Video is the most powerful content to grab attention on social media. As per the Interdigital report, the video will account for 82% of all internet traffic in 2022. Your marketing strategies should focus on video collateral for different social media channels.
But for a successful video strategy, there are a few things to consider:
- based on your audience, what social media channels you should target
- how they interact with social media – what type of videos they watch
- how long should your videos be
To give your brand the recognition it seeks through social media, take note of these video creation strategies for different social media channels. We have created a guide on using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., for a winning video creation process. We’ll discuss intent and engagement, video type, length, CTA, etc.
The intent is essential for engaging with the target audience.
When you create videos for social media, the intent is the first step.
- Facebook – No matter the industry, your videos must prompt people to want to share them. Inspirational videos or story-based videos get the most shares on Facebook than those with sales messages. Urge your viewers to interact by asking them questions. As everyone interacts based on the first few seconds of your video on autoplay, pay attention to the beginning.
- YouTube – When sharing videos on YouTube, the intent is clear. You want to educate people and entertain them. Besides, YouTube videos rank organically on SERPs with more audience engagement. So, optimise your videos for tags, captions, and descriptions.
- As the largest community for interest-based, short-form, branded videos, Instagram is a perfect advertising social platform for brands. With branded videos created for a particular audience, the intent here is brand awareness with long term interaction, eventually leading to conversion.
- Twitter – As users are more likely to talk about a brand on Twitter, leverage the platform for brand interaction. Your video content must encourage people to talk about your brand – make it highly engaging and personal.
Type of video to influence user interaction
Each platform has its unique video format for user engagement. A video editor makes your job easier as it comes with hundreds of video templates for different social channels. You’ll start seeing results sooner than expected if you can get that right. So, here are the best types of videos for other social media platforms.
- Facebook – Facebook is great for announcements or promotional videos. Live streaming too made its way to Facebook in recent years for better interaction with customers. To top it all, Q&As and interviews are among the most effective video types.
- YouTube – brands primarily use YouTube to take customers through a story. That is to increase brand visibility and build authority through unique videos. It includes anything from educational videos, narrative videos, product features, and testimonials to presentations, live streams, and webinars.
- Instagram – Instagram is the most interactive platform for lifestyle topics like fashion, technology, parenting, food and drink, travel, and sports. Finding all these topics in an online video editor with customisable templates is possible. Focus on short clips, user-generated content, reels, Instagram stories, 30-60 seconds tutorials, selfie videos and live sessions.
- Twitter – Twitter is inclined towards personal information, gossip, and news that gets people to talk. Promoting your brand on Twitter through event videos, Q&As, short business intros, and entertaining videos is wise.
Optimising video lengths for a social media channels
You can design an award-winning video strategy, but not optimising your videos for the right platform leads it to failure. From the length of the videos to captions and CTAs, everything contributes to the success of content on social media. Use an online video trimmer to optimise the video length for four prominent social channels. Here are time caps for different platforms:
- Facebook – Videos can be as long as 240 minutes, but keep promotional content 15-30 seconds short.
- YouTube – YouTube is primarily a platform for long-form videos – from movies to educational content. But for business purposes, aim for videos up to 30 minutes long.
- Instagram – Instagram has different limits on the length of posts and stories. Your IGTV videos can be as long as 60 minutes, but use 60 seconds videos with important information revealed first for posts. However, for stories, there is a 15 seconds limit.
- Twitter – Twitter users scroll their feeds faster than anything platform. So with the shortest attention span, the content gets, your video must be 15 seconds for bite-sized format. However, there’s a cap of 140 seconds.
Entice users with high-quality video thumbnails
If your thumbnail can’t capture attention, the chances are low that users will watch your videos. You only get 1-2 seconds to impress the user with a thumbnail, so make it count. There are hundreds of creative thumbnail ideas in an online video editor for every theme.
A video thumbnail must be interactive yet professional in its attempt to steal the user’s attention. Nevertheless, it should give enough information about your video, so the user knows what to expect. Most social media platforms automatically create a thumbnail from videos. Or, you can make your video stand out by using an online video editor to create a captivating thumbnail specific to your brand.
Even if you lack graphic designing skills, fret not; these best thumbnail creation practices will guide you:
- Your thumbnails must show brand consistency – logo, background colours, themes and fonts. Make them eye-catching and interactive. Make it look professional with an online video editor.
- In addition, use high-quality images for thumbnails. The image must be simple, clean, and clear. Use stock free images if you are doubtful of your photography skills.
- Choose a scene that evokes emotion. Have a picture of a person exhibiting surprise, happiness, or confusion.
- Avoid clickbait images, false promises, or claims. The quicker it entices the viewers, a clickbait video gets reported even quicker.
CTAs to guide users to take action.
After watching an engaging video, the viewers are more likely to follow your lead. They’ll listen to you for further information, so add a captivating CTA. Never sell your products or services through CTAs in great, engaging videos. End your video with an offer to a promising solution.
- YouTube – Ask them to subscribe for more valuable content.
- Facebook – Link to a webinar or announcement with some element of surprise to be revealed in the webinar.
- Instagram – Link to your website for a soft sell – a giveaway, a quiz with a trial product for an award, etc.
- Twitter – Ask them to sign up for a newsletter or product reveal event.
