Video content is now one of the most important elements of social media marketing.
Over 85% of businesses use videos in their marketing. Great video content is critical to your marketing strategy and is one of the best opportunities in marketing today. Video content is used in brand building, selling a product or service, building trust, engaging your audience, and expanding your audience.
Video content helps brands reach new audiences and engage with their general audiences in a new way. Videos offer the chance to tell a story, and we all love stories. Communicating via story helps build an emotional connection and conveys your message in a way that is easy to consume and often entertaining and informative. This means your consumer is much more likely to stick with your content.
Video content is known to have an excellent return on investment, which is why marketers love it. Hubspot research says that 88% of video marketers reported positive ROI from their video campaigns and those returns continue to improve. It’s simpler than ever to create and share video content, making it a marketer’s favorite. Video content allows a brand to show who they are and what they stand for, showing their personality.
Data is king, and using video on social media allows a brand to quickly access powerful analytics with insights and data that can be turned into actionable information. A viewer who consumed 25% of the video can receive a different follow up messaging than one who watched the entire video. Video also makes it simple to test various messages, tones, and styles.
There are numerous types of video content. Most fall into the buckets of demos, brand awareness, testimonials, live videos, or promotional videos. Brand videos are often found on brand websites and are designed to introduce the brand and its mission in an engaging and concise way. They are also used in social media campaigns.
Live videos are very useful in establishing trust with target audiences. You’ll find them on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and other platforms where they are easily shared with massive audiences. They can be a simple product demo, Q&A’s or special offers and announcements.
Social proof is everything, making testimonials particularly effective. Brands can boost their credibility and conversions by sharing the words and images of their raving fans.
To harness the strength and power of social media, you must start with a strategy. What is the goal of your campaign? Be clear on the results you’re looking for, such as driving people to the website, engaging with consumers to develop your rapport, selling products, or building your brand. Your video strategy must be aligned with all of your other marketing, including your website.
10 Pro Tips to Using Video in Social Media Marketing
1 – Video is the hook!
Video is super consumable and makes the perfect tool to draw in your consumers. There is a plethora of content on the internet, and video competes well in pulling in the attention of your target. Let your viewer know what your video’s purpose is right up front, then add digestible bits of content that are long enough to keep their attention and make a point, but short enough to keep them on and wanting more.
2 – Optimize your video for search engines
Like all content, your videos must be optimized for search engines. Create compelling headlines with keywords that will get search activity. Provide a great description of your video so it will get indexed and use relevant hashtags. Use Twitter’s analytics to help you with demographics and create hashtags that will boost you across YouTube and Facebook.
3 – Be clear on your call to action
Every video needs to be based on a clear marketing goal. Think about the action you want from the viewer. Some common video goals are driving visitors to your website, selling a product, or getting the viewer to share your video. If they have viewed your video, tell them what to do next. “For more information, visit here.” And double-check your links. If you are selling a product, consider using a dedicated sales page or landing page.
4 – Make your messaging precise and focused
Be precise in your messaging. A video that is focused on one core message and one goal will work harder than a video that tries to cover too much. If any part of your messaging does not support your call to action, consider removing it.
5 – Leverage trending topics
Relevance is critical in the social media space. Incorporate trending topics to up your relevance. Think of hashtags that are trending, timely topics, and find a way to weave them into your messaging and hashtags. Take advantage of the news and consumer behavior. Become part of the social conversation.
6 – Share time-sensitive info
Video is a great way to share news about your company and new products and services or promotions. Video can quickly demonstrate and explain your offers in a consumer-friendly and entertaining way and can be easily shared across multiple platforms and your website.
7 – Brand is everything- be consistent
Branding is everything. Be sure to be aligned with your brand presence on all other channels in terms of graphics, messaging, and imagery. Consider watermarking your videos with your brand logo for maximum brand exposure.
8 – Let your video quality speak for your brand
If you are going to create a video, do it right! A video of low quality will speak volumes about your brand. Bad sound or picture quality or poor acting can create a poor brand association and tank your brand image, Watch for background noise, low resolution, and other signs of poor quality.
9 – Pull back the curtain and personalize your brand
Videos in social media marketing are an excellent opportunity for you to showcase your people and products. Humanize your business by showing behind the scenes and create brand familiarity. Let your view take a peek behind the curtain to establish rapport.
10 – Learn by doing – Track, analyze and regroup
In marketing, sometimes we knock it out of the park, and sometimes we don’t. The “win” of social media marketing is that we don’t have to guess. Use your analytics to see what is working and what is not. Analyze your results, learn from them, adjust your messaging and imagery, and try again. Find out what works, and do that!
Social media basics
Video content makes up more of all traffic each year. It is well over 80% now. Videos in your social media marketing are critical. Put in the effort to do it right. Here are some video basics to keep in mind:
- Size matter. Social media sites have varying sizes for uploading. Twitter is 506X 254, while Pinterest is best at 737 wide and any height. Check the dimensions and aspect ratios for the platforms you are using.
- Think about where your visitors are and remember to focus on mobile and desktop. Don’t use small elements in your video, such as small text.
- Frames per second. Over 60 frames per second are acceptable but keep in mind file size, which could perform slowly.
- It’s all about the lighting and audio. Don’t make your viewer strain to understand. They will move on.
- Length is important. Here are Hubspot’s recommendations for video length by platform
- Facebook – 1 minute
- Twitter – 45 seconds
- Instagram – 30 seconds
- YouTube – 2 minutes
- Final reminder. Be clear on what metrics matter to you. Likes are great, but they don’t sell products. Shares are great and more of an endorsement. Design your video and call to action with the goal in mind.
There you have it. There are many reasons to add videos to your social media marketing. A video is your brand’s handshake with your consumers. Talk with a full-service agency like C&I Studios to bring your brand to life.