Modern social media is dominated by video content.
Maybe this is down to TikTok’s influence, or perhaps marketers are starting to realise the true potential of video. It’s a versatile medium that can capture a viewer’s attention in ways that traditional media simply cannot.
90% of businesses use video content to market their products and services.
Most social networks have adapted to prioritise video, both long and short-form. For example, YouTube has its regular videos plus YouTube Shorts. Instagram Reels can be up to 90 seconds long, and you can go live for up to four hours. Facebook Stories are front and centre on the homepage.
Social video has various applications and comes in many forms.
For some businesses, professionally produced video ad resonates best with their audiences. For others, the more natural and authentic, the better.
Regardless of whether you use social media video now, it’s about time you prioritised it going forward. It helps build your brand, give your business personality, educate customers, generate leads, and even garner direct sales.
In this article, we teach you how to leverage social media video to get the most out of your digital marketing strategy. Let’s get into it.
- Social media video overview
- How do you make a good social media video?
- Where can I find videos for social media?
- How can Sendible help with social media video?
Social media video overview
YouTube is largely responsible for starting social media video marketing. After launching in 2005, it became an advertising powerhouse within three years.
Yet, still, creating video content was tricky. It required the latest equipment, a lot of time, high-speed internet, and specialist editing software.
Over the past 10 to 15 years, these barriers have gradually lifted.
Today, there are far more outlets for video content. Virtually all social media networks promote video. In fact, most realise that it’s the most important medium.
Nowadays, high-speed internet is everywhere. Anyone with a decent smartphone can make a couple of taps on their screen and stream live to millions of people in high definition in a matter of seconds.
Smartphones have basic built-in editing tools, as do social media platforms, so putting together an engaging video has never been easier. If you require a more comprehensive edit, there are tools out there for that, and they won’t break the bank.
Because of these factors, the consumption of video continues to rise globally.
Source: Statista
Adults in the UK engage with video content from a variety of sources, including social media apps and streaming services. Most of this content is consumed on smart TVs and mobile phones.
Social media video typically falls into one of two categories, short-form video or long-forn video.
Short-form video
Most marketers agree that a short-form social media video should be 60 seconds or less. Exceeding the minute mark means entering long-form territory.
The idea is to catch the attention of social media users, get your message across quickly, and encourage interaction and engagement. It plays into the demand for bite-sized content that you see on platforms like Instagram (Reels) or TikTok.
In most cases, short-form video is king when it comes to social media. Here are a few benefits of keeping your content short and sweet.
- Quick-fire delivery: Short-form video cuts out any fluff and gets straight to the point, making it an effective method of communicating key information. Details are direct and easy to retain.
- Audience retention: Shorter videos require less of a time investment, encouraging viewers to watch from start to finish.
- Tailor-made for socials: Most social networks prioritise bite-size content, so your TikToks, Reels, and Snapchat videos are likely to have more of an impact if they’re short.
- Versatility: Short clips give you the chance to experiment and test different approaches to your content, determining what sits best with your audience.
There has never been a better time for brands to promote their products and services with short videos. However, they have their limitations. In certain instances, you’ll need long-form video to relay messages effectively.
The best social networks for short-form videos are:
- TikTok
- Instagram (Instagram Reel, Instagram Story)
- Facebook (Facebook Reel, Facebook Story)
- YouTube Shorts
- Snapchat
Source: Sendible YouTube
Long-form video
Long-form video can last anywhere between a minute and several hours. Longer videos allow you to cover more topics in greater detail.
Below are some benefits your business could avail of with long-form social media video content.
- Improved reputation and credibility: Long-form videos allow you to explore topics in depth. 44% of social media users watch videos to learn about products and services. Tutorials, explainers, and demonstration videos can perform well as long-form videos.
- Storytelling: Connect with your audience on a deeper level with engaging storytelling, such as interviews or behind-the-scenes videos.
- Connect with the audience: You can address your target audience directly through long-form videos—for example, interactive Q and As or interviews.
Long-form social media video content tends to be trickier to create. Although you have more time and flexibility, your content must still be engaging and interesting. To boot, viewers typically expect higher production value with long videos.
For most brands, a consistent flow of short-form video with a sprinkle of long-form content is the perfect formula. However, this isn’t always the case. The type of content that works best for your brand depends on your business, audience, demographics, and customer needs.
Popular social networks for long-form videos include:
- YouTube
How do you make a good social media video?
Making a good social media video involves several key factors, such as planning, goal setting, editing, scheduling, and analysis.
The majority of social media video content is consumed on smartphones. 77% of social users use mobile devices to watch videos. They’re one and a half times more likely to use a smartphone rather than a computer to consume video content. So, your videos don’t have to be TV ad standard.
While you don’t need to compete with the likes of John Lewis, following best practices is important to give your content the best chance of success. With that, here are some essential tips for creating compelling videos.
1. Plan your video based on the platform
Every social media network is unique. What works well on Facebook may not have the same impact on TikTok.
Your videos' length, theme, and tone should be based on the platform and the audience that will consume them. Each social app also has formatting criteria.
To get the most out of your content, pay attention to the aspect ratio, file quality, and other app-specific guidelines.
2. Define goals for videos
Marketers often get carried away by a trend or come up with videos on the fly. There is a time and place for creative freedom, but setting goals should always come first. Goals help give your content purpose and ensure your videos align with your business's broader strategy.
All aspects of your social media video content should contribute toward your goals. Without a purpose, strategy goes out the window. You’ll find yourself wasting time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
3. Plan each step of video production
Efficiency is key when creating original video content for social media. The reality is that you can pour hours and even days into an elaborate video, only for it to fall short of your expectations.
The key to being efficient is to carefully plan every step. This gives you a realistic idea of what it will take and you’ll avoid unexpected complications. Here is an example of a typical task list for a social media video.
- Shoot location
- Script
- Storyboard
- Editing requirements
- Sign-offs (from management, clients, etc.)
- Licensing and copyright conditions.
As you go through your plan, you may find that the video is too ambitious and needs to be scaled back. Or, you’ll recognise an issue that needs tweaking. Regardless, a solid plan should come before you even think about hitting record.
4. Understand editing requirements
Unless you’re shooting a live clip or uploading a simple selfie-style video, you’ll likely need to edit your content. Even the most basic videos require editing, especially in today’s society when attention spans are short.
Your edits don’t have to be complicated. A lot of social edits involve clipping the video to remove pauses or adding captions and subtitles. For tasks like this, it’s useful to have a basic and easy-to-use editing tool.
5. Schedule content on your calendar
Once your video has been shot and edited, it’s time to schedule it.
If you manage multiple accounts or post on a range of platforms, having a calendar is key. Social media management tools, like Sendible’s built-in interactive calendar that allow you to schedule content for various social networks from one place.
The platform also allows you to optimise your content for each network, with tags, thumbnails, and editing tools. Furthermore, with collaborative workflows, you can assign roles to different team members, giving exclusive sign-off responsibilities to specific people.
If you value fast, efficient, and strategic scheduling, consider a social media management tool with a calendar and scheduler.
6. Analyse the results
Analysing the performance of your content is a crucial step. Ultimately, you don’t know how well your videos are doing unless you dig into the numbers.
All social networks offer metrics, giving you insights into what’s working, who’s watching your videos, and other key performance information. While these native metrics are useful, it’s much easier to gauge social media performance with in-depth analysis using a management tool with built-in analytics.
Important metrics to focus on include:
- View count
- Play rate
- Comments
- Likes
- Shares
- Videos completions
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Conversion rate
- Time on page
- New followers
All information and insights should be used to create better content in the future.
To get a quick overview of your social media video campaigns, simply label them in Sendible and get a quick performance report.
Where can I find videos for social media?
You can find videos to share on social media from a variety of places, such as partners or suppliers, stock websites, or your followers. You don’t have to come up with original concepts and shoot fresh videos for every post.
User-generated content is a great way to drum up interaction and gain new followers. This means resharing videos created by your followers.
For example, Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke campaign. Coca-Cola released customised bottles featuring names, encouraging people to share photos or videos of them drinking Coca-Cola from bottles with their names.
How can Sendible help with social media video?
Sendible’s social media management tool can help with social media video content with its array of intuitive features, including editing integrations, a scheduler, a calendar, an interactive dashboard, and in-depth analytics.
Engaging with video marketing can be intimidating, especially if you have limited experience. However, with the help of Sendible, you can leverage the right tools and steer clear of the common pitfalls. We will be at your side every step of the way, enabling you to create high-quality and authentic content that best represents your brand.
Below, you’ll find a sample of what you can expect the moment you start working with Sendible.
Content calendar and scheduling
Our interactive content calendar gives you a visual overview of all social media posts, past and present. Team members with editing access can easily rearrange posts, preview content, or even edit if they need to.
Planning content in advance saves you time and makes it easier to react to opportunities or trends. Furthermore, if you work with multiple clients, you can give them a snapshot of what video content is planned for the coming days, weeks, or months.
With our scheduling tool, you can set posts to go live at specific times on specific days. This gives your content an additional strategic edge as you can post at optimal times for your target audience automatically.
Our scheduling tool makes consistency achievable. This is crucial for optimal social media performance.
Smart Compose Box
Even with the best of intentions, dealing with post approvals, editing requirements, messages, and other standard tasks across multiple platforms quickly becomes a hassle. Sendible’s Smart Compose Box eliminates these obstacles, allowing you to handle content for various channels from one place.
The Smart Compose Box is your go-to solution for repurposing content for multiple platforms. Plus, it allows you to preview your videos (and other content) before publishing to make sure everything looks as it should.
Supported networks
As discussed, each social network has its own set of guidelines for posting videos. Sendible integrates with each, ensuring you can manage all of your profiles and make efficient uploads from a central location. Sendible is compatible with:
Sendible also supports a comprehensive range of app integrations that can help you take your social performance to another level. Other supported networks include:
To see how you can leverage each of these integrations, request a demo with one of our experts.
Selectable video thumbnails
At Sendible, we’re constantly evolving and adding new features to our tool. Soon, we’ll be announcing brand new additions, including video thumbnails for LinkedIn videos, an in-app video editor, and more. Watch this space.
Video content is the present and future. Stay on top of the latest best practices with a social media management tool like Sendible. If you want to hear more, book a free consultation with one of our team. We offer a 14-day free trial so you know exactly what you’re in for.
