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Social media is one of the best tools you can use to spread the news about your business, increase brand awareness, and grow an organic following. Many companies make use of videos to engage with their audience across their social media pages and encourage sales.
Here are ten tips you can use as you plan your next social media video production.
1. Don’t Ignore the Script
Even if your video will only be a few seconds long, you’ll still want to write a script for actors to follow. If appropriate, you’ll want to include additional cues in your script, such as pauses in a conversation or a shift in the camera’s direction.
2. The First Few Seconds Are Critical
There’s a lot of competition among social media videos. At any moment, your company is competing against skilled influencers and other brands with large followings, so you need to hook your viewers. Your audience is less likely to stick around for your entire video if you don’t make a good first impression by captivating them in the first few seconds.
3. Know the Video’s Purpose
Understand the purpose behind each of your videos, whether you’re attempting to increase sales or simply build a larger following. Ensure you have a healthy mix of videos that accomplish different things, like providing both entertainment and information to your audience, and avoid sharing overly similar videos, as your audience will quickly lose interest.
4. Have a Message
In a similar vein, no matter how short or long your videos are, they should convey a clear and simple message to your audience. For instance, if you intend to demonstrate how your product can benefit a consumer, make sure those advantages are clearly shown.
5. Consider the Scenery
Videos are often more captivating than the written word since they engage multiple senses at once: sight and sound. With that being said, take advantage of scenery that can attract more viewers. For instance, if you’re demonstrating a new snowboard, take your production to the slopes and incorporate snowscapes into the video. Your video will be more engaging than simply showing off the board in a generic environment.
6. Use Professional Equipment
It’s easy to create a video with a decent smartphone these days, but if making videos is a regular part of your marketing strategy, you need to invest in better equipment. At a minimum, purchase a few microphones and a tripod. The former will improve your video’s sound, and the latter will ensure your video won’t exhibit any shakiness that reduces its quality.
7. Don’t Bore Your Audience with Extended Videos
If you’re shooting social media videos for Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you’ll want to ensure they’re less than two minutes long. If you can reasonably shoot for a minute or less, that’s even better.
People are busy and there’s a lot of content to consume, so unless your video provides content they can’t find anywhere else, they’ll move on to the next item on their feed. Save your long-form, explanatory videos for YouTube or your company’s website.
8. Ensure Your Video Complies with the Platform’s Specs
Each social media platform has different requirements for optimal video performance. Carefully review the criteria for each before uploading your video. If it doesn’t meet those requirements, it may look odd on the platform or even be rejected.
9. Captions Are Helpful
Many people view social media videos without sound since they may be in a place where loud sounds can disrupt others, such as in an office or on public transportation. You can ensure they still get the gist of your message by providing captions they can read as the video plays. Captions also benefit people who are hard of hearing or don’t natively speak the language used in your video.
10. Include a Call-to-Action
If the primary purpose of your video is to generate conversions, you’ll want to include a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA encourages viewers to take the next step with your organization, whether that’s following your account, ordering a product, or signing up for your email list.
Your video’s CTA should be clearly visible, concise, visually attractive, and aligned with your video’s objective. For instance, if the video promotes a product, you should include a direct link to purchase the product, not one to your website’s home page.
Social Media Video Production Takes Planning
With the multitude of videos available on various platforms, you might believe that creating engaging content is easy, but if you film a video with no prior planning and poor equipment, you’ll never generate the results you’re looking for. Instead, use our tips to create videos that will resonate with your audience and increase conversions.