If you depend on your smartphone for almost everything you probably switch on to your social media and favorite websites on your smartphone especially when you are on the go. Social media and any website now extensively use video content to share stories from users, or video marketing from businesses and retailers to create brand awareness. If you are a smartphone user you would be aware of the hassle of turning your smartphone horizontally just to see the full-scale video presentations at hand. Gone are those days as most social media interface is switching to vertical videos. You can switch to your favorite videos without changing the orientation of your phone.  Vertical videos prove to be the future based on research on click per minutes, favored by users everywhere. For businesses and retailers, this should be an eye-opener as they shift to vertical video marketing as part of their social media marketing strategy.


Social Media Marketing and Social Videos

Most people are now on some type of social or another and when we mean most people, we mean about 2.77 billion people worldwide as of 2019. Social media platforms are the most extensively used sites where people interact, share stories, communicate and message.  If you are a business or retailer you will find most of your customers or leads on social media.

Users love videos, as percentages go 91% of customers have watched a video about a product or service they care about.  Businesses know the importance of videos as well, 82% of businesses perceive videos as important to their overall marketing strategy. It is a fact that videos are all important but people are caught on the impasse of going vertical or horizontal. At first, people frowned upon vertical videos because of the reduced size compared to wide screens and it just plain looks like amateurish stuff and no business wants that. However, with the popularization of smartphones comes the preference for vertical videos and vertical video marketing saw better results and everyone found that they should just go with the flow.

People Use their Smartphone to View Social Media

People only have a short time frame to access their social media as they go to their workplace and they usually access it on their smartphone. Smartphones are designed to receive and make calls and so it has been designed to be vertical. All of your experience on your smartphone including online browsing is designed to be vertical including videos, in fact, according to a MOVR Mobile Overview Report 94% of users hold their phone vertically when watching a video!

Social media platforms know this fact and have increasingly become mobile friendly. Holding your phone upright allows you more access and freedom to type away and access menus, and use social media interfaces in a more natural and intuitive way.  Social media platforms know that optimizing mobile experiences is the way to go and major social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have removed the black bars on vertical videos to give videos a more appealing look for users.

Social media platforms have embraced the Vertical Format

Social media platforms know the impact of mobile use on the way they should present media such as videos on their sites. It has been estimated that 52% of global internet traffic comes from mobile traffic.

YouTube is the number one video sharing app and number one video-oriented social media platform. They adopted a vertical video format not just on their mobile but on other devices such as desktop which adjusts size based on video aspect’s ratio.

Facebook stories were released on mobile apps, desktop sites and WhatsApp strengthening their hold on vertical videos.

Instagram direct their users to use their Instagram stories interface more and have released IGTV which is kind of like YouTube for vertical videos. IGTV is a vertical video application that allows you to upload videos up to 10 minutes in length as a regular user or up to 60 minutes if you are popular.

Snapchat is the original in making attention-grabbing self-destructing videos and images go viral. They are constantly upgrading their interface to encourage vertical videos for both its users and advertisers. Snapchat is constantly upgrading its features to catch the interest of its community.

Vertical Video Marketing for Better Engagement

Businesses that have adopted vertical video marketing attest that it did wonders for their social marketing strategies and customer engagement. Vertical videos catch more of user’s attention and according to Wibbutz, a platform for creating automated videos there is a 130% increase in views and 4 times more engagement in Facebook when using vertical videos.

Vertical videos on mobile phones also have an added advantage: it takes up the entire screen space so your viewers will not be distracted by other factors such as comment sections. A full-screen space gets your products full focus and no other distractions giving you the time to shine.

Vertical videos also have a higher completion rate. According to MediaBrix, a digital advertising company, they found that viewers only watch horizontal videos till the end 14% of the time while vertical videos are watched to its completion 90% of the time.

Vertical Video Equals Minimal Effort

It is human nature: people are just too preoccupied or to be honest, too lazy to turn their phone sideways to watch a video. If you are on a cramped train on your way to work, it’s just too much hassle to put your phone in a certain angle. Constantly on the move, or passively sedentary, horizontal is just an unnatural way of looking at stuff on your smartphone.  A lot of businesses are going vertical and shooting videos in a vertical format including the New York Times. If your business is still using a horizontal format, better look in user’s trends and adopt the format that clicks with the majority so your videos and infomercials on social media can gain traction. You might be losing the opportunity to connect with your customers if you are still not using the vertical format. Vertical videos are also easier to record so if you are planning your next social marketing strategy use vertical video marketing formats for ease of use for both creators and viewers.


If you would like to know how we can help you create vertical videos that convert more customers, get in touch today!

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