According to Jeff Bullas, (among the top 20 influencers of CMOs in 2017), one of the top social media marketing trends to look for in 2017 is livestream video. With platforms like Facebook live and Twitters Periscope, it is not difficult to see that live video is indeed going to be a trend moving forward.
However, even before we can look to the future, there is a lot of room to improve the present. Effective videos created for one social platform do necessarily translate into effective videos for a different platform.
For example, a video that is effective on Facebook will not necessarily be effective on Snapchat or Instagram unless you make some alterations. This in itself provides a lot of room for improvement in order to make effective videos.
It is not only important to include Video Marketing as part of your Marketing campaign in 2017, but turn this into one of the top priorities. The popularity of video content is at its peak.
With all the popularity that video has and will continue to have for the foreseeable future, it is therefore important to produce effective videos in your chosen social media platforms or else you stand to be muffled underneath all the zettabytes of data available online.
Without further ado, below are some tips for creating effective videos for your chosen social media platform.
YouTube
Not many will deny that YouTube is the father of social video and has been for a long time. Even though it has been overtaken by Facebook video streams, YouTube’s sheer size and appeal continues to draw business and personal brands alike to this amazing video platform.
If you want to create effective videos on YouTube, you have to pay attention to the following.
- Define who your audience is
- Identify what your audience is interested in
- What is your goal for attracting your audience?
- Design your videos to suit your channel or design different channels for each campaign
- Define your goals per channel and
- Measure and track your progress and adjust accordingly
Facebook video has been touted to be the best way to reach your fans on a large scale and the numbers certainly show this trend. With well over 4 billion video streams, each day there is certainly a need to create effective Facebook videos.
There are two effective tips to consider when making Facebook videos. First, make sure that you natively upload your videos and not link them from other platforms and secondly, choose the right time to upload and promote your Facebook videos.
The best way to use Twitter video is by connecting and engaging rather than pushing or promoting your content. In other words, short catchy videos are the way to go. For example, if some has a question, taking 12 seconds to answer the question in person and inject some passion and emotion to your answers is quite effective.
Moreover, don’t forget to use hashtags to make your videos even more shareable and easy to identify. Some additional tips that you should include in your twitter videos for more effectiveness include the following:
- Ensure your videos deliver value in order to increase recall
- Structure storytelling to drive purchase intent
- Ensure your videos have a high-energy entertainment value and
- Align with influencers to drive traffic
Snapchat
Above 60% of Americans aged between 13 and 34 use snapchat. With more than 2 Billion videos viewed daily, Snapchat is a force to be reckoned with. The great thing about snapchat is that the videos get undivided attention owing to their very personal nature.
Additionally, the fact that you can unleash your creativity on the videos using filters and other tools, there is a lot of leeway for further customizing videos.
Jeff Bullas has several tips for using Snapchat videos more effectively including:
- Combine several filters on one Snap
- Creating customizable instant geo-filters and
- Maximizing user engagement through video chat story replies for personalized attention.
With Instagram, there is a lot you can do with the videos in order to make them effective. However, a big part about succeeding with your Instagram videos is what you choose to post. Some tips that will help you make effective videos are as follows:
- Create content that can be viewed quickly and is therefore not likely to scroll away from
- Make a quick impact with activity-filled videos
- Leverage Instagram’s endless loops and
- Capture special events
General tips for all social video
If you are going to create pre-recorded videos, you not only need to optimize for the specific platform, but you also need to make sure that the video is exceptionally shareable. For live videos, real-time engagement, charisma and authenticity are key ingredients. The impact of video content, thanks to the virility and impact of social media, is humongous.
There are several other universal tips for how you can create effective social videos. They include the following:
- Your audience should see themselves reflected in your stories
- Create your videos with share-ability in mind
- Have a plan for how you want to use video to achieve your goal. Your plan should include adding value to your audience either through entertainment and/or information
- Your audience should feel your emotion
- Your audience should feel like they are a part of your story
- Shorter videos are usually better
Conclusion
Current statistics show that Internet video traffic will grow fourfold from 2015 to 2020. These are quite bullish numbers by any standard. If you want to avoid being left behind, you need to make your voice heard or rather have your videos seen. Customizing for each platform is therefore quite important for you to do.