Creating Video Content for Social Media

With autoplay features on social media feeds, video has the ability to display the most content in the shortest amount of time on screen. While photos catch the eye, videos can keep people watching your post for the longest period of time. It’s important to choose your content, video length and platform carefully so your audience stays interested, engaged and willing to watch.

Here are some best practices for sharing the best video content on your social media channels.

• Tell a story – Make sure your videos are actively telling a story to your audience. Inspire action, encourage emotion and keep your audience engaged with your storyline.
• Stop the scroll – Your first few seconds are vital. Start each video with a catchy intro to immediately capture the attention of someone scrolling through their feed.
• Keep it brief – Make sure the content you share is quick and to the point so you don’t lose the attention of your followers. According to data gathered by Hubspot, videos on Instagram perform best if they are about 30 seconds long, videos on Twitter perform best if they are about 45 seconds long and videos on Facebook perform best if they are about one minute long.
• Choose the right platform – Facebook is great for directly uploading content. Of all the social channels, Facebook users are more likely to engage with your post and watch a video that is in a slightly longer format, dependent on the story you’re sharing. Instagram is a much faster moving platform where trailers and snippets will work best. Instagram is filled with creators looking for work that inspires them and catches their eye among the thousands of posts every day. The best method here is to create a quick trailer 20-30 seconds long and link out to the full work within IGTV if possible. Twitter is where you should be sharing quick clips and more immediate, candid style works. Pull a meaningful moment, visual or quote and share it with a quick video.
• Repurpose other video content – Have a longer video? Create a few smaller clips to use on your social channels. That way you’ll get a few shares out of it and still keep your audience interested.
• Accompany videos with stellar copy – When it’s time to actually post the video, add value with a few short sentences introducing the video and explaining what it’s about. This is another opportunity to capture attention and stop the scroll.

When sharing video content on social media, the main goal is to get your followers to watch and engage with your content. Follow these tips to share the best content your audience is looking for.