Short-form video is quickly taking over social media apps and is changing not only the way users interact with each other but also how consumers interact with brands. The average time spent on mobile has increased to almost 5 hours per day in the US.
Social media has evolved from status updates on Facebook and Twitter to highly engaging user-generated short-form video on apps like Snapchat and Instagram Reels. With the rise of Bytedance’s TikTok and its US-based competitor Triller, short-form video is more mainstream (and more addictive) than ever before, especially for Gen Z. Knowing that 49% of Teenagers have used TikTok, brands can’t afford to ignore these apps if they want to reach younger audiences.
With the explosion of usage growth and no sign of it slowing down any time soon, it’s evident that short-form video creation and consumption is evolving with rising attention spent on these platforms. Expectedly, brands are quick to follow suit, leading to the parallel growth of advertising dollars spent on these video platforms. A recent report by InMobi revealed that time spent viewing video on mobile has increased x2.5 times in 5 years, while ad spending on mobile video has grown by over x7.5 times in the same period. eMarketer has forecasted that by 2022, mobile ad spending will account for almost 48% of all media spending by platform in the US.
But it’s not enough for brands to be advertisers on these platforms. They need to participate in the content conversation on these apps in order to effectively reach Gen Z audiences. Brands that do not pivot to recognize the changing expectations of their consumers will become lost in the noise with diminishing ROI and increasing irrelevance.
This participation is easier said than done. Apps like TikTok are harder to crack with their elusive algorithms and fleeting trends, making the Gen Z consumer difficult to reach. At QYOU, we have become expert at navigating this area for our brand partners with some special techniques of our own.
For Gen Z there is no silo between social media and real-world chatter – but what gets talked about online is quite different from what gets talked about offline. Marketers should pay attention to both because analytics by Engagement Labs show the offline and online conversation each contribute about equally to business KPIs.
The team at QYOU understands that the magic happens at the intersection of product, platform, and people. QYOU has spent the last few years connecting brands to consumers with creative influencer marketing campaigns and seamless integrations. From the start, QYOU ran successful influencer campaigns on Musical.ly (before it became TikTok), and won the ThinkLA IDEA award for Best Social Campaign in 2018 for our work for DreamWorks’ Trolls.
QYOU has since provided hundreds of millions of views, engagements, and UGC activations for brands on these social platforms. More recently, QYOU partnered with Universal DreamWorks again to drive awareness and excitement for The Croods: A New Age on TikTok. The influencer and content campaign, supporting both the theatrical and premium video on demand releases, surpassed 110 million views with nearly 600,000 subscribers, making it the most followed movie channel in TikTok history.
“Influencers are an essential ingredient for brands looking to reach and engage with Gen Z audiences at scale. We are proud of our tried and true techniques that continually deliver outstanding results for our clients.” - Glenn Ginsburg, President of Global Partnerships, at QYOU.
QYOU’s success is credited to the team’s expertise and focus on finding the right fit of brand, formats, influencers, and platform. Data is increasingly important to identify this fit, and at Engagement Labs, they are doing really solid work for their clients identifying the data that proves how effective and essential these platforms are for Gen Z.
“We work with high-profile social media, media and tech companies that demonstrates the value of our data, authority and expertise. In this next normal, we understand the difficulties many brands have in generating buzz among Gen Z and our data and analytics can help measure attribution and effectiveness behind their expenditures and objectives.” - Ed Keller, CEO at Engagement Labs
In 2021, brands will need all the help they can get from companies like QYOU and Engagement Labs to strategically prepare for drastic shifts in consumer preferences, including the incorporation of Live content marketing and e-commerce capabilities in order to stay connected to their target audience in meaningful (and profitable) ways. TikTok’s recent partnership with Shopify is already a major step in that direction.
Brands need to participate in the conversation happening on offline and social video apps as both content creators and consumers. And with new technology in the mix in 2021, smart influencer marketing is essential.
