In 2022, an average person is expected to spend 100 minutes watching video content. It makes video content one of the significant part of the overall marketing strategy. This number is expected to improve exponentially with the rise of social media video content which is more creative, engaging, and instant than regular video content.
Every day, people start their mornings by going through their social media feeds. And these feeds are often full of videos of all kinds. The popularity of videos has opened a new path for companies for connecting with their target audience in a better way. However, social media video marketing requires a well-thought-out strategy in order to get the most out of your content.
Why Do You Need Video Marketing?
According to data, 67% of marketers claim that video content on social media has the highest ROI. That’s why most businesses make the most use of content marketing campaigns on social media to reach out to their target audience and engage them in a better way.
One of the best things about video marketing is that it can be used for any of the five stages of the marketing funnel. Videos can help you create brand awareness, but they can also lead to conversions and build loyalty.
It’s important to make videos creatively by adding high-quality pictures, and interesting scripts, and choosing the relevant content. You can add a call-to-action button to entice the audience to take any action, which helps the viewers to enter the marketing funnel. A carefully created video can help you improve the connection between your brand and your target audience.
How to Plan an Effective Social Media Video Marketing Strategy?
In order to make the most out of your video marketing, you need to pay attention to several things. First thing first, your ideal customer is the hero here. Anything you do for creating a video you should keep the target audience in mind.
The following seven steps can help you come up with an effective social media video marketing strategy:
Define Your Objectives
Before you start thinking about the types of videos you want to make, you need to define your objectives. Start by asking yourself what your brand is all about. You also need to review the overall marketing strategy so you can align your video marketing with it. Your objectives should be:
- Specific,
- Measurable, and
- Time-framed.
It is also important to include your goals in the objectives. If you are just venturing into video marketing, it is better to set smaller goals. It would be helpful for you to get familiar with video marketing before setting bigger goals. Here are a few goals you can include in your social media video marketing strategy:
- Creating brand awareness.
- Increase the number of targeted followers.
- Launching new products.
- Generating sales efficiency.
- Improving traffic to your website.
Choose Your Platform
If it is your first time sharing videos with your audience, go with the platform where you already have a decent following. You can move to other platforms one by one. You can also repurpose your videos and share them across different platforms. However, it is important to know what video dimensions can be displayed on each platform. This way, you can choose platforms that display similar video dimensions.
It is also important to know the length of the video you should create. Although Facebook and Instagram allow longer videos, it is best to stick to shorter lengths. The ideal length of a video for social media marketing is two minutes. Make sure none of your videos are longer than 2 minutes, regardless of the platform they will be on.
Decide on Video Type
One of the best things about social media videos is that they can be used for different purposes. However, it is important to choose a video type that is the most suitable for your brand. You can also share different types of videos with your audiences to keep them entertained.
The most common videos types are:
- Educational Videos. These can be made for both your potential customers and existing customers. They can create brand awareness among your target audience and offer tips and suggestions about your products to your existing customers.
- Entertaining Videos. As the name suggests, the sole purpose of these videos is to entertain your audience. Although they don’t directly market your brand, they can help you build a sense of community among your audience.
- Testimonials. These types of videos can help you share the experiences of existing customers with your target audience. The videos can show your customers using one of your products. Customers can also give positive feedback through these videos.
- Behind-the-scenes video: In the world of social media filters, and video edits, people love seeing their authentic selves. Behind-the-scene videos give your audience an authentic sense of who your team is. Such videos also allow people to see the different personalities of your team members while making them relatable.
- Product demo videos: The first thing every new customer looks for is a product demo video. A clear product demo with easy-to-follow steps can help your potential customer move ahead in your marketing funnel with ease.
No matter which type of video you choose, you will be able to benefit from it. However, it is best to try and create different kinds of videos to win the hearts of your target audience.
Plan Production
It is important to make a plan for making videos instead of just winging them. You can either hire a video development company or do everything by yourself. If you decide to go for in-house production of videos, remember the following steps if you want to do it for the production of custom boxes
- Acquiring the necessary equipment and props.
- Write the script, or hire a freelance script writer who can do a better job for you.
- Edit the script.
- Find a suitable location and take natural daylight into consideration for filming.
- Make a list of people who will help you in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Make Time for Post-Production
Post-production is important for a number of reasons. It gives you the chance to add a call to action screen on your videos. You can also add closed captions in post-production. It is important to remember that the ads you see on TV and social media look nothing like the original work and all the magic happens during post-production.
So, if you want refined and polished videos, set aside time for post-production, just like you can find a video maker online, you can also find tools for editing videos on the internet. Check out these tools to find the one that matches your requirements.
Schedule & Promote
Once your video is ready, the next step is to schedule and promote it. Just because you have posted a video doesn’t mean everyone will want to watch it. That’s why it is essential to plan the promotion in advance.
You can start posting teasers and images from the video to increase the curiosity of your target audience. It is also important not to think of videos as a one-time project. If you have shot enough content, you can divide it into clips and share them on your social media platforms.
Analyze Performance
Posting and promoting your videos is useless without performance analysis. You need to look at the statistics and figure out what are the watch times of your audience. You also need to review the view counts, likes, shares, and comments.
Each social media platform provides different sets of metrics that you can analyze to figure out how well a video performed among the target audience. The metrics you analyze as proof of success should be in line with the objectives you defined in the beginning. Your analysis can also help you make the necessary changes in your video strategy for better results.
Final Thoughts
The steps mentioned above can help your brand start its journey of social media video marketing. However, it is important to remember that the rules of social media marketing change quite frequently, which is why you should regularly update your video marketing strategy.
