Whatever industry you are in, no doubt you are using social media marketing to a certain degree to get the words more about you and your business. One of the primary component of the social media is the content and the different social media platforms are overflowing with information. However, your intention certainly will be to stand apart in the crowd. Video contents can be great to break the clutter and engage with maximum number of audiences.
There is no doubt that online videos will soon be ruling the internet. Numerous statistics and studies show that video works. In fact, Cisco projects that by 2017 videos will account for 69 per cent of all web traffic [1] . According to the research by Moz, among the top 50 most shared content on the social media, 48% were video and 24% were image based. So, it is obvious that if there is no video in your social media strategy, you are making the situation tough for you. The online video is quickly becoming the key that the marketers can use to satisfy the information and entertainment needs of their audiences.
Why videos are gaining so much popularity?
Video is a great way to narrate stories, attract prospects’ attention, engage audiences, and take the business to the next level. When the question of potential reach arises, there is nothing that can match the videos. YouTube receives more than a billion visitors each month, and the statistics is better than any other channel, the only exception being Facebook. Actually, human beings can emotionally relate to videos and can make decisions much faster, instead of when they have to go through a lot of texts. It is the main reason why marketers are integrating the videos into their content marketing strategy. Other reasons are:
- Video can increasingly influence the customers
- Information conveyed through videos is easy to digest
- Video enables brand content to stand out from the online clutter of texts
Therefore, it is vital for the businesses to develop right video content and distribute it as a part of their integrated marketing strategy.
To begin with, you need to have a basic understanding of how you can use videos as the key part of your social media strategy. There are lot of options in social media networks to include videos. However, it is often confusing to determine where a marketer will start from.
Vine and Instagram have transformed the concept of real time video sharing in the social media. With maximum time limit of 15 seconds for the Instagram and 6 seconds for Vine, users can create short stories on their smartphones and can share instantly with their social media friends. Why don’t you start from there?
Vine Videos
Those, who do not want to get involved into complex video production, yet want to include a video into their social media page, may use Vine. Vine will let them to create simple, six second short videos that they can share on Twitter and Facebook. Videos are more powerful than flat images as the audience can experience the work in context. Through this short video, you can take your fans inside the store, restaurant, and the office. You can help them get to know your business on a more personal level. Or, simply convey fun through the videos.
Instagram videos
Instagram is a free mobile app, which you can download on your iPhone or Android phone. It is quick, fun, and easy to use. With Instagram, you can tell a story with both photos and videos. This service is comparatively better than Vine, as Instagram offers editing capabilities and almost twice the time to get your message across your audience. Another advantage of Instagram is that it enables to share the posts not only in Facebook and Twitter. You can share it in Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, and email.
As the tablet and mobile viewing figures overtook desktop viewers, companies are trying to use Instagram [2] to reach new audiences on social media platforms.
Apart, from the vine and Instagram, you can have videos on Facebook and YouTube.
Facebook videos
Facebook allows its users to create and upload up to 20 minutes of HD video. However, instead of adding a YouTube video link to your Facebook page, for more engagement, add videos directly to your page. Another way to boost the activity level on your Facebook page is by encouraging fans to share their best videos of your product.
YouTube videos
People can watch your YouTube videos directly on that network and you can share the link on almost all social networks- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Create and share relevant information, what your ideal customers might be searching on the internet. This will help you to get more viewers [3] .
While this is a guide telling you where you can actually begin your journey of video content creation, the next step is to optimize your created video for maximum shares.
It is very difficult to tell which piece of video will go viral and come up with several new followers or potential leads. The Guardian suggested a few ingredients [4] like building up an emotional rollercoaster, filling up the video with surprises or kicking off with a bang, which they noticed are essential elements in most engaging videos. But, in reality apart from the actual content of your video, marketing is the only tactics that can help your video go viral.
Make it shareable
On social media platform, sharing is something what you are looking for. The information you are trying to convey via your video will only become valuable when more and more people see it and share it. It is important to try and create content that are innately shareable. While crafting the video content, you have to anticipate the questions that your users or followers may have. Your effort should be to create a content that answers their queries.
And, what matters most is how it travels. Add social media sharing links so that the viewers can post their content in their networks. If your viewers have to struggle to spread your message, truly you are hampering the chances of your video going viral.
Shorter videos are great
Vine and Instagram videos have been incredibly successful over the past years. Today’s customers favor brief videos [5] where the messages are conveyed in clear and concise manner. It is the best practice to keep the video content as succinct as possible, especially when you have the intention to share it on social media.
When we are talking about social media, “long†means something above 15 seconds. Within first five seconds you need to come up with something striking in your video so that your viewers do not want to click away. Do not elongate the video unnecessarily. Cut out the irrelevant sections and keep only the things that are most important.
Tell a story through your video
Videos are a great medium of communication as they are flexible. But, how will create the video so that people will like to share it. Spitting out the facts and reasons will not be much helpful. People are most attracted to stories. Even if it is     a short clip, try to tell a story that will convey your information in the most digestible format. You can add music and texts to help the viewers understand your message more clearly. However, you have to control the storyline to maintain a professional outlook.
Although, the idea of producing video for your social media page is great, it is essential to remember that it must compliment the overall SEO strategy and generate adequate return on investment. If you fail to define your goals at the outset, you will end up spending hefty chunk of money for the video without any result. It is your aim to generate social shares and for that you have to essentially create videos that offer something to the viewers. Through the videos you have to make them laugh, shock them, educate them, or annoy them. Your lookout is to evoke a strong emotional reaction so that your audiences feel like sharing the video.
About Madhurima Gupta Madhurima Gupta is a digital marketing enthusiast and takes interest in online marketing, social media promotions and search engine optimization. She is associated with content writing, blogging and social media engagement. She is a content developer in Softz Solutions .
Links
- ^ videos will account for 69 per cent of all web traffic (www.cisco.com)
- ^ companies are trying to use Instagram (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ get more viewers (www.socialmediaexaminer.com)
- ^ suggested a few ingredients (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ brief videos (www.smartinsights.com)
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