Video is a central piece of what’s happening on social media. We have created a series on how to maximize videos for your company. Weekly, we’ll release a short guide on how to take advantage of the best video features you may not be using on your social platforms. Check out this week’s tips on Pinterest Video features that will engage your users and elevate your brand.
Press Play on Pinterest
Pinterestmay seem like a wild card for your video marketing strategy, but in reality, it’s one of the best social media platforms you might not have ever considered. In 2019, Pinterest ranked above Twitter and Snapchat as the fourth most popular social media platform in the U.S.
While Pinterest has been around since 2010, this image-driven social media site introduced promoted video options for the first time in 2016, and has since discovered that promoted video content was 4x as memorable (and pinnable) to their users as opposed to a traditional, non-video ad.
Example: Hunter used storytelling videos to launch their Core Concept collection of colorful rain boots & gear.
Think of Pinterest as the ultimate visual search engine.
By creating pins and videos to promote, you’re making sure that the users are getting the image and creativity of your brand first, which then entices them to click and pin on. Since Pinterest is a visual social media platform, its users are drawn to the quality of the pins that show up on their feed, and are therefore more likely to pin a video with clean and high-quality visuals rather than length.
This differs from Facebook’s best video practices, which includes the success of videos at least two minutes in length. So, if you’ve got a clear, concise, and bold message to send, Pinterest might be the best platform for video you never considered.
Looking to drive traffic specifically to your site through video pins?
Promote and pin teaser videos instead of full-length ones. This can range from a segment of one of your IG stories, a quick snippet of an instructional video or introduction of a service, or even a recorded customer testimonial. These pins will grab attention and serve as a sample of your brand instead of a full taste, prompting curious users to learn more directly from the source.
Users want to be able to engage with the brands in a personal way
By creating thoughtful and well-produced video content, you’re paving the way for users inside and outside of your circle to get to know your business, and you’re helping to humanize the brand behind the screen. The best part about the ubiquitous nature of social media is just how easy it is to put your best foot forward.
It may feel overwhelming to dive into video content, but the beauty of the industry is that anybody can do it. You don’t need a professional videographer or a high-end camera. Your smartphone, good lighting, a good hook and a clear message can pull your brand out of obscurity and into the limelight—right in front of the user’s eyes and minds: exactly where you need to be.
Video is a central piece of what’s happening on Twitter. We have created a series on how to maximize videos for your company. Weekly, we’ll release a short guide on how to take advantage of the best video features you may not be using on your social platforms. Check out this weeks tips on Twitter Video features that will engage your users and elevate your brand.
Press Play on Twitter
If you’ve scrolled through your Twitter feed lately, chances are you’ve seen a promoted tweet or hashtag weaving its way through the trending pages. You’ve also most likely seen a video start playing as you scroll without any sound, grabbing your attention for just long enough to disrupt your flow and make you stop — that’s what you should be aiming for.
Videos are more likely to cause disruption and catch your eye rather than a text tweet or a picture. Creating a targeted promotion with a well-produced clip is sure to get your video post more retweets.
While Twitter may not have ‘stories’ like the other leading social platforms it has other great features. Twitter gives you the option to post videos up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds—twice the length of a feed video on Instagram. This longer length affords you the flexibility to create different kinds of video, from short snippets of products or services, to testimonials or demonstrations.
Twitter Video Marketing Tips
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth much more in the Twitter world today. We have a few tips that will help make your message more memorable and to optimize replay-worthy videos for peak engagement:
Don’t Skip on Captions
Captioning for videos are very important! About 85% of social media users watch a video without sound. Twitter also Autoplays soundless videos, so this is a great time to capture your audience with the captioning. This will not only increase your videos engagement but improve SEO & content discovery.
Create for Mobile Devices
93% of video views that happen on Twitter happen on mobile devices. This is why when you create & upload, keeping mobile in mind is imperative. When inserting captions make sure the words are large enough for the mobile viewer. When it comes to all layout and sound settings, keep this tip at the front of the creative process.
Be Open to Learn
Twitter’s popularity has increased exponentially over the years, but it can still feel like treading in unfamiliar territory to bring your brand into the limelight. Similar to Facebookand other social media platforms, Twitter offers the option to take free classes and get certified through their Twitter Flight School. The modules are designed to be completed at your own pace, so even if you’re starting from absolute scratch, you won’t feel 10 steps behind. Check out their module specifically designed to help you create and execute video campaigns.
Have Fun!
Is your video still too long for Twitter? Take the best parts to highlight and create a GIF. Looking to do a Q&A? Split up questions you receive from your followers and put one or two into a video. The flexibility of Twitter’s post format allows you to experiment with different video formats, so get creative and post a clip!
The more you post, the easier it will be to create a steady stream of relevant content, allowing the opportunity for your followers to interact with and get to know your brand better.
How Facebook Live is Disrupting Social Media Marketing For the Better – And How to Use It!
The Age Of Social Media
Business is forever changing and developing. New technology and ways of communicating and doing business are always emerging, changing the way you speak to customers, advertise your business and sell your product. New products and changes to your service aren’t always welcome and can have a bad response, which is why knowing what your customers want is very important.
Coming now is the time of social media. Slowly over time social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram have taken over a significant portion of people’s free time. Initially these were all just social platforms where people shared lol cats and funny videos. Now they have developed into much more.
So many people have a handful of social media apps, many of these people spend a fair amount of time using these social media apps and sites, so it did not take long for businesses to realize that these would be ideal platforms to advertise themselves and reach their customers. The effectiveness of showing a product on a platform like Facebook far outweighed many other local advertising options, the number of views and likes of a single post far outweighs the advertising you might get from a sign outside the front of your business or a newspaper ad. People can tag friends, share the add and comment, giving you a response from the market as to how well your product or business is perceived.
Businesses And Facebook
There was a time when businesses wouldn’t consider having something like a Facebook page, it could be perceived as unprofessional, which is where sites like LinkedIn emerged. The idea of a business not having and using a Facebook profile now seems mad.
Many businesses employ Social Media Managers and agencies to represent them online, advertising their company and products, dealing with comments and queries online and engaging customers. Having a Facebook page for your business means that people all over the world can see what you are about and what you can offer, granting you new business you never expected and getting you recognized.
What Is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live is a feature which now allows you to share a live video directly onto Facebook, whenever you like for as long as you like. People can watch it live, or can watch the video from the beginning if they missed it or joined late. The features of Facebook live make it very easy to use, even with just a phone and allow anyone watching to ask questions, react to the video with likes and dislikes and share your video with their friends.
Lights! Camera! Action!
Well let me give you an example of how this can be helpful to you. Say that you are launching a new product, you’ve posted some photos and ideas of the product and received a bit of feedback online, but you are unsure how interested or excited people are for the product. You can tell people that you are planning to unveil this new product with a live stream at a certain time and invite them to join you. You can create a prototype, or show off the first complete product with a live video, showing how it looks, what it does and so that people can see what they are buying.
Using the live video, you can show your potential customers what they are buying, you can see how many people are interested by the amount of viewers. Even better you can see what people are saying about your product as you conduct the video, giving you the chance to answer their questions and explain more about it there and then.
Another great feature is that throughout the video people watching can react to what they are seeing, liking or disliking certain visuals, features and details of the product. You can then see what people like about your product and what you may need to potentially change.
Facebook Live DIY Marketing Ideas
In case I haven’t already inspired you or you are looking for more ideas to improve your business with Facebook live here are some examples of ways you can utilize this great feature:
1. Host a Q&A or Interview live – If you want to try to get more understanding of what you and your company provide and do to your customers then this can be a great way to engage them. Making an event out of a question and answer session or an interview with yourself or one of your employees, can draw people in to learn more about what you do. You can set a time for the video to start do a brief introduction, set a topic or just open yourself up to questions. Viewers can react to your responses, ask questions and you can react to it all live. There is a definitely an appeal to many of seeing a live interview, where they can interact with the information and engage with you regarding the information.
2. Events – Use Facebook to tease an upcoming event, test the waters of you event and how excited people are to be there or see it. Building up anticipation for the event will build a lot of interest and draw more viewers for the live cast. Then you can stream the event you are hosting to people that couldn’t make it, or may be considering to give it a try another time. The live video allows you to respond to questions and see the reactions of the viewers, so you know what people are interested in for future development. This means people that couldn’t make it don’t miss out and allows people to see what the event is all about, how great it is and can encourage them to attend in future.
3. Stream your place of business – Whatever product or service you offer, it can be hard to convey how your company works and the kind of people in your business. A nice way to introduce your business or explain how day to day life in your business works, is to stream it live. This can get a very positive response online. The live video makes it more genuine than a per-recorded video or some pictures. It shows you are an open, modern, friendly business and can introduce many new or old customers into how you do what you do. This can rally a lot of interest if many people don’t understand how your product is made or how your service is provided and can show how well your operation is set up to provide this.
4. Customer Care – If your customer service team comes across a repeated question, you can use a live event to address this, or several questions. This is far more effective than repeatedly answering the same question to each individual customer time after time. The live stream will give customers the chance to understand the explanation with visual aids rather than a reply by letter or email. They will feel more engaged and if any further explanation is needed or if you have to expand of a specific topic, they get their answer there and then.
A Few Things To Consider
It can be easy to get carried away with all the potential of Facebook Live and the excitement of your team and customers, but don’t rush into a live stream unprepared. Although the lure of a live stream is that it is more organic than a per-prepared video, you still need to be ready for any surprises that may pop up. Make sure you or whoever is in the stream, knows what they are talking about and can answer any questions that come up.
Set a topic. Don’t just make a stream, if there isn’t something for you to talk about, introduce or explain then the stream can become awkward if people don’t know what to ask and you don’t know what to talk about. Having a topic or event will drive more interest and give you something to fall back to if it goes quiet or you lose track of what you were saying.
Video quality is very important. Although you can do a live stream on your phone or iPad anywhere you have signal, this isn’t necessarily a great idea. Make sure there is good lighting and audio where ever you are. You don’t want noisy machines or wind drowning you out.
Using any of this advice in the right way can soon help you utilize your business through Facebook Live in no time, getting you feedback and advertising you would never have had access to before.
Logos
If a picture is worth a thousand words, your logo speaks volumes. Get the right visual that will draw attention to your business.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat… TIKTOK! – We all live on them! Social Media is not just for kids anymore, but who has time to learn how to use all these platforms to actually make money? Don’t worry – we’ve#GotYouCovered! Video social media marketing is the future!.. Contact us today!
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