4 Secrets to Social Video Success

The power of social video marketing is increasingly touted as the fastest way for brands to build engagement with customers and prospects. In a recent survey, 80 percent of content marketers said videos published on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have directly impacted their business. This figure confirms the kind of effect I see every day when my company, Social Motion Media, creates videos for our clients. To give just one example: After we started producing video content for kitchenware brand Cleanblend, its Instagram followers increased by 450 percent. An even more interesting statistic from that same survey is the downside to not producing video content at all: “One in four consumers lose interest in a company if it doesn’t use video.” This risk factor wasn’t something I had ever considered and it highlights the urgent need for all brands to get in the video game. It’s one thing to produce a video but quite another to create one that will engage, delight and persuade your audience. Having good ideas is key, but there are four other important factors you should consider if you want to reap the benefits of social video. Focus on engagement When you’re creating videos to be published on social media, your primary goal should be engagement. You’re either appealing to people who are still in the early stages of your brand’s sales funnel or those who are already part of your community. This means fun, informative and engaging content that will drive desire to become a customer or engender brand loyalty in existing customers. Videos that support conversion efforts—e.g., instructional guides or product demos—usually work better on your website or YouTube channel. Keep it short At SOMO, our sweet spot when it comes to length is five to 30 seconds. This is partly to do with the idea that online viewers have short attention spans. Anything longer than one minute and the viewer is unlikely to finish watching, therefore missing your climactic call-to-action. However, our principal reason for keeping videos short is the rewatch factor. Someone viewing your content repeatedly is a fast track to brand loyalty, and that’s more likely to happen if the video is highly engaging and snackably short. Do it often That spectacular 450 percent boost in Instagram followers we achieved for Cleanblend didn’t happen overnight. It was a cumulative increase that resulted from posting new video content consistently, and our most recent post helped the company reach a milestone of 10,000 followers. I believe this happens because when faced with a near-infinite choice of videos to watch, people stack the odds of viewing something good in their favor by prioritizing content from a brand they know delivers engaging experiences. The more consistently you do this, the more loyal your followers. Collaborate for success When you’re aiming for a consistent cadence, it’s tempting to keep input from managers or clients to a minimum. But their feedback is critical to ensuring that each video engages the target audience, so you need a review process that isn’t a time-drain for either party and helps eliminate costly miscommunications. At SOMO, we use creative collaboration service Hightail, which allows clients to stream and preview our latest cut online and leave time-stamped comments on precise locations in the video. This helped cut turnaround times by 20 percent and keep our clients fully engaged with every video we produce. When 60 percent of content marketers plan to increase spend on social video over the coming 12 months, you’ll need to work harder to harness the power of video for your brand. By focusing on engagement, keeping it short, publishing consistently and collaborating closely with your clients, you’ll ensure that your social video marketing stands out from the crowd. Mark Glover Masterson is an award-winning filmmaker and creative partner at Social Motion Media. Image courtesy of PeopleImages/iStock.