Video Storytelling - The Power of Mobile-Native Content

In this day and age, you can, ever so often, hear someone talking about storytelling. It is a topic on so many seminars and summits. Fairly, it is widely used for a reason. There's no better way to interact with others than through stories. Through stories in the meaning of the ancient ways like sitting in front of a firepit, but also in the meaning of today’s web stories. We could get the best results from storytelling by combining what's natural to us with cutting-edge software. And what better way to do so than via mobile-native video content?

Why is storytelling so important? 

Some might ask: ''What is all the fuss with storytelling?'' Why do we keep returning to and analyzing a seemingly unimportant everyday activity? Well, communication and therefore all the ways in which one can interact with others is immanent to our species. Our brains are wired to listen or read, and most likely respond afterward in a relevant way.

We just know that we’re in for a good ride when we have a story in the picture. We all know the spark we feel when we hear: ''Let me tell you a story…'' It is a natural response that we just love. The feeling becomes stronger in the case of a video format. So we just love stories, and we just love video content.

Storytelling is as old as humanity. It is an integral and crucial part of our existence. So naturally, we use that to our convenience, knowingly or subconsciously. One way companies can use it is to accustom potential consumers to their product.

Visual storytelling has been a part of human culture for thousands of years. That is obvious when we look at cave drawings even. Moreover, in the modern world – movies and TV series are among the most common forms of visual storytelling, and shorter forms are becoming more and more prevalent. 

We are visual beings. It is a known fact that about 80% of the received information is through sight. But the need for the stimulation of our senses is increasing. Also, our eyes are not the only thing we want to stimulate with the technology we have today.

Videos are the closest that we can get to real-life human experience, we get to engage with almost all our senses. Mobile-native video formats can be a powerful multi-sensorial message. Through such a channel you can communicate information and data that would be otherwise hard to grasp.

Why are mobile-native video formats better than others? 

With all the above mentioned we can conclude that the best way to tell the story of your product is via video format. But, the question is — what video format exactly? Long videos can be overwhelming. Let’s see, when was the last time you watched a whole live stream of a sports game? When was the last time you watched the news? Or would you just rather watch a preview or the overview? I suppose the answer to the last question would be ''Yes''. The reason for this becomes clear when we take into consideration that the average attention span is shortened to be as long as 8 seconds. That is the cause and also the consequence of constantly consuming shorter video formats.

Everything mentioned goes in favor of mobile-native content and formats. Users love their little screens as well as they love bite-sized videos which are perfect for mobile devices. While using short video formats, information can easily be digested.

Users want to have constant stimuli. That can be in the form of swiping, scrolling, or tapping the screen. It can be anything as long as something is happening on their smartphone screen. Users have the need to be entertained, and need easy access to information about your product. They want the CTA button and to be redirected to a new interface.