Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Mark Zuckerberg said at the end of 2015 that we would be in the "Golden Age of Video" for some five years. So... it's not over yet, and business owners' and marketers' growing access to video will only further the shift in our social feeds in 2017.

We should also expect to see changes in the way users engage with content on social channels; an influx of new media formats, including 360-degree video, live video, and virtual reality; and new marketing tactics as brands experiment with these new formats. Finally, we'll also start to see more automated ads and personalized ads targeting our screens as such new technologies make their way into the hands of more and more marketers.

Here are seven predictions for the social media and video marketing landscape in 2017....

Use and apply videos to improve your existing marketing campaigns to build a conversation with your customers

Websites and marketing campaigns often rely on text and graphics; however, relying on too much of any one ingredient is a recipe for disaster. While graphics convey information succinctly, and text explains and elaborates, adding video to the mix is a way to reach customers who absorb information visually and tune out when they see too much text.

According to Insivia, on average, viewers retain 95 percent of information if they watch it it, but only 10 percent of the when they read it.

If a customer doesn’t hear or understand your message, your chances of converting them are slim. For many companies, conversion rates increased after adding videos to their campaigns. PowToon found start-ups and small businesses that used videos saw a conversion rate increase an average of 40 percent. Additionally, start-ups saw email sign-ups increase 67 percent....

Mobile marketers and advertisers around the world are unleashing the power of video in their social media efforts and related campaigns.

And they’re doing so aggressively.

All told, the latest industry data reveals that 93% of marketers have now used some form of video. And that usage is growing more prevalent in social media marketing.“Digital video viewing is mainstream, and eMarketer estimates that 182.5 million people in the US, or 75% of all internet users, will view digital videos this year, and video advertising spending will increase by more than 40% in 2013 as well,” eMarketer reported Wednesday. Video viewership and social sharing are “closely intertwined,” the report explains...