We’re not shy about our belief that organic content on social media is dead.

Mark Zuckerberg put all theories around a social media algorithm to rest in 2016 by finally explaining how the social medium prioritized posts on user’s feeds.

There’s a trend, in terms of algorithms, when it comes to social media. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter each started by showing posts on feed based on the time they were posted. On Facebook and Instagram specifically, friends and family posts were suddenly prioritized. Then, thanks to ad dollars, brands and product posts were ranked higher than personal posts. Most recently, after seeing a large shift in user engagement and mental health studies, the social mediums changed the algorithm back to highlighting friends and family.

In addition to the move from highlighting brands and products to prioritizing friends and family, businesses have to work even harder (or budget more dollars) on social mediums in order to gain the engagement needed. But there’s one breath of nostalgia that breaks the rules of algorithm: video.

In a 2018 Hootsuite article written by Shannon Tien, inbound marketing specialist at Hootsuite, she says “As far as we can tell, videos are still favored under the new algorithm.” Tien goes on to explain that while video itself helps prioritize the post, live video typically receives 6x more interactions than videos posted to the feed.

While posting videos instead of pictures won’t necessarily solve the engagement issue, it will certainly help engagement and views.

YouTube

If your brand is posting many videos, or a series of videos, definitely host them on YouTube. Not only is more video consumed on YouTube than any other medium, according to Brandwatch, but YouTube is also connected to Google and social mediums. By sharing a YouTube URL with a video that is properly optimized, your brand could rank higher on a simple Google search.

Instagram

Shortstack media did a study showing brands gained more followers on Instagram by posting video than any other form of content – boomerangs, included. But because Instagram’s algorithm mirrors Facebook’s from 2004 – 2016, 70% of content shared on the platform is not seen.

Instead, Daily Dot reports brands will see more success by sharing their videos, parts of their videos or at least teasing videos, on their Instagram Stories. Stories are regulated by time posted, instead of prioritized algorithmically.

Snapchat

With the most niched audience of any social medium, Snapchat has a unique play on video. Relating to mostly a younger demographic, Snapchat allows brands an opportunity to personally engage with their audience.

After content is published, the post immediately disappears. GE told Fast Company this encouraged repeat usage. There’s something about that exclusivity of content that brings users in to need to see what their missing – call it modern-day social FOMO.

Twitter

Not to presume to leave Twitter completely off this list, or push it to the bottom - video content still performs better over photo or text posts. Twitter reports video tweets are six times more likely to be retweeted.

In human brains, Leighton Interactive reports video is processed 60,000 times faster than text. In a world consistently moving toward efficiency, it’s no wonder video is favored.