These days you don’t need to have a film degree or have the super fancy equipment to make an awesome social media video. Social media marketers are using their smart phones and their untrained eyes to create compelling, interesting, and viral videos that – gasp – people are watching!  Gone are the days when you need to hire a video crew.

Facebook and Snapchat have both passed 8 billion daily video views and hundreds of millions of hours are being spent online watching video every day!

The struggle now becomes – how do you implement a good social media video strategy?

Check out our 10 tips and tricks to learn more about how you can take advantage of video today.

1.Tell a Story and Plan Ahead

Everything we know about marketing is that people love a good story.

Decide on the story you want to tell and what you want your audience to remember.

A video to explain what you do is always a good idea – it’s the story you know best and it connects with your audience. Talk about who you are and what your brand stands for, your goals, mission and products. You can post this video on your website and in the About section of your business’s Facebook page.

Give your product a human element. Determine the beginning, middle, and end of the story with a conflict to overcome. Capture your customer’s hearts by hitting their pain points and overcoming them!

2.Gather Content

After you have a story for your video, it’s time to compile the photos and video clips that tell your story. There are a few key pieces that you can use in your video before you even begin shooting.

Existing Marketing Content

Look at what kind of content you have used in your marketing strategy already. There is likely something that can be repurposed. Look at your website, printed materials, emails, and social media campaigns.

Good examples include:

  • Company logo
  • Product shots – still images
  • Team photos or headshots from your About Us page
  • Photos used in brochures, signage, etc.

Instagram and Snapchat Stories

Do you have an Instagram or Snapchat? Chances are if you do there is a bunch of content you can use there.  Take your stories from both platforms and save them so you can repurpose them.

User-generated Content

Not really a photo taker? Ask your customers! People that use your product and love it usually are more than happy to get on camera and tell everyone why.

Take a look online and see if your fans are already posting photos and video and send them a message. Ask fans to share content with you and edit it all together. Bonus: fans that are in a promotional video for a brand are more likely to share it with their friends!

3. Use Audio or Text

Make sure that your audio is clear if you are going to have interviews! This is key. No one wants to strain to hear what the person is saying and you will lose a lot of viewers.

That being said, if you are using content that might not necessarily have audio, you can use text captions to highlight important messages.

Text and Audio give you a chance to fill in the holes of your story that your pictures might be missing.

4. Don’t use digital zoom.

Though it sounds like a good idea… it never seems to work out the way we want it to.

Just move closer to the object that you are trying to get in the frame.

5. Good lighting is key

No one wants to look at a dark video where there are distracting shadows.

Make sure you have good lighting for interviews and photos and be aware when changing from one scene to the next or moving from dark areas to bright ones. Avoid backlighting and direct overhead spotlighting.

6. Think about your platform

For a lot of social platforms, horizontal video is the best. However, think about Snapchat and Instagram are both vertical video.

There are also different audiences on each social network so social videos need to be edited. Content that might work on Facebook might need an entirely different approach on Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat.

Keep in mind that most social networks do have a video option inside the platform.

7. Use an editing app to trim

Running into a weird pause or something in your content that just doesn’t look right? Edit it out.

If your editing needs are simple like a lot of ours are —maybe you just want to compile a few clips together and then add some titles—iMovie or Windows Movie Maker will do the trick. But if you’re hoping to edit something together that is more dynamic, try a program like Adobe Premiere Elements, Final Cut Pro X, or Sony Vegas.

When you shoot the video, consider using interesting angles so that when you go to edit it later, you will have a variety of shots to choose from.

8. Have a CTA

Once a viewer gets to the end of the video what do you want them to do? Having a clear call to action is necessary to see the results you want from your video strategy.

You can add it at the end of your video with a link underneath or it can be in the text under the video. Either way, make sure there is a way for people to get your product after they have seen your awesome video!

9. Have a hook

Just like the beginning of a story (do you see a theme?), the first 30 seconds of a social video is what matters most. If you can hook a viewer within those beginning first frames they are more likely to watch the entire video and engage after. Pull out all of the creative stops in that first frame… its worth it!

10. Keep it short

We all lead busy lives and know that shorter is better. Twitter videos are capped at 30 seconds, Instagram has a 60-second maximum and Snapchat videos are capped at 10 seconds.

Get to your point in the most compelling way.

 

Use these quick video tips and get to creating great content. Keep in mind, the question that all social media marketers always ask themselves is, “Why would someone share this?”

A good way to answer that question?

See what your followers are viewing already. Let them show you what they want to see and let that inspire your own social video.

What have viral video tips have you learned and loved? We want to know. Share with us below!

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