With billions of users worldwide, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok and Snapchat are all great ways to connect with people online. They allow you to share information quickly and easily – and they’re great at grabbing attention.
The average person scrolls through almost 100 meters of content every single day. That’s equivalent to one day a week on social media which is a lot of content, so how do you make sure yours stands out? In this guide we’ll show you how to make videos that will engage your audience and drive traffic back to your website.
Snapshot
- Video content offers tremendous opportunities for businesses to increase their social media engagement
- Simple tips to creating more engaging social media video content: Make the first few seconds really count; Be mindful of time; Offer quality content; Check how your doing with analytics
- Content ideas to get you started: Unboxing videos; Behind-the-scenes; Get wise to trends
The Benefits Of Creating Video For Social Media
Video is one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to get your message out. A video can drive traffic, increase conversions, raise funds or engage viewers in a way that other media can’t. With the right video content for social media, your target audience will be captivated with your message, rather than scrolling past it.
How To Create Engaging Videos For Social Media
Video content offers tremendous opportunities for businesses to increase their social media engagement. Video marketing, videos on your website, and social media videos can help you grow your customer base and achieve your business goals.
The first step is to figure out what your goal is for each video. Do you want to educate your audience? Raise awareness about an issue? Create a call-to-action for viewers? Once you know what you want the viewer to do, it becomes much easier to choose the best type of content for your video.
Whatever you decide, Viddyoze can support you with your video social media marketing platform. Our exclusive video templates makes creating studio-quality video content super easy. All you need to do is choose a template from our library, customize it with your messaging, then download and post.
It really is that easy to keep your socials active with daily video posts. Find out more here.
Be Platform Conscious
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are constantly evolving, so it’s important to stay aware of what changes they might be making to your content. For example, if you post a video on Facebook but it doesn’t play well on mobile devices, you may want to consider posting the same video on YouTube instead.
Make the First Few Seconds Really Stand Out
People lose their concentration after about 8 seconds. Start off with thought provoking questions, strong hooks, inspirational quotes, powerful images, or catchy music. This could be something like “How to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe” or “What makes a great sales pitch?” If you don’t know what to say, ask yourself why you want to share this information.
Make sure to include your logo, branding, tagline, or product/service you intend on highlighting so people will recognize you right away and get a hint of how you’re going to present yourself. Your introduction should leave people wondering what will happen next and wanting to know more.
Be Mindful Of Time
The most important thing to remember when creating content is to keep it short. If you try to cram too many messages into one video, it will become confusing and viewers will lose interest. Instead, focus on providing value by only sharing information that people want to see.
Offer Quality Content
Content marketing is all about creating high-quality content that people want to consume. The best content marketers know how to engage readers by offering them valuable information they can’t find anywhere else.
Optimize For Mobile
The internet has changed forever. In just a few short years, we’ve gone from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets to smartwatches and now to smart home devices. These new platforms offer users access to information at any time, any place, and on any device. This means that if you want to reach your audience, you must optimize your content for each platform.
Optimize For Different Platforms
Videos should be optimized for each social media platform. Video size matters, so make sure that your videos are within the right limits and correctly oriented for each platform. Don’t forget, most platforms host several different formats of video.
Take Facebook for example, which has regular feed videos (1280 by 720 pixels), 360 (4096 by 2048 pixels, 2:1 aspect ratio), Carousel (1080 by 1080 pixels, 1:1 aspect ratio) and Experience (formerly Canvas) (1200 by 628 pixels) to name just a few.
Make Your Videos Accessible
If you want people to watch your video, it needs to be easy to find. This means making sure your video has a clear title, description, tags, and thumbnail. It should also be available on all platforms where viewers might look for it (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.).
If There’s Talking Include Subtitles
Include subtitles if you want your viewers to fully enjoy your content. Videos shared on most social media platforms will automatically start or play without audio and people most often watch videos while they’re doing something else or on-the-go.
Seal The Deal With A Stellar CTA
Videos have one of the highest conversion rates of all content. In fact, including a video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%. Including a clear call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your videos helps move your hard won audience to the next step in your sales funnel. Check out our comprehensive guide on how to get your followers to leap into action on social media for more tips on crafting a killer CTA.
Check How You’re Doing With Analytics
Analytics are vital to understanding what works and what doesn’t. They allow us to track our progress and measure success. The most important thing is to start using them now. Read our beginner’s guide to video metrics for more on what to measure.
8 Examples Of Engaging Social Videos From Brands
Have you ever wondered how brands are able to make such a great impact on social media platforms? The answer lies in understanding your audience. Here are some examples of what has worked for them.
Oreo
Instagram is a visual platform that Oreo has transformed into an aesthetic haven. With their simple, yet beautifully designed videos and graphics for followers’ feeds they’re able to produce content that captivates the eye with joyous colors in contrast against bright blocks of branding (Oreos).
GoPro
View this post on Instagram
A video where the audience knows what’s coming, but still wants to experience it through POV. GoPro pioneered this adrenaline-inducing format encouraging users to tag their friends so they get an up-close view of this action as well.
Squarespace
Keanu Reeves is a Hollywood star who has been in the industry for years. He knows how to captivate an audience with just his voice and presence, as seen by Squarespace’s 15-second call out at sci-fi fans.
Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes-Benz team had an idea for a new skit on day 4 of F1 and created it organically, capitalising hilariously on what was already happening between friends through social media.
Gushers
@therealgushers Worms catch fish… Gushers catch friends?! #gushers #fishing #comedy #funny #foryou
Candy Brand Gushers create comedy sketches for kids and teenagers that work with the volume off.
Kung Fu Tea
@kungfutea Simpler times. Video by @christianc561 #kungfutea #bubbleatea #boba #bobachallange
Kung Fu Tea’s Boba Challenge is a hashtag challenge that anyone can take. The simple, yet entertaining nature of the game prompts genuine reactions from all participants and makes it unique to their brand identity as well.
Washington Post
@washingtonpost Not sure who’s driving
The Washington Post is a well-known and reputable news organization, but it also knows how to have fun with its audience. It adapted itself for the casual TikTok user in order to keep them engaged on social media.
Salesforce
The Salesforce team knew they needed a way to keep their audience engaged and interested in what was being said. They mixed real people with animated characters, which helped them communicate their message more effectively.
Social Video Ideas To Get You Started
Stuck for inspiration? Our video editor Tom Ainsough came through with these suggestions for simple ideas to try next.
- Customer testimonials. Film a first person customer review to convince more prospects of the benefits your product offers.
- Unboxing videos. Unboxing videos are an excellent way to show off the product and provide valuable information. Build suspense to keep your audience engaged from start-to-finish.
- You’ve been in the game long enough and possess all of this knowledge that people will be interested in.
- Behind-the-scenes. People are nosey. They have a desire to know what goes on behind the scenes of your business.
- Be wise to trends. There are many ways to get your audience on board with you. One of the best is by following trends on TikTok and Instagram. Check out our beginner’s guide to TikTok for business with everything you need to get started.
Recommend reading: Common Video Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
FAQ
1. What videos do best on social media?
Some videos tend to do better than others when posted to Facebook. If you want to see what kind of engagement your video has received, check out the insights section of Facebook Insights. This tool shows you where people are sharing your video, how much time they spend watching your video, and more. It also lets you compare your video with those of your competitors.
2. Why is video more engaging on social media?
First, videos are easier to share than text and photos. People love sharing videos. They also tend to watch longer video clips than read long-form articles. And finally, people don’t just want to see your content; they want to engage with it. When someone watches a video, they’re much more likely to click links within the video than they are to read a piece of text. So when you publish a video, make sure you include calls to action throughout so viewers can easily find out what you want them to do next.
3. How do you make effective social media videos?
The first step is to create a video that has a clear message. It should be short and concise with a single point. This makes it easier for people to remember what your message was when they see it later. Also, keep it under 3 minutes. People tend to tune out after 5 minutes. If you have more than one point to make, break them up into separate videos.
4. What is the best content for social media?
The key to success on social media is understanding your audience. This means knowing what kind of posts resonate with them, when to share them and where to share them. It also requires a deep understanding of your own company culture and values, as well as the tone and style of your brand.
Social media marketing has become one of the most important ways to market your business online. It’s a great way to reach potential customers and build brand awareness. But it takes some planning and strategy to ensure you’re getting the best results from your efforts.
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