What the tech? The perfect social media video

by Pushpa Srivastava, SEO Strategist, Sinema Films

Yes! But you have to do it right.

Human beings are incredibly visual people. Nothing affects their mind so much as moving images. We live in an age of tremendous volume of video streaming.

Don’t believe it? Check this out:

Photo by Hello I'm Nik on Unsplash Social media video is probably the most powerful tool marketers have Social media posts to get and maintain the attention of with video have their target customers. 48% more views. (HubSpot)

day. (TechCrunch)

(G2 Crowd)

to nurture leads. (MarketingSherpa)

Social media video is probably the most powerful tool marketers have to get and maintain the attention of their target customers.

So what makes for a perfect social media video? Here are the key ingredients:

Never indulge in social media video creation unless you have something solid to say. That’s because the social media world is often unforgiving and the best brands can’t escape trolling. This is not to say that you must be scared of trolls. In fact, trolls sometimes help make your videos viral. But this caveat is to keep you guarded about the right kind of message for a great social media video. Your video should have something very important to convey to your targets. For example: This very interesting video by Notarize Inc.: youtube.com/

Every social media post, video, photograph needs to have a story, and a compelling one. A story that would prevent your viewers from skipping or scrolling down. Do you have a story that would make them stop and engage? Now how to tell a compelling story? By having three important ingredients: problem, conflict, solution. Build your story around a person or a circumstance of a person. Very interesting research by Harvard Business School called ‘Why your brain loves a good story,’ says that a good story releases oxytocin. This chemical is responsible for bonding between people. Isn’t that what you want from your video?

What’s that first hook that would drive your viewers instantly to your video? Is it a scene or a close-up shot of an object or a person? Or just some beautiful music around a landscape? Plan your first 10 seconds like they are all you have. Microsoft research in 2015 that said our attention span now is shorter than that of a goldfish – 8 seconds!

60% by two minutes. (Ad Age)

How? Aim at evoking curiosity, surprise or shock. For example: The Great Realization video by Tom Foolery is an awesome example of how you can hook people in the first 10 seconds.

Don’t waste too much time showcasing all the features of your product or service. Pick a few and create a solid message. Social media video production is about quick take-aways. You want your viewers to do something after watching your video. That’s all you need to showcase through good story telling. For example: This video by Ben and Jerry’s.

Appeal to all the people equally and impartially. That means have a voice over so the visually impaired can hear, have subtitles so the hearing impaired can read. If you come from a country with multiple languages, choose one language for the voice over and another for the subtitles. That way, you increase the scope of your viewers. However, you may use the same language for both voice over and subtitles, depending on your context. Another reason for using the subtitles is when your video is played with the sound off, it will still be able to hook people.

(Instagram)

More than half of all the world’s videos today are viewed on mobile and for Twitter, that number is as high as 93 percent! It’s crucial that you optimize your social media video production according to mobile viewers. You can do this by following some simple tips. For instance, use simple graphics with extremely readable text – in terms the font type and size. Always play your video with the sound off and ensure it still makes sense. Use video analytics of your last videos to know what worked and what didn’t. Apply those insights for mobile optimization. For example: This video by All State Insurance. instagram.com/p/

Many consumers take action when they feel emotionally stirred. While in their mind they may calculate the costs, weigh the features, analyze value for money, they may still take an action based on emotion. Have a clear emotional quotient in your video. Your video must evoke one or more emotions such as envy, pride, joy, warmth, love – you name it.

As we said earlier, the purpose of your video is to make your viewers act. They must be compelled to do something about what they watched. What’s that something? Visit your website or app? Download a form? Hit Purchase button. Create a clear Call To Action. For example: Check out what Mailchimp did it here on its Twitter video: twitter.com/

A social media video calls for precise bitesized and good-looking information. Anyone looking for social media production must seek creativity at all levels because social media videos are played on various platforms. Your video production agency must have experience on most leading platforms to create compelling social media videos.

Originally published in July 2020 at manta.com. Manta is one of the largest online resources dedicated to small business. They deliver products, services and educational opportunities that are effective, easy to understand and geared to help business owners become more competitive in their respective industries.