Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become platforms for people around the world to communicate, learn, shop and have fun. One of the reasons these platforms are attractive is their use of multimedia content, from beautiful images to compelling live streams. But if everyone is on social media, how can your brand stand out? That's a challenge many companies are addressing with engaging and effective video content for social media as one of their digital marketing tools. That doesn't mean you should just go out, upload any video and expect great search results. According to prominent video producers, combining the right videos with the right strategy is the key to success. Video and social media are 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. The Advantages of Using Videos in Social Video Marketing 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: Engage. Social media platforms are engaging by their nature. Creating social media marketing videos with a clear strategy in mind is a way to skyrocket users’ engagement. And this is true even for non-video-specific platforms like Twitter. Tweets with videos increase engagement up to 10 times, according to the research. Educate. Sharing and promoting your educational content on social sites is a top opportunity for YouTube social media marketing. How-to videos are the most searchable video types on YouTube, so this is the strategy to create an additional touch and proceed with building loyalty. Drive emotions and go viral. Recent research shows a surge of positive emotions driven by a video is the main reason why social media videos go viral. Going viral is another benefit you may get from your social media video marketing. As for the emotions, the videos provoke, they are also one of the most powerful triggers for making a purchase in B2C. This is also true for B2B – the only difference is that the buying decision is often made by a group of people. Sell. The users’ survey reveals 96% of consumers found videos helpful for making online purchase decisions. These numbers alone are enough to say that product videos should be an integral part of your marketing strategy, and social media are the top platforms to share them. 4 Basic Ways to Use Videos for SMMIn today's digital age, social media has become an essential tool for brands to connect with their audience. To stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of users, creating high-quality video content has become more important than ever. Social media platforms are constantly updating their algorithms to prioritize video content, and businesses that fail to keep up are at risk of falling behind. Creating video content for social media is not only a great way to increase engagement and build brand awareness, but also a tool for businesses to showcase their products or services in a visually appealing way. Now, we will discuss the importance of creating video content for social media and provide some tips and best practices to help you create and start using the one that resonates with your audience. How to use social media videos? There are four basic ways to empower your social content with them: 1. Create video content for social media posts. Creating video posts and mixing them with other types of social media videos for business content are the right strategy. Having created a video for social media once, you let all your future social media users discover and watch it again and again – at no additional cost to you. 2. Create video ads. Commercial video production opens up unlimited opportunities for creating short-form videos and engaging 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 tactics, 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 broadcast or 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. Video Length Recommendations Based on the Social Platform The video format is a quick and effective way to tell your audience about your business. You can announce your brand by posting a short video that your audience will remember for a long time. Instead of forcing visitors to view an entire section of text information to learn everything they need to know about your company, you can use video marketing tools to promote both products and services. Ultimately, product information is better received if it's provided in a convenient form rather than as long text. So, a short video is the best option for attracting the attention of potential customers. Create informative videos about upcoming releases with answers to frequently asked questions and discussions about your services to build a good user base and enhance trust in your brand. 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: Facebook - 15 seconds-1 minute; Instagram - 30 seconds; YouTube - 2 minutes and more; Snapchat - 3-10 seconds; Twitter - 45 seconds; TikTok - 60 seconds-3 minutes. Types of Videos to Boost Your Social Media Marketing85% of companies use video as a marketing tool. This means only one thing: video is a really effective way to promote a product online. Let’s find out how you can diversify your social video marketing for business while being creative and smart at once. 1. Cover the Essentials with Short VideosThey 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 viewers to the brand’s social profile or website. Distribution channels: Facebook; Instagram; TikTok; Twitter; Snapchat. 2. Describe in Detail with Long VideosThey 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 video marketing ideas since the task is to provide the users with detailed answers, and actually help them with solving a problem step by step. Distribution channels: YouTube. 3. Be Creative with Animated and Quirky Videos 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: an animated video and short promo to introduce your brand; a little longer explainer to better showcase the concept behind your idea; a product demo video to show how it works in real-life; an educational video in a whiteboard style; 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. Distribution channels: Facebook; Instagram; TikTok; Snapchat; Twitter. 4. Stay in Touch with Video Posts and Live StreamsMixing 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’s 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. Distribution channels: Facebook; Instagram (IGTV and Highlights); TikTok. 5. Engage Even More with Lead-ups and Update Videos 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 out as well. So, as for lead-ups and updated video marketing content, 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. Distribution channels: Facebook; Instagram; Twitter; TikTok. 6. Build Trust With Testimonials and Thank You VideosIn 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 relevant 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 selfie mode and share it in Instagram Stories, for example. Distribution channels: Facebook; Instagram; YouTube. Benefits of Animated Video in Social Media Marketing 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: Unlimited creativity. Animation promises creative freedom for choosing a video style - you can go with 2D or 3D depending on the product, concept, or idea you want to visualize. You are also welcome to proceed with whiteboard animation to create an educational or explainer video for social media; use kinetic typography to better show facts and numbers or use motion graphics to come up with fun and entertaining animated elements. Reusability. Some of the recommendations for the perfect video length for social media overlap. This means that you can create an animated video for a Facebook ad, for example, and reuse it in your Insta Story. By the way, you can manage both of the campaigns right from your Facebook account. Affordability. Animated videos are more affordable compared to live-shoot ones. They can also be a great alternative for business owners who are just getting started with commercial video production and not ready to launch live streams. Conclusion Showcasing your business across social platforms is a must-follow marketing approach in 2023 and beyond. The presence of video in brand marketing is no longer an isolated incident, but a rule. All major brands adjust their relevant content to formats that are popular on the Web. The main ingredients are wit and a good idea, not intricacy. Simple videos that do not require any special skills or resources get millions of views. The plain design and execution of these uncomplicated conceptual media allow brands to create and use videos across all platforms and communication channels. Creating video content for social media posts is essential for any business or individual looking to expand their online presence. With the increasing popularity of relevant video content on social media, it is important to keep up with the trend and provide engaging, informative, and visually appealing videos for your audience. Whether it's a product demo, behind-the-scenes glimpse, or a personal story, videos can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level and ultimately drive more engagement and conversions. By following some tips and best practices, you can create high-quality video content that will help you stand out on social media and achieve your marketing goals. Wow-How Studio would be happy to assist you with creating awesome social media videos and integrating them into your overall marketing strategy.
