Integrate Your Social Media with Video

We’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words.

If that’s the case, then a video should be worth a whole library, right? And social videos are worth more than that. They’re like entire libraries of information that you can export to millions of users at once. . . for free!

Social videos refer to any digitized video footage that can be shared over social media platforms. The popularity and efficacy of social videos to communicate ideas boils down to a simple slogan: show, don’t tell.

Just imagine the possibilities that can be handled through social video. Companies leverage video to provide how-to instructions, product reviews, info-tainment . . . all this is available instantly over YouTube, Vine, Periscope, Snapchat, or some other platform . . . and all of it is designed to demonstrate how your company provides the best solution in today’s competitive marketplace.

Are social videos really that important? Yes! Millennial tech users (approximately 18 – 33 years old in 2016) grew up watching videos on their phones and computers. In just a few years, this generation will comprise the majority of the world’s work force. Correspondingly, they will wield an enormous amount of discretionary purchase power.

For this reason, companies like Facebook and Instagram have begun acquiring other companies that specialize in social video generation and dispersal.

At Stern Inbound Marketing, we recommend the following best practices for leveraging social video as a marketing tool:

First, make sure your videos are optimized to play well on all devices. Your videos need to play clearly on the screen of a desktop computer, a Smartphone, television, and tablet. People use all these devices and more these days. You can’t miss an opportunity to convey your message to one bracket of technology users.

Second, make sure your videos can be easily shared. People who work in real estate say the secret to success is Location, Location, Location! At Stern Inbound Marketing, we’ve learned that the secret to social videos success  is Go Viral, Go Viral, Go Viral!

Remember: a social video is only as powerful as the number of times it is shared. What makes a video shareable? It should tell a good story — one that resonates easily and deeply with viewers. It should display high-level production values (in other words, it should look awesome). It should get right to the point — be brief and powerful. And it should come equipped with various buttons and links to facilitate one-click sharing.

Third, make sure that your social videos are tailored for each respective social media channel. Videos tend to display differently over the individual social networks. Also, each network tends to leverage a different type of audience with a different attention span. The video that works well over Facebook might not work as well over Twitter, and vice versa. Where possible, should construct your videos so that they’re scaleable. Use the trimmer, leaner version one one network, the longer, more detailed and expanded version on another.

The art and craft of leveraging social videos to the advantage of your company are so many and multi-faceted that we’ll cover them later in a forthcoming blog series.