Video Content Reigns Supreme

Video Content Reigns Supreme:

Marketers are getting increasingly switched on about the value of content distribution on the web. Blogging, tweeting and Facebook updates have become an indispensable part of marketing vocab, and link sharing – the coveted road to better Google search rankings.

But ever wondered what happens to a link once you’ve pushed it out into the digital space? Exactly how long does the buzz last before it tapers off indefinitely? URL shortener website Bitly, which hosts millions of shared links, set off to find out and the study delivered some very curious results.

In trying to measure the average time people pay attention to a shared link, Bitly examined two links in terms of the clicks they received over time and gauged exactly how long it took for each link to receive half the clicks it would ever get after it’s reached its peak.

So here are the results:

• Links shared on Twitter have a ‘half-life’ of 2.8 hours
• Facebook-shared link clicks reach their peak in 3.2 hours
• Links distributed through direct sources like email and IM clients have a mean life of 3.4 hours

The study’s findings may not be particularly reassuring for digital marketers who might hope their shared links had a longer lifespan but here’s the surprise… The dark horse in the shared link race turned out to be (!)YouTube.

Bitly discovered that links originating from YouTube had a significantly more lasting power, with the average half-life of a YouTube link being an impressive 7.4 hours – more than double that of Twitter, Facebook, emails and instant messengers.

Bitly’s data analysis also points that a link’s longevity depends on the nature of the shared content, with those dealing with breaking news catching on fire and then fizzling a lot quicker than non-current stories.

Bitly’s findings reinforce the argument that to reap the maximum benefits of digital marketing, businesses need to be active across all social media channels. The conclusions also serve as a reminder that marketers need to monitor and analyse the performance of their links if they want to know the true value of their shared content.

Last but not least, the study highlights the importance of video content as the most effective data-sharing media so if you’ve not created a YouTube channel yet, what are you waiting for?

Image Source: Creative Commons