Social media wars: video

Twitter and Facebook have seen vastly different starts to 2016. Although Facebook once struggled to prove that it had a viable revenue stream, with its share price freefalling following its launch on the stock market, the social giant’s fortunes have been revived recently thanks to extremely strong advertising income. Over the last year, Facebook has seen its revenue jump by 50% – much of which is due to marketers taking advantage of the channel’s huge global audience.  Twitter on the other hand has faced difficulty, suffering disappointing financial results. 

On the hunt for greater shares of digital ad spends, the two companies are both placing their bets on live video streaming, with Twitter acquiring live streaming app Periscope in early 2015 and Facebook launching its own service last year too. While Facebook’s offering has initially been received as the stronger, the race for supremacy is far from over – especially considering the potential of disruptors like Snapchat. 

Live video streaming brings with it a wealth of possibilities for marketers, who can reach ever expanding social media audiences with interesting and engaging content. This is likely to create an even greater demand for marketers who possess strong skills when it comes to video marketing – with EMR’s most recent Salary & Market Trend Report revealing that just 8% of marketers identified as having strong experience in video.