Socially Optimised

Socially
/ˈsəʊʃ(ə)li/
ADVERB

1. In a way that relates to society or its organization.

Optimised
/ˈɒptɪmʌɪz/
VERB

1. Make the best or most effective use of (a situation or resource).

In today’s world, social media is BIG news. So, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when one of our longest-serving clients tasked us with creating some video content that is “socially optimised” and that got us thinking… what exactly does that mean and what impact has social media had on the way we interact with videos online?
Here are some statistics we found interesting:

• Contrary to popular belief – the shorter, the better. The attention-span of the average person on social media has decreased significantly and apparently our interest starts to dwindle after about 7 seconds of video; down from 12 seconds in 2000 (we’re now dangerously nearing gnat levels…).
• Within 15 seconds, 43% of people have decided whether they’re going to continue watching until the end.
• Therefore, you need to ensure that approximately 50% of the value of your video is within the first 3 seconds.
• And around 75% of its value is within the opening 10 seconds.
• Punchy graphics and big, bold lettering are a hit but make sure your impact statements are near to the beginning because, don’t forget, we have the attention span of… oh, look, a bird!
• Something we’ve seen that we like the look of is ‘mirroring’ – where an image is mirrored on itself two, three, several times in one shot. It’s unusual and effective!
• An incredible 1/3^rd of all internet users are spending their time watching video.
• And almost 2/3^rd prefer those videos to be under 60 seconds which must feel like a feature-length film to those tempted to turn off after only 7 seconds!
• But the one I, personally, find most shocking is that a whopping 85% of videos are watched in MUTE! If only they knew how much precious time had been spent choosing a track and creating an audio mix … painful.
• And, don’t even get me started on the almost 75% who watch videos in portrait mode…!

Statistics and figures aside, there’s no doubt about it – social media has radically transformed the way in which we now view video content online and its impact will continue to grow as these platforms develop & improve.
So, ‘Socially Optimised’ in essence, means following these guidelines in order to gain the maximum impact for the videos we create for our clients.  That is what we are doing now and we will be doing in future.
(Statistics and figures extracted from various websites)
Written by our excellent and longest standing in-house Editor Sean Male.