Videos have proven to be one of the most effective forms of social media content. Before you create one, you have to come up with a good strategy. Are you attempting to inspire a conversation or attract more followers? Are you aiming at compelling viewers to pay your website a visit? Or are you inclined towards marketing a product and creating a video to increase awareness and get more sales?
Don’t you find videos more engaging and memorable than text and images? Many people think so and there is research to prove it all over the web. Social media video posts get, on average, 48% more views and generate substantially more shares than other types of posts. Therefore, creating engaging videos to put out on your social media channels is a great way to strengthen your brand image and get the word out about your company or products.
You can’t take on this digital escapade without thinking of implementing video into your marketing strategy. Technically, if you aren’t creating videos for your social media, you are losing out on tons of potential followers, shares, and sales. However, knowing how to pull off a compelling video while also fulfilling your objectives can be a tricky task. Here are some tips to help you create more captivating video content for your audience.
1. Have A Strategy
Evidently, you would like your videos to inspire likes, shares, and of course, comments from your loyal brigade of social media followers. However, before you start creating any content, come up with a plan on how you’ll go about producing your social media videos. Consider studying and researching your audience, ideation, content scheduling, task delegation, among other important aspects.
Having a strategy in advance will allow you to develop effective content and help you meet the needs of your audience. Producing a high-quality video is not an easy task, but compiling ideas and content planning makes it a lot easier.
Best Social Media Advertisement Examples And Research Tools
Check out this awesome video by Armando Saenz.
2. Invest In Equipment
You don’t have to invest in expensive equipment to get started with your video. One of the most powerful video production tools is probably right in your pocket, or in your palm– your smartphone. Most modern-day smartphones can record videos of high visual and audio quality. You can also use some of the video-editing mobile apps available to give your video the desired look and quality.
The investment in creating DIY videos is minimal. You can shoot social media videos using a smartphone, camera, or webcam. Although smartphones are well equipped to meet your video needs, you also need to consider a modest investment in the form of LED lighting, external microphones, tripods, or even a professional video camera if your budget allows it.
3. Focus On Quality
You shouldn’t only focus on video quality (1080p, 1440p, etc.), but also the quality of the content in your video. You want your followers to fully consume your content, and the only way to get them to do that is to create social media videos that are packed with high-quality content. It goes without saying that quality transcends quantity.
If you want your video to go viral, grab and maintain the attention of your audience. Avoid creating low-quality videos with no substance and value to the viewer.
Brainstorm many ideas, and do your research. Find out what type of content your audience wants to see, and how you can create content that fits this need. It will take time and effort, but it is achievable.
Here is an interesting video about getting more creative with vertical videos by Pond5:
4. Aim For Natural Light
Lighting is vital when shooting videos. If you have to do it indoors, be sure to shoot your video near a window or door where there is sufficient natural lighting. The other option would be to shoot outdoors. Using natural light will help you get perfect shots. Knowing the right time to shoot is a bonus too.
You can either choose to do your video just right before the sun sets or before it rises and on cloudy days. These unique times add a rich color tone and a sense of tranquility to your videos when the sky is deep blue and the background is filled with bluish light, and the shadows are less dark and the hues are softer.
Utilizing natural light can give your video that unique aspect that can draw a viewer in to see more content. These are the types of tricks you need to use to garner attention and raise the quality of your video when you can’t afford advanced lighting equipment.
Have a look at this 5-minute YouTube lighting tutorial by Think Media:
5. Use The First Few Seconds Wisely
Make the first few seconds of your video impactful. Make sure the introduction section of your video is captivating. Your target audience should be left anticipating what would happen next in the video. If the content is not exciting, the average person will lose their concentration after around 8 seconds. If you can capture them before this time elapses, your chances are much higher that they will stay for the entirety of the video.
You can start off with thought-provoking questions, inspiring quotes, powerful visuals, or appealing music. By having them engrossed from the very start, it will be impossible for your followers to look away and scroll down to other content.
6. Keep Your Videos Short And Sweet
Keep your videos ‘bite-sized’ while still maintaining their value. With human attention spans quickly going downhill, your videos should capture attention and pass the message you intend all in a short span of time. That’s why it’s important for you to remove all the unnecessary parts and keep only the most relevant and engaging content, without any fillers.
Even if your topic is complex, avoid putting all the information in one long video. You should consider breaking it down into smaller bits and record different videos speaking about different aspects of the same series.
7. Use Subtitles
Your social media videos can help share your content with a global audience. That means that even people who don’t understand your language are likely to come across your content. Language barriers should not hinder your efforts to make this happen, add subtitles to help non-native speakers and hearing-impaired users successfully interact with your content.
Videos also autoplay on some social media platforms without the audio when users are scrolling through. Therefore, if you want to capture the attention of your audience, powerful written words are necessary when the video is muted on autoplay.
8. Use Animations
You have likely come across one of those animated videos that caught your attention and explained the content of the video in a straightforward manner. If you feel your topic is too complex and you don’t have the ability to visualize it in a clear, informative, and engaging way, you can use animations to make this possible.
You can spice up your video and make it more appealing to your viewers when you use animations correctly. Animated videos are becoming more and more popular and they are likely to dominate social media platforms.
Here is a great example of how to use animation to explain a complicated topic, such as black holes:
9. Use Music
If you decide to add music to your video, make sure you have the right to use it. Music can give your video a different outlook because it grabs attention and sets the mood and connection with the audience.
In order to control your viewers’ perception of you and your brand, add relevant music to your videos. Not all songs are video-friendly. Align your choice of song with the objectives and content of your video.
10. Call To Action
One of the most important things to include in your video is to have a strong call to action embedded inside the content. What is the use of your social media video if it does not prompt or encourage your viewers to complete an action?
To create an effective call to action, refer to the main objective of your video production endeavor. Once you have established this, you can encourage viewers to take a certain step that will aid the achievement of your objectives.
Conclusion
Social media video content has a huge potential of driving your objectives and engaging your audience. This makes it so important. You have to learn how to use it to your advantage! If you’re already creating great social media videos, you’re on the right track. If not, what are you waiting for? We hope that the tips we’ve shared in this article will help you to master video content creation and use it effectively to drive your agenda.
[Recommended reading: 5 Ways To Increase Your YouTube Watch Time]
[Images – Main Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay; Smart Phones: Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash; Video Camera: Photo by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash; old movie subtitles screen by Tuotantoyhtiö Leopantteri Oy; other images/videos from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Jaron Whelan is a technical writer for Vek Labs specializing in a wide range of topics around the film, photo, and video marketing spaces.