It is tough to argue with the effectiveness of video marketing through social media. The number of daily active users continues to grow for the major social networks which allows organizations to reach people all over the world. You may have already noticed your social feeds becoming more and more saturated by video content day to day. This has pushed marketers to start adding more video and multimedia content. In fact, in a report released by Cisco, it was predicted that within the next three years video content will represent over 80 percent of all consumer internet traffic. Therefore, it's easy to see why all marketers should be leveraging video content for their campaign. What isn't as easy to see is what formats perform best on social media platforms. Follow along with me as I give examples of the top 4 video formats to leverage for social media content creation for digital marketing and explain how you can use them for your social strategy.
1. Live video
Although live video has been around for a long time, it was never something that was available or integrated into the social channels that we use every day. With practically all of the major social networks offering a form of live video through their mobile and online platforms, live video is very popular. Many marketers are leveraging these integrations for live event promotion, contests, Q&A sessions, and even live webinars. The most widely used live video platform right now is Facebook LIVE. Below are a few examples of how marketers are using live video today.
Pro tip: It is not necessary to create a live stream with a hi-resolution camera system. Simply using your cell phone or laptop webcam will suffice. The important thing is to have a story to tell or an event to promote.
2. Timed Video
This title may be misleading to some that don't have experience with social video. Timed video is, simply, Snapchat. It is video content that is limited in length and disappears after the viewer is done watching the video. Snapchat pioneered this type of video content but Facebook and Instagram have recently created Snapchat-like features that allow users to capture short video clips. Many users have been using it simply to take people through a day in their life at work or give a tour of their office. Others have been able to leverage these stories features in a more creative way to showcase their advertising campaigns and branding. Take a look at this great example from Sour Patch Kids!
Pro tip: Planning out this content to tell a story is very effective. Office tours and day-in-the-life can resonate well with some of your audience but telling a story about a product or service can help connect this content to your campaign and produce more results than just views and engagement.
3. GIFs
For those of you that still have no idea what GIF stands for, it is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format. No matter which way you pronounce it, a GIF can be a powerful piece of multimedia content for your marketing strategy. With smaller file sizes, GIFs load very quickly on any social platform.
Aside from the technical benefits of GIFS, they have a become a very popular fixture in social media for the consumer which can contribute to higher engagement numbers and GIFs are very easily shareable. After all, the purpose of sharing this type of content through social media is to boost engagement analytics and drive more traffic to your site.
Pro tip: This is not about creating high-level content. It is simply a quick way to get intriguing and clickable content to your audience to boost engagement and interactions. GIF rocket is a great tool to use to create GIFs with your own content.
4. Production Video
When most people think of social video content they don't automatically think of production value and top-tier production video. Most people think of quick and easy edits to get clicks and interactions. When you create premium video content with a high level of production value, you'll be able to portray a clearer message to your audience and drive more traffic to your site. Being able to connect more to your marketing campaigns through social media is invaluable and high-level production video can help you do just that.
Pro tip: Production video is a great way to get more out of social advertising as well. People are much more likely to engage with a video ad than a similar ad with an image.
Leveraging video and multimedia content can be a game changer for your organization. It may be cliche to say that everyone is doing it these days, but that is the case in today's hyper-competitive, digital world. Finding a way to be unique with your approach as well as unique with your content is the way to separate yourself from the competition.
For more information on how you can differentiate your content and leverage these video formats for your social media strategy, schedule a consultation with one of our experts today.
