Why Video Content is Important for Your Social Media

If you’re someone who spends basically any time online, you’ve probably figured out that social media is constantly changing. It seems like every time we learn a platform and how to work with it, it changes again. 

One thing that has been rapidly changing over the last couple of years is video content. It’s practically taken over the world. YouTube grew exponentially when the pandemic hit, TikTok’s usership exploded, and the Metaverse is changing its entire platform to feature its video content. On average, audiences spend 19 hours per week watching videos online. At this point, ignoring video marketing isn’t really an option if you’re looking for ROI online. Sure, that type of content seems silly, and we’ve talked about why silly content is important on social media, but let’s apply that to videos!

Social media has always been about content that’s quick and easy to consume. We won’t get into the controversial opinions of whether social media is this way due to short attention spans or the other way around, but the fact is we have short attention spans. That’s why short form video content has been exploding as of late. Check out our recent blog about TikTok to read more. Videos, short- or long-form, allow you to condense information into digestible snippets of content, making it easier for viewers to understand the subject and to understand you.Videos also give you the opportunity to tell your story. If you simply record yourself telling your audience about how you got started and why, you get to communicate that information AND build an emotional connection. Additionally, videos allow you to be entertaining, which helps build human connection.

Video content is one of the most effective ways to build trust online. Sure, everyone and their brother is making video content, but that’s because it’s the best way to build relationships online. It gives you the opportunity to show your customers exactly who you are, what you stand for, and what your goals are. Your brand or product could be about something really serious, but promoting it in a video gives you the opportunity to show that you, the person your audience would be working with, are not all “doom and gloom” and can be - *gasp* - entertaining!

Okay, you may be reading this thinking, “What if all of this stuff is made up?” We’re fairly sure you already know how important video marketing is, but here are some numbers to back us up:

• In 2020, 88% of video marketers reported positive ROI from their video marketing campaigns. In 2019 that number was 83%, and in 2015 only a third of them reported anything positive.
• This may come as no surprise, but the pandemic boosted online media consumption by 215% in the US.
• 66% of people watch videos, rather than read websites or articles, to learn about a brand or product

So yeah, video marketing is crucial to your plan. Not just on a level of human connection, but for your ROI. People are spending their time watching videos more than they are consuming other content.

We’d be happy to talk with you about a specific plan to incorporate video marketing into your plan, but here are a few pointers to get you started:

1. Planning: Make sure you have a plan to get your viewer’s attention, communicate your message, and provide a call to action. And remember to be entertaining!
2. Recording: Pay attention to your lighting and your background noise. You wouldn’t want the viewer to be distracted by anything! Do your best to keep those “ums” to a minimum, but what’s most important is being authentic. You don’t want your video to sound like a canned message, so don’t practice too much or read directly from a script. And most importantly: don’t watch the video before you post it! You’ll be tempted to re-record until your camera roll is full and that’s not beneficial to anyone.
3. Other ways to appease the algorithm are to share videos of events, have other people take video of you doing something else, or to use animations. Canva has great tools for this! Even something as simple as making text move across your image can qualify as a “video.” Humans wouldn’t classify that as a video, but the algorithm does. #MarketingHack!

Overall, video is crucial to your marketing plan. It is constantly changing, but we’re here to keep you updated! A few great ideas for your videos are to tell your viewers about you, explain how to use your product, or even to interview someone so you’re not alone. If you need more help, we’d be happy to help you with your strategy! We can help you figure out what type of video content is best for you and on what platform. Navigating the ever-changing world of video content can be difficult; Let us provide you with a map.