Video content has become one of the breakthrough trends in 2021, dominating social media by emerging front and center. It is the most popular and preferred type of content on almost all online platforms. From news feeds to social media, viewers are watching videos everywhere. The consumption of online videos has overwhelmingly increased during the pandemic, with many consumers at home glued to their screens.

In 2021, videos aren’t just a medium to turn to when one is bored, but rather a source of educational and informational contenta means through which people connect, and a crucial marketing channel. 

Social media is saturated with video content, and it is difficult to break through the noise. The idea is to get acquainted with the kind of video content viewers find engaging and producing more of those to captivate the audience. Delivering video content that is insightful enough to compel the viewers to watch and share is of utmost importance. Video content is hard to resist by smartphone users of 2021. 

Here are some video content categories that stood out in 2021

1. Social Video Content

As the name suggests, a social media video gets shared on social media platforms. With a year as unpredictable as 2021, social video content is perfect when it is cumbersome to plan. 

Videos are trending on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Videos meant for TikTok and Instagram may have slightly lower quality and feel to them, but infusing these videos with authenticity and personality is the key. 

2. Vlogs

A vlogger is someone who produces a video blog. Vlogs connect content creators with the viewers on a personal level. Vlogs like”A Day in My Life” are dominant and trending on video platforms like YouTube.

Although video platforms are flooded with vlogs, vlogging is often a lot more difficult than it seems. With the right focus and by keeping your vlogs personal and authentic, you can engage viewers with your content and build personal connections with your audience, thereby achieving vlogging stardom. It is safe to say that vlogs are the content of the moment in 2021. 

3. Educational and Explainer Videos

These are videos meant to educate the viewers about relevant topics they would be interested in. In addition, they inform, inspire and teach viewers through instruction and example.

People rely on educational videos to learn things online, from learning how to prepare their favorite meals to understand complex software. Educational videos are gaining prominence on video platforms, especially in 2021, when the world is subject to a global pandemic. People have no other choice but to educate themselves at home. 

An increasing number of viewers watch product reviews to gain information about a product before making a purchase. 

Marketing agencies are using case studies and video webinars to establish themselves as experts. 

Tech companies use product demos and explainer videos to simplify complicated technology into a layman’s terms of understanding.

“How to” videos are beloved within YouTube categories like cooking, beauty, and tech. With shorter attention spans, people tend to find “how-to” videos more informative and easier to comprehend. 

4. Live Streaming

Live streaming has achieved newfound prominence in 2021 amidst the global pandemic, and its viewership expanding across social networks and video sites. Live streaming is video transmitted over the internet in real-time.

The video streaming market is estimated to be worth $70.5 billion by 2021. It is a means for viewers to interact with influencers, attend virtual events, watch video game content and explore products through live shopping.

Live streaming is a means to reach a global audience and is popular among categories like education, government, music, and events. Having the potential to connect with prospective consumers and building brand loyalty makes live-streaming an excellent tool for businesses.

With all sorts of OTT platforms, media, and entertainment businesses involved in live streaming, the trend only shows signs of expanding throughout the future.

5. Music Videos and Children’s Content

Music videos and children’s songs top the charts of the most-watched videos ever. Music videos achieve a significant amount of views within the first 24 hours of their upload. Video content rules the music world since fans are highly engaged audiences on platforms like YouTube. Short music videos are gaining popularity on Tiktok and Instagram stories.

As of February 11, 2021, the”Baby Shark Dance” video released by the Korean brand Pinkfong is the most-viewed YouTube video of all time. It has garnered 7.91 billion views currently. Video content aimed at kids is on the incline and gets multiple views as they have an infinite replay value. 

One of the most popular pieces of content on YouTube is kids-themed channels on the platform, with “ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs” being the most subscribed kids channel with over 50 million subscribers. 

Music videos and children’s video content is a trend that is expected to continue into 2022 and beyond.

Conclusion With the consumption of online video increasing rapidly in 2021 and consumers watching more videos now than ever, quality is recommended over quantity. Simply uploading a video isn’t going to guarantee views and business. Rather, success comes down to creating trustworthy content. Topbunk creates content that is not only relevant but also feels authentic and personal. Staying committed to the strategies that work, the right plans, and tools to implement those plans can yield remarkable results.

Next to creating great content, website performance is the single most essential factor when it comes to keeping visitors engaged and coming back for more. One thing you can do to ensure a high percentage of uptime and fewer problems is to choose your hosting platform carefully.
Due to its popularity and wide use, there are a number of hosting services that specialize in WordPress hosting. Take a look at this guide by Aussie Hosting where they compare WordPress Hosting performance on self hosted vs managed hosts.

After you have your hosting platform in place, is there anything else you can do to enhance performance and user experience (UX)?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. Optimizing how your website interacts with the host, in addition to tweaks in how you create and manage content, will go a long way toward making sure that you’re able to maintain consistent speed while reducing latency and downtime.

What Contributes to Bad Website Performance?

There are quite a few moving parts that make a great website Not only do you owe it to your customers or readership to give them consistently solid performance and relevant, useful content, Google expects a lot from you as well.

There are eight main contributing factors that affect website performance. Even a small change can make a huge difference. For example, and uptime of 99.8 percent versus 99.999 can mean a difference in overall annual downtime of more than 16 hours. Every hour of downtime can cost you up to $100,000.

You can figure out how much downtime your hosting service will contribute by plugging in their uptime percentage here.

The main factors affecting WordPress website performance are:

  • • Server/hosting platform
  • • Connection speed
  • • Files types/file size
  • •  Plugins
  • •  Browser version
  • •  Computer cache
  • •  Traffic volume
  • •  Website speed/latency

For every problem, there is a solution. It just takes knowing the best fixes for any performance issues.

5 Ways to Improve Website Performance

Before your web host can work at its most optimal levels, you have to make sure that you’ve designed your WP website with performance in mind. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. There are simple things you can do at any stage of development to boost performance and keep your pages lean without sacrificing aesthetics or limiting functionality.

First, you have to know where you stand by testing specific elements like speed. Once you know where you stand, you can improve the how – and how fast – your hosting platform presents your content.

[Image: https://cdn4.wpbeginner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/strangeloopstudy.jpg]

1. Optimize Images and Other Alternate Content

Images and video enhance the overall experience, but they are some of the main culprits that affect page load times and UX. You can embed links to video rather than having it run from your page.

As for images, there are several ways that you can optimize them without removing them completely.

  • Resize them before adding them to your website.
  • Use collages rather than loading galleries or multiple pages of images.
  • Compress the image files

2. Optimize Your Databases

The art of adding or removing content can sometimes leave your databases cluttered with junk and unused files. Make sure that when you alter your content, you’re also removing unnecessary files, links, and other content that takes up space. If you’re technically proficient, you can clean up your Wp database manually through MySQL.

3. Get Rid of Old Plugins and Themes

Outdated or unused plugins not only affect page loads, they also present a security hazard. Make sure that you install updates for any themes or plugins and remove any that are no longer supported by the developer.

4. Choose the Right Tools

There are a number of tools and plugins designed to optimize WP performance and reduce page load times. For image compression, try TinyPNG. You can also use a plugin like DBManager or WP-Optimize to make sure your content and data storage are optimized. Using a caching plugin will eliminate the need for browsers to generate new html requests every time a user accesses a page.

5. Optimize Your Content

This can be done by following best practices for page creation like content length and layout. You can also use a content delivery network (CDN) to manage how requests are handled. CDNs work much the same way as distributed networks by choosing the server closest to the requesting computer for faster delivery. For example, a visitor sitting in Houston will have a better experience if the page is loaded from a network in NY than one in London.

Final Thoughts

WordPress is a popular blogging and eCommerce platform due to its superior functionality and the flexibility it provides website owners and developers. You can make the most of this platform by optimizing design and choosing the right host. Following the above tips will not only help achieve that goal, you’ll make your visitors and Google happy in the process.