Why Social Media Monitoring Companies Should Care about Online Videos

The importance of video

It comes as no surprise that online video content is becoming more and more popular among social media users. From YouTube to Facebook videos, to Twitter and Instagram videos, there are so many social media platforms on which people can upload and share this accrescent form of content. This increase in the presence of videos on social media is obviously important for brands to be aware of. And brands are well aware of this, or at least, they should be. But what about the Social Media Monitoring companies that are supplying these brands with the necessary tools to sift through the data that comes along with online videos? Should they also be aware of the importance of video communication online?

We’d argue that they should be more than just aware of this, they should also know everything they can about online video and how to monitor that content. Why? Because their customers trust them. And so they should. After all, they are the experts in Social Media Monitoring, Social Listening, and all things social. If they weren’t at least aware of the continuing trend of online videos, that trust could very well be lost further down the line. It’s estimated that by 2019, video content will be the driving factor behind 85% of online search traffic in the U.S. So it’s safe to say that it is indeed important for both brands and Social Media Monitoring companies to keep up-to-date with the trend of online videos.

People favor videos

People prefer videos to text. How do we know this? Well, by 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. This is astronomical in comparison to text. In addition, 55% of people watch videos online daily. In the past, this would have been unheard of. And on top of all of this, today, videos are shared 1200% more times than links and text combined. So the era of brands only monitoring text and nothing else is no longer going to cut it.

82% of Twitter users watch video content on the platform. And 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others. How many of those videos contain logos of brands utilizing a Social Media Monitoring tool? And how many of those tools support logo recognition for videos? Without the ability to analyze visual data, brands simply won’t have the sufficient information needed to make decisions about their audience and their online interactions with their products. So Social Media Monitoring platforms need to have the necessary tools to provide users with the ability to analyze both textual and visual data.

The explosion of Snapchat and Instagram

With the introduction of platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram into the social media market, visuals have been increasingly dominating social media feeds when it comes to online communication. In fact, Snapchat has 158 million daily users and Instagram has 400 million daily users. With the introduction of “Stories” to both platforms, videos are becoming more and more prominent every single day.

Social Media Monitoring companies need to pay attention to these trends so that they can be prepared for what’s to come in the future. They should be able to supply their customers with any information regarding monitoring any new form of online data and they should also be able to have those tools ready for them to use.

What can Social Media Monitoring companies do about this trend?

⅓ of online activity is spent watching videos. Without a method for monitoring all visuals, not just text, brands will be left in the dark when it comes to insights surrounding online conversations about their products or services. We are seeing more and more Social Media Monitoring companies implementing logo detection tools into their platforms in order to combat their lack of image recognition capabilities. It’s more important than ever to look towards the future and prepare for what’s to come from a trend that is only beginning to take off. Companies and businesses need well-rounded insights that reflect all of the conversations about their brands, not just those communicated through text. And Social Media Monitoring companies are leaving their customers without those insights by not implementing logo recognition technology into their platforms.