4 Things You Must Consider Before Building Social Video

Featuring and distributing videos on social is becoming more and more popular. In the gallery below, we’ve got some stats to prove it. 

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Video is consuming content marketing and advertising strategy. It should start to consume your social strategy, too. But distributing video content on social willy-nilly, without a strategy for where and how you’re posting, will not produce the results you’re looking for.  That’s why we hosted a webinar, Social Video Marketing in 2018: What Social Marketers Need to Know. 

In the webinar, Lucy Hitz, Head of Marketing Communications, and Matt Tesmond, Product Marketer, reviewed everything you need to know about building and measuring your social video program. Here are three techniques you absolutely must use as you do this. 

1. Consider the Stage

As you create a social video marketing strategy, you must nail down which audience you are trying to target and which themes will resonate with this audience.

We like to think of this in terms of the marketing funnel.

Are you trying to create awareness for your brand, or convert your audience into buyers, or do you want people to continue to buy your products/services and become advocates? Your intention here is super important, because it shapes the direction you go when you’re creating your content.

Here are some examples we reviewed that apply to different stages of the funnel.

Awareness

In this example, Everlane is introducing a pair of flats, which are versatile and can be dressed up or dressed down. The video uses a blend of aspirational and audience-relevant messaging to achieve its awareness aim. It’s important to note here that, with this video, Everlane is expanding awareness of both their brand and this specific product.

This video could be used with equal success to reach both new audiences of likely buyers and audiences who already know and care about the Everlane brand. 

Consideration

Daily Harvest is a subscription service that will send pre-made smoothies to your door. Here, they are introducing another box size with 9 cups.

They are targeting an audience that knows about their brand and service, but may have been on the fence about purchasing from them.

By showing that they are adding more subscription options, they are educating their audience to push them through the consideration stage into the conversion stage. 

This is also a great example of a low-lift but still aesthetically appealing video. You don’t need the bells and whistles to be successful on social video—as long as you understand your goals and audience. 

Advocacy/Loyalty

Many times, brands build video content to keep customers happy about their decision to use their products/services, and to deepen this connection.

In this example, we see Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson advocating for Alaska Airlines.

2. Consider Video Length

You want to make sure your video is capturing your audience’s attention, and length plays a huge part in that. Here are some tips for optimizing on your video length.

1. Capture the audience’s attention within the first 3-5 seconds
2. Long-form videos should live on YouTube
3. Auto-play social videos should be no more than 60 seconds
4. Link to long-form videos if you want people to see more
5. The shorter the better, but make sure you’re getting your key points across

With Simply Measured Social Analytics, you can measure video consumption across all active social channels in one place, to see what your audience is watching. Having these metrics is important when you want to determine which lengths or types of videos are resonating the most with your audience.

3. Consider Your Reporting Structure

We talk a little bit about how you can report on your own videos in a recent video marketing blog post, but I wanted to reiterate some of the reporting formats.

Options:

• High-Level vs. Deep Dive
• Channel vs. Channel
• Owned vs. Earned
• Paid vs. Organic
• Dynamic vs. Static

You can track video metrics, such as videos posted, impressions, views, and engagement on one single channel or across multiple.

Competitors and Industries

While you feel like you might be confined to creating video content that’s specific to your industry, it’s okay to do some digging in other industries to see what’s working best for their audience.

You can track accounts outside of your industry or your competitors with Simply Measured. You’re able to see engagement metrics and top video posts. Use these stats as a way to benchmark against how your videos are performing, or as maybe a starting point if you’re new to social video marketing.

 

4. Inhabit the Testing Mindset

The great part about social video marketing and trying something new is that you have the ability to test your strategies and make tweaks accordingly. 

Continue to try new video features, and explore different strategies across channels. Social video marketing is a train you want to get on; we’re rooting for you! For extra guidance, download the guide below. 

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