4 Ways Social Media is Changing Video Marketing

Video marketing is a hot topic right now – and for good reason. Video marketing has been steadily increasing for the last couple years but in 2015, it officially took off. Social media platforms give preference to video posts and video marketing has become the next best thing. In fact, according to HubSpot, using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19 percent, increases click through rates by 65 percent AND reduces unsubscribes by 26 percent. Those are some pretty powerful statistics for just using one word.

I’m a big fan of using video in your marketing efforts, but video has a time and a place. I’m going to focus on using video in your social media marketing strategy, because I think that’s where most of you are hoping to up your video game. Now, don’t get me wrong, video deserves to be in more places than just your social media platforms and I remind you that I just gave you stats about videos in email, BUT social media videos play by different rules than traditional video outlets. Here’s how:

1. They’re short:

This might be the most important thing I can tell you when it comes to making videos for social media– keep it short. The human attention span has dropped to 8 seconds, so what makes you think someone wants to watch a 3-minute video? They don’t. Social media platforms like Instagram limit the length of your video for a reason. Statistics show that after first 30 seconds of a video, viewership drops dramatically and after 1 minute of a video, you’ve pretty much lost everyone unless it’s about puppies, in that case, all stats are out the window.

2. They’re casual:

When a lot of people think of video marketing, they think big money, because that’s what it’s always been. You have to hire the professionals to film, edit, produce and then you use to have to go straight to television to get your video out there. But those days are gone and while having professional videos made is important, it’s not necessary anymore for social media video marketing. On social media, it’s also important to keep your videos casual. Video trends are quickly moving in the direction of quick, simple, natural videos taken from your phone that are posted directly from the filming device online. Gone are the days of editing footage before you post it for the world to see it, social media has transformed the idea of perfection when it comes to videos. One example is the live streaming video platforms like Periscope and Facebook Live. There’s not edit, not re-dos, it’s all live and no one seems to care if you mess up or it isn’t perfect.

3. They’re personal:

This is something I harp on a lot with my clients – marketing is personal. It’s about getting to know your clients and treating them like your friends, so in return, you have to let them get to know YOU. You are more than a company, you are more than a brand, you are individual people working to create a great product or service and it’s ok to show that off! Social platforms have been wildly successful for businesses and company growth because it’s allowing your customers to see into your work environment. People like to put a face with a name and know who is behind their favorite organizations. Your social videos are a great place to show your personality and let you fans get a glimpse into who you are.

4. They’re shareable:

Online video now accounts for more than 50 percent of all mobile traffic and 78 percent of people say they watch videos online each week. That’s a lot of video watching. And how do those people find the videos they are watching? By other people sharing them. I think we’d all be lying if we said we didn’t hope for our videos to get shared and help our social media presence. Social videos are shareable. Did you see the recent viral video of the Chewbacca mom? This video went viral in a matter of hours. Social media creates the opportunity for your videos to widely shared, so take that into consideration when you’re filming your videos. Hootsuite has a great article about why people share something; check it out before hoping on your social media channels hoping to create a viral video.

Social video is fun, and can create a lot of buzz for your organization. Not know where to start? We’re here to help. Give us a call today!