Many internet historians believe that the world experienced a Golden Age of Social Media from 2002 until 2012, but not everyone agrees with this time frame. Joel Comm, a best-selling author of books related to digital entrepreneurship, describes the Golden Age as having unfolded from 2003 to 2018; his rationale for declaring the final year was the revelation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which took place on Facebook.
Even if we assume that we are no longer in the Golden Age of Social Media, this does not mean that the evolution of social networking has stopped. We could very well be entering another Golden Age; one that will see significant advances in terms of digital video.
Understanding The Digital Video Revolution
There is no question that social media has transformed the way we communicate. We can now easily append images, voice, and video to our messages; this is something we were not able to do in the early versions of Twitter, for example, and there’s also the matter of social networks having masterfully adapted to mobile devices such as smartphones. At the same time, we have become very fond of using digital video to deliver our messages.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 greatly advanced the widespread use of digital video. The social distancing restrictions that forced us to stay home drove us to use digital video in various ways. Instead of watching television, millions of people around the world subscribe to digital video streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. Social video sharing platforms such as YouTube experienced massive growth during the pandemic. New social networks such as TikTok are focusing almost exclusively on video, and the Stories feature of Instagram, which is centered on video, has proven to be very popular.
Why You Need to Pay Attention to Personalized Video
In terms of digital marketing, content will still be king in 2021, but video will be the preferred format, especially when it is personalized. Take a look at this YouTube video, which is a thank you message to individuals who helped with a charitable project. This is an example of a personalized video tailored to reach a very specific demographic.
With personalized marketing, the goal is to formulate strategies that resonate with audiences who do not react well to generic content that reeks of spam. Think about a company such as Microsoft, which operates multiple divisions that do not necessarily cater to the same audiences. The way Microsoft creates marketing materials for Office 365 audiences is different than for Xbox players. Videos that promote Office 365 subscriptions cannot be as flashy as those that seek to sell memberships to the Xbox Live gaming delivery service.
Audiences are responding to digital video very enthusiastically, but only if it matches their personalities or media preferences. When you make the effort to personalize videos to the sensibilities of your various customer segments, you are letting them know that you care. For all these reasons, making personalized videos one of your marketing priorities for 2021 is highly recommended.
