As businesses turn to video marketing on social media, many still grapple with the idea of creating effective marketing videos. Marketing teams are not sure where to start.
What makes for an effective video? Which types of content should you spend budget on producing, and how do you go about planning the video content and video marketing campaigns on social media?
Questions aside, video is a very real and powerful tool for forward-thinking brands. Before I answer the questions above, let’s look at why you can’t afford to give in and ignore video marketing on social media.
Why Social Media Video Marketing is a Must
Most marketers understand the power of social media. They get that it’s filled with audiences who match your ideal buyer personas, and a presence on social media is expected of any brand today. Adding video to the mix makes for a pairing that can elevate the trajectory of a brand. Here are three data-backed reasons why:
Video is More Engaging
Video is more engaging on social media than images or text posts. On LinkedIn, video is 20x more likely to be shared than text or image posts. While on Facebook, video posts generate the most engagement.
Your Competition is Using Social Video Marketing
84% of marketers say video has helped them increase traffic to their website. That’s more opportunity to convert visitors into leads and paying customers. Digital video advertising spending in the United States is also set to balloon from 2017 to 2023. With more brands committing more money to video ads, not participating could put your brand on the backfoot.
People are Consuming More Social Media Video
Across social media, video has become a dominant content format. Facebook and Twitter get a combined 10 billion video views per day, proof that people want more video.
It’s clear to see that participation is a must. There’s simply way too much opportunity to pass on. Here’s how to elevate your marketing with social media videos.
Social Media Video Marketing and the Funnel
Social media videos are content. And as with every piece of content, your videos have to be created with a purpose. Using the marketing funnel, your goal is to develop videos for each stage.
You’ll need:
Top-of-Funnel Videos
These are designed to attract your audience. For example, video creation software company Biteable designed this video to get managers interested in how to use video to praise staff.
Middle-of-Funnel Videos
Design drive consideration, these videos appeal to problem-aware viewers and offer more education on your offering.
Monday.com shares a quick but insightful video on managing clients using the project management tool.
Bottom-of-Funnel Videos
Position your product of service for convert ready-to-buy or commit viewers, driving them landing pages.
Userpilot is a SaaS solution that helps software companies track and optimize user experiences. They created a short webinar invite video for LinkedIn.
Live Video is Big
And don’t forget the power of live streaming. According to research, 42% of marketers have already developed a strategy for Facebook Live. Live videos are getting a lot of attention on all social media platforms, giving brands the chance to engage with buyers directly.
You can use them to host live streaming events on social media in the form of Q&A sessions, presentations, demos and more to support your funnel.
How to Create Effective Social Media Videos
Creating social media videos may not be second nature (just yet), but you can learn how to produce effective content. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you produce your best work.
Step One: Identify Your Audience
Buyer personas are a staple for marketing. They help brands develop an intimate understanding of their audience and the chance to create effective marketing content with positive results. But often, marketers struggle to unpack the value of personas. They don’t know how to use the information to produce strong marketing content.
The Before and After Grid solves the problem. It was designed by Digital Marketer and offers a before and after look at the experiences of your ideal customer in relation to your brand, product service.
And it’s the perfect tool for creating effective and engaging social media videos. The grid helps you identify the state of mind, problems, and the ideal outcome of viewers, all you need to create a video that resonates with your audience.
If you haven’t yet, download a copy of the Before and After Grid to get started.
Step Two: Develop Your Concept
The creative part of producing a social media video is often the most challenging. The good news is that once you’ve identified before and after states of your buyer, all you need do is follow this simple formula:
1. Hook Your Audience
Whether you’re trying to generate leads on Facebook or monetize Instagram videos, your hook is essential. It’s the first sentence you use and must capture your audience’s attention immediately by introducing an idea that piques their interest. It could be a question, a statement, or statistic that isn’t easily dealt away with because it directly influences your viewer.
2. Introduce yourself and your brand
Depending on the kind of video you create, introducing yourself and your brand may not apply. But if you do use a presenter, make sure they introduce themselves and your brand. It’s important to do so to help your viewers identify who they are listening to, where the information is coming from, and begin to develop a sense of brand affinity.
3. Provide Value in the Body
Next, deliver value. Share the useful nuggets that you promised at the beginning of your video and make it worthwhile for your audience. If you don’t, they may not give you positive reviews or the likes, shares, and comments you need to help your content generate even more views.
How much value should you offer?
We like to use a simple rule of thumb at Uscreen. Offer as much value as you can, enough to make your viewer feel like they could’ve easily paid what you’ve shared. This approach will help you turn more first time viewers into fans and followers, and later customers.
4. Create a Strong Call to Action
Calls to action should be staples for every piece of marketing content to produce, social media videos included. Make sure to clearly indicate what your audience should do immediately after viewing the video. Depending on the social media platform and how you promote your videos, you’ll have access to various types of call to action buttons and can include links to external resources.
Step Three: Edit
Editing is the final and important step in creating your video. It’s where it all comes together as a polished and complete product. Here are elements to include for a professional finish:
An Intro
Depending on the type of video you’re creating, you can add an intro. Intros do two things. First, they help prepare viewers for information you’re about to share. Second, they’re also an opportunity to showcase your brand. You can use intros to share your logo, slogan, offices, and more.
An Outro
Outros are the best place to repeat calls to action. Include those that direct your audience to what to do next.
Branding Elements
Branding elements are all marks/symbols people will remember your brand by. Use them to help people become more familiar with your brand.
Transitions
Transitions elevate videos. And on social media, they help make videos appear more engaging. As you pick your transitions, try and cater to your audience and what you know about their preferences. Your transitions don’t have to be sophisticated, they simply need to help you move from one point in your video to the next in a professional manner.
Voice-Overs (optional)
Editing also allows you to add voice-overs to video. Depending on the content you’ve recorded (think screencast or product demo), voice-overs can help you better deliver your message.
Music and Sounds
Background music can help set the mood for your audience, making your video more engaging. Just be sure to find the right balance between your music volume and any voiceover or speaking also in your video. Loud music can easily put viewers off.
Step Four: Optimize for Feed
We’re in the final stretch, and it’s time to optimize your video for social feeds. Here’s how:
Design an Attractive Thumbnail
Thumbnails are best described as entry points for media videos. They are the first thing people scrolling through feeds will see and need to be as attractive as possible. Proven formulas creating effective thumbnails include using colors that stand out, adding text that piques interest, and using faces.
Create a Catchy Title
While videos automatically draw attention in feeds, people also look at titles for an indication of what to expect. Your title should be as descriptive as possible, but not too long. According to HubSpot, titles with between 8 to 12 words get the most engagement.
Write a Helpful Description
Your description needs to tell people what to expect from your video. While it may seem like less of an opportunity to get creative, seize the moment. Your goal is to not only inform but to entice by offering value. Also, while social media posts can be lengthy, don’t use too many words. Your objective is to get people to watch your video, so have your description play a supporting role.
Include Destination URLs
Don’t forget to include links to promote your website and guide your viewers down your marketing funnel. These include website URLs and landing page URLs mentioned in your call to action.
Leverage Software to Create Videos
Piecing all of the above together to create videos may have been a bit of a challenge a few years ago. Today, they are helpful tools that make creating marketing videos easier. Here are four you can use to produce great videos.
Promo
Promo Comes with tons of video templates you can use to quickly and easily turn on video for your social media feed. They also offer a video maker, social media counter, access to tons of stock video footage you can use, and other great features like adding text and more to videos.
Wave Video
Wave Video, like Promo, also gives you the opportunity to create social media videos. It comes with a large collection of templates, customization features, and the option often bidding on various platforms. Wave Video has positioned itself as the perfect tool for creating a video funnel, perfect if you plan to leverage video to generate more leads and sales.
Powtoon
Powtoon a slightly different solution to Promo and Wave Video. With Powtoon, you also have access to templates but you can create anything from the presentation to animation, whiteboard, and use live video content to build your social media videos.
Biteable
Like Powtoon, Biteable allows you to create various types of videos, including animated and presentation videos. They also offer an extensive template library of templates and stock footage, and the ability to customize your creations.
Best Practices for Video Marketing on Social Media
There you have it! You have the step-by-step formula for creating effective and engaging social media videos. But before you pull the trigger and get your creative juices flowing, I’ve also compiled a list of best practices. These will help you shave time off your production cycle, and generate results.
Storytelling Sells
Aim to tell a cohesive story, something that resonates with your audience. Psychology proves that people paid hinged stories. The structure your videos in a way that draws your audience in, and leaves them feeling better off for having spent time on your video.
Length Matters
While you may have a lot to share in your video, try not to make it too long. How long should your video be? As a rule of thumb, use all the time you need to get your message across and no more.
If your video is too long, it may bore audiences. If too short, it may not be enough to make a positive impact or entice viewers to want to learn more about what you have to offer.
Plan for What Happens After
Your call to action is valuable. Without it, you can’t make a timely offer. Ensure it’s aligned with your audience and where they are in their buyer’s journey. Also, pay attention to the next step in the buyer’s journey. Optimize your landing pages and make them easy to digest and generate results.
Cater to Mobile Users
96% of FB users have downloaded and use the mobile app. This means your audience is definitely open to watching vertical videos. Go vertical to make the experience more pleasurable for mobile viewers.
Use Captions
Research by Verizon shows that 69% of people watch videos without sound. On Facebook, that number is as high as 85%. Cater to this audience by adding captions. In busy feeds, captions will help stop scrolling and give your brand a chance to engage viewers in a format they prefer.
Share Far and Wide
Promote your video feverishly on all platforms to get views. Social media algorithms are designed to rank content by engagement. The more your video gets, the better the chance it will be placed higher or more prominently in feeds.
Leverage Video Ads
Paid media generates results faster, so dedicate some budget to reach a more targeted audience faster. Also, test various targeting options to find what works best.
Wrapping this up…
Social media video is accessible to all brands. It’s a smart way to capture attention to stay top-of-mind and get the engagement you need to drive traffic, leads, and sales. But take the time to produce engaging content. Use tools like the Before and After Grid, and video-making software to streamline your content production. In no time, you’ll start to see results that will help you work on producing better, more effective social media videos.
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Author: Amir Shahzeidi
Bio: Amir is the digital marketing manager at Uscreen, an all-in-one video monetization and OTT platform provider that empowers video entrepreneurs and creators to monetize their content and build thriving businesses around their videos.
