2017 was coined “the year of video marketing” by numerous marketing sources the world over. In fact, 74% of all Internet traffic will be from video this year, according to Hubspot. After all, video is an effective way to drive reach and create awareness about your brand or message.

It’s not that video marketing is new to the social media landscape. The momentum has been building for a number years. But what’s changed is the proliferation of tools that empower content creators to make amazing video content – and share it. The ubiquitous nature of smartphones, GoPro, GoPro knock offs, drones and editing software and apps makes it easy and painless to create excellent video content, no matter what your budget.

In tandem, consumers are more open than ever to watching video to learn about products, understand complex ideas, gain inspiration or interact with brands. Why? Because it’s a lot more compelling than reading something. Video = emotion and comprehension.

It’s easy to invest in video for the sake of creating it, but what makes great video?

Here are the top 5 tips for how to build effective social video:

1.Build For Sound Off

This is the #1 most important rule of thumb when it comes to video marketing content.  It’s surprising how many brands build video without the end user’s behaviour in mind. Most social media audiences are watching content when they shouldn’t be: in public, in meetings, during office hours, or in class. So, creating a compelling and visually dynamic video that doesn’t require sound is key. Videos that rely on narration and voice overs lose audiences quickly because the fact of the matter is that very few people want to turn their sound on to understand the gist of the content. Ways in which to reduce this no-sound barrier include: using auto-caption or baking captions into the video; exaggerating the actions humans are taking in the video to make it clear as to what is happening; and eliminating too many “talking heads” in your edit.

2.Make It Short And Snackable

As content creators, we get so passionate about making beautiful “films” that we forget about the end user. But, there’s one problem – this is social media, not a theatre and we have milliseconds to capture the attention of our viewers. They haven’t bought a movie ticket and aren’t automatically interested in what we have to say. The cold, hard truth is that most content viewers will drop off within the first 20 seconds of a social media video – and that’s generous. It’s more like 10 seconds or less. So it’s worth asking whether investing in a long-form video is even worth it from an return on investment perspective. Bite-sized, snackable content is key to video storytelling in today’s world. Keep the storytelling under 30 seconds – and even better, try creating a series of 10 second videos versus full-length, two-plus minute videos. If you must develop a longer video, be sure to create teaser edits with the key points and add to your distribution plan to support the longer video.

3.Create For The 3-second audition

As mentioned above, audiences are fickle and unlikely to stick around until the bitter end. Unlike the typical story arc of a film with an intro, build up and pay off, we need to invert our storytelling pyramid to put the most important and compelling components of the story up front. Whether that’s a key message, brand identifier or the punchline, it’s important to build for the three-second audition. Your audience won’t stick around much longer than that and you don’t want them to leave you without getting the take away you’re striving for.

4.Make It Thumb-stopping

Thumbnail images, post copy and headlines matter. Some might call it “click bait”, but there are many tactics that can be implemented to compel people to click. Whether its Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram, thumbnail images can be customized. Test different subject matter to see if there are any clear performers. For example, try images of people vs nature or close-up vs. far away images. Create intriguing post copy by adding in a question or cliffhanger to compel people to watch the video to learn more. Try headlines that will grab the reader.

5.Design For Mobile

Those small screens on smartphones and tablets – that is what we should be building for. After all, the majority of Internet users are using mobile devices to consume content. That means those long shots capturing subjects from far away just won’t do. The same goes for tiny captions that are difficult to read on mobile. On a small screen, video is most compelling with bright, big subjects that are clear, crisp and visible without squinting.

Want to learn more about producing video for your social media strategy? Get in touch with us!