Social media is no longer just a place for catching up with our peers and favorite celebrities. It is also one of the most reliable channels for marketing; so much so that any business without a social media presence is missing a golden opportunity to connect with their audience.

The problem is, social media is as fierce as it is fertile. Users’ feeds are full of ads and branded posts that constantly compete to catch their fleeting attention. The good news, however, is that video gives you a reliable medium to cut through the noise.

Whether we’re talking about live-action or animated pieces, video is the most engaging, concise, and powerful medium to get a message across. But it’s not one to use arbitrarily.

So, today, I’ll show you why and how to combine video with social media to capture and hold viewers’ attention.

Why Use Marketing Videos?

Social media is all about quick and easy-to-consume content, and with most buyers relying on social platforms to inform their purchase decisions, it is a competitive battleground for customers’ attention.

It’s difficult to engage an audience that has grown to “filter out” most texts and images they scroll past in their feed – but video is another story.

Videos can take the most boring topic and turn it into a short and engaging piece, ideal for describing complex products or services.

Moreover, video is the epitome of captivating content. This is mainly because videos autoplay on most social platforms, so viewers get to watch at least a few seconds before scrolling down. That is an invaluable opportunity to pull in viewers, but we’ll cover that later.

Now, we need to mention another benefit video brings to the social media table: retargeting opportunities. Many social networks allow advertisers to retarget people who have watched a certain percentage of their ads. This enables you to sharpen your social advertisement strategy and boost your conversion rate by targeting qualified leads.

5 Tips To Make Fantastic Social Media Marketing Videos

Now you know why you should make video marketing part of your social efforts, let’s focus on how. Here are five tips for anyone who wants to dive into the world of social video.

#1 Make Marketing Videos Short and Sweet

Social media is no place for long video content.

Nobody hangs out on a social network for hours (at least, not on purpose). People visit their feeds for short distractions from their daily lives, or to entertain themselves while commuting or waiting in line; they aren’t expecting nor willing to consume a long piece of content. Even I, a big fan of video content (you don’t say?), tend to scroll over videos longer than two minutes when using my personal social accounts. And, even if viewers were open to watching long videos completely, their short attention spans wouldn’t help with the task.

So, whether it’s video ads or organic content, your social media audience will engage the most with short pieces. When aiming to create short marketing videos, don’t only look at the actual time duration, consider also that your videos should feel short. Pieces that are dynamic and entertaining enough to immerse the viewer in the story will often feel short and concise, even if the length of video says otherwise.

Your script will play a big part in determining the length and rhythm of your video. Generally speaking, 150 words – about a single script page – equal a one-minute video. That’s an alright length on most social platforms, but let’s see what works best on each of them:

• TikTok: near 15 seconds
• Twitter: under 30 seconds (less than ½ of a script page)
• Instagram: less than 1 minute/page
• Facebook: less than 2 minutes/page
• LinkedIn: up to 30 or 90 seconds, depending on the viewer’s stage on the sales funne (max. ½ or 1 ½ script pages)

#2 Mind Your Opening

If you have featured videos on your webpage or YouTube channel, then you may already know how hard (but necessary) it is to boost your click-through rate to pull in viewers.

Luckily, you don’t have to deal with that on most social platforms. As we stated before, social media marketing videos usually autoplay.

With autoplay, viewers get to watch a couple of seconds of your video before deciding whether to scroll further down or stay for more. During those precious seconds, you need to seize your audience before it’s too late!

A great way to keep attention on your marketing videos, is to break the fourth wall and speak directly to your viewer. Don’t be afraid to ask them direct questions (“Have you ever felt…?”, “Don’t you hate it when…?”, etc.) or start with a compelling statement they can relate to, like in the example below.

You can also try to capture their attention with a bold or intriguing statement — those phrases that sound controversial at first, but make total sense once you clarify them. Needless to say, don’t go overboard with your controversial statement! If it can offend somebody, it’s out of the question.

#3 Make Your Marketing Videos Understandable on Mute

If your video can’t be understood without sound, viewers are likely to rule it out and move on to content that doesn’t require listening to be comprehended. Remember, your viewers are on the go, and your job is to make your content as easy to consume as possible. Forcing your audience to stop and put on headphones prior to engaging with your content isn’t convenient.

Address this and win more viewers’ attention by producing pieces that don’t rely on dialogue or narrators. Try producing videos that showcase self-explanatory visuals, or that include short sentences describing what can’t be said with images.

Take, for instance, the mouth-watering videos from Tasty. Those pieces are a massive success on social media. What can you learn from them? They are short, simple, and their sound (usually music) is non-essential.

Now, what if your video covers a topic that’s not as self-explanatory as a food recipe? Promo demo videos, for example, tend to touch on subjects that require more than just short texts to be understood (learn more). In that case, you can always add captions to your video.

That’s a tool that won’t steer you wrong. Captions allow anyone who can read to understand your video, no matter how much dialogue it includes. They also enable you to reach out to people with hearing impairments or different native tongues. Best part? On many platforms, viewers who can do without captions can easily deactivate them, and even if they can’t, they aren’t likely to be bothered by them. In short, captions are an absolute win-win.

#4 Make It Indisputably Yours

Your social media audience is continuously bombarded with brand ads and content. That’s why you need to set your video apart from the crowd by making it indisputably yours.

For starters, your video’s script should ooze your company’s “attitude.” I’m talking about conveying the right tone throughout the entire piece. Is your business meant to be fresh and juvenile? Or maybe elegant and buttoned up? Then your video should, too! Its tone will invariably imply a message about your business, so make sure it is on point with your company’s approach.

It’s also vital to stamp your brand’s style into the video’s visual elements: the typography, color palette, cinematography, animation style (in case it’s an animated video), or the actors’ profiles (if it’s a live-action piece). All these elements should match your brand, especially the color scheme, as it’s one of the most recognizable features of every brand.

Speaking of powerful branding features, let’s not forget about your logo. That’s a piece that can’t be left out of any marketing video.

The problem isn’t that video marketers forget to include this vital piece. On the contrary, they sometimes shove it in the viewer’s face too much. You need to find the perfect balance by making your logo noticeable without it being too on the nose.

The best way to achieve this is to be mindful of when you showcase your logo. In most videos, the ideal moment to present the logo is right after the introduction. For example, in the general structure of promo demo videos, the logo is introduced with the company’s name as the solution to a pain point mentioned at the beginning.

You can also stamp your logo into your viewers’ minds by making it the last element that appears on the screen. It should wrap up the video, appearing at the very end when all is said and done.

#5 Combine Different Types of Videos

Sure, social media works wonders for marketing purposes, but you can never forget its primary function is to connect. Beyond their buying intentions, people go to social networks to bond digitally with peers and brands, even fictional characters!

In this context, you don’t want to present your company as a greedy entity that only thinks of selling. You should strive to win your audience’s hearts by appearing approachable, competent, and helpful. In plain English, you should present your audience with different types of videos and not just sales-y stuff.

Below are the video styles that social users engage with the most. Some of them are clearly commercial, and others are meant to create a deeper connection with customers. Take a look and see how you can combine them in your own video marketing strategy!

How-to Videos

These videos tend to draw an outstanding response from social users. They enjoy learning new things, and they particularly appreciate you offering your knowledge selflessly. It gives the impression you know your craft and are able to share it with the world.

Commercial Videos

Commercial videos are an excellent way to catch new leads’ attention and raise your brand awareness. This type of video fits exceptionally well on social media, as it’s short by nature.

Promo Demo Videos

Also known as explainers, these videos can cram complex topics into 90 seconds or less while being highly entertaining! This makes them the perfect type of video for putting forward complicated value propositions or educational content.

Live Videos

Live streaming has grown exponentially during the COVID-19 quarantine. People love connecting with brands and celebrities in real time, as it allows for real-time engagement. These videos amass an engagement rate that’s hard to match.

Company Stories and Behind the Scenes Videos

What better way to connect emotionally with viewers than by introducing them to your team and your company’s values? People enjoy knowing who’s behind the products and services they use, and buying from companies they can empathize with.

Behind the Scenes Videos are a bit more informal than other company story videos and are not as focused on values. Still, they are a great way to present your business as approachable and fresh.

Parting Words About Marketing Videos

Social media provides businesses the opportunity to meet their audience wherever they are. Display your videos on the network where your audience hangs out the most, and you’ll surely find an engaged community that’s likely to receive your audiovisual content with open arms.

But…what if they don’t? Well, that’s another advantage of social media: Most networks provide business accounts with comprehensive analytical tools to know what went wrong with their videos. You can check those metrics to pinpoint the moment viewers quit watching and which types of videos they prefer, among other things.

This handy information can help you acknowledge your video content’s strengths and flaws, and allow you to tweak it accordingly over time.

So, now you know: Providing your social audience with engaging video content is a strategy that’s likely to win their attention — and their pockets.

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