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Contents
So it pretty much goes without saying:SOCIAL MEDIA + VIDEO MARKETING = SUCCESSBut you knew this already.The real question then, is this: how do you make a great social media video marketing strategy?If you're looking for answers to this question, you've come to the right place.In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know, from:
- Types of social media videos for your business
- Key actionable tips to optimize your video strategy
- Best practices for each social media platform
- Best online video tools and agencies
With all our experience in video marketing and a TON of research, we’ve come up with this comprehensive guide.So this one goes out to all the marketers out there. Use this guide to boost your social media marketing.Let us know how it goes!
Content
<div style="color:blue;">Chapter 1</div>
Types of Video Content
Chapter 2
Actionable Tips
Chapter 3
Platform-Specific Tips
Chapter 4
Online Video Tools
Types of social media videos for your business
Look, we get it.It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the number and types of videos floating around the internet every day. Similarly, it’s difficult to know precisely when and where you should use a particular type of video.This is exactly why we made a comprehensive list of all the content types you can create for social media video marketing.Whether you need Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram video ideas, this is the section for you!Each of these videos have their own characteristics and platforms that they work best in.
1. Product videos (what do you do/make?)
You probably already know the basics of product-related videos so we won’t bore you with too many details. Essentially, product videos can be explainer videos, demos or teasers.
Statistics show that 68% of people say they want to learn about new products/ services through a short video. What’s more, social videos get shared 1200% more than text and image content combined!
In other words, they’re great for getting the word out there, increasing brand exposure and familiarizing customers with your product.Short explainer or teaser videos on social media also seem more authentic to consumers than commercial ads and branded videos. In addition, they build curiosity and encourage customers to learn more and seek out your products.Best for: Facebook, Instagram, TwitterLooking for some product video inspiration? Check out this simple yet effective animated video Atoka uses to explain its B2B sales intelligence service.
2. Behind The Scenes (or BTS … no, not the K-Pop group)
Behind the scenes videos are great for showcasing your company’s personality and your personal brand story. For instance, you can use them to show off the amazing team behind your brand and the work they do!Likewise, they’re also great for forming a more personal and authentic connection with your audience.A couple of ideas for BTS videos include office tours or backstage exclusives at company events.
You can even post a ‘day in the life’ of an employee or manager, showcasing a typical workday at your company.
Best for: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
3. Company Story & Culture Videos (who are you?)
People connect with people - It’s that simple.Company story videos humanize your brand and give your audience a reason to relate with and trust you.In other words, they’re pretty much the embodiment of the phrase “show, don’t tell.”They show your customers why you do what you do and what goes into making your product or service.Why is this effective? People buy because of the ‘WHY’.
What was your vision when you created your product? What inspired you to make it?Use these answers to tell a story that makes your audience feel like they’re a part of your company.These videos are also great for recruitment as they show potential hires what it’s actually like to work at your company.
If you want to scout talent, these videos are great for reaching people who share your values and missions.After all, they say “You attract your own kind” for a reason.Best for: LinkedIn, Facebook
4. Promo, Offers & Deals (after all, we LOVE them)
Anyone who says they don’t love a good deal is lying to themselves.Surely, you’ve been tempted to buy a product just because there was a good offer.Packaged in short and attention-grabbing social media videos, promos and deals will do wonders for generating sales and conversions.Best for: Facebook, Instagram
5. User Generated Content (let your audience do some of the work)
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Video marketing is no doubt effective. But it also requires resources, time and sometimes even a budget. So is there an easier way out?Well, not exactly.But there is another alternative.Encourage your loyal users and prospective customers to share their own video content about your brand!For instance, hosting contests and giveaways can greatly increase engagement and customer involvement.
Ask users to submit videos using your product or talking about it for a chance to win free products or discounts.Above all, user-generated content is effective because people love authenticity. Customers are far more likely to trust referrals and reviews from other customers than the word of the brand.
Not convinced? 56% of consumers say that UGC is the content they want to see most from brands. Not to mention, engagement increases by 28% when consumers can view a mixture of UGC and brand-created content!
Best for: Instagram, Facebook
6. Event Videos (Turn FOMO into views)
Ah, good old FOMO.The fear of missing out hits us all from time to time. After all, it’s human nature to want to be included.Imagine if there was a way for you to virtually attend events all over the world through your smartphone - all from the comfort of your bed! What a dream.Okay, maybe virtual reality technology still has some way to go.For now, though, social live videos can provide a similar experience. Use your audience’s FOMO to encourage them to tune into videos that cover exclusive events.
One study even suggests that live videos of events increase brand favorability by a whopping 63%! So what’s not to like?
Whether it’s product launches, charity events and conferences like Google I/O - people love sneak-peeks into events they can’t attend themselves. This allows you to make a bunch of different types of event-related videos that your audience will love.For instance, recap videos with rundowns of everything that happened can be great for giving your viewers an overview of the event. You can even step it up a notch by interviewing people at the event or including exclusive backstage footage.And don’t forget, live videos are excellent for sharing events in real time to drive up engagement and interaction.Best for: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
7. Video Blogs (or ‘vlogs’ as the kids call them)
Vlogs are a great way to connect with your audience by showing off your industry expertise. With just a smartphone, you can record anything from informational sit-down videos to fun ‘day in the life’ vlogs.People love to be taught something new and they love watching engaging video content.
Vlogs are the perfect way to do both.In addition, another great thing about Vlogs is that they let you cheat a little to maximize your ROI. (Not that we condone cheating — we’re a good influence, promise!)“How?” you might be asking…Well, by repurposing content from your popular blogs and social media posts into video blogs.
Most importantly, this eliminates the need to write a whole new script or plan a new post from scratch.Best for: Facebook, LinkedIn, InstagramNeed some inspiration? Check out this vlog we based on our blog post, ‘how to use videos in the sales funnel for high conversion’.
8. Blog teasers
Did you invest a lot of time writing a comprehensive blog post that you know readers will love?Social media video marketing is a great way of promoting your blog and increasing its readership!One way to do this is by posting short teaser videos announcing your upcoming post. In addition, you can even put up compelling trailers with quotes from the text to encourage viewers to read the whole thing.Simply include a call to action and a link to the post and there you have it!
This builds up excitement for your upcoming content and redirects traffic to your blog.In addition, teaser videos also let you repurpose your blog content, creating engaging social media posts from existing content.
Best for: Facebook, Instagram
9. Do It Yourself or How-to videos
Imagine you’re hosting a dinner party for your colleagues and want to impress them with a delicious Shepherd’s Pie. The only problem? You have no hecking idea how to make one.What do you do?You browse YouTube or Facebook until you find a video that helps you make the best Shepherd’s Pie ever, of course.There’s a reason that ‘how-to’ instructional videos and ‘do it yourself’ videos are so popular.
The ‘life-hack’ trend is huge! People love to quickly and easily learn new skills on the go.Take the huge success of Buzzfeed’s ‘Tasty’ or ‘Nifty’, for instance. Their short, step by step videos teach the audience practical skills like cooking, home improvement and so much more!
DIY videos are a great way to help customers while showcasing your brand’s expertise in your niche. Use the opportunity to teach customers how they can solve daily problems with your products. Not only will this benefit the customer, but it’ll also increase your product’s exposure.In other words… it’s a win-win situation.
Best for: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
10. FAQ Videos and Replying to Customers (make ‘em feel special)
Videos are great for spicing up traditional FAQs.Use your smartphone to post short videos answering your customers’ frequently asked questions through social media. This also lets you respond in a way that’s easier to understand and enables interaction with your audience through comments.Want to step it up a notch?Personalized video responses to individual inquiries are great for enhancing the customer experience! One way to do this is by responding privately to customers through direct message. Or you can do it publicly, as Dell did with its #DellLove program, for instance.
Best for: Instagram, Twitter
11. Be influential with influencer videos
There’s no doubt you’ve heard the term “influencer marketing” floating around a lot recently.But is it really all that it’s made out to be?
Absolutely.
Research by Twitter suggests that 49% of people rely on influencer recommendations when making purchasing decisions. So clearly, they’re a huge resource to tap into.
Working with influencers helps expand your reach and credibility by solving two key problems:
- Customers may not have heard of your brand, but they’ve probably heard of the influencer.
- Customers might not yet trust your brand, but loyal followers trust an influencer's judgement.
In other words… Engaging videos coupled with an influencer’s reach offer unparalleled opportunities for growth and ROI.There are two key ways you can use influencers in your social media video marketing strategy.
The first is through paid partnerships where influencers create unboxing videos or hauls featuring your product.They’re great for increasing your product’s exposure and viewership by reaching a much larger audience.
Give the influencer creative control and let them integrate your brand into their own content. Did someone say word of mouth marketing?Secondly, you can have an influencer take over your social media account for a period of time.This lets your customers see a fresh, new perspective on your social media channels. Giving them creative freedom in posting videos on your story adds authenticity and variety while driving up viewership! You can also ask them to go live to interact with your followers in real-time, generating traffic and engagement.
A great example of influencer video marketing is Glossier. The beauty company often invites beauty bloggers to takeover their Instagram stories and showcase their skincare routines - engaging large audiences as they do it!Best for: Instagram, Facebook
Key actionable tips to optimize your video strategy
You already knew that videos are super important for your social media digital marketing strategy. Let’s say you’ve even decided on the type of video you want to make.Where do you go from here?How do you make videos that are engaging, captivating, and most of all: EFFECTIVE?
It can be overwhelming but don’t worry.We’ve put together a list of 10 actionable strategies to use when making and uploading your videos.These are crucial to your video’s success, engagement, and viewership — no matter which platform you’re making content for.
1. Increase user engagement by 70% with no sound
Silent film is back ladies and gentlemen!Okay, not really.But the fact is: A LOT of video content today is watched without audio.Why? Thanks to Instagram and Facebook’s autoplay features. In fact, a whopping 85% of Facebook videos are watched silently.Consumers love content that engages them with minimal effort, especially if they can watch it on the go.
Likewise, it actually takes a lot for a viewer to press the ‘unmute’ button on your video intentionally.So what can you do to make sure your audience still watches and understands your content?
- Keep things visual! Ensure that your video doesn’t require sound to convey its message.
- Include subtitles or closed captions on all of your videos to increase their accessibility and boost video shares by 15%!
Here’s a little tip: Facebook automatically generates captions in the form of SRT files when you upload videos natively. Simply download this SRT file and use it on your LinkedIn video, with barely any extra work. It's that simple!Want to create your captions for Instagram or Twitter videos? Tools like Kapwing and Rev can help you do that in just minutes.
2. Hit the target (audience) with these 3 simple steps
Knowing and catering to your target audience is key to a successful social media video marketing strategy. Put, the best way to increase engagement is by producing the content your audience wants to see.But how do you know what your audience wants?
1. Knowwho your audience isAll social media platforms offer excellent in-app analytic tools that break down your follower demographics by age, gender and location. LinkedIn further breaks down these demographics by seniority, industry, function and more. These tools are great for identifying who follows you and what kind of content they’re most interested in.
As a brand, you also need to know who your buyer persona is. Tools like Hubspot’s ‘Make My Persona’ can be of great help. It’ll let you map out who your ideal customer is: their behaviors, interests, goals, and motivations. This can also help you understand the kind of content that they’d most be interested in.
2. Make the appropriate content for your audience After that, of course, you need to make the right content. Use your demographics and buyer persona to identify and create the video content that they most want to see. Trust us; you’ll notice a difference in how your audience views, interact and engages with your content!
3. Target your content to reach the right audiences Social media ads are customizable - they can separately reach specific groups of your target audience. Facebook video ads offer the most targeting options from core, custom, and lookalike audiences.Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn also follow with several different targeting filters. This means you can make specific ads to target the right people, guaranteeing increased engagement and views!To sum it all up …
- Know your target audience
- Make videos your target audience will like
- Target specific video ads to reach the right people
3. Reach the right people at the right time (even when you’re asleep!)
There are certain days and times when your posts can get maximum possible engagement. You want to get the most eyes on your content, so posting at the right time can make a huge difference.These specifications are different for each platform, so make sure you follow the right one. We recommend checking out this guide by Sprout Social to know the best times to post on social media in 2019.
We also understand that it can be hectic and confusing to always post at the right time. Not to mention, your target audience may be in a completely different time zone.But don’t worry - we’re giving you a simple solution — scheduling tools.
With these tools, you can schedule posts to be uploaded at strategic times and catch those zzz's in peace. Check out these publishing tools to schedule content for your social media video marketing campaigns.
4. Increase engagement with Stories
They may be features on Instagram and Facebook, but don’t underestimate the power of Stories!
There were a whopping 500 million active Instagram Story users worldwide in January 2019.
That is to say; Stories offer a huge market to tap into!Stories last for 24 hours and let you play around with a lot of interactive filters and stickers.
They are also prime real estate because they’re always available at the top of the user’s feed.Stories are perfect for sharing tutorials, deals or special announcements with your audience while letting your fun side shine. They’re perfect for sharing informal videos and personal content with youraudience while letting your fun side shine.If you’re proud of your stories, you can even save them to your profile with ‘highlights.’
This way they’re available for future viewers as well.Tip: We recommend posting 2-3 stories a day., once every morning and evening. This way there’s always fresh content there for your followers to see.
5. Increase viewership by getting your content to the right places
The first thing you probably do after creating content is to share it with your followers on social media. But what if there are also a bunch of other people who may be interested in your brand and videos?
The only problem — They don’t know you exist or maybe don’t follow you on social media.How do you reach and tap into this market?
- Both Facebook and LinkedIn have scores of groups in all niches and industries. Join these groups and share your content with related people and businesses. This can significantly increase your video’s reach, especially to people who are genuinely interested in it!
- Interact with customers, professionals and related businesses by ‘tagging’ them in your posts. This invites them to check out your content and share it with their networks.
- Consider reaching out to influencers in your niche or people who you think can benefit from your video. If they find your content useful, they’re likely to share it with their own networks and voila! All eyes on your video.
6. Create quality content by being spontaneous
We’ve all been taught that ‘practice makes perfect’. We’ve heard that it’s essential to have an action plan. But this isn’t always the case.It’s easy to get caught up in making the perfect social media video and sharing it at the ideal time.But the reality is, people want quality content, and they want it fast.In fact, relevant content and fun tend to work best on social media.
Therefore, some of the best Instagram video content out there is spontaneous and seems natural.Why? Because people feel like they can relate to it. While blogs and websites are formal and professional, social media video marketing is meant to be casual and fun.The beauty of platforms like Instagram and Facebook is that they let you interact with your audience authentically.
Use this to your advantage! With features like live streaming and Stories, it’s super easy to film short ‘update’ videos, even on the go.Did a celebrity walk into your store? Let your fans know by posting a story about it!On your way to an event? Give your viewers a quick update by going live.
7. Stay relevant - Use trends!
In order to remain competitive in today’s digital world, one factor is of prime importance: relevance.Don’t get us wrong, throwbacks and other traditional content are great from time to time. But the reality is, consumers love content that is relevant and up to date. Current memes, challenges, and trends are a great way to connect with your audience. After all, people want to see content that relates to what is happening around the world.
Take the ALS awareness Ice bucket challenge of 2014 as an example. The challenge became viral to the point that mega-brands like McDonalds and Samsung took to social media and accepted the challenge.Participating in trends shows your audience that you’re relevant, current, and always ready to have a good time!
8. Repurpose, reuse, recycle
The idea is that it pays off to work smarter, not harder.Content marketing can sometimes seem like a race. That is to say; you’re constantly trying to generate and share a lot of new and original content. But what you might not be doing, is repurposing and reviving existing content to give it another chance.Suppose you’ve written a fantastic, super long and detailed blog post.
You spent hours researching, and it has everything your readers need to know about a specific topic.You may be used to just sharing it on your blog and leaving it at that. But imagine if you could increase its reach and easily create complementary content by doing just a little extra work?“How?” you might be asking.By repurposing your content and posting it on social media.
Turn existing content into a video on social media to give it a new life and increase its reach. Or, use Instagram or Facebook Stories to film a video telling your followers to check out your popular blog posts. You can even post a small snippet from your professional marketing videos to your story to promote it!
9. Increase conversions by creating an irresistible first impression
Video thumbnails are extremely important because they form the viewer’s first impression of your video. In fact, they’re usually the key factor that helps your audience decide whether or not to check out your content.Video thumbnails help make your videos stand out. They encourage viewers to hit the play button by telling them what they can gain by watching your video.
They often include a mix of visual images and text that grab attention and convey the message.On Instagram, for example, the ‘cover image’ of your video is the square that represents it on your profile. Hence, you want to make sure that it’s attention-grabbing and invites your audience to click on it.
Great video thumbnails should:
- Make good use of color and lighting
- Be emotive and relatable
- Convey the subject of the content and compel the viewer to click-through to the video
- Be optimized for any mobile device
10. Get 82% more viewers with Live videos
Live video platforms let you interact and engage with your audience in a way that no other type of video can.
They’re super popular, and over 82% of Facebook users prefer them over usual text posts! And, they’re steadily gaining traction. The phrase “live Facebook stream” saw a 330% increase in searches from 2016 to 2018. Clearly, they’re something worth exploring.
Live videos are great for interacting with your audience in real time and showing them an authentic side to your brand. From Q&A sessions to interviews, events, and product launches, the possibilities are virtually endless.Live streaming is great for engagement, but keep in mind that it’s very different from pre-recorded videos. Don’t stress; there are a couple of things you can do to make sure that everything goes smoothly.
Before you go live, ensure you have the right equipment. Notify your followers and encourage them to tune in. In addition, link your live stream across all your social platforms to promote it.
During the live stream, remember to relax and stay authentic. Acknowledge your viewers and interact with them by answering questions and replying to comments.
Once the live stream has ended, use analytics tools to analyze your live stream. Also, share the video on social media for those who might have missed it.Interested in learning how to create the perfect live video? Head over to this comprehensive guide to live videos for your business.
Best practices for each social media platform
Once you’ve created your video, it’s time to send it out into the world. But this isn’t as simple as just logging onto social media and uploading your video. There are a couple more steps involved in social media video marketing.The beauty of social platforms is that each one offers something different and has its own unique capabilities.
The key is to effectively use all these features to optimize your videos.In this chapter, we’ll cover the unique video characteristics of each platform and how you can make the most of them.
More than 500 million people use Instagram daily. Out of this, 200 million users visit at least one business profile in a day.So clearly, Instagram is the perfect platform to interact with your audience. It’s also ideal for videos, and they tend to work even better than regular posts on Instagram.
‘Mention’ reports that Instagram videos have the highest engagement and receive 2x as many comments as images.Ready to post your video on the ‘Gram? Let’s take a look at everything you need to know to make the most of Instagram video marketing.
1. Hashtag
Hashtags categorize content and make it more discoverable. Users can also ‘follow’ a hashtag. and view your content, even if they don’t follow you!.Apart from feed posts, you can also use up to 10 hashtags on your stories. This gives you a chance to be featured in that hashtag’s Stories as well!
Tip: Shrink and cover your Stories hashtags with stickers to make it look cleaner and more aesthetic.The key thing to remember is to keep your hashtags relevant and specific. In fact, according to this study, posts with 9 hashtags received the most engagement — so don’t add more than that.
2. Loop videos
Micro videos are one of the most effective types of content to tell stories in a short period of time. While great visuals and sound are important, it’s usually how videos seamlessly loop that makes them so mesmerizing.Instagram loops videos by default, they automatically start from the beginning once the clip has ended.
To maximize views, it’s really important to ensure that your video seamlessly transitions from end to beginning.This way your viewers will watch your video over and over again without even realizing it.Try using Instagram’s secondary apps to make catchy, loopable videos in an instant.
Boomerang is great for creating mini-videos that play ‘forward and backward’, while Hyperlapse makes smooth and stable time lapse videos.
3. Interactive story stickers
Interactive stickers are a simple yet awesome way of boosting your Instagram video marketing campaign and engaging directly with your audience.They let you collect feedback and responses from your viewers and also increase your Stories’ overall engagement and discoverability.
Location:The location sticker is great for letting your audience know where you and your business are located.
They also increase your Story’s discoverability and viewership.How?Anyone who searches for that location on Instagram will be able to see your Story while it’s still available.
Oh, and did we mention? Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than those without!
Polls & Emoji Sliders:Polls and sliders are one of the easiest ways to enhance your Instagram video marketing campaign by interacting with your audience. They can be used to survey your viewers on their preferences, interests, and behaviors.
You can use Polls to ask viewers to choose between two options or sliders to rank something on a scale.They’re great to crowdsource ideas and collect feedback or to simply engage and entertain your audience.Question stickers:Question stickers can be used for two things:
- To ask your audience questions
- To ask your audience for THEIR questions
For instance, you can ask your audience what kind of content they like and what they want to see from you. Or, you can ask them to submit their own questions for a Stories Q&A. You can even use it to ask to gather questions beforehand for a live stream, an influencer takeover or guest interview!
Countdown:Countdowns are the perfect way to spice up an announcement regarding product launches, special offers or upcoming events. They build hype and momentum, encouraging your followers to tune back in when the countdown is done.
In short, they’re ideal to promote time-sensitive campaigns and generate interest.Users can also subscribe to your countdown, which notifies them when the time is up and your countdown is complete. Get your audience to share it with their own followers to increase your reach and engagement!
Shoppable tags:Gone are the days when customers would struggle to buy a product they saw on social media.
With shoppable tags, viewers can easily access product information and link to e-commerce pages - Directly from your Stories!
Shoppable tags provide a much smoother sales process than the traditional “link in caption” approach to promoting products.
They let you showcase your products and encourage customers to buy them in creative and fun ways.Apart from promotional Stories, they can also be used to tag specific products in demos or influencer takeovers, for example!
4. Instagram TV (IGTV)
Unlike regular posts and Stories, IGTV lets you create your own channel and post long-form native vertical videos. It’s perfect for longer video content like tutorials, tours and behind the scenes footage.And since they’re vertical, you don’t need to worry about professional production, your smartphone is enough!
Instagram lets you share one-minute previews of your channel on your feed, increasing your IGTV’s discoverability and exposure. In addition, you can use the ‘swipe up’ feature on your Stories to promote your IGTV video and increase its viewership.
Make sure the preview you post is engaging and attracts your audience’s attention - make them swipe up!Also, just like regular posts, ensure that your IGTV videos are easily searchable by including relevant hashtags in the description.
Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with over 2.38 billion monthly users. It offers brands unparalleled opportunities for reaching and interacting with HUGE audiences. It’s also extremely popular for videos, racking up more than 8 billion video views per day.
1. Go Native
We cannot possibly stress this enough: upload your videos natively to your Facebook page.
Apart from capturing viewers’ attention, native videos get 8x more comments than those posted through Youtube or Vimeo. They also have a 86% higher reach and receive 168% more interaction than videos from third-party sources.
The platform’s algorithm automatically prioritizes native videos, so they’re essential to your Facebook video marketing success.
So native videos = more views, engagement, and interaction!
2. SEO
Just like blog posts, it’s super important to optimize your Facebook videos and make them more search-friendly.Facebook recommends choosing a descriptive title for your video. Keep strategic keywords in mind to optimize your title and make it easy to find. Add in an appropriate and catchy description to give your viewers context and help them understand what you’re going to convey.
Facebook marketers also recommend adding relevant search ‘tags’ that will help your video surface in search results. Facebook automatically suggests tags based on its autofill feature, so you have a good idea of where to start!
3. Do a 360
It’s become harder than ever to capture your audience’s attention, let alone keep it for the duration of a video. Brands are constantly trying to find fresh new ways to present their content and stand out.
This is where Facebook’s innovative 360° videos come in. These videos can be rotated, panned, and viewed from pretty much any angle.
Rather than just watching traditional two-dimensional video content, Facebook 360 creates an immersive and memorable experience for the viewer.With the rise of virtual reality technology, this is a huge market to tap into. It’s also a great way to diversify your Facebook video marketing campaign and set your brand apart.
All you need is a laptop or smartphone to create 360° videos. They offer amazing opportunities for growth, with a current average of 10X better click-through rates.
The possibilities of 360 videos are virtually endless. From event coverage to interviews, tours and behind the scenes, there’s a lot of room for creativity!
4. Playlists
Just like Youtube, Facebook allows you to group your videos into playlists to make it easier for users to find them. You can give them a title and description and reorder them however you like.Facebook also lets you decide on a ‘featured video’.
This video is displayed or pinned at the top of your videos tab and is also visible on your main timeline. It’s the perfect spot for a company overview or explainer video that’s easily available for your audience.
5. 3-minute minimum
This one’s simple.Facebook recommends that your videos be at least 3 minutes long. This ensures that your video is optimized for Facebook’s algorithm, and automatically increases its views.
6. Hashtags & Interactive stickers
We already covered this when we went over tips for Instagram so we’ll keep it short and sweet.Hashtags are tools that let you join in on a larger conversation. They can be used for Facebook videos as well, and are a great way to increase your discoverability and engagement.
Although Facebook doesn’t have as many Stories stickers as Instagram, there are some great ones to play around with. Try using the mention stickers to highlight other accounts or the poll sticker to gather feedback and responses from viewers.
7. Loop videos
Unlike Instagram, Facebook automatically loops videos only if they are under 30 seconds long.
So if you’re posting a short video to Facebook, ensure that it seamlessly transitions from end to beginning. Like Instagram looped videos, you’ll find that your viewers will keep watching the video, not realizing they’re rewatching it!
Twitter is yet another platform where videos are flourishing. In fact, videos are the fastest growing advertising option for brands on the platform and Twitter video marketing is steadily gaining traction.What’s more?
Twitter content with videos have 10x more engagement than those without.
How do you make the most of twitter video marketing? By following these three key Twitter tips.
1. Go Native
Just like Facebook, Twitter’s algorithm prioritizes videos posted natively over external links. Since native videos on Twitter seamlessly autoplay for users scrolling through their feed, they are far more likely to be noticed and watched.
It’s simple — post your videos natively to instantly boost interactions and engagement.
2. Personalized video responses
Unlike Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter video marketing offers a way to easily connect with your audience through personalized videos.The best part? All you really need is a smartphone and decent lighting. You can record personalized videos on the go, responding to a customer’s question or thanking them for a positive review.
This is a great way to enhance your customer’s experience and stand out from the competition. It gives your brand a friendly face and lets you connect and interact with your audience on a more personal level!
3. Keep it short n’ sweet
Twitter is known to be a platform where people convey powerful messages in only a few words. With a maximum tweet length of 240 characters, one of the hallmarks of Twitter is its micro-blogging format.
This is something Twitter marketers should keep in mind for videos too.Twitter caps native video length at 2 minutes and 20 seconds. For optimum results, viewership and engagement, keep your videos short and capture the audience’s attention within the first 3 seconds.
LinkedIn is an excellent networking platform perfect for expanding your brand’s engagement, connections and reach. Just like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn native videos perform best.
In fact, they’re 5x more likely than any other type of content to start a conversation among users.
Apart from posting natively, there are some other specific tips to keep in mind when posting videos for your LinkedIn audience.Use these pointers to make the most out of your LinkedIn video marketing campaign!
1. Know your target audience
LinkedIn was originally designed as a professional networking platform. It’s great for expanding your network, picking up valuable skills and remaining up to date on trends.Unlike other social platforms, marketing on LinkedIn is a little different. This is because professional and educational videos generally tend to perform better on.
Keep this in mind when you’re planning and executing your LinkedIn video marketing strategy. LinkedIn is the perfect place to share your expert knowledge, provide customer service and attract potential talent.
The bottom line? Save your fun and quirky content for Instagram and Facebook. Stick to sharing more informative content and recruitment videos on LinkedIn.
2. Tagging
Adding hashtags and mentioning other relevant LinkedIn users in your captions is great for increasing your video’s exposure and engagement. It helps your video become more discoverable, so users can search for them easily.Mentioning and tagging other users can invite businesses, influencers, and key individuals to interact with your content.
This increases the chances that your video will be shared, automatically driving up its reach.
3. Write stellar copy
When you share a video, the first things LinkedIn users see are your thumbnail, headline and description copy. You might think that these are secondary and not as important as the video itself. That’s where you’re wrong.
Research shows that 54% of people decide to watch a video based on its headline, and 52% based on its summary. In fact, these two factors are even more important than the video’s image, which stands at only 47%.
The headline and description of your video should captivate your audience and convince them to hit play. Why should they watch your video? How will it benefit them? Let them know through the text accompanying your video!
Best online video tools and agencies
Now you know the importance of videos, the types of videos you can make and the best practices for each platform. Where do you go from here?Well, there’s only one thing left to do. Make the actual video.It may seem like a huge task to film and edit a social media video by yourself. But don’t worry.
We’re going to equip you with the best tools out there that’ll make video production easier than ever before.The best part? Most of these tools offer free trials and the others are more than affordable. There’s something out there for everyone.
Online video creation tools under $500
There are some great online video tools out there that can help you put together professional looking videos at little cost. If you wanna start off your social media video marketing campaign for under $500, this is the section for you.The best part? None of these tools require prior video editing expertise.
1. Biteable
Biteable is an easy to use online video maker with many pre-designed professional templates and a ton of creative freedom. You can add your own content or browse a huge library of their media! It’s great for making all kinds of videos from explainers to demos and teasers.If you’re just starting off, you can use the free version that comes with their logo as a watermark. Or, upgrade to the “Pro Plan” for $29 per month and create 3 videos a month with no watermark.
2. Renderforest
Renderforest is an online animated video maker. It gives you access to over 200 interactive scenes including various objects, characters, and kinetic typography. In fact, it’s known for its impressive animations and music libraries.
Renderforest also offers a limited free version including a compulsory watermark and lower quality videos.
For $39 per month, you can upgrade to the “Popular” plan for higher quality, no watermark, and other premium features!
3. Animaker
Animaker is another great tool to create compelling animated videos in just minutes. In fact, it claims to host the world’s largest animated library, from animated characters to properties, icons and more.It also lets you create 6 different types of videos, from 2D videos to whiteboard and even typography videos.
It offers three premium plans priced at $12, $19 and $39 per month. The most popular is the business plan at $39 per month with maximum functional features and quality.
4. Rawshorts
Rawshorts is an easy to use and versatile tool for creating video content using a simple drag and drop editor. It also offers a number of innovative templates that can be filtered based on aspect ratio.
Rawshorts offers a limited free trial that allows you to create only 5 exports in total. The “Essential plan” costs $39 per month, offering 25 high-quality exports per month and premium functional features.
4. Wave.video
Wave.video is another online video maker with 300+ professional looking templates and a huge library of stock footage. It’s especially great because it lets you instantly resize your video to optimize it for every social media platform! It also allows you to add stickers and GIFs to your video content, making it all the more engaging.
Wave.video has a free starter plan that lets you create unlimited 15 second long videos. Or, you can opt for their “Agency” business plan which costs $33.25 per month. It lets you create unlimited high-quality videos of 10 minutes each, with your company’s watermark and other premium features.
5. Animoto
Animoto is another video creation with a range of pre-designed templates and even lets you create your own from scratch. It then lets you upload your own media or choose from a range of stock footage. You can also adjust colors, fonts, and music to match your company’s branding!
Animoto’s “professional” plan costs $33 per month. It lets you create unlimited videos with your company’s logo as a watermark.
6. Moovly
Moovly also lets you make professional looking videos in practically no time. They have a number of templates to choose from and specialise in making promos, explainer and product review videos.Moovly has a free trial with access to more than 1 million free videos, sounds, and images.
The “Pro” plan costs $24.92 per month. It lets you make unlimited high-quality videos with access to more than 75 million premium videos, sounds, and images. Also, it lets you create videos without Moovly branding and for commercial use.
7. VideoScribe
VideoScribe is a great tool for easily and quickly creating whiteboard animation videos. It lets you customize everything: from voiceovers to music, elements and the duration of your video.VideoScribe’s best value plan costs $8 per month. It offers access to 5000+ images and 190+ royalty free music tracks.
What’s more, it lets you add a custom voiceover and a company logo watermark to your video!
8. Powtoon
Powtoon is an animation software with many templates and characters that are great for infographics and product presentation videos. It also includes a wide selection of royalty-free music and footage you can use to enhance your videos.
Powtoon offers a starter pack at $16 per month billed annually with one premium export per month. The most popular plan is the “Pro+” plan at $59 per month with unlimited premium exports and more features.
9. Wideo
Wideo is another easy to use online animated video creation platform lets you create and edit many different types of videos. It’s great for creating everything from explainer videos to app demos, promos, and even recruitment videos.
The “Pro” plan costs $99 per month and comes with unlimited downloads, 10-minute videos, and access to 80 predesigned templates.
10. Vyond
Vyond is a straightforward video editing tool that lets you make dynamic videos for any audience. It has an intuitive interface with a lot of custom and DIY features! It also offers features like drag-and-drop controls, character lip-sync and a library of royalty-free music.
Vyond offers a 14-day free trial. The “Vyond premium” plan for business use is priced at $89 per month.
It features unlimited high-quality video creation, no Vyond logo on videos and even lets you export videos as animated GIFs!
10. Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark is a visual storytelling app that is great for putting together animated videos in a matter of minutes. It uses drag-and-drop features for easy use and prides itself in its simplicity. It also offers a host of beautiful typography and a vast library of imagery.
With Adobe Spark, you can efficiently combine customized text, images, voiceovers and themes to create a marketing video.
Adobe Spark offers a starter plan with limited features for free and a full, premium version priced at $9.99 per month.
11. Kapwing (editing)
Kapwing is a modern editor for many formats of videos, images and GIFs. It can be used as a meme generator, resizer, subtitle maker and for many other purposes! It’s also extremely user-friendly with a simple, interactive interface.Kapwing is free to use, although it does add a small watermark to some edited videos.
For $6, you can remove the watermark from a single video. Or, you can upgrade to a premium plan for $20 per month for unlimited videos without a watermark.Kapwing also offers an intuitive solution for smaller, startup companies.
Simply write an article about Kapwing on your website or blog and get upgraded for free!Head on over to our article on Kapwing to learn more about some of our favorite functional features of the tool.
12. Filmora
Other than a video editing software, Filmora also offers a free online video trimmer. With this tool, you can upload a video from your computer or add in a link. Then, you can trim your video quickly and easily using the slider or specific start/ end times.
Screen capture and recording tools
Searching for some great free and easy to use online screen recording tools? Look no further! These are some great resources to amp up the quality of those product demo videos.
1. Soapbox
Wistia offers Soapbox, a Chrome extension that lets you create professional looking sales videos in minutes. With Soapbox, you can easily record yourself and your screen to create beautiful pitches, presentations and even demos. It also lets you easily share your videos on social media and offers great analytics to measure their performance.Soapbox has a free version that lets you create unlimited videos with customized player colors and a unique video thumbnail.
The “Solo” subscription costs $300 per year and comes with additional analytics that let you track engagement and conversions. It also lets you add in your company’s logo and allows viewers to book meeting directly from your video.
If you’re looking for some more inspiration, check out this video we made using Soapbox. We used our webcam and Soapbox’s screen record tool to create a video all about our video animation process.
2. Vidyard
Vidyard is another great tool to create personalized sales videos. It enables you to record your webcam and screen at the same time to create seamless and effective demo videos. You can also add in-video calls to action and let your customers book meetings directly from your video.Another great feature of this tool is useful analytics and sharing features.
With Vidyard, you can get real-time notifications when your video is viewed, and track engagement. Vidyard also makes it easy to embed and share your videos through email clients like Gmail.Vidyard offers ‘GoVideo’ for free with core features and unlimited videos.
‘GoVideo Pro’ costs $80 per month and includes interactive CTAs and custom video-sharing pages in addition to core features.
3. Loom
Loom is another multi purpose tool that lets you record your screen and webcam simultaneously. It can be used to create walkthrough product demos and onboard new customers, for instance.Loom offers a free ‘Basic’ package with limited features and standard quality videos.
The ‘Pro’ version is priced at $10 per month and offers high-quality videos and premium features.
Online resources
Stock footage can be a great way to save time and money on your social media videos. All while making them look even more professional and well put together.These platforms offer extensive libraries of free stock images, videos and audio that you can use in your next video.For free stock photography:
For free stock footage and audio:
Audio resources
1. Melody Loops
Melody Loops is a marketplace that offers high-quality royalty-free music and soundtracks. It allows you to search for audio that is sorted by genres, styles, moods, and instruments. They have music packs that start at $29 for 3 melodies with unlimited downloads.
2. Audiojungle
Audiojungle is a database that allows you to buy and sell royalty-free music and sound effects starting at only $1. It lets you find the perfect track for your project through filtering by category, keyword or even top artists.
3. Pond5
Pond5 is another similar online database that offers royalty-free stock and production music tracks. It has a track for every mood and theme, from calm to inspirational and even dramatic. It’s a great tool to enhance your video content with audio and sound.
4. SoundCloud
Looking for free background tracks that sound more like mainstream music? SoundCloud may be the perfect solution for you! It’s a great place to find music by global artists and across genres. It has an extensive library of free tracks under the “Creative Commons” license.This allows you to use the tracks as long as you follow the guidelines established by the artist.
Simply filter your search results with the filter “To use commercially” and look for tracks under a Creative Commons license. Still, SoundCloud recommends that you reach out to the artist to ensure that they’re okay with you using their track!
5. Artlist
Artlist is a platform that offers high-quality music licensing for all kinds of video creators. Subscription costs $16.60 per month and comes with unlimited downloads and lifetime use.It gives you access to their entire catalogue of music across all genres and moods. It’s a great resource to find a track to complement your next video!
6. Epidemic Sound
Epidemic Sound is another excellent resource for finding high-quality royalty free background music for your next video. It’s extremely easy to use and hosts a huge library of different tracks. It classifies songs by genres, moods, movement, and places. It also has a ‘find similar’ feature, making it easier to discover tracks after narrowing down what you’re looking for!
The “Creator” subscription is priced at $15 per month and gives you access to 30,000+ tracks and 60,000+ sound effects!
Voiceover Resources
A good voiceover can really make or break your social media video. In fact, an effective voiceover has the ability to enhance the quality of your video and capture the audience’s attention.Here are some great marketplaces to find the best voiceover artist for your next video. For a little more guidance, check out this article on selecting the right voiceover for your video.Some great voiceover artist marketplaces:
Captioning and subtitle tools
1. Kapwing
In addition to being a video and image editor, Kapwing is also a great subtitle maker for your videos. Simply upload a video, type in and time your subtitles using the Kapwing editor and you’re ready to go!
2. Rev
Rev is a startup that offers many services that can help you enhance your video content on a budget. It offers transcription and captioning services at $1 per minute each. It also offers foreign subtitling at a price between $3-7 per minute. It’s a great tool to add captions to autoplay videos on social media platforms!
3. Temi
Temi is an advanced speech recognition software for speech to text transcription. It’s priced at just $.10 per audio minute. In addition, Temi’s free transcription editor lets you edit your transcript online in just minutes!
4. Voxtab
Voxtab is another provider of transcription, closed captioning and subtitling services. They’re great because they offer accurate services in over 16 languages! Prices start at $1.25 per minute for transcription and $2 per minute for captioning.
Video production agencies
A video production agency is a great option if your company is looking for more professional output. However, higher quality comes with a slightly higher budget. Depending on the type of video and length you’re seeking, an agency can cost between $3,000 to $50,000.Here’s a list of the top 10 video production agencies to look out for:
- Studiotale
- Demoduck
- Sandwichvideos
- Yumyumvideos
- Explainify
- Thinkmojo
- Switchvideo
- Wyzowl
- Kasradesign
- Epipheo
How studiotale can help you
So… there you go! That’s everything you need to know to make and execute a stellar social media video marketing strategy.Just to recap, we’ve equipped you with all the knowledge you need about:
- The types of videos you can make for each platform
- Effective strategies and video marketing tips that work for all social media videos
- The best practices for each individual social media platform
Whether it be Instagram video marketing, Facebook video marketing or any other social platform for that matter, you’re prepared with everything you need.
Now it’s your turn to go forth and kickstart your successful social media video strategy.And we understand… It can seem daunting to plan, film and edit valuable content for social media. If you don’t have time to produce high-quality videos or don’t know where to start, don’t worry! Book a one-on-one session with our video expert, and let’s discuss how we can help you.
Don’t hesitate to reach out! Start a conversation with us today :)
