Using Video Marketing In Your Social Media Strategy
Why Use Video Marketing?
Social media marketing is all about promoting your products and/or services in a way that appeals to your current and potential customers. 90% of users say that product videos are helpful in making purchasing decisions. That is a huge figure to neglect. Viral videos are a superb way for people to discover more about your business, products, and staff, making your company seem more approachable, professional and personable. Visual content, particularly eye-catching and easy-to-consume videos, completely trumps text when it comes to social media marketing. The average viewer will retain 95% of a message in a video, compared to a mere 10% in a piece of text. If you want your business to be the first name on the lips of current and potential customers, you better start thinking of some marketing video ideas!Facebook Video Marketing
One of your key objectives on social media platforms is engagement. The more people share, comment and react to your Facebook videos, the more likely your content is to be seen. When it comes to viral marketing and the Facebook news feed, videos on social media generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined. Facebook has recognised that 43% of people want more video content from businesses and is now offering various ways in which admins can jump on this trend. To upload a Facebook video, simply create a post and select ‘Add media’, the same way you would if you added an image. You will then need to create an engaging title, as well as add tags to aid reach and ensure maximum Facebook video views. Try and add tags that are current, popular and relevant to your video. Don’t forget to add subtitles to your Facebook videos as 85% of users watch videos without sound. Another useful thing to bear in mind is that videos up to 2 minutes tend to get the most engagement.Facebook Video Specs:
Facebook Video Size Limit – Up to 1GB. Facebook Video Format – MP4 or MOV. Facebook Video Length – Maximum of 45 minutes.Facebook Live
Facebook Live is a “fun, powerful way to connect with your followers and create new ones along the way.” Despite the nerve-wracking nature of broadcasting in real-time to potentially thousands of people, it can be a tremendous way to boost the reach and engagement of your Facebook videos. What better way to create new and completely unique and personable content than a live video straight from your smartphone? Use this relatively new feature to connect with your audience, announce exciting updates and products, and increase awareness around particular subjects or events.Facebook Cover and Profile Video
A Facebook cover video can help make your profile stand out from the rest. Changing your current cover image to a video is extremely easy, as it remains the exact same process. The only difference is that you select a video from your Facebook albums or device, instead of an image.Facebook Cover Video Specs:
Facebook Cover Video Length: 20-90 seconds long. Facebook Cover Video Dimensions: 820 x 462 pixels. Facebook Cover Video Format: MP4. It’s important to remember that Facebook cover videos loop by default (this can be changed in the upload process) and will automatically play in mute until the user actively selects the sound button. Facebook profile videos can last up to seven seconds and add to the aesthetics of your business’s page. You can add a Facebook video profile picture the same way you would add a cover video, although don’t forget that the dimensions of this video will have to be square.Twitter Video Marketing
82% of users watch video content on Twitter. Attaching a video to your tweet is equally as easy as including an image. Simply select the ‘add photos or video’, trim the video if necessary, and add your text. Twitter videos are also made possible via a live recording straight from your device. Twitter Live videos can be created through the app, which is very handy for smartphone or tablet users. Simply select the ‘Create tweet’ button followed by the Live symbol. Similar to Facebook, if you go live, each of your followers will immediately get a notification, providing they have the right account settings. 360 Twitter videos are particularly popular as they allow users to twist their devices to alter their point of view, creating a truly immersive experience. Twitter is continuing to encourage users and publishers to share more video content, and in December the social network started sharing how many views each Twitter video gets. Twitter is especially popular on portable devices, so much so that 93% of video views occur on mobile. This means it’s crucial that all pages are mobile-friendly if you’re directing viewers of your video to your website. Visual content will always stand out when users are scrolling, and Twitter videos get six times more retweets than photos. 41% of people now favour Twitter as a way to discover more video content, so why not give them what they’re looking for?Twitter Video Specs:
Twitter video format – MP4 or MOV. Twitter video length – Up to 140 seconds. Twitter video size – Max of 512MB.Instagram Video Marketing
Instagram is a wholly visual experience, so the pressure to stand out is arguably even greater on this social media platform. An Instagram video is a sure-fire way to immediately increase your chances of stopping someone in their tracks when scrolling down their feed. Having an Instagram account opens up multiple video marketing opportunities for your business. Instagram stories, for example, often get plenty of engagement. The social media app claims that one in five Instagram Stories earn a direct message, while one-third of the most viewed Stories come from businesses. Instagram Stories allow you to be creative with your video advertising, enabling you to rewind videos, as well as add visual effects, stickers, captions and hashtags. This type of Instagram video will be displayed for 24 hours at the top of the feed for anyone following your profile; in some cases, it will even send a push notification out, therefore maximising Instagram video views. You can also publish videos to your profile, which will then appear in your followers’ newsfeeds. This is a great place for professional and polished video content as it remains there forever. The more engagement your video receives, the more likely it is to appear in users’ newsfeeds. The maximum Instagram video length is one minute, therefore, while it may not be a perfect place for lengthy how-to videos or thorough promotional content, it can be excellent for short clips and teaser videos. When publishing an Instagram video, make sure you select an engaging, eye-catching thumbnail that clearly promotes its content. Instagram videos autoplay with the sound off, so bear this in mind if your video contains a lot of talking. To combat this, you could include a direction or icon instructing people to unmute or include subtitles.Instagram Video Specs:
Instagram video format – MP4 & MOV. Instagram video length – 3 seconds to one minute. Instagram video size – Recommended limit of 50MB.LinkedIn Video Marketing
In August 2017, LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, gave users the option to upload videos. This was part of the platform’s way of encouraging users to continue to “share your ideas, learn from others and jump start new conversations.” Like the aforementioned social media platforms, LinkedIn allows you to record video content direct to your page or profile using the app, or upload previously recorded content. Similar to LinkedIn posts, you are able to see audience insights to your videos, including who has viewed your content. There really is no excuse to start sharing videos and increase your LinkedIn following!LinkedIn Video Specs:
LinkedIn video format – ASF, AVI, MP4, MP1. LinkedIn video length – Up to 10 minutes. LinkedIn video size – 75KB-5GB.Embracing Video Marketing
It is clear that video is the future when it comes to marketing; at least the immediate future, with to virtual reality marketing just a short distance away. The growing popularity of video marketing is a result of various factors, but namely the fact that…- Users love it, therefore the more videos there are, the higher the engagement and time spent on a particular social network.
- It allows social networks to snare advertising away from traditional television broadcasters.
