Social Media Under 30 Seconds

Gone in 30 seconds

How can you get people’s attention in under 30 seconds? For an average 30 second video on Facebook, only 47 % will make it to the end of the video. The best way to engage people with social media video is to be concise and don’t waste their time. People don’t have the patience to sit through a 10 minute video anymore.

According to a recent analysis of social media viewing habits, a side by side comparison of three videos was done. It was the same clip, just shortened to 30 seconds, 18 seconds and 12 seconds. Unsurprisingly, the 12 second video excerpt performed the best of the three, with 100% of people watching until the end of the video, a rare feat on social media platforms.

The 18 second video had 74 percent completion, a very significant drop for only an extra 6 seconds. The 30 second video had a completion rate of just 47%. What this shows is how quickly people are willing to scroll on past if something doesn’t immediately grab their attention.

What’s Trending in Social Media?

At Dream Engine, we have identified the newest trend is informative videos that can be played without sound. More and more videos are being watched on smartphones, and the majority of the time it’s inconvenient to play on the phone’s speakers or to plug in your headphones when you want to watch something. If you can make a video that makes sense both with the sound on and off, you will keep viewers and they will still absorb the information you want to get across.

Know The Differences

Each of the three biggest social media sites have different demographics, and you can use their analytics tools to identify who your brand resonates with. You can identify geographic locations and age demographics of the people who follow you. If your brand skews younger, the 12 seconds video will be your friend. Older demographics will have a bit more patience but still, the shorter the better. Facebook has a broader age bracket of users, so completion rates will be higher, whereas Twitter will often have more viewers but a smaller percentage of people completing the video.

If you are looking to create more concise video for social media, get in touch with Dream Engine.