Social media isn’t just about stunning images or entertaining GIFs anymore. There’s more to it — a video that by far, is the biggest content surfacing on the internet.
In fact, more than 82% of today’s internet traffic is video content. This suggests how users’ preferences have dramatically changed over the years. The once-popular blog posts are now being abandoned ever since the advent of social media.
Social media videos are entirely different content compared to articles. When it comes to connecting a brand with the target audience, social media videos help convey the message in a way that written content doesn’t.
Today, videos have become a winning tool for marketers to reach out to the audience. Video marketing strategies have shaped a new thread of connection between a brand and customers, where both of them can be a part of this remarkable campaign.
With so many social platforms provided, you need to know that every platform has its very own unique audience. You can’t expect to connect with your target viewers when you know nothing about how each platform works.
After all, different social networks serve different audiences. Make sure to research and create various video content for every platform. It may sound daunting at first, but if you want to reach out better, that’s the only way to steal your audience’s attention.
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The perks of having social media videos
Online representation is mandatory in today’s business landscape. With the vast development of the internet, having social accounts can help you strengthen your brand trust.
When you’re going online, creating video content should be on your top list. Since videos account for the majority of online content, having them means that you’ve secured a general audience.
Moreover, a study has claimed that video content can generate 12x engagement rates compared to text and images combined. That’s a massive number, to begin with. It’d be beneficial to use video content to promote your brand on social media.
To take you further into perspective, here are some social media video statistics you should know.
- Over 93% of marketers say that social media videos help them acquire more customers
- More than 54% of customers want to watch branded videos
- When it comes to favorites type of content, many people opt for social videos than blog posts
Every social media video platforms you should care
Every social media platform possesses a distinct characteristic. That’s the reason why many companies build new platforms to offer a different experience for their users.
Each platform brings a different value for its audience. By understanding these platforms, you’ll be able to find the right audience that fits your purposes.
1. YouTube
YouTube is the second-largest social media platform worldwide. It’s also the world’s second-biggest site that uses videos as its main social communication.
With over 2 billion users across the world, YouTube is hands down the greatest video hosting platform ever made. Considering to use YouTube is an understatement. Since many, if not almost, every brand has established its official account on the platform.
YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase your brand’s values and convey messages in a meaningful way. This platform allows you to directly communicate with viewers and listen to their feedback through the community and comment section.
That way, you can receive an honest, sometimes critical response that will help you improve your brand in the future.
If you’re sure to dip your toes into YouTube, you might as well consider researching which types of video content garner views and the recommended thumbnail dimensions for your videos. Compelling content like tutorial videos, explainer videos, and product videos are a great start to collect as many viewers.
In addition, viewers are the essential key when getting popular on YouTube. The number of views pushes the platform’s algorithm to recommend your videos to others. As a result, you’ll receive a new batch of viewers and subscriptions at the same time.
2. Facebook
Facebook is still the king of social media. With over 2.85 billions monthly active users worldwide, this platform is one of the best places to run your social campaigns.
Before you get into the joy of using Facebook, it’s crucial to understand how people use this platform on a daily basis. People on Facebook love engaging with inspirational and entertaining posts. This is the reason why you can easily find motivational quotes here compared to other social media platforms.
Facebook users are also more interested in watching videos rather than a long, bulky text on the wall. Videos that evoke emotions sell much better on this platform. Hence, content like testimonials, customer stories, and shocking facts receive a greater response from users.
However, you should know that over 85% of Facebook users watch videos with sound off. The reason may be quite simple, every video on Facebook is built that way. Users need to unmute a video to listen to the audio as soon as it plays.
That’s why it’s vital to include captions on your Facebook videos. People who don’t turn the sound on may not understand what you’re trying to say. This will greatly affect you in delivering an important marketing message to your audience.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is unlike every other social media platform on this list. It’s specifically designed for professionals to connect and engage with one and another. Hence, the baby boomers and older millennials make up the biggest audience on this platform.
People use LinkedIn for professional purposes, such as searching for jobs, reaching out to clients, recruiting purposes and receiving career-related information. Therefore, it’s perfect for a brand looking for a way to broaden the network and meet like-minded individuals.
In this case, B2B companies can make good use of LinkedIn to generate leads and make sales conversions.
On LinkedIn, you can practically share branded videos or product videos without shame. After all, that’s what LinkedIn is designed for in the first place. In fact, these types of video content do well on this platform as they are helpful for other professionals in search of certain business content.
Unlike YouTube, LinkedIn has no features to keep video content or make a video playlist for recurring viewers. That means once you post videos, they will disappear shortly or get buried down on the LinkedIn feed unless you make them as an ad.
4. Twitter
Twitter is an excellent place for public relations. You literally have no boundaries when it comes to sending and receiving tweets with everyone. Hence, making it a great medium to connect with your target audience.
On Twitter, things escalate quickly. A simple tweet can take over the internet trend in a matter of hours. Whether it’s a few liners of your words or single video content, becoming viral on Twitter is relatively easy compared to other social networks.
For a business, using Twitter is a great deal in connecting with customers. You can build an entirely different brand persona on Twitter that you can’t do on other platforms, and no one will question you for that.
In any case, your audience will feel more connected with you if you can speak their language. This can be obtained when you lower down your professionality and make yourself a part of Twitter’s image: entertaining.
5. Instagram
Instagram is a very visual platform that focuses on serving engaging content like images or videos. This platform is like a highly curated gallery that everyone can make.
Since it heavily relies on visual content, Instagram is excellent for showcasing your brand in appealing images and videos. This platform has now evolved into a great marketing tool where you can post different types of content that fits your needs.
Instagram Stories allows you to post a 15-second video or slide images that will disappear after 24 hours. This feature helps you give a short announcement or product snippet for your followers, allowing you to attract their attention even better.
On the other hand, you can fill up to 10 images or videos on a single post with Instagram Carousel. It helps you minimize customers being distracted when scrolling through the feed as it spikes their curiosity into what you have in the next slide.
Not to mention that you can add hashtags to your video content. This allows people to discover your videos easily.
6. TikTok
At the beginning of it, TikTok was popular as a platform for random teens dancing around to some retro music. However, the sentiment has then cooled down as many big brands have joined this platform.
Big brands like Nike, Pepsi, and the NBA have taken advantage of this platform as its audience is entirely different from other networks.
TikTok itself is a bit different. With only 15-second long vertical video content, this platform is very appealing for those looking for a short, entertaining piece. The sound in TikTok videos plays an important role. Using a trending song can increase your reach on TikTok pages.
With that in mind, often, old songs become popular again and resurface on the internet as TikTok videos are shared across different social platforms.
TikTok now has over 800 million monthly active users across the globe. This number is estimated to grow rapidly as many brands begin to join the bandwagon, enlivening the already popular social network on the internet.
Takeaway
Social media videos have become the greatest item to have in your marketing campaign. With so many people are used to consuming video content, running a video marketing strategy has never been easier.
Take a look at the guide above to find the best platform for your brand. It may be challenging to provide different video content for different social platforms, but you know very well that reaching out to the right audience is your biggest priority in promoting your brand.
This guest post is written by Andre Oentoro, the founder of Breadnbeyond.
