10 Social Media Video Marketing Best Practices

Video content is currently the most engaging content format on social media. According to Cisco, video content will make up 80% of consumer online traffic by 2020.

Mark Zuckerberg sees video content “as a megatrend on the same order as mobile.” Even written blog posts should have an embedded video version, according to Mark Traphagen.

Just consider some of these social media video content stats.

• 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter.
• 500 million people are watching videos on Facebook every day.
• Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
• 73% of marketers say that video gets the best ROI.

Most marketers have now realised that video is effective for brand awareness with the result that 87% of online marketers use video content for social media.

Creating video content for social media is not just essential to boost social media engagement, it is what will set you apart from competitors that are not using it yet.

The most important thing you can do for your company is to create a social video content strategy for your business.

According to BuzzSumo, savvy businesses will achieve much greater organic reach and ROI for paid promotions by focusing almost exclusively on video content.

The key is to create video content that is highly “thumb-stopping” and highly shareable.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How can you convert your content and expertise into short, practical tutorial-style videos?
• Can you put the spotlight more on storytelling by real people in your business for video content? E.g. customer success stories, staff spotlight, heartwarming ways that your business impacts the community, etc.

According to Hubspot, at least 50% or more of your marketing content should be in video format, either hosted natively on social or created with social distribution in mind.

Lumen5 is an online video maker which has been noted by Social Media Examiner as one of the best tools to make videos.

Here are 10 best practices to create a successful social video content strategy that works for your business.

10 Best Practices For Successful Social Video

1. Upload native videos

Don’t share YouTube links on Facebook. Native videos on Facebook have a 10 times higher reach compared to YouTube links.

Videos that are uploaded natively to Facebook get 10 times more shares than YouTube links.

2. Focus on branding

Facebook isn’t about pushing your latest promotion or content. Rather Facebook is about reaching out and engaging with your audience during their “me” time.

Facebook Videos are ideal for connecting through storytelling and building brand awareness. Your goal on Facebook should not be to generate any form of direct response but rather, to raise brand awareness.

Of course, this applies to YouTube video too, like the one below.

3. Make sure they ALWAYS work without sound

85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. That’s because most people would have their players set to mute on autoplay.

Make sure your video fully communicates the message without sound. Include text in the video so that people could understand your message without sound.

As an example, check out this viral video from BBC Earth that was watched over 5 million times. It’s proof that cute animals will always rule the internet.

4. Grab attention in 3 seconds

Be sure to use stunning imagery and video footage that grabs attention in the first three seconds.

Avoid using video introductions. Branding can be added at the end of the video.

5. Keep it Square

Square videos (1:1 aspect ratio) outperformed landscape videos in terms of average engagement, views, and reach, especially on mobile. They take up 78% more real estate in the News Feed on mobile than on desktop.

Mari Smith believes that we’ll see an increase in the use of short (around 15 seconds) videos in square and portrait format. People are 67% more likely to watch a square video to completion than they are to watch a horizontal one.

6. Entertaining. Emotional. Topical.

Make sure your videos entertain and feel like content that people will want to share with their friends.

Find hooks to your products and content that tap into the top topics. The easiest topics are entertainment and heartwarming stories.

7. Include a CTA (Call-To-Action)

You can also add a call to action from a button or even right within the video. Use a still frame with a strong call to action to tell people what action you’d like them to take.

8. 90 seconds or longer?

Video length around 90 seconds or more is ideal for Facebook.  But videos longer than 90 seconds see 78.8% more shares and 74.6% more views. The jury is still out on whether short or long-form content is better.

However, Facebook is now testing mid-roll video ad breaks as well as pre-roll ads, of 5-15 seconds and so we’ll start to see an increase in reach, visibility, and shares of longer videos

Facebook’s VR ambitions may also shake things up a bit, and the development of its video platform ‘Watch’ may shift the needle towards long-form video being the stand-out format for hit content in 2018.

9. Consider going Live

Live Videos will become even more important in marketing, especially to build relationships and show the human touch of companies, says Jonathan Aufray.

10. Don’t forget YouTube

Facebook videos achieve 40% higher Engagement Rate than YouTube. However, YouTube videos can be shared anywhere (including on Twitter and LinkedIn) giving them much greater exposure online.

© 2017 – 2020, Priya Florence Shah. All rights reserved.