Square Video + Caption Files Make the Difference on Social

Here's a question we get with regular frequency: why are you sending us so many darn files, I thought we just needed a video?

Yes, you just needed a video…sort of…

Let's think about it in reverse: your audience will only see a video. And what Social Media platform will they be consuming the video on? YouTube? Facebook? Instagram? LinkedIn? Well, your audience is in a significantly different mindset when consuming content on each of those platforms, and they are even likely to be on a different physical device when consuming that content. Let's break it down and then keep working backwards.

YouTube:

• Mindset = watching medium and long-form content, already interested in your content or the topic of your content

• Device = A mix of desktop, TV, mobile, and tablet usage

  • As we can see from the screenshots below, it's impossible to say with certainty where your audience is watching

  • Client A has a whopping 47.8% of their annual YouTube traffic coming from desktops with TV being a minuscule 4.2%

  • Client B's primary audience is coming from TV at 36.7% with desktop computers at 9.2%

  • The constant between these two profiles is that Mobile phone usage is in the #2 position

• The content must then be 'Wide' (16:9 aspect ratio) to appeal on all platforms

  • Also, when the audience is engaged with YouTube on their Mobile phones, their behavior is to naturally rotate the device, allowing them to see the Wide video large

Facebook and Instagram:

• Mindset = watching short-form content, potentially interested in your content, but more likely interested in people and topics within their personal sphere

• Device = overwhelmingly Mobile phone content consumption, so let's break this down to see exactly how much is Mobile vs Desktop

  • If we do some simple addition and division, we can see that among these data sets, almost all reach is Mobile

  • Seriously, it's always in the 94-95% range for Mobile vs Desktop on Facebook and Instagram

• That means the content should fill as much of the screen as we can on both platforms

  • This is why we like to give ourselves more work and recut the video Square (1:1 aspect ratio)

  • Yes, you can technically make 4:5 videos and fill even more of the screen, but that starts to create exclusions in placements between the platforms and for those that are consuming the content on desktop, it starts to look really odd, which is why we land on Square cuts being the best for Mobile

LinkedIn:

• Mindset = watching short-form content, potentially interested in your content, but more likely interested in the topic and category you serve professionally

• Device = This is a little split, and in the opposite direction than you might think as it skews desktop-heavy, but mobile is no slouch and it can be a little unpredictable

  • This about it this way, the audience on LinkedIn is a professional audience and they are likely at work when LinkedIn is open on their desktop computers, and that's when you are capturing their attention

  • This means we can go back to delivering the Wide version of the video content, we don't have to compromise on the video format to fill the screen...for now (that might change in the future as people's behaviors change over time)

Captions:

So this is that last, and most confusing part of the deliverable folder - the pesky .SRT file. Remember, we care deeply about the audience, where their mindset is, and what they're interested in. We also are aware that audiences are consuming your content while potentially...

• ...at work

• ...sitting at a cafe

• ...sitting in their cars waiting for their kids to get off the bus

• ...sitting at their desks while at work with coworkers around them

• ...sitting in a conference room killing time until the not-so-interesting presentation has concluded

• ...bored in a virtual meeting, scrolling LinkedIn on another window

• ...and the list continues on and on...

The point is that they are not sitting in a movie theater in a dark and silent room, patiently waiting for the feature to begin. Life is happening around your audience while they are consuming your content. So, to combat all of those scenarios and more, we make sure to caption the video so your audience can consume your content without sound. It's really, really, really important to go through this extra effort to meet your audience where they're 'at' while consuming your content.

We have to meet your audience on their platform of choice and know what their mindset is when they are consuming your content, otherwise it's just a waste of everyone's time. Square video options for specific Social platforms and captions are just two more tools in order to accomplish that goal.