Author: Bob Aug 18, 2021 9 min read
Video and social media is a match made in heaven. Social media is the most potent distribution channel while videos reign supreme as a content type of choice among users.
There are many ways to use a video on social media. What’s more, you can perfectly tailor each of the use-cases to the social platform, users’ segment, marketing message, and your final goal.
Let’s find out more about the fascinating opportunities of using video for marketing across social media sites.
Is effective marketing without social media possible? Perhaps, such a strategy has a right to exist if your target audience favors traditional marketing approaches. But if you are targeting a new generation of users, using a video for social media is a must.
Below are the main benefits of adopting a video marketing strategy for social websites:
How to use social media videos? There are four basic ways to empower your social content with them:
1. Create video posts. Creating video posts and mixing them with other types of social media content is the right strategy. Having created a video for social media once, you let all your future users discover and watch it again and again – at no additional cost for you.
2. Create video ads. Commercial video production opens up unlimited opportunities for creating short and engaging videos ads. According to statistics, mobile-first Facebook video ads increase brand awareness by up to 67% while the cost to create a short brand video is 10% of the cost to create a static image or carousel ad.
3. Create animated Stories. Using videos and animations for Instagram Stories is one of the best video marketing tips since stories are more engaging compared to Instagram posts. Capturing your users with a funny animation or video is a good idea to make them watch, dwell and follow.
4. Go live. Live streaming has been here for several years already, and it is not going to lose its popularity. What value can brands drive from it? Just imagine – 80% of live stream viewers will watch a stream rather than read its blog. That is, think about meeting your audience live on the video social media sites that provide this opportunity.
There are several ways to benefit from the combo of video and social media. To get started, consider your goal and the distribution channel you are going to create a video for. Despite all of them being video-friendly, and your users expecting you to produce and share high-end video content, the choice of a video type and its length is specific to social platforms.
Here are some practical insights shared by HubSpot on the perfect video duration:
Different length means different video types, and different goals to achieve.
Mark
Let’s find out how you can diversify your social video marketing for business while being creative and smart at once.
Short videos make the most sense at the top of the sales funnel. Social media are just the platforms to get in touch with prospective leads for the first time using non-obtrusive but fun and meaningful ads. At this point, the task of commercial video production is to create a short and captivating promo video. The main goal of such videos is to lead the views to the brand’s social profile or website.
Long videos are mainly used at the button of the sales funnel when the prospective lead is either almost ready to make the target action or needs additional help at the stage of post-purchase.
In this case, you may avoid using expensive graphics or brainstorming creative ideas since the task is to provide the users with detailed answers, and actually help them with solving a problem step by step.
Animated videos are the most versatile video type you can create. They perfectly fit any stage of the sales funnel and most of the social media channels.
Here is what you can create:
I kindly recommend placing the highest bet on animated videos for social media since they perfectly complement any of the marketing campaigns you can come up with.
Mixing static and dynamic content is a winning trick. While static content mostly attracts attention with its graphics, video posts arouse curiosity. To make the users watch the posted video, consider adding a few catching words about the video essence. But make sure your video posts are actually meaningful, helpful, and dedicated to a specific question.
As for the live streams, this is the top opportunity to communicate with your audience via comments, plus make them believe in your trustworthiness, readiness to help, and, most importantly, ability to help. Make sure to try it.
This is a great video type to promote any upcoming event. By the way, I have recently shared the best practices for trade show video creation so you are welcome to check it as well.
So, as for lead-ups and update videos, there are two ways to create them. You can either record a selfie or create a simple and fun animation to remind the users of the event.
In the noisy environment of social media, people still believe people. And here is just where social media marketing opens up a new opportunity when being paired with video production.
Yes, you guessed it right – I’m talking about user-generated content (UGC). Detailed video testimonials created by your users can be the strongest social proof ever. Encourage your followers to share their impressions by creating UGC videos and animations with the help of little gifts, discounts, and contests.
P.S. They will also appreciate it if you come up with a short “Thank you” video in a selfie mode and share it in Insta Stories, for example.
The best social media videos are those that grab attention, entertain, tell a story, provoke emotions and make some noise. You can get it all by using animation when creating them, and here’s why:
Showcasing your business across social platforms is a must-follow marketing approach in 2021 and beyond. Using a video for marketing in social media is a way to reinforce your strategy, engage, entertain, educate and convert your prospective leads. Still, you have to do it right and perfectly tailor your marketing message to the type of video you’d like to create and the distribution channel. Wow-How Studio would be happy to assist you with creating awesome social media videos and integrating them into your overall marketing strategy.
