Digital · Marketing · Social Media · Strategy
How to produce video for social media marketing
Social media video content is still dominating users’ attention spans. More than 100 million hours of Facebook video and over five billion YouTube videos are watched every day. Furthermore, videos get far more than text and link posts combined – 12 times more to be precise.
No matter which social media platforms you’re using, video should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy but with so much video content out there, how do you make yours stand out and where do you even start?
Here are a few things you need to think about before incorporating video into your online marketing efforts.
Strategy
There’s no point creating video content without knowing exactly where it’s going to go and what sort of impact you want to have – it’s a waste of time and money. So first, ask yourself the following questions:
- What’s your budget?
- What is the target audience?
- What’s the message?
- What are the objectives for sharing videos on social media?
- How often do you want to be sharing videos?
The answers to the above should enable you to establish what kinds of video you’ll need to create and give you focus to get your brand message across effectively.
Equipment
If you plan to shoot lots of videos for your social media campaigns, then investing in some video equipment is essential. The key basics are a digital camera, microphone, tripod and lighting kit.
Of course, you only need to invest in this if you plan on shooting the videos yourself; if you use an agency like Air Social, we have all the necessary equipment required.
On a budget? Use your smartphone. These days, smartphones take videos good enough to share on social media. However, if you’re creating a specific promotional or marketing video, we would always recommend investing in the proper equipment or drafting in the professionals.
Short and sweet
Most social media users have limited attention spans and patience – indeed the human attention span is now less than that of a goldfish so the best way to keep people from scrolling away from your video is to keep it short and sweet.
If you’re shooting a video with a script, then you should keep the words to around 300 at the absolute maximum, which should keep it just under the two-minute mark (users tend to lose interest after this time).
Editing
If you’re using an iPhone, you can use an app like iMovie to edit your video or, you can transfer the video to an independent editing tool, which will give you better results.
There are also some video tools that allow you to bypass the stress of shooting videos yourself by providing a template which you can customise to suit your brand and message.
For those really taking video seriously, Adobe Premiere Pro ranks among the best editing equipment for professionals but again this requires investment both in time and money.
Keep things simple
Generally, when it comes to watching videos on social media, no-one is after an Oscar-worthy film with loads of special effects. Most people want to see something that is informative and engaging.
Again, look back at what the purpose of the video is; are you using video to increase brand awareness? Inform people about a new product? Show a customer case study? Whatever message you’re trying to convey, your videos should be as clear as possible and that usually means keeping things simple.
Need help incorporating video into your digital marketing strategy? Let the experts at Air Social in Guildford help take the stress away. Contact us here.
Written by the team at Air Social.
Article courtesy of Air Social
Original article
