By Jillian Wilschke
There have been many changes to social media platforms lately, and while many of these changes are innovative and exciting, they definitely have left me with quite a few questions about the future of brands and social media. I recently came across this article on Memeburn that explained one of the new changes to Instagram. This new change allows users to increase the length of the videos that they share from 15 seconds to 60 seconds.
That’s right.
Instagram users can celebrate the fact that they are no longer constricted to 15 seconds of time to showcase their videos.
This change brings about many benefits for users, such as more creative freedom. But I also wonder how it might affect advertisements and overall brands of companies. The average human’s attention span has fallen over the years, and the number of seconds that it takes a person to stay engaged keeps dwindling. Will 60 seconds of video be too long for consumers to focus on? Will companies that take advantage of this new change realize that their first few seconds are crucial to prevent their audience from scrolling? From experience with Instagram, the social media platform is fast-paced and heavily influenced by visuals. Posts that receive double taps are ones that attract the viewer through visual appeal and often don’t demand too much attention. While the 60 second video may look pretty and professional, will people be interested in committing so much time to one post before they reward it with a heart? Social media presence has become a must for companies and clients, and simultaneously, there are new advancements always showing up with social media platforms. When you add these two together, you create job security for public relations professionals. Companies will need PR professionals to use their marketing and social media expertise to make decisions on what is best for their social media presence. PR professionals have an understanding of social media and will know whether or not a 60 second Instagram video is a good decision a company and their brand.
It seems that the answers to my questions will only come with time and experience with this new change. I’m excited to see how PR professionals take advantage of this change to Instagram since videos are becoming increasingly popular across all social media platforms. One thing I know for sure, though, is that PR professionals must ensure that they provide their clients with the best knowledge on how to utilize new features on social media, whether on Instagram or not.
Comments