Engage: 5 Ways to Use Video
It is easy to create a generic video about your company and post it on your YouTube page, but there...
It’s no secret that video is big. And by big, we mean YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. TikTok has taken the world by storm, now with over 1 billion users, and it's all video. Instagram added “Reels,” this year and the list goes on.
Video is so popular it’s difficult to keep up with all the ways you can use it. Here is how to tailor your video content to each social platform.
YouTube
With so many different video platforms on the rise, you may think they’d render YouTube obsolete, or at least less used. But, according to a Hubspot study, YouTube is still the most common platform people go-to for video.
YouTube is often used as a search engine, so it’s important to title your videos correctly and create content that people are searching for. As a business, you should aim to educate, so answer questions that your audience is asking. Pay attention to keywords and use them in your videos often. Videos with “how to” in the title are a good place to start. Make sure to put slides and end cards to your other channel videos in every video. Once a user finds your videos, you want them to stick around as long as possible, moving them from one video to the next, answering all of their questions. Another way to accomplish this is to make playlists on your channel of videos that are on similar subjects.
Bonus Tip: Sometimes your thumbnail ( the still shot that a user sees in search results before clicking on your video) is just as important as your content. If you can’t get people to click on your content, what good is it? This is why it’s important to pay attention to your brand’s graphic design.
When Instagram was first created it was simply a photo-sharing platform, but videos were added shortly after. Instagram can get a bit tricky, simply because there are so many different ways to share video. Posts, stories, reels, and IGTV are all options for video content. Let’s break them down.
Posts
This is your standard one-minute video that shows up in your followers’ main feed. Post videos work best when looking to engage your existing audience. It also ensures that the video stays on your main profile forever.
Stories
Instagram stories were introduced to be similar to Snapchat stories. They show up at the top of a user’s home screen and disappear after 24 hours. The clips show up in 10-second increments. A story can be a bit less unproduced and more casual than a post video, making it the easiest place to be authentic and give your followers a look into what your company is all about. Stories are also a great place to allow your followers to engage. You can add polls, places for them to add questions, and links directly into your story. It’s also good for announcements that are time-sensitive. Because stories are only live for a short period of time, once it’s no longer relevant the information won’t still be living on your profile.
Reels
Reels can be up to 30 seconds long. Reels is Instagram's effort to mimic TikTok. It’s the best place to get your content in front of people who don’t follow you. You can add music, text, captions, and more. It’s a great way to get new traffic familiar with your brand and even get more followers. Think of it as a highlight reel...see what they did there?
IGTV
This is where you publish your longer videos - up to 15 minutes. Note: if you choose to make a post video longer than 1 minute, it automatically becomes an IGTV video. Think of IGTV videos as similar to the tips for YouTube. Try to be educational and strategic with these videos. It’s where you can go the most in-depth. You can also reach a new audience with IGTV.
*Note: All forms of video content can be added to your story by going to the piece of content, clicking on the three dots, and clicking “add to your story.”
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Videos can be posted directly to Facebook, where they will live on your profile under “Videos” until you take them down. You can also embed videos directly from YouTube and Vimeo. When videos are posted they autoplay as a user scrolls over them, so it's important to be engaging right away. Facebook is a great place for interviews, Q&As, and announcements.
Another important place for video content is Facebook Live. Live video content gives users extra incentive to click because it makes them feel like they’re a part of something happening right now. Don’t get a huge audience for a live video? Never fear, the video will remain in your feed for visitors to watch later, although it doesn’t offer the same experience of being able to interact and ask questions in real-time. This is likely why Facebook users spend three times more time watching a live video than a video that’s no longer live.
Videos are six times more likely to be retweeted than photos. Six times! This gives you a unique opportunity to get your video content in front of not only your followers but your followers’ followers. Twitter videos autoplay on a user's feed, so it’s important to be engaging right away. Because this autoplay doesn’t include sound unless a user clicks, it is important to include subtitles, so the content catches a user’s attention and entices them to click.
For more Twitter video tips, check out Twitter’s “5 data-driven tips for scroll-stopping video.”
LinkedIn is known as the best place to reach professionals, and your video on the platform should reflect that. Video content should be polished and brand-specific. Product demonstrations, testimonials, and interviews related to your brand are essential to your LinkedIn profile. People want to get to know your business on LinkedIn, and video is the best way to show them what you’re all about.
Video content is so important for your business. You need to be creating videos. If you need help or have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!