video

Why brands should be using video on social

Video content can be the most shareable, engaging and profitable form of marketing content out there – when it’s done well.

Yes, it can require an intense commitment in time and resources (you may need to find the right creative agencies to partner with if you don’t have the in-house expertise, for example), but the rewards make the work well worth the effort.  

Video: time-consuming, but worth the investment

Let’s face it, most of us love watching videos online. Zenith forecasts that we’ll be watching 100 minutes of video a day by 2021. Video has the advantage of being both visually and audibly engaging, and the sort videos popular to post on social channels are even better because they take so little time to watch and are just so shareable.

  • According to Hootsuite, in Q3 2019, the average engagement rate for video posts on Facebook was 6.13%.
  • According to Twitter, tweets with video get 10x more engagement than those without video. For promoted tweets, those that use video save more than 50% on cost-per-engagement.
  • Research has shown that brands posting on Instagram get the most engagement when they post video content.
  • As of October 2019, Snapchat got around 14 billion video views per day.
  • Pinterest points out that video pins are very popular with users. They say that brands that pin videos improve user-experience 1.6x. Users are also 2.6x more likely to make a purchase from that brand after seeing a video.
  • TikTok users spend 5 minutes on the app per session (longer than Instagram and Snapchat) and visit the app an average of eight times a day.
  • Video is also LinkedIn’s fastest-growing type of content.

Video can be some of the most inspirational, authentic and compelling content out there when the storytelling that powers it is on point. It makes it easier for people to consume your content as well.

Brands are achieving great success using video for social media marketing

Wholesome Culture, which creates plant-based and cruelty-free products, uses Instagram to both sell and to support its brand values. It posts videos that get tens of thousands of views.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8uYJRNnV6a/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

While its other visual content is also inspirational, uses emotional storytelling and is on-brand, the videos give people more to engage with and do a great job of highlighting what the brand stands for.

LEGO uses YouTube to create short videos that use LEGO sets to tell stories that engage their fans. In one video, which has had more than 55 million views, LEGO partnered with Disney to make a Moana mini-movie (and it really was mini, at just over two minutes long!).

Simple Skincare used a Twitter video campaign during Anti-Bullying Week 2019 to ask people to #ChooseKindness. The video, which saw the brand partner with music group, Little Mix, got more than seven million views and Twitter highlighted it as one of the most creative brand campaigns of the year.

Brands are doing a great job using video on social media every day to tell the stories that matter to the brand and their consumers. So, how do they make these videos so engaging?

Five factors brands should focus on to use video successfully in their social media marketing

  • Create a short, shareable video that tells a meaningful story. Of course, there are loads of great videos on YouTube that tell powerful stories that you need to make tea and a snack to sit through, but brands usually need something short and snappy. You want people to not just enjoy the video and understand what it’s trying to say, but to watch it all, and hopefully share it with their network.
  • Create something that helps people learn. One of the great advantages of storytelling is it offers brands an effective way to relay facts and details. Create videos that answer some of your customer’s most asked questions, for example.
  • Create content that captures the zeitgeist. Simple Skincare did this brilliantly. You don’t want to exploit situations or events, but brands can create content that speaks to what’s happening now. It’s especially effective it the video also reflects the brand’s values. For example, Wholesome Culture has posted a lot of content on the Australian wildfires because raising awareness of the issue is something the brand (and its fans) should be passionate about.
  • Make your content accessible to a wide audience. Always remember to add subtitles to social media videos (and videos with sound/narration are also important for similar reasons). Try not to use any sort of flashing lights during the video either.
  • It’s worth working with external specialists if you’re new to video marketing. Creating video for the sake of it won’t be effective. Successful videos, even ones that are designed to look spur-of-the-moment, need proper planning and resourcing, and the right creative specialists working on the project if you want them to really do well.

Video content can help people engage with brands and to understand why what the brand is promoting would be something they might be interested in. While video can cost a lot in time and money, when video content is done well, it can be some of the most effective content marketing a brand can support.

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