A Guide to Social Media Videos

 Social media is now embedded into everyday life in a way that even a decade ago we would find surprising. Smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices have revolutionised the way we share, shop and communicate.

Social media is increasingly becoming a video-dominated medium, with platforms such as Tik Tok driving change across their competitors. Social media sites now prioritise video in their algorithms, reflecting the usage patterns of their users.

Why is video so important on social media, why do businesses need to get on board, and how can you make a video that delivers results?

WHY IS VIDEO IMPORTANT ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media videos help people to feel a personal connection to the person or brand who is doing the posting. Social media video helps humanise brands and provides a platform for people to talk about their passion or communicate a key message. It can make a brand feel fun and approachable, provide clarity or insight to a pain point or topic, and give people something they would like to share or support.

Video allows you to tell a story and establish a narrative. It’s much more effective and compelling than text and encourages people to relate to your brand and what you’re trying to achieve. Video is uniquely effective when it comes to building trust between your brand and your audience.

Video helps you to grab attention, allowing you to be concise while capturing viewers’ interest within the first few seconds. Effective social media grabs people from the off, signals the intention of the video and then delivers in a short space of time.

As search engines prioritise video content, creating videos for social media can help your feeds and your website be found. Because video can be shared across all your social channels, it gives you multiple impacts.

Social media video drives conversion with people more likely to submit a query or make a purchase after having watched a short video. Video also provides marketers with a range of actionable insights and user data. Where did people stop looking and what prompted them to find out more information? Which videos were more likely to garner likes and shares?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO?

Social media can deliver a huge range of benefits for brands and its impact can be truly transformative, but only if it’s done well. Every effective social media video will usually begin with a solid strategy. Any strategy will be based on audience research, looking at what competitors are doing and exploring ideas as well as how budgets will be allocated and content scheduled.  

You should also consider what your goals are when you create social media videos. Are you looking to promote a product launch or a new shop opening? Perhaps you want to grow your brand awareness or develop a sense of community. What do you hope to achieve in tangible terms such as sales and signs ups? You should be clear about the objectives of your social media videos and these objectives should align with your overall business goals.

Effective social media videos will also be tailored to the particular channel where it is to be hosted. While it’s possible to create videos to be shared in multiple places, different platforms do suit different video lengths and styles. If you want to share your video across numerous channels, then it can be wise to provide slightly different edits that reflect the requirements and audience expectations of different platforms.

HOW TO CREATE VIDEOS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

Creating effective social media videos is an art, where close attention needs to be paid to detail. If you explore the world of social media videos you will find that they fall into a number of different categories. Different types of videos can all be effective, but some are more suited to some brands than others.

You should consider what might best work for your business, be that a brand awareness video, a live video, a testimonial video or promotional videos of particular events. Giving your audience content that chimes with them is all-important, so think about their needs, interest and online behaviour. What kind of video are they most likely to share?

While it’s never been as easy to create video for your business, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to create high-quality. Poorly executed video can often be frustrating for your audience. Even if they’re interested in your brand or the subject of your video, they will soon lose interest if the video is low quality. This might be because the filming or editing was amateurish, the message was lost in a video that was too long, or the video content didn’t match how it was introduced.

As a general rule, shorter videos are more effective than longer videos. Unless your subject matter demands a longer form video and your audience expects it, keep your videos short and sweet. As well as being easy to digest, you need to capture the attention of your audience in the first few seconds. Failure to do so will increase the chances of them scrolling by.

Social media gives you an incredible opportunity to reach your target audience but as a medium, it can be unforgiving. Using a professional video production company to create your video increases the chances of it being effective.

HOW TO SHOOT A VIDEO FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

While you can shoot a social media video with your phone and then use basic editing software to complete it, it’s unlikely to be effective. If you’re serious about making a real impact with your social media videos, it pays to use professional video equipment and editing software. Also, having someone who understands the demands of the medium, and how to get the best out of your tools will help you save time, money and disappointment from the outset.

For that reason, the most effective social medial videos will usually be created by a team with professional video production experience. It’s easy to do video badly, which can ultimately have a detrimental effect on how your brand is perceived.

Eight Engines bring TV production values to social medial videos for our clients. Our extensive experience means we understand how to create tailored social media videos that deliver real results.

Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business make a real impact with social media video content.