Top Reasons Why Videos Are a MUST in Your Content Strategy Plan

As most of us are aware, videos are the most popular and successful type of content on social platforms today. According to Social Media Today, video posts on Facebook receive the most shares and videos see nine times the engagement of basic text Tweets. Because we see this much engagement with video, LinkedIn is jumping on the bandwagon and introduced their new video ads. 54% of consumers want to see videos from brands they support as compared to email newsletters or social image posts, according to a HubSpot Research study.

What makes videos so successful on social media?

Videos have the power to:

Inspire
Educate
Entertain

Aside from the compelling visuals, video content also boosts conversions and sales, builds trust in brands, ranks higher in Google searches and encourages shares, according to Social Media Today.

However, in order to be successful, you need to choose the right content for your video marketing efforts.

Successful Videos Inspire

Google Maps posted a video about a young child who fell asleep on a train and woke up away from his family. Just after turning 26 years old, he began searching for his family in India by using Google Maps, and eventually found them! The video is inspiring, heart string pulling and leaves you feeling warm inside. Videos can be a powerful tool to leave your audience feeling a certain way. Because this video was so powerful and inspiring it received over 2.5 million views on YouTube and over 8,000 “thumbs up’s”.

Successful Videos Educate

Videos can be used for demonstrations on how a product is used, as a customer testimonial video for potential consumers to learn more about a product or service, and also as a tool to explain/discuss a specific topic. A classic example is this video posted by Google back in 2015. The video showcases the evolution of Google while explaining what the software is capable of doing. You learn where Google was in previous years, to where it is now, while also learning the services it offers.

Successful Videos Entertain

This is pretty broad because it can range from comedy stand-ups to YouTube stars, to bad lip-reading clips, to music videos and so on. It was hard to choose an example, but I am going to go with a top vid from 2017. The Ping Pong Trick Shots 3 video posted from Dude Perfect received over 163 million views and over 4.1 million “thumbs up’s”. This video is a perfect example of entertainment! I don’t know about you, but this video left me wanting to try ping pong ball tricks of my own.

As a Social Media Account Manager and freelance videographer, I love to see both of my passions merge together. In today’s digital world, people prefer to watch videos because they can leave them inspired, educated or entertained. And who doesn’t love to be entertained? That is why video content is so important to incorporate into your digital media content plan.

But now, let’s address the elephant in the room.

How long should videos be?

A good rule of thumb is that videos should not exceed over 2-3 minutes. In fact, most people only watch the first 10-15 seconds of a video and then continue to scroll, unless the video grabs their attention and keeps them interested. Unfortunately, there is no exact time for video length, but, there has been research on the topic.

What is the best form of video to use?

There are two types of forms of videos for social media: long form and short form. Long form examples include reviews, training, interviews, panel discussions and events. Whereas, short form examples include a tour of your office, behind the scenes, “how-to” tips, product launch, and, short interviews and QA sessions, according to Social Media Today.

Long form video content is primarily used on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. These videos are great for awareness, rank higher in Google and good for sharing a message. However, these videos have the potential of a limited lifespan and are more difficult to add a Call to Action to.

On the other hand, short-term video content is optimized for Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. These videos have the potential to attract a younger audience (millennials), increase brand awareness and post quick updates. However, for Instagram, there is the challenge of moving viewers away from the app and onto your website, additionally, Snapchat cannot use hashtags to join conversations and the content only lasts 24 hours. Twitter has a difficult time targeting specific demographics and audiences, even when using hashtags, according to Social Media Today.

5 Video Content Tips For Successful Content Marketing

Make sure the content in the video is relevant to your brand, and for your audience
Make sure the video content is consistent
Focus on creating compelling, captivating content
Make sure the video format and aspect ratio is correct for each platform
Remember, inspire, educate, and/or entertain people

It can be daunting to master video content on each social platform, but, if you take the time to plan and optimize the video for the right time on the right platform, you should have no problem receiving those likes, shares, and comments!

Now, say it with us… videos are Inspirational! Educational! And, Entertaining!