NN: What our new analysis of Instagram video reveals about audience engagement

Logo For publishers, Instagram video is growing in importance, fast Hi there, This week, we took a deep dive into how publishers are seeing their audience bases on Instagram [grow and grow](. Looking at how publishers increased their engagements over the last year, what has also been really interesting to watch is the [level of that growth coming specifically from video](. Social video is already a huge content force on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, we’ve seen how engagement rates have increased hugely since 2015. Now our data indicates that engagement with videos on Instagram are seeing similar boosts, with average engagements on videos growing by 53% in the 12 months to May 2017. Publishers are also posting more videos on Instagram - Sports Illustrated, People Magazine, and TIME have seen almost 90 to 100 percent increases in their video output from May 2016 to May 2017. Two significant feature changes from Instagram may have something to do with this rise. At the end of March 2016, Instagram increased the minimum length of videos allowed on the platform from 15 to 60 seconds. Secondly, the Instagram feed was reordered to show content algorithmically (based on previous engagement) in summer 2016, rather than in chronological order. This has the effect of bumping up posts that people react to quickly. From what we’ve seen around average engagement rates on different platforms, video has an advantage here. It's clear that there are serious opportunities for publishers to reach their readers through Instagram, a platform where strong visual communication skills are richly rewarded. Making the most of the possibilities means taking the data into consideration. [Instagram video vs. photo: 7 surprising statistics on strategy]( [How Instagram video grew in importance for publishers, in three charts]( Instagram data in NewsWhip Analytics: It's now possible to break down Instagram content analysis down inside NewsWhip Analytics. To get an early preview, [sign up for a personal demo today](. How top publishers fuel their storytelling with emotion One of the panels at our recent WhipSmart conference focussed wholly on [publishers using emotions on social media](. Speakers from MTV, LittleThings and Bloomberg discussed the potential of speaking to emotions, while balancing the need to be authentic and not mislead readers. Some key takeaways from the discussion: - "Tone is super important for us; they can smell inauthenticity. The great thing is our staff of writers and video creators are the peers of the people that we want to be reading and watching our videos. We try to tap into the actual enthusiasm we have for a specific thing.” - Renan Borelli, Senior Director, Audience Development at MTV News. - "With clickbait, you can only trick your audience so long before they get wise to it. You want to present your content honestly, and what’s good content will speak for itself.” - Meena Thiruvengadam, Global Head of Audience Engagement at Bloomberg. - "We’ve really scaled back on using any words like shocked, stunned, unbelievable. I think people have gotten a lot smarter about what they’re consuming on social." - Maia McCann, ‎Editor-in-Chief & EVP of Original Programming at LittleThings. [Read the full post on the blog](. [Photo]( Report: The Top Sports Publishers on Social Media Data-driven insights around sports trends and sites on social media, and tips on how to reach your fans and build an audience online. [Photo]( What Publishers Should Expect from Social In 2017 Midway through 2017, this report remains essential reading for anyone looking to understand social publishing. [Photo]( What We've Learnt from Three Years of Social Data Learn how social distribution has changed for publishers since 2014 with our data report. Noted - Digiday used NewsWhip data to [take a close look at how publishers are using Instagram]( in more detail this week, noting that "the newfound emphasis (on video) is helping publishers deliver on many different kinds of goals, not just broadening reach but driving traffic, revenue and engagement both on and off the platform." As mentioned above, Instagram is now live in NewsWhip Analytics. The new feature lets users research three years' worth of Instagram engagement around accounts, hashtags, keywords, locations and more. For more, [check out the product announcement]( on our site. - Facebook [added new tools for group admins](, including the ability to schedule posts, including real time metrics around group growth and scheduled posting. Some publishers have been experimenting with using Facebook groups as a way of trying to connect with a core community around specific topics, so the move could be benefit this process. That's all for now. If you find this newsletter useful, please [recommend to a friend](. If you'd like any more information about the data or findings referenced, please get in touch. Finally, a very happy fourth of July to our US readers! Thanks for reading, Liam and the NewsWhip team. Useful Links Products Resources Blog Contact www.newswhip.com About Us Millions of stories, videos, and social posts are published each day, sparking billions of interactions. NewsWhip transforms this ocean of social data into actionable insights to inform your content strategy. NewsWhip products show you what audiences are engaging with in real time and what has performed best historically – in every vertical. This email was sent to {EMAIL}. If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may [unsubscribe]( at any time.