Social media giant Facebook recently reported that video postings by small-to-medium-sized companies (SMBs) has tripled since 2013. In fact, in the month of September alone, 800,000 SMBs posted over three million videos to the social network. Also, Facebook reported that of the three million videos, 84 percent were uploaded by SMBs outside of the U.S.
In addition, Facebook reports that it averaged over a billion video views per day in the month of June. The launch of the autoplay feature in which videos automatically play in users’ news feeds is likely part of the reason.
While these metrics are certainly impressive, does it mean users are actively engaging with the content in the videos? Not necessarily, say skeptics.
In an October report released by Internet analytics company ComScore, the company announced that Facebook ads had surpassed those of video giant YouTube. In response, the company’s co-founder Gian Fulgoni stated, “While there’s reach advantage for auto-play, there’s an issue as to whether you’re getting good engagement. You’re getting good engagement from user-initiated (video on YouTube) by definition”.
Reference:
Gesenhues, Amy. “Facebook Videos Posted By SMBs Triples Since 2013”. Marketingland.com. 11/20/2014.
