There’s a reason your eyes keep sliding back to the TV screen playing in the background of your dentist’s office. We’re naturally drawn to video content. We simply can’t keep our eyes off it.

That’s why video has become such an essential part of social media marketing in recent years. Around 70% of US marketers now use videos as part of their Facebook marketing strategy, a move driven by the fact social media users watch 100 million hours of video every day. What’s more, videos garner five times the engagement of static posts, and as any social media marketer worth their salt will tell you, engagement is everything.

The future of Facebook looks set to include even more video content. In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg claimed Facebook would be mostly video-based by 2021.

Over on Instagram, aesthetics reign supreme. As the platform is image-driven, Instagram is a chance to show off your brand’s visuals. The platform’s constantly-evolving Stories and Live features provide new opportunities to guarantee further reach on social media.

Level up your social media videos with the help of these useful tips.

Overview

Creating video content that shines on Facebook is a fine art. Many brands get this right, but it’s easy to miss the mark. As mentioned earlier, videos get more engagement than static posts, so investing time and energy into posting something you’re proud of is a great way to boost your paid and organic reach.

Instagram was once only for beautiful images. Now, the video content also thrives on the platform. Engage with the platform’s 500 million monthly active users by making videos for the Instagram audience.

Create seperate videos for each platform

Shooting and editing one video to post across all your brand’s social channels might cut back on your workload, but it will stunt the engagement and potential reach of your content.

Find out where your customer views your brand’s content. Are they accessing your Facebook and Instagram pages from a mobile or tablet, or through a PC? Use analytics tools to find out, and choose a video format accordingly. Giving thought to the format of your brand’s videos pays off: brand awareness rises to 67% through mobile-optimised video for Facebook.

Even the shape of your video will determine how much customers will engage with your post. Square videos get 35% more views and 100% more engagement, which could have something to do with the fact square videos perform much better on mobile apps than landscape or portrait clips do.

Like with Facebook, your Instagram videos should either be produced for or tailored to Instagram. People are more likely to view your videos on a mobile device, so fonts need to be legible on a small screen, and long, descriptor captions and text won’t work for this platform.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram videos have a time limit of 60 seconds per clip, although you can share a longer clip by splitting content into 60-second chunks.

You only have 60 seconds to explain your product, send an interesting message or make a new lead care about your brand. Bite-sized content works best on Instagram, so keep each clip snappy, short and to-the-point.

Check out the short, snappy and fun videos posted by Facebook Tasty for inspiration.

Entertain and Educate Your Audience

Who doesn’t love watching funny videos on the internet? It’s basically what the world wide web was made for. Nando’s incorporate humour into their Facebook videos to entertain viewers and build a relatable brand image.

Providing tips or teaching something useful to your audience is an effective tip to draw your audience in.

An example of this done well is Wagamama’s Wok From Home series. During the 2020 lockdown, Wagamama was forced to close restaurant operations down. To keep their customers engaged, the restaurant launched a cooking series with executive chef Steve Mangleshot, who showed how customers how to make their own katsu curry.

Use Facebook and Instagram LiveFacebook Live is a relatively new addition to the platform, but its use is on the rise. One in five Facebook videos is now a live broadcast, so it is worth considering implementing Facebook Live content into your brand’s social media marketing strategy.

Instagram Stories and Instagram Live are more widely used by brands and personalities who want a more instantaneous connection to their audience.

As opposed to grid posts, Instagram Stories are an opportunity to be a little more experimental and off-the-cuff with your Instagram videos. Unless these are saved as a highlight, these will not remain on your brand’s Instagram page, so there is less need to be polished.

Understand what kind of content thrives on each area of Instagram and create videos with that purpose in mind.

Quality Over Quantity

Quality content keeps your audience coming back. According to research by Union Metrics, most brands post 1.5 times a day to the grid. Putting out quality content at optimal times (using an Instagram Business account will help show you what the optimum time to post is) help increase conversions and sign-ups.

Give people a reason to want to follow your brand. Are your videos visually pleasing, funny, interesting or informative? Do your videos feature exclusive competitions, offers or information your followers can’t find anywhere else? Experiment with different kinds of video content too find out what your customers are interested in, and create content with their needs in mind.

Conclusion

Video on social media continues to develop and grow. Stay on top of the latest updates to social channels so you can seize any new chance to reach your customers. You don’t need to be a top filmmaker to produce compelling video content for Instagram and Facebook. Put some of these tips and strategies in place today to increase your social media presence and captivate more customers online.