IBSM BLOG
By: Chris | November 02, 2021
Discover a four-step system for creating videos people will click on, watch, and share.
The first step to making a highly watchable and shareable video is the hook. In the first 3-5 seconds of your video, you need to grab people’s attention as they’re scrolling through the news feed. You can do this either by placing your best footage at the beginning or using a strong headline.
This is a case where you don’t want to save your best for last. When you’re making videos for social media, you need to frontload your best stuff. The first few seconds are when all of the magic happens.
Empathy is a key element of any successful video. Empathy is the only reason anyone clicks a link, watches a video, or buys a product or service online. It’s also a crucial factor in getting people to share your video, which will help you get the most visibility for your content.
Right from the hook, people need to start feeling an emotional connection to what they’re watching. Create an experience where people see themselves in your content. People want a mirror so give it to them.
The emotional response that people have to watching your video is also important. You want people not only to consume the content but also be compelled to take action and share it.
Empathy does a lot of this work but you need to take it a step further. Your video needs to elicit an emotional response that drives people to want to share it, almost as if they’re performing some sort of public service. You can also ask them to share it with other people at the end of the video.
There’s so much video content online that chances are the video you’re making is very similar to something that’s been made before. So to differentiate your content from the competition, you need to over-deliver.
That could mean taking an extra 5 minutes to add a little more information and context to show viewers you’ve gone the extra mile. Do whatever it takes to provide value and make your video feel different from what people have seen before.
When you’ve invested a lot of time, energy, and resources into putting a video out into the world, it can be disheartening when it falls flat. The good news is that this four-part system will help you create highly watchable videos that people will want to click on, watch, and share on their social media channels.
This approach works for any video online but particularly for videos in a social news feed—LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And you can also adapt it to get more views on TikTok.
What do you think? Are you inspired to try this approach for your next social media video? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Category: Videos
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By: Chris | October 05, 2020
Video is a visually rich communication tool that can be tailored to suit any audience and share any message on multitude of social media platforms. Whether your goal is to drive more traffic, increase leads, educate a buyer into making a purchase decision, or improve conversion rates, video is one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate with your audience.
It’s easy to churn out a video on social media nowadays. All you need is an idea, an online video maker and ta-da, you’re ready to post videos on your social channels. The hard part is creating video content that will actually engage your audience and benefit your business.
We’ve put together seven tips that will help transform your video engagement rates across social media and help you reach your business goals.
1. Optimize for attention
Firstly, you’ll need to customize your video thumbnail to encourage clicks. If the image captures the audience’s attention, they’re more likely to press play. Secondly, you’ll need to make sure that your video title clearly communicates what the video is about. Both of these steps are easy wins to implement and likely to increase your play rate.
2. Keep it simple
No matter the topic or message of your video, keep it short, snappy, and to the point. A good rule of thumb is to think of your video as a summary — you don’t need to include every single detail. Before you start production on your video, write down the top three points you want to include. This practice is an excellent way to make you really think about and condense your content into a shorter, concise message. Social media videos don’t need to be overly produced, high-concept movies. You’re not trying to recreate a Scorsese classic here. Keep it simple, easy to understand, and watch your engagement rates start to soar.
3. Optimize for each channel
Sadly, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all video format. Every social media channel has different parameters for the size, format, and style of video that works best.
Facebook
The social media titan allows users to post video in a variety of formats. Below, we’ve listed the specs for the most commonly uploaded video type: a shared post.
Instagram
Instagram gives users the ability to share four types of videos. Each one has a specific length and limit that must be respected to ensure that your video is shared professionally.
For the most common type of video posting, an in-feed video, below are all the dimensions you need:
Twitter
Not always the first channel you think of when sharing video content, but statistics show that there are 2 billion videos watched on Twitter every single day. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of your Twitter video.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a valuable platform to share tips, how to’s, and promotional videos — as long as you follow these general guidelines.
4. Make your video accessible
5. Brand your content
A Facebook study found that 23% of consumers are more likely to remember which brand made a given ad if the brand were featured within the first three seconds of the video. Basically, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure you brand your video from the get-go. Many online video makers have the option to add brand presets across all video content for consistency or upload your own watermark for a more professional video feel.
6. Include a call-to-action
Video engagement should produce results that drive your business forward, for example increasing website traffic, acquiring email addresses or other visitor information, or even finalizing a sale. Without including a call-to-action (CTA) none of these things can happen. Provide a clear, specific CTA in your video. This could be anything from book a demo, download a whitepaper, or simply a click-through to a landing page. It’s recommended that you include your chosen CTA at different points throughout the video — not just at the end.
7. Native uploads win every time
Category: Videos
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