Why text video is the perfect combination of news, storytelling, and marketing

Native video: it’s where it’s at. Photo credit: Gratisography.

If you subscribe to the Facebook pages of SGAG, Tech in Asia, and Coconuts Media, you’ve perhaps noticed something common in the last few months.

They’ve all started offering short, viral social-first videos in addition to their traditional content.

• 5.4M views for SGAG’s “So we pretended we found a rare Pokemon at Hougang…” (0:54 sec)
• 1.4M views for Tech In Asia’s “Iron Man suit” (0:53 sec)
• 1M views for Coconuts Media’s “Cheese Wheel Pasta in Singapore (Hnnnnng)” (1:07 sec)

The results generated by this text video format can make any competitor jealous. The success of these videos is based on the simplicity of their format – sometimes just a succession of pictures, on which clearly legible short snippets of text have been added.

Nothing revolutionary, but this format is perfect, in both form and substance, for the social network’s ecosystem. Especially Facebook.

What is social-first media?

Similar to a “mobile first” strategy for websites, “social first” means using social networks as a core strategy.

Specifically, the content is first created and optimized for social networks on mobile. It is then optionally integrated on a website. The number of subscribers to its social network pages becomes the most important factor for its reach and success.

Whether on Facebook or Twitter, these brands are spreading to reach a global audience. Brands sometimes distinguish their publishing policy on individual platforms: SGAG does not publish the same content on Instagram (photo) and on Facebook (photo & video).

The power of native content

The text video format is a key component of the success of this social-first media content. However, the real driver of growth is native video content.

Native content is directly hosted on the servers of a service/platform.

From a Facebook user’s perspective, it’s fast, accessible content, to be consumed within the application. There’s no need to open another browser or application. There’s no charging time for these items, and the ads are not intrusive.

As for the videos, they’re directly viewed on Facebook – in autoplay – when the user scrolls through her news feed.

Native text video in the spotlight

The winning formula behind native-text videos

The perfect combination of news, storytelling, and marketing