Social video marketing is primarily used to increase audience engagement through social activity around a given video. It involves incorporating videos into marketing campaigns for the purpose of promoting a company, brand, product, or service through social networks.
Benefits of video marketing
- It is great for storytelling and brand building. Videos are an engaging medium because they enable you to tell a sophisticated story in a short amount of time. Using images, text, andsounds, you can add layers to your story.
- Video is emotional and creates a human connection with customers. You can use ‘real people’ to tell stories about your products or services that will connect with people on a personal level.
- Social video marketing has a high customer reach in comparison to traditional marketing mediums. When people like a video, they usually share it, increasing the reach further.
- Videos can rank higher in some social algorithms. This can increase the visibility of your content. Also, social video can help your content rank higher in Google search results. This can increase the discoverability of your content.
- You can use social video to improve email open and click-through rates.
- Customer retention is higher for information that is both seen and heard. This makes video a highly effective medium for retaining customers.
- Although professionally shot videos can be very expensive, video can actually be accessible for every brand. You can shoot a good-quality video using just a smartphone, for example.
Common misconceptions about video marketing
Here are five common misconceptions about social video:
It’s expensive. Video content doesn’t have to be expensive to work well. Online viewers are used to seeing content that is made off-the-cuff, and that isn’t over-produced.
It’s all about the views. Views are one of many factors that are important for social video. Engagement and having repeat viewers are also important.
Only YouTube is important. Although YouTube is a major player, over the last couple of years Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have all come into play when it comes to social video.
Once your video is published, you’re done. Not really. You need to keep your audience coming back. That means more content needs to be uploaded on a regular basis. You need to keep engaging with your audience, to keep them entertained and informed.
All video has to be professionally shot. Having your videos professionally shot will give your content an appealing polish. However, given the quality of most end-user cameras and phones today, almost anyone can shoot a video of acceptable quality. Indeed, if your video has a quirky, amateurish feel to it, this can lend it an air of authenticity that a glossier video might lack.
Video devices
Videos are consumed on four main devices:
- Mobile phones
- Computers
- Tablets
- TV screens
You need to understand your audience’s device preferences. Where are they most likely to view videos? This in turn impacts the production values, findability, and purpose of your video.
Guidelines when creating video for mobile phones:
Vertical or square orientation works well on mobile screens. Compose your frames with this in mind.
Many phone users watch videos with the sound off, so as not to disturb others. So create videos to be understood with sound off. For example, you can incorporate subtitles or onscreen call outs in your video to aid understanding. This also makes your video more accessible to a wider audience.
On a phone, shorter formats are more impactful. Users are unlikely to want to watch a long video ad on their phone.
Think about the viewer’s physical location when they are watching the video on a phone. They might be following instructions, recipes, how-to guides, and so on.
Guidelines for video on computers
On a computer screen, a horizontal or landscape orientation works best. Compose your frames with this in mind.
Because of the larger screen and because people are usually sitting at their computers,longer videos are more easily consumed.
For many people, watching content on a computer screen is a replacement for traditional TV.
Guidelines for video on tablets
Tablets have larger screens than phones, so horizontal orientation works best. Remember to keep this in mind when composing your frames.
How-to guides with detailed visuals work better on tablet screens than on mobile screens.
Just like with videos on phones, the viewer’s physical location might mean they are following instructions when they are watching a video on their tablet device.
Guidelines for video on TV
Even though people are watching a television, they could still be viewing YouTube content on a smart TV or via casting from their phone or tablet.
Because of the screen size, and the fact that people are usually relaxing when they watch television, long-form entertainment content and playlists are best suited to this medium. Because of the television’s audio/visual capabilities, it can take full advantage of the sound quality and high production values of your video.