Year after year, video consumption goes up, and Cisco estimates that it will constitute 80% of the world’s internet traffic. Part of the reason for this is because video is more entertaining, engaging, and relatable to the modern day person.
Its infiltration into social media has been wild, too. Billions of hours of video are watched on YouTube alone in a day. Other social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter record millions of hours of video over the same period.
If you are planning to leverage this opportunity, there are a couple of things to take into consideration. Whether you are a social media video production company or an individual looking to make your video successful on social media, these following five practices will bring you closer to achieving your goal.
1. Make Your Video Short and Simple
Video length matters a lot on social media because of the fact that there are a lot of things competing for a person’s attention on such social spaces. Besides, short videos naturally suit our ever busy lives and reduced attention spans. Further, many who consume video content online prefer to do so quickly and easily, and so, when it’s short and simple, they find it convenient.
Despite the fact that platforms such as YouTube aren’t so strict on length, other social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter put a cap on video length. Twitter, for instance, caps the length at 2:20 while Instagram does so at 1:00.
The great advantage you will get from making your video short, say, less than a minute, is that you can share it across all social platforms without making loads of alterations, which will eventually save you both effort and time. Understandably, different platforms work well with different strategies and this guide offers tips on how to maximize the abilities each platform presents.
Another great thing about short videos, especially those that range between 30 minutes and 1 minute in length, is that they tend to perform a lot better on social platforms. Oreo’s Instagram videos, for instance, hardly disappoint and mostly attract thousands of views and likes from their fans because they are fun, creative, and short.
2. Get The Right Talents And Technologies On Board
Truth is it’s nearly impossible to handle everything by yourself and do it to perfection when it comes to creating social media videos. In fact, if you plan to create a more professional video, at a bare minimum you’ll require a videographer, an editor and producer, a content developer, and a campaign manager.
Having such talents on board is one way to avoid compromising on quality. However, in the event you can’t afford to have such a team, you can always start small and then scale your team as time goes by.
On top of having a competent team, making use of powerful video technologies is one way to make your social media videos have more impact. Videos that incorporate technologies such as video personalization have witnessed a massive boost in engagement levels, in addition to helping brands connect with their audience in a new and meaningful way.
The example below, in which Century 21, a real estate property solution, uses a video that incorporates VideoRemix’s personalization technology demonstrates how this technique can help to increase the impact of your message on the target audience. The clip mentions the user’s name and so, after watching it, they will likely feel part of your brand and from this you can build a relationship with them.
The example below, in which Century 21, a real estate property solution, uses a video that incorporates VideoRemix’s personalization technology demonstrates how this technique can help to increase the impact of your message on the target audience. The clip mentions the user’s name, current location & buying location and so, after watching it, they will likely feel part of your brand and from this you can develop a relationship that could lead to them becoming loyal clients.
Video link: https://youtu.be/1JdnWgnJBIk
3. Choose A Video Style That Reflects Your Brand
Social media is open to different styles of video. The three you will come across often include professional videos, unedited videos, and semi-edited videos.
Each style has situations in which it works best. For example, if you want to stay authentic with your audience, an unedited video is a good option. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat have a live feature that your audience can tap and stream your video right away. Apart from being unedited, such videos can be shot even using a smartphone.
Semi-edited and professional videos are a suitable option when you to want portray your brand as professional and still connect with your audience. Bear in mind that you might be required to enlist the help of a social media video production company in developing more professional videos.
BarkBox’s “Congratulations! You’re a dog person” campaign is an example of a professional-looking video that performed exceptionally well in connecting dog owners to the brand. It was posted exclusively on YouTube and Instagram, which is where dog photos and videos get posted a lot.
Video link: https://youtu.be/RVlFN8FY0TY
In the case of semi-edited videos, you can use tools such as Apple’s iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker to develop your video. And if you can afford it, Adobe Premiere is an advanced editing tool that you can use to make your videos better.
4. Always Add A Call-To-Action
Obviously, we all have a purpose and motive behind making social media videos. This is elaborated by the fact that early in the video making process there’s emphasis on knowing the objective because it’s the first step to creating a successful video.
If you are a business, it could be to build brand awareness, generate leads, engage with customers and prospects, promote the company’s culture, and so on. A call-to-action is simply an opportunity to drive your viewers to take action based on the purpose of your video.
For example, in this Facebook Video, Auto Express takes viewers through the different generations of Ford Fiesta, showing them how the car has evolved into what it is today. Towards the end, they ask the viewer which model, from the several highlighted in the video, is their favorite. Clearly, the video’s purpose is to engage the viewer and the call-to-action in the form of a question opens up an opportunity for that.
Your call-to-action could be as strong as “Click Here” or just subtle, like having a URL to your website, e-commerce store or another relevant place, or a simple question that will create engagement, as in the video above.
As much as it may be hard to tell whether a video could go viral, the last thing you want to wish you did if it does is having a call-to-action that could have generated thousands of leads or lifted your sales figures. So create one now.
Conclusion
Throughout the article, you’ve certainly learned important things to do to make successful social media videos. It’s great to note that besides getting the right talent and technologies onboard, the rest of the techniques clearly don’t require a big budget to implement.
Nonetheless, it’s worth investing in the right technologies, like video personalization, and in proper talents, especially if you are a social media video production company because your success largely depends on them. Don’t forget that by making all these techniques part of your social media video production strategies is what will set the basis for creating great and effective videos for your social media sites.
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