Once upon a time, the use of a quality photograph and a fun caption was adequate to stop a person from scrolling through their newsfeed. However, as we know, that’s no longer the case. When you open up Instagram, TikTok, or even LinkedIn today, you will see that the content that moves, talks to you, interacts with you, and makes a sound is the content that will get the most views. Although still considered cute, static photos aren’t a very good way to attract viewers anymore. Video still continues to be the most powerful tool to attract the general public, and therefore, the gap between the two formats is going to continue to grow.
If you’ve been paying attention to the way static photo-based posts have been losing views and engagement over the last few years, you’re definitely not the only person noticing this decline. The platforms themselves have decided that they want to show the users certain types of content, and this decision has changed how brands will need to incorporate reaching their audiences with their marketing campaigns. In order to understand the reason for this transformation, it will be necessary to comprehend the reason why videos outperform static posts. Doing so will not only help marketers but also help determine if they are in direct opposition to the algorithm or working with the algorithm.
The feed stopped rewarding the things it used to
Social Media Has Been The Same For 10 Years, Then All The Networks Changed The Rules.
Until now, social media operated on the same platform. You have followed a user in order to see a user’s post in chronological order. If you saw a great-looking image from a brand, chances are you liked it, and you became engaged from that moment forward. This kind of world supported a level of consistency in posting and in terms of the quality of photos utilized.
Recently there have been developments due to TikTok and its meteoric success: various platforms have changed from following and displaying content based on your relationships with other users to displaying content based on what your friends follow and what the algorithm suggests you may like based on your past activity. The most compelling type of content displayed using this new format is short-form video, typically shot vertically and designed for loop play.
So now when we submit a single still photo to the newsfeed, we are not only battling the other visual stills, we are facing an uphill challenge because our single still photo is also competing against motion-based, sound-based, and time-based video content in a newsfeed that has been designed to promote video. thus, a single still photo will not be able to compete with motion-based, sound-based, or timed video content. It would be as if we were to take a postcard of a beautiful sunset to a film festival, no matter how beautiful it may be to everyone in attendance, it is not likely that a postcard is going to win an award at a festival where only motion-based films are being shown.
Attention is the real currency, and video earns more of it
The reason for reel success is their ability to capture huge amounts of attention compared to static posts. A static post is viewed in less than a second while someone briefly glances at it, reads the caption, and is off scrolling again. A reel is specifically engineered to keep someone’s attention for an average of about 5–8 seconds (the minimum to be considered a view and not an accidental scroll by), and a good reel will hold someone’s attention for the duration of the video plus bring them back to watch it again.
This added time for people to engage with your content is very valuable not just because it ensures that your message is also more likely to reach its intended audience. Watch time (the length of time that someone watches your video) is one of the most important factors that an algorithm uses to assess the performance of your video, whether it is providing the audience with value and thus deserves to be promoted to a larger audience. When a viewer stops to watch your video, completes the entire video, and then re-watches the video, the platform takes that as evidence that your content is valuable and therefore should be shown to more people. On the other hand, a photograph simply doesn’t have any watch time or opportunity to register with the algorithm.
The other benefit to this loop of attention generates further attention for the same piece of content. Thus, video production provides an exponentially higher ratio of attention to static post-production. Static posts are outside of this loop.
Reels get discovered; photos mostly get seen by existing fans
Here’s an easy-to-miss distinction between static posts (things that stay still) and short-form video (things that move). Static posts reach individuals who already follow you, primarily reinforcing the relationships formed with your existing audience, something that’s useful in its own right but does not provide the opportunity to meet new prospects.
Short-form video does this by pushing videos through discovery feeds and exposing non-followers to your brand via a single high-quality video that resonates with them. Many small accounts with hundreds of followers have gained tens of thousands of followers because of this kind of organic success, and that kind of organic breakout doesn’t happen as much any longer with photographs.
If you want to grow your audience from what it is currently anyway, then you need to focus on how to maintain your current size or static content throughout while using video to reach your next potential audience size.
It feels more human, and people can tell
The quality of a video is relevant to the nature of the video itself. The difference between a video and a photograph is the personality of the person on the screen, which comes from hearing their voice, their facial expressions, and their energy. Unpolished video (shot with a smartphone) generally feels more authentic than a professional studio-quality photo, and more people are looking for that authenticity.
In addition to creating a more authentic presentation of a brand, the use of short-form video to make content also allows brands to reduce their pressure to create studio-quality content. Videos of founders speaking directly into the camera, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the production of the product, and quick, easy-to-understand tips that are entertaining all tend to out-perform more expensive and professionally produced videos because they seem real to the viewer. People are tired of advertising that looks like advertising, so a video gives a company an easy way to create a more human image.
Where static posts still earn their keep
Do not get rid of all the images in your plan that would be dishonest to say, but there are still some instances where static posts have real value:
1. Reference-based (people want to read, not just watch) content. Examples include: Infographics, pricing breakouts, and step-by-step guides.
2. Your grids should be visually consistent. Thoughtful imagery should all work together in your profile grids to give your brand a specific impression at a glance.
3. Creative ways to announce something quickly (visually) using a basic image is often faster than telling someone to watch something.
A smart strategy isn’t just to exclusively pick one type of content (video) or another type (imagery), but rather, it takes into consideration that video is now providing so much growth, expansion, reach, and static content acts supportively (not equally) in that effort. A lot of strategies go off course by treating them the same way.
Making the shift without burning out
A very common reason for not leaning into short-form video is it sounds exhausting, which is a fair concern! The key is to set the bar lower for production while setting the bar higher for yourself with respect to consistency. You absolutely don’t need a studio or script or high quality equipment to get started; you just need a cell phone, an idea, and a desire to post enough times so the algorithm gets used to you.
One good way to get started is to take some of your existing static ideas that are working and consider how they can translate to short video clips. For example, the tip you already shared in a graphic can easily become a 15-second video of you talking about that information. Or, before-and-after photos become compelling transition-style videos. By doing this, you’re not creating a completely new piece of content; you’re repurposing what you already do and putting it into the preferred format of the platforms. When this process becomes habitual, it will no longer feel like such an uphill battle.
Conclusion
The platforms have completely rewritten themselves to focus on attention, discoverability, and watch time, with the evolution of these three factors as a key component of their success. Video is far superior to photos when it comes to delivering the message and content you want to share. Video will reach new audiences. Video engages audiences more deeply than photos, secures longer engagement on average, and is more likely to be shown to a larger number of people than a photo will ever be.
If you continue to view video in your social media strategy as an “add-on” or “nice-to-have,” then you are going to fall even farther behind the brands that have fully committed to using short-form video in their marketing strategy. You do not need to eliminate static images from your marketing strategy in order to bridge that gap. Instead, you simply have to stop expecting that static images will have the same impact as short-form video and allow short-form video to do the heavy lifting it was created to do. The audience is watching you; they are just doing it from a distance.
