CREATE SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS

Having produced hundreds of videos and campaigns that have reached billions of people in the past three years, we have learned a lot about what works.

Here are 8 ways to get the most out of your Facebook and social media videos.

1.      Inspire, Inform or Entertain. Maybe this point should go without saying, but our experience suggests you can’t say this enough: the most important element of a social media video’s success — by far — is the quality of the story you’re telling… the usefulness of the information you’re providing… and/or the caliber of the laughs or tears you’re driving.

Videos on social media aren’t movies. Supreme production values are rarely essential. And social media videos aren’t commercials. Few people will watch your whole video – unless they have real utility or entertainment value. Watching a video is a choice. Videos that have something new to say, something surprising to share, or something enlightening to tell are far more likely to work. 

Never underestimate the importance of communicating the right story. Plus, using real people who tell real stories can make a real difference.

2.      Don’t Waste A Second. Grab viewer’s attention — immediately. People are exposed to thousands of posts a week. They often thumb through posts at lightening speed and make decisions about engaging with content in nanoseconds. Therefore, capturing the interest of your audience instantaneously is essential. Your attention-grabbing components can be a provocative visual, an arresting motion graphic, or a provocative copy line on screen – or all of the above, but don’t miss the opportunity to make a spectacular first impression.

3.      Provoke Curiosity Or Communicate A Benefit. “3 proven ways to make your videos go viral” is a great curiosity-provoking opening video graphic and/or social media byline. It intrigues you. You want to find out more. Clear benefit-orientated messages can be very effective as well, e.g., “The best mobile device for your money.” Or “The 3 foods you should never eat on an airplane.”

Clever use of superlatives and curiosity-provoking statements elicit an emotional reaction which translates to an interested viewer. Our experience suggests that bylines are best when they introduce the story but don’t provide the conclusion. By introducing drama through sensationalism, yet withholding the conclusion, bylines can effectively act as cliffhangers that force your audience to watch the video to find out what happens.

4.      Make Your Video/Story As Long As Needed But As Short As Possible. Video attention spans are incredibly short. In 2017, the average watch time for a Facebook video was 18 seconds – today, it’s 10 seconds. In social media, there’s a heightened value if viewers finish a video. Usually only if they finish watching do they comment and share content. As I’m sure you know, Facebook uses these “interactions” as key metrics to determine the distribution rate of content. Simply put, the more interactions your content receives, the wider Facebook is going to distribute it. This is more important than ever because Facebook has become far more restrictive in how broadly they share content, particularly commercial content. We find that there’s a significant benefit to creating complete yet concise content. Every frame in our videos are designed to hold the interest of the viewer and move the story forward — and we are obsessive about removing frames that don’t. 

5.      Think Big. Approximately 80% of social media videos are now consumed on mobile devices. That means that your visuals and type on screen will work better if they’re larger and easier to see and read. Close-ups are usually better than medium shots. Also, consider using vertical versus horizontal aspect ratios to maximize your video’s screen real estate on a mobile device. While these recommendations seem obvious, video content is usually created on large desktops with wonderful resolution, and many video content creators forget this important notion or get lost in the beauty of their work on a bigger screen. Important - you should always view your content on a mobile device before you distribute it on your platforms.

6.      Give ‘Em What They Want. The success of your next video can often be predicted by your past content’s performance. Everything you post provides clues as to the kind of content your core audience gravitates towards. Look back at your posts that were most successful—and those that failed. Study your results. This isn’t to say that you should repeat the same content again and again, but clarity of your performance is exceedingly helpful.

7.      Silence Is Golden. Currently, 85% of videos on social media are viewed without sound. If possible, we prefer to create stories that can be told with only visuals and/or with select words on screen. Naturally, some content demands that sound or music be heard. In these cases, including key words on screen or captions can make a real step change in terms of viewership. Further, stylizing the text with motion graphics and contrasting colors so that it becomes an exciting visual element is infinitely more effective at captivating your audience.

8.      Create Content Folks Really Want To Share. Everyone’s Facebook and social media pages are a reflection of their personal brand. People want to be perceived as smart, funny, worldly, in-the-know, etc. As such, creating video content that supports people’s desire to be seen as cool or savvy (or whatever) is really important for shares—and shares are the key driver for virality and organic distribution. Simply put, make videos that touch the hearts, minds, and/or funny bones of people and you should do well.

Hopefully, these 8 tips have been helpful. Just like any great video, we’re happy to share.

Lawrence M. Kimmel is CEO of Rung-UP. The agency’s campaigns have reached almost one billion people – while spending virtually nothing on paid advertising. He can be reached at Hi@Rung-UP.com.