Tips for Executing Successful Social Media Video for Your Brand
If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably noticed videos are starting to flood your timeline. Platforms and their algorithms are starting to pivot more favorably to social media video after years of record-breaking engagement. The most recent data says that:
- YouTube: The population watches over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos a day, more than Netflix and Facebook videos combined.
- Facebook: Facebook videos garner up to 8 billion views per day.
- Twitter: People watch 2 billion videos on Twitter per day.
These numbers are a giant neon sign for brands to use video content to better engage with their audience. Here are some social media video tips.
Videos do exceptionally well on Facebook as both paid and organic content. Facebook corporate expect video content to overtake text content in the next few years, so the platform’s algorithm favors it. In order to execute great Facebook videos, I suggest:
- Facebook Live is a great feature for easily pulling in an audience because all of your followers will be instantly notified when you go live. Use this for seminars or in-the-moment content.
- The ideal length of the video should be sixty to ninety seconds. Viewers lose interest after that.
- Make videos that don’t require sound or take the time to add subtitles, 85% of Facebook videos are played without sound.
Because Twitter is more of a news-based platform, it’s naturally a great place to share video content. That being said, because it’s such a popular place for video content, brands have to be sure to create eye-catching material in order to stand out. For Twitter I suggest:
- Create original content. Original content receives twice the amount of engagement as third-party content.
- Keep these videos even shorter than Facebook videos. Thirty seconds is the ideal length.
- Around 90% of Twitter videos are watched on mobile phones, so be sure to use a mobile-first approach.
YouTube
YouTube is a surprisingly overlooked platform for some brands, despite being the largest social media video content platform. This is in part because the content that does well on Facebook and Twitter, doesn’t do so well on YouTube. YouTube is a great place for DIY videos, explanation videos, video tutorials, testimonials, and behind the scene videos, which tend to be much longer than videos on Twitter and Facebook. For YouTube I suggest:
- Videos need to be longer than one minute but no more than five minutes.
- Keep them mobile-focused. YouTube just rolled out new updates for mobile watching and over 70% of videos are watched on mobile.
- Calls to action or video subjects are best placed at the 30-second mark in the video.
At Roundpeg, we are always exploring how social media video can play a role in our business. Sam recently wrote a blog post about Facebook Live and why we go live every Monday. He was also a recent guest on More than a Few Words with Lorraine. Be sure to check out the episode below if you’re interested in learning how Facebook Live can help you and your business!