Social Scorecard: Radio’s top social posts this week, plus the optimal length for videos on social media

Welcome to the era of social media; where it’s claimed that our attention spans are shorter than gold fish – taking it down to just 8 seconds.

It’s no surprise at all when you consider that we’re being constantly blasted with an overflow of content to stimulate our senses.

Social media producers have an approximate window of 10 seconds to grab and engage an audience before they continue browsing their feed.  If you haven’t got them hooked after the first 20 seconds, then you are looking at a 33% drop off; push past one minute and approximately 45% of your audience have stopped watching.

Is engagement or video length more important?

Your audience judge how much of your video they watch based on how long they think it will take to through it and understand the message.

The longer a video plays, the lower its retention. You’re looking at:

• Video content under 1 minute – You’ll hold onto 80% of your viewers up to the 30-second mark.
• 2 to 3 minute videos have around 60% retention.
• You’ll keep about 50% of your audience halfway through videos that are 5-10 minutes long.

Grasping onto your audience during the entire duration of your video shouldn’t be your aim, nor is making it go viral. Getting higher engagement should be your main focus.

What type of video content are you offering?

Engaging content comes in all different forms. Something fun and comical is more appealing when videos are shorter, while content illustrating a story can be a little longer. There’s nothing wrong with breaking up longer videos and creating a series.

How long should my next video be?

Aim for the 2 minute mark because you’ll suffer a big decline in engagement if it runs beyond that.

Why cap it at 2 minutes?

You’ll see that you can maintain solid engagement up to the 2 minute mark. However a 90 second video often has the same level of engagement as a 30 seconder. Bottom line – keep it short, punchy and under 2 minutes for maximum effect.

What happens if we decide to post something 3 minutes long?

Say goodbye to your audience’s attention span. Every second counts after that 2 minute mark, so stick to what works. Shorter videos will allow you to experiment and discover what works best with your target audience.

Next best length? Try 6 to 12 minutes

If you’ve held them until the 6-minute mark, there’s not much of a drop off from 6 to 12 minutes. If you’ve beefed it up to about 8 minutes, you won’t see much of an impact on your engagement.

Don’t bother with anything over 12 minutes long

Occasionally you will need to make content a little longer – illustrating a story or doing some sort of tutorial, so it justifies an extended length.

Despite this, you’ll have a massive drop off by the 12 minute mark. It’s best to concentrate on making a great video – engagement will follow.

Your audience are going to have plenty of distractions along the way. At the end of the day, the ideal length really does depend on the type of content, its context and the person viewing it. If you want to nail it, go over your analytics and change it up.

Our top picks this week come from The Hit Network’s Ash London Live, Hit 92.9’s Heidi, Will & Woody and Nova 96.9’s Fitzy and Wippa.

1. The Hit Network’s Ash London Live: Instagram – ‘#InstaJam’ (SCA)

Want to boost your Instagram engagement? Then check out what The Hit Network’s doing. They have been super clever in getting in a CTA (call-to-action) and using their own hashtag –boosting their chances of trending and their brand visibility. Simple, smart and adjustable to any of their shows.

2. Hit 92.9’s Heidi, Will & Woody: Facebook – ‘Woody post-surgery coming off anaesthetic’ (SCA)

There’s a massive trend in people sharing live surgery videos and clips of post-surgery for educational purposes.  Most are just a creative form of content and this is a perfect example. It stands out from other posts and is aimed at titillating and entertaining the audience. Great length too, enough to hold attention span. Wishing you a speedy recovery Woody!

https://www.facebook.com/heidiwillwoody/videos/1001158626689335/

3. Nova 96.9’s Fitzy and Wippa: Facebook – ‘Fake tailor Mark’ (Nova Entertainment) 

Humorous content is a great way to boost your engagement. This is totally aligned with the show’s brand. Content such as this video helps build a sense of community amongst the audience as they feel like they are ‘in’ on the prank, trigger a positive emotional reaction and provides insight to the team on their audience and what works.

https://www.facebook.com/fitzyandwippa/videos/1277665199009969/

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Social Scorecard is compiled exclusively for Radio Today by Jess Frangelli.