How to Leverage Video Marketing on Social Media

Social media marketing only matters if it leads to results. Meaningful interactions and traffic are important, but we'd all prefer to see an increase in sign-ups for our email list and higher ROI from the social media campaigns.

There are many creative ways you can promote your company to social media users—starting with making videos! Giveaways followed by product launches, collaborations with influencers, and several other opportunities will help you build a following.
 

What is video marketing? 

Video marketing might seem like a new, innovative idea, but it's not! Brands began using videos in their campaigns after the TV was introduced.

While the first TV ad aired on July 1, 1941, this 81-year-old Bulova advertisement—for their New York-based company—looks out of date in today's world.

Video marketing has been around for a long time but it's never been more relevant. You can use videos to attract your audience's attention with whatever it is you're selling - they make great fun bonus content!
 

What are the benefits of video marketing for your brand? 

People spend hours a week watching videos on social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok - the drawing of the newest tech trends or lifestyle changes in coming decades.

A recent Statista study shows that people are spending a lot of time on social media. In the US, about 22% of all Americans watch social media videos one or two hours per week.

Of the people polled, 18% were found to be watching two to five hours of online video each week and 9% reported watching over 20 hours per week.
 

Why you should develop a social media video marketing strategy

1. Videos can convert viewers into paying customers

Video marketing is becoming more and more prevalent these days. It allows for an impactful way to reach your customers, which no other form of content can deliver.

Essentially, this is real-time content that changes as viewers watch it.

And when you have a video that wows your audience, they will be more likely to take notice and give you the attention you need. They are more likely to purchase from you.

For instance, UK-based supercar dealer GVE London has a huge following on social media, with millions of views and thousands of comments on its 15-second TikTok videos.
 

2. The algorithms highly value videos

Social media algorithms are ruthless when deciding what content to feature on several user feeds. This means that if you're just starting your account, you have a slim chance of being noticed by them.

Many social media platforms encourage video marketing and provide examples of how to create a successful one.

Videos are popular on LinkedIn, because of a lack of content on the site, and will remain at the top of Feed for weeks.

LinkedIn allows launching videos of all sorts on its platform. An audience-centric campaign launched on LinkedIn is a great choice right now! It appears BMW’s marketing team is also aware of this granularity.
 

3. Videos pique mobile users' attention 

Smartphones, Bluetooth earbuds, and wireless headphones are convenient devices for consumers who are always on the go. They allow you to consume content anywhere, anytime, and with no hindrance.

More often than not, people consume visual material with these devices. Clients will spend their free time watching videos while they exercise on a treadmill, before appointments, or before going to bed.

If you regularly post videos on YouTube or Instagram, you can get people interested in your brand by allowing them to know more about the people who are behind it. Videos are a great way to show the personality of the business and how different products work. That's one of many ways to go about it, by the way.

Companies are using Instagram marketing to improve their bottom line, and L'Oréal is an example of a company doing this well. The IG page's success rate is up 10.5 times in one case when compared to their normal posts.

Its videos help build an emotional connection between the company and its target audience. Thus, you can keep your brand's credibility up through visual marketing.

When your website has visual customer testimonials, they can help you improve your search engine optimization efforts.

Video testimonials from satisfied customers, company visits, and 15-minute webinars with answers and questions show that your business is legitimate and transparent - something that will be of benefit to your clients, employees, and employers.

Consider the example of Starbucks. A large number of their videos are shared on Facebook when it has many fans. Many of these posts start conversations between customers.
 

6 phases of implementing an effective video marketing campaign

To be successful in social media video marketing, you must have a solid plan that includes different aspects of your business.

1. Define what you want to achieve clearly

Video marketing success entails a strategic use of videos—short, long, entertaining, or educative—in the sales process. But before starting a campaign, you need a clear purpose to drive your actions and reactions.

In your sales funnel, visual clips can feature from your contact or awareness phase to closing the sale. Details like visual themes, video types, and CTAs call for different approaches, so keep that in mind.

You'll need to detail what you want to achieve step by step. This will help you stay organized and proactive to changes. Here's a sample checklist you can follow:

• The demographics of your intended viewers

• The social platform you plan to employ

• The types of videos you'll create (tutorials, Q&A sessions, product demos, etc.)

• Content planning (daily, weekly, or monthly posting frequency)

• The average duration of your videos

• Any occasion linked to the release of a video (e.g., beginning of sales season, a new product launching, holidays)

• Calls-to-action to persuade and convince your viewers (go to a landing page by a link, use a promo code, etc.)

• Keep a keen eye on KPIs (the most important performance indicators) and profile stats (historical data)

• How much video creation and marketing will cost your business

2. Determine who you’re trying to reach

To reiterate, you need to know the demographics of your intended viewers. This makes it so much easier to create videos that hook your prospects and buyers.

The more you know about them, the better targeted your branding and marketing will be. Use who they are, where they reside, and what they care about to create customer personas.
 

3. Decide on the social networks to use

Knowing this info unlocks a lot of potentials. You'll generate more views, shares, likes, and comments when you know the social networks your audience is most inclined to.

Filters can help fasten the research; for example, using reach, sentiment, and source to arrange mentions.

Note: You can claim some free likes for your Instagram posts. Simply enter your username, select your photos, and see the likes come in. No registration or password is required!
 

4. Decide on the type of video you want to produce

Here's the most exciting part of the process!

With tons of possibilities, your decision should be based on your personality and that of your customers. The aim should be on brand goals and customer behavior, so think about your consumers in the sales funnel.
 

5. Begin video production

There are three steps to producing a video for social media:

• Step 1: Pre-Production

Start by writing a script and decide on the direction of the video. Who will it feature? Your CEO, staff, promoter, or client?

Recording can take a few hours to a few days, so pick convenient periods for both the producer and the character.

Decide on recording spots, gather needed equipment, and you're ready.
 

• Step 2: Production

Quality calls for preparation. You might need to contact or prepare the location ahead of the recording date.

Verify the lighting in the room, plus the visual and audio quality. Give your character(s) some time to practice their speech and expressions.

Hiring a professional videographer or content creator, though with extra cost, is highly recommended for quality content.
 

• Step 3: Post-Production

Finally, make sure your video is ready for upload. Adding visuals, music effects, and graphics to a video clip is simple with Adobe Premiere Pro and other editing apps.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a solid choice for finalizing your production and getting it ready for upload. You can trim and cut frames, add audio and visual effects, spice up with graphics, etc.
 

6. Include videos in your strategy for creating content

It's high time you showed off your hard work!

The optimum time and day for posting on social media pages can be used in your video material if you've already figured that out. How many videos you can post each week is up to you. Instagram and YouTube, for example, are solely video-sharing platforms.

Now, it's time to show your hard work off. Find the best posting times and days for your audience and leverage them when pushing your production to the people.

Your posting frequency and schedule are up to you, so put in your best to be consistent without sacrificing quality.

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn are all great options for sharing your videos. But treat them separately so you can maximize each platform's unique potential.
 

Next: video promotion

You need to push your content to the right viewers, and you do this by following some classic promotion rules.

Your method of distribution will be determined by the social network on which your material will be shared.

Some networks are better than others for distributing your content. They all have their pros and cons and if you're trying to get the most out of the market, it's important to consider how different networks will best serve you.

To best serve them, create a compelling and SEO-friendly title for YouTube videos and include relevant hashtags in your Instagram videos, live streams, and reels.

Using onboarding features like hashtags is a great way to help establish an identity on all video platforms, including Instagram and TikTok.

Instagram Reels, like TikToks, are a type of short videos you can harness to describe what your brand has to offer.

Titles for YouTube videos are your most important marketing tool—have one that sticks in people's memories without being too long and irrelevant.
 

Conclusion 

The next step after creating and posting your videos is to measure their effects by tracking their performance on various platforms.

If you're like most people, you might be more interested in measures of success like followers, engagement rates, and reach. The good thing about video posts is that there are similar metrics to measure their success.

For example, you can track views, completion rates, and other metrics to improve future videos.