Want to bring new life into your video content marketing? Start thinking outside of what you usually do for your video. After all, as a social media marketer, you don’t have any excuse not to give video content a try. Especially because plenty of affordable tools can help you create videos in no time.
If you don’t know where to start or what video content you need for social, you’re in the right place for help.
We’re going to step away from the cute puppy videos for a while and see a few best practices that will bring lots of impressions, engagement, and shares to your social media videos.
1. Informative Videos
Social network videos can cover any topic, so, depending on your industry, you’re able to create lots of relevant, informative videos for your audience.
Make a habit out of offering insightful content, so your target audience will always perceive your brand as being truthful and genuine. To keep the viewers engaged, you need to find the best way to deliver informative content, so people don’t get bored.
For example, if you’ve published a blog post with a lot of interesting information, you can use the material and transform it into a video to make it even more appealing to your audience. For example, given that not everyone watches social media videos with sound, you can add captions to the videos, so users don’t click away.
Example of informative video content
You might be familiar with Vox, a media company that has plenty of articles about the world and recent news, and also posts a lot of video content on its Facebook page.
2. Interviews and Q&As
Interviews and Q&A videos for social media are excellent video formats for engaging with your audience while delivering informative video content.
In regards to interviews, you can sit down with industry experts, influencers, team members, or even customers.
You have different options for how to conduct the interview:
- Prepare the questions yourself
- Ask your audience to send you their questions
- Do a mix of these two.
Example of Q&A video content
Here’s an interview from TechCrunch’s Facebook page, where Josh Costine sat down with Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen.
If the goal is to engage with your audience through video content, while also spark curiosity, we recommend asking them questions.
So, before you record an interview, make sure to vet through the questions that you have received, based on the topic of discussion.
This video about how to interview people on camera is packed with helpful tips from Dream Engine, a video production company based in Australia:
Besides doing an interview, you can also host a Q&A session where you or someone from your company answers the most common questions asked by the audience.
Though you can pre-record the Q&A, you can also experiment with live video as it will allow you to interact with the audience in real-time.
Facebook live videos are a great option to consider, but you can also go live on Instagram or post the Q&A session on Instagram Stories, and then store them in the Highlights section.
3. Products and Feature Videos
A recent Animoto survey shows that a brand’s social media presence plays a huge role in making a purchase decision. Instead of just using images that showcase products or specific features, create short videos to highlight them.
Using branded videos on social platforms is a more personal and less promotional way of advertising your products and services than creating regular social media video ads.
Moreover, a video allows you to get more creative, play with multiple product features, or emphasize a single feature in an innovative way.
Example of product video content
Here’s an extraordinary example of how GoPro shows what you can do with its product—not just what the product is. The storytelling is gorgeous, the brand is there but subtle.
4. Behind-the-Scenes Videos
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t love bloopers? Thought so. It’s the same with behind-the-scenes videos—people love to peek behind the curtain and see the human side of a company.
Grasping a sense of your brand’s identity is not a walk in the park, especially in the online world. Behind-the-scenes videos are an excellent way of building brand trust by showcasing your brand’s personality and company culture.
You can use plenty of ideas to create these types of videos for social media:
- Give your audience an office tour
- Show how your products are manufactured
- Offer sneak peeks from product launches
- Reveal how you do certain things
Example of behind-the-scenes video content
Here’s an example from in this video, Somisomi (an ah-boong soft serve company) shares about flavor decisions in its “Behind the Swirl” video:
5. User-Generated Videos
This is another excellent way to create social media videos that doesn’t require too much of your time and involvement.
You can hold a contest to gather user-generated content, reach out to influencers, or simply create your own branded hashtag, so that other people can use it when they post about your product or service.
If you ask for your followers’ help, you must acknowledge their presence and reward them properly. Share their content, praise their work, and don’t forget to incorporate your hashtags to get more exposure.
If you’re a social media manager, consider using user-generated content. User-generated content is the best way to encourage your clients’ audience to engage with their brand, not to mention the fact that it will create a sense of community within their audience.
Example of user-generated video content
Huda Beauty, a fast-growing beauty brand, reposts video content where women demonstrate how the products work. Here’s an example below.
6. Live Videos
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give you the possibility to do live streams on their platform.
Live videos are great for positioning your brand as more transparent and thus creating a stronger connection with your audience.
If you’re a social media manager, you can use live streams to do the following for your agency clients:
- Make official announcements
- Give more information regarding your products
- Show your clients how to use products
- Entertain your audience.
While Live streams can boost engagement, longer live video sessions can turn into an insightful brand experience.
Example of live video
Agorapulse’s 15/5 features timely, lively video content:
Here are a few tips here before going live:
- Make sure to create a setup where everything looks nice and tidy.
- Never forget that lighting and sound make a huge difference.
- Always test your live video setup before going live.
Promote your live video on social media beforehand.
7. Promotional Videos
How many times have you purchased something just because it had a great price? (Who doesn’t love a good deal?)
Deals or promotions are often advertised through images. But you can go beyond the norm in deals and promotions by creating short videos to showcase your hot deals and discounts. (And you may also want to create banner ads to promote your deal, too.)
Example of promotional video content
Here’s an example from Burt’s Bees:
Here’s an example of how to make social media videos if you’re a B2B company
8. Video Contests & Giveaways
When you announce a giveaway or a contest, it’s best to create videos that explain the rules and the selection criteria for the participants.
Most giveaways have similar rules, including the classic tag your friends in the comments section, like the page, or share this post.
Even better, you can organize a contest where participants have to create something for a chance to win.
Tip: If you pick the winner through a randomized method, make sure to use the right tool. Some of the classic randomize tools only include a limited number of contestants, so many can be left outside without even being considered.
Example of contest video content
Here’s a relaxed example of a contest video created by NPR for its Tiny Desk concert series. The announcement is lowkey but quick and funny. And the best thing is that the contest encouraged and received tons of UGC from musicians wanting to be on Tiny Desk.
9. Launches
When you’re launching a new product, service, or feature, there’s no better way to announce it than through a social media video. This allows you to get more creative than publishing a mainstream post accompanied by an image.
Go a little further than the traditional, single image post, and create an engaging video explaining everything that your audience needs to know.
Also, make sure to play with colors, effects, cool fonts, and transitions to create a video that piques the curiosity of your audience.
Example of product launch video
NBA2K24 just launched and features exciting music and comparisons of real footage and game footage to entice users to appreciate (and purchase) the realistic basketball game.
10. Tutorials and How-To Videos
Tutorials and how-to videos are extremely popular online. At some point in our life, we’ve all wanted to learn a new skill, such as cutting our hair at home or fixing something around the house.
Often, social media how-to videos are easier to understand and follow than articles, even though they explain the same step-by-step process.
Data shows that it’s best to post longer videos on YouTube. But in regards to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you should keep it short and sweet, without exceeding a few minutes.
The best part about videos is that people can follow your tutorial and pause it whenever they want to keep up with the steps.
Plus, you can create social media how-to videos on all sorts of topics related to your industry.
If you have no idea where to start, ask your audience what is the video content that they’d like to see first.
The tricky part about videos is that tutorials have to be long enough to be educational, clear, and entertaining, yet short enough to keep the audience engaged. So, you’ll need to tweak your video content based on the platform that is going to host it.
Example of how-to video content
You can see in the how-to video below, that you can make a refreshing drink in quick simple steps, courtesy of Grey Goose Vodka (which, not coincidentally, is a beverage brand).
In Conclusion
Social media marketing videos drive more engagement and can help you gain more visibility.
Get started with one of these video ideas for your social media channels and see what works best for you and your clients’ brands (or your own).
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