Video is rocketing on social media, and according to video editing application Magisto, US firms are investing a total of $135 billion this year alone in their social video efforts.

In the recently released report, Magisto noted that savvier marketers are taking their social media cues from individuals, personifying their brands to create a notion of authenticity.

In fact, marketers are using a wide variety of video types to connect with consumers on social media.

More than half of US marketing decision-makers surveyed said they create customer testimonials and product/service overview videos intended for distribution on social media, making those the two most popular types of video.

But how-to and educational videos were not far behind. Marketers were also investing in branding videos that tell a story about their company.

Magisto's survey underscores the sheer variety of content marketers are now creating for potential customers. That's an understandable outcome, given that advertisers are moving away from metrics historically used in tandem with traditional media marketing—such as brand recall and cost per acquisition—to gauge the effectiveness of videos on social media.

Instead, these marketers are relying foremost on organic social engagement as a key performance indicator (KPI) for social video, Magisto found.

In addition, a substantial number of marketers are measuring things like length of engagement and cost per view to decide how their videos are faring on social platforms.

Marketers are not limiting their social media video efforts to simply creating content, either. An April survey of marketers from cloud-based video creation company Animoto found that at least half of them planned to increase video ad spending on each of four —Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram—over the coming year.