71% of marketers created social media videos in 2022. Brand videos on social media have the potential to capture a large number of views from your target audience. How do you create videos that resonate and garner shares? And what are the common mistakes that prevent social media videos from getting the best results? Let’s take a look.
What helps? The do’s of social media video marketing
Keep it relevant to your audience
While you may go duh, the chance of creating an otherwise interesting video that doesn’t have much value for your audience lurks. In the excitement of getting creative and bold, it’s quite possible to miss out the core message that can attract your audience to you.
Decide what your audience must take away from your video. Your buyer personas can come in handy here. You could, for example, target your audience’s pain-points, ambitions, or the factors that keep them from investing in your solution or a comparable product/service.
You will then have a direction for your script and can take it confidently to storyboard. This is a simple and logical path to creating a social media video.
Ensure your brand voice comes through
A marketing best practice is to have a distinctive brand voice that reflects in the company’s online and offline content, messaging, and interactions. It includes your social media videos, where you have a lot of scope to say things that reinforce your brand image.
Maintaining a consistent tone of voice across all your social media videos helps your audience build familiarity and get closer to you faster. Some elements to consider when creating a script in your brand voice are:
Using the words best used for certain purposes
Using assonance and consonance to add rhythm
Using staccato or dense sentences to hold audience’s interest
It’s worth spending additional time to create a tight, almost lyrical script. If you’re short of time or struggling, just focus on using words and a tone appropriate to your audience.
Make the first few seconds amazing
The entire video should ideally be amazing but the first few seconds matter more because they decide whether viewers continue watching or move on to other content. A great hook is a common tactic to grab attention but appealing music or powerful visuals can also do the trick.
Have a goal to invest in a good script and production value (lighting and audio). You may need to outsource social media video creation to an external agency. Or spend additional hours researching, talking to experts, learning a few things, and planning extensively to keep everything in-house.
Know where to post your videos
While YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are the most effective video marketing platforms, TikTok has also found favor among marketers. TikTok is more popular among women in the 18-34 age group, with Gen Z using it (and Instagram) over Google. Something to think about if you serve a younger audience. LinkedIn is the go-to for B2B companies.
A video created for distribution on, say YouTube, can be repurposed for other social networks, can appear on your landing page or blog, or marketing emails. This is the value of creating video or any brand content for that matter - it can keep your content marketing flowing with less effort.
Add a call to action
If viewers watch your video till the end, they’ve liked what they’ve seen. This makes it likely that they will be receptive to any suggestion you make at the end of the video. I.e., your call to action (CTA). A CTA nudges your audience to do your bidding, so make the most of those influential moments.
CTA options for social media videos:
A verbal call to action by the speaker or a voice-over (“Click the link below”, “Subscribe to our channel”).
A text call to action, such as a promotional code, a form, or event dates.
You can also get creative and end with a question and provide CTA information, such as your website URL. This is the tactic Dollar Shave Club used effectively, ending with a rather cheeky line on screen “Isn’t it about time?” followed by the company name, URL and slogan. It was a great ending to a great video, which explains why it went viral and caused the company’s website to crash from the rush of traffic.
What to avoid? Dont’s of social media video
Don’t sell fervently
Every brand video on social media will have subtle sales elements and that’s best. Sounding pushy in your video will most likely turn viewers off, and invite some not-so-nice comments. In an inbound marketing age, a hard sell is a big no-no for most content. Instead, provide vie
Don’t aim for a hit
Stories of viral brand videos on social media are inspirational. But virality shouldn’t be aspirational. Aim for a quality video that aligns with your goal and results are bound to follow. The pressure to create a viral video can give rise to mistakes. In a bid to make your video creative or entertaining, you may miss out on the essential messaging or dilute its essence.
Don’t forget to add captions and subtitles
In sound-sensitive environments, people watch videos with the sound turned off. It’s common behavior to glance at video subtitles while scrolling social media feeds. Subtitles are viewers’ only way to understand your video, making them crucial. Subtitles and captions make your video inclusive for the hearing impaired and hard of hearing. They can sometimes help with comprehension even with the audio turned on.
Don’t jump on trends
Trends lose their appeal quickly. Another company may create a better video based on the same trend. You could be fighting a losing battle. Being authentic and original is more effective.
Use a video marketing agency
If you don’t have the in-house resources or time to create social media videos, hiring a marketing agency will allow you to meet your marketing goals cost-effectively. You can be as involved as you want, and run your marketing partner by your ideas.
