been a pure photo sharing service.
Video is now seen as an area of growth, with 60’ paid-for slots available alongside the free 15’ second uploads.
Exciting times ahead then for online video as it takes its place centre stage in the biggest social media platforms.
And for brand marketers, with the world watching Instagram on mobile, it’s time to take planning and strategy around online video seriously.