If content is “king”, then video content is the “master of the universe”. Video marketing has a very important role in digital algorithms and has been an ever-evolving tool for social media over the years. We’re here to help you create out-of-this-world videos tailored to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.
1. YouTube video is personal, strategic, community-building, and has replaced T.V.
YouTube processes billions of searches every month and is the second-largest search engine online (following Google). This platform is all about sharing your personality and building a community. A perk to uploading video to YouTube is that it allows your brand to effortlessly embed videos on your website while also providing easily discoverable content on Google.
Some brands choose to stop there, however, a lot of successful brands take it one step further and choose to connect with influencers who have a large, loyal following. They collaborate with these influencers to make videos that highlight their brand for their audiences. Brands like Nike, Samsung, Lexus, and many more have been very successful using this strategy when launching a new product. Don’t forget, you can now go live on YouTube! YouTube promotes live video more than any other video in their algorithm.
- Here’s a quick “cheat sheet” for making the most of your brand’s YouTube videos:
- Make the first 5-15 seconds count. Viewers tend to lose interest if not captured within those first seconds.
- We live in an HD world now. Make sure to use high-resolution 1080p or 4K for your videos. Both 1080p and 4K have a format resolution of 1920 x 1080 or an aspect ratio of 16:9.
- Spend some time picking the right keywords to help capture major channel growth and video views.
- Go live a couple times a month and collaborate with influencers as part of your video marketing strategy.
2. Facebook video is amusing, creates emotion, and is extremely shareable.
Think back to the last time you shared a video on Facebook. Why did you share it? Did you share it because the video made you feel something or made you laugh? When planning videos for this platform, you need to ask yourself what will motivate someone to share your video on their personal page? Thinking about these aspects before creating your brand videos will help you tell your story and grow your brand – which is a very valuable aspect of video marketing.
Facebook also provides brands with incredible opportunities to promote video directly to a specific target market. Facebook gives you the ability to narrow down your target using metrics like location, personal interests, gender, age, website visitors, and more.
Over the last several months, Facebook has placed a large emphasis on video content in their newsfeed algorithm. This means video marketing is one of the number one tools to use when it comes to organically growing your brand on this platform. Don’t forget you can also go live on Facebook, instantly building relationships with your customers. The best type of content for a live video is doing anything where you communicate and interact with your audience in real time.
- Here’s a quick “cheat sheet” for making the most of your brand’s Facebook videos:
- Use “square” or 1:1 format. 1:1 format out-performs landscape videos by 30-35%.
- Use high-resolution 1080p to 4K. 1080p and 4K has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or an aspect ratio of 16:9.
- Write attention-grabbing headlines for your Facebook Live sessions to attract more viewers. Also, make sure to advertise that you are going live during the days leading up to your live video.
- There is a high percentage of videos that are viewed on Facebook without sound, so make sure to add captions to your video.
- Ask why someone would share your video before you actually film your video.
3. Instagram video is captivating, inspiring, visually stunning.
With Instagram’s recent launch of Instagram Stories and Instagram Live, Instagram has become another great tool to use for video marketing. The new feature, combined with Instagram having the slowest scroll rate amongst all other social platforms, has opened up a lot of new video marketing opportunities for brands.
- Here’s a quick “cheat sheet” for making the most of your brand’s Instagram videos:
- Use “square” or 1:1 format when posting to your feed.
- Instagram requires that you “tap video for sound” – meaning silence is automatic. So make sure if you have a vocal message you want to get across that you provide text captions in the video.
- The quality of your content is an important factor on Instagram. Make sure to keep your videos on par with the high-quality photos that will be surrounding it.
- Because Instagram is breaking into the video world, they are pushing more video content with their algorithm. So make sure to take advantage of their algorithm with a simple hashtag strategy. Having this strategy in place will help your brand get higher engagement on your video posts.
- Use Instagram Stories for simple videos and updates.
4. Twitter video is quick, entertaining, and simple.
While everyone is talking about video marketing on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, Twitter continues to take big leaps towards video marketing on its platform. Twitter is a highly personal platform which gives you the ability to interact with others. Creating personal video content on Twitter is an incredible strategy, and it will only work if you take the time to follow up and interact as a person, not a business.
- Here’s a quick “cheat sheet” for making the most of your brand’s Twitter videos:
- Be a human, not a business in your videos.
- Have a story to tell.
- Videos with little to no sales overtones that are simply there to entertain your audience can lead to higher engagement.
- Maximum video length is 140 seconds, so, use it wisely.
5. Snapchat video is pure, fresh, and young.
Snapchat is perfect when you’re wanting to reach a younger target audience through video marketing. Younger generations are using this platform more and more every day as their primary form of communication. This makes Snapchat video a very important platform as a brand with a younger target audience. This is also one of the hardest platforms to master as a brand. However, if you can master it, you can find great success.
- Here’s a quick “cheat sheet” for making the most of your brand’s Snapchat videos:
- Add text and drawings to your video! A large percentage of videos viewed on Snapchat are without sound.
- Make your first video count! Viewers are more likely to drop off after the first video more than any other.
- Record in a vertical format. Viewers tend to engage more with content that feels more natural.