Why Animation is the Best Video Marketing Strategy for Social

Video is a powerful marketing tool, and animation is a trending video type that you need to try for your social media channels. 

It is known that 65% of people are visual learners, and 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual. Also, according to molecular biologist John Medina, vision is our most dominant sense, taking up half of our brain’s resources. And visual information is also processed 60,000x faster than text. 

Check it out for yourself: which of the two images below is easier to understand?

For those reasons, visual content on social media is booming. 

Just last year, the number of video posts per person has increased 94% in the US alone and Facebook averages more than 4 billion video streams every day. Then there's the picture superiority effect in which pictures and images are more likely to be remembered than words. So in this instance, a picture really is worth a thousand words. 

Not sure about video? Here’s some statistics that will make you want to use more video in your marketing:

• Including video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%
• After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online
• 1/3 of all online activity is spent watching video
• 50% of executives look for more information after seeing a product/service in a video
• YouTube users watch more than 3 billion hours of video per month, according to YouTube
  
  If video is not part of your content marketing strategy yet, the time to start using it to market your product is now.

So Why Animated Video?
You need to get your viewers’ attention, plain and simple. Another talking head or a boring explainer video just won’t do the trick. You need engagement, and animated video will help you get it. Check these out:



A majority of consumers prefer watching a video to reading text. Consumer preference is key. Video will be used more for converting and lead generation. A lot of potential customers don’t want to talk to salespeople. Videos and animations can definitely influence sales.

There will be a lot of experimenting to find out what videos work in what situations -- Animation, actors, CGI. How to present introductions and calls-to-action in a video. But animation has staying power.

There are several reasons why animation works better than other types of visuals:

1.Animation Keeps Viewer’s Attention
Internet users (as well as most people nowadays) have short attention spans and will only spend so much time on a video or an article. Animation sparks emotions and conversations that resonate with viewers. It makes your audience want to follow the story all the way through.

Also, people are so used to intrusive marketing ads, they often just see through the white noise the ads create. Animation is less known to be a marketing instrument so people are more likely to pay attention to animated video than traditional ads.

A good example is Google Doodles. These cute animations just make you want to click on them.

2.Animation Simplifies Complex Topics
Animation video brings ideas to life in a way that text or live videos can’t. With this type of video, you can make characters do the impossible, like fly or time travel. With the help of animation, you can show how mechanisms and processes work in a simple way that everyone can understand. 

A great example of animation for explanation purposes is TED-Ed. Their YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers and is one of the most popular educational channels on the platform.

Most of these videos created by this team are animation videos. They simplify difficult subjects like how the food you eat affects your brain or the physics of the “hardest move” in ballet.

3.Animation Brings Back Memories
Most people associate cartoons with the good times of their childhood. Who didn’t love getting up on a Saturday morning to watch cartoons? Animation can make us nostalgic for sure, that’s why it is one of the most powerful emotions. According to studies, nostalgia has the power to filter out negative emotions and fight depression.

4.Animation Is Fun
We all love to be entertained. Even when it has to do with business or education, making something entertaining is always better. The more entertaining your video on social media is, the more people will like it and share it. Animation is a definite 10 on the fun scale. 

For inspiration, watch this funny Lumberjack Party animated video created by Motion Authors. It is cute, amusing, and entertaining, all at once. That’s really all it takes for a video to go viral and spread across social media like wildfire.

5.Animation Fits For Just About Anything
Animation works for any marketing need: product explainer videos, infographics, launch announcements, etc. Marketers and companies are recognizing this booming trend. Not convinced? Out of 50 best explainer videos collected by HubSpot, Video Brewery and Switch Video, only 7 are non-animated.

 

6.Animation Is Relatively Cheaper To Produce
Video production can involve spending tens of thousands of dollars. From searching for a spokesperson, actors, shooting and editing, it can get pricey. One of the major advantages of using animation for your social media channels is that it’s less expensive than live videos. It takes far less to create a perfect animated explainer video.

How Powerful Will Video Marketing Become?

As of August 2021, consumer internet video traffic is 80% of all internet traffic across the world. Video has and will continue to dominate the internet. Video will be the main medium for how internet users will get their information. Video-on-demand traffic is estimated to double by 2022. Social media will be a major driver of video distribution, with Facebook and Instagram leading this charge.

Check out a blog we wrote about it here

How to Use Animated Video in Your Social Media Strategy
Now that you are convinced that you need to use animation across your social media channels, there are several things you should keep in mind to make this strategy successful.

1.Keep Your Videos Short
Short is definitely sweet here. Keep those videos brief. Especially on Facebook, since these tend to be nearly 10x shorter than YouTube.

Tasty by BuzzFeed is a great example of how short videos can do extremely well on Facebook. 

What’s their key to success? Well, they are short, entertaining, and suck the viewer in from the very first second. And even though they aren’t using animation, learn from their strategy. After all, who doesn’t want to have 30 million followers on Facebook?  

2.Keep the Autoplay in Mind

Videos in the News Feed start playing automatically. As a video creator, you should be able to grab people’s attention from the very first frame. Remember that videos in the News Feed play silently too so they should attract attention without the sound. In this regard, an animation might work miracles.

3.Make People Feel Good about Themselves

When creating videos for social media, be aware that people will see your videos in the News Feed next to a photo or a status update from a friend or family member. If you want to get more shares and likes for your video, make it appeal to the audience. People want to share stuff that makes them look good in front of others. Especially to their friends and family. 

A great example of this is Facebook's Friend Anniversary videos. They fit perfectly into the situation and are all about happiness!

4.Use Different Types of Videos on Different Media Channels

To get the most from your videos, you want to use different types of videos for different channels. While YouTube is good for education, Facebook has a personal touch. While Twitter is great for engagement, Snapchat is good for getting attention. They all have their niche. Animation allows you to experiment and see which type works best for your marketing.

5.Try to Animate Other Types of Content
While video is extremely popular and should be used, it certainly shouldn’t be the only animated visual you share on your social media. A study by BuzzSumo reveals that infographic, “Why” posts and lists are also likely to get the most shares. 

Why not try and make an animated “Why” infographic on a trending topic that would include a list? Most likely, you will see it go viral in a matter of days.

The Bottom Line Is…
By now you should know that video is king. It’s an important marketing tool for both marketers and business owners alike and it’s still evolving and changing rapidly. You need to get engagement and animation video is one of the best types of videos to use to capture attention for your business or product. Animated video is an appealing way for getting your story told more broadly. It might be just the thing your business needs to get viewers, likes, and shares on your social media. And let’s face it, they are just more fun!

For any and all of your video marketing needs, visit us at ultimo-media.com.