Social Videos
The world of video marketing is exploding. Punchy social videos are the norm. Where only a few years ago, companies were barely dipping their toes into social media engagement and debating the right way to talk to the communities, now the answers are as clear as the statistics that produce them.
Across the board, social media consumers are three or more times more likely to click, read, like, and share a social video with a fun video and video series are becoming an increasingly popular product of online competitive marketing. Even video embedded in your blog posts, FAQ, and homepage can increase traffic and engagement with your audience.
30 Second Videos Had Better be Good
You may have even started experimenting with social video already but the big question on everyone’s mind is: “How do you make a good social video that’s only 30 seconds long?” It’s a good question, one that we asked ourselves at first as well. After all, the biggest audience for your videos are the social media crowds and they are notorious for preferring videos that require barely enough time to make a point, much less be funny or clever. Rather than giving up and making longer videos, putting you at risk for only partial viewings, instead focus on making your videos as punchy and impactful as is possible in 30 seconds.
Cut the Chaff
We know you have a lot that would be great to say in a social video and you can make opportunities for longer videos later on. However, for the vast majority of your social videos will need to be exceedingly short. This means cutting straight to the point by finding the most efficient way to say everything. Cut the long introductions, friendly chit-chat, and unnecessary backstory. Don’t be afraid to jump right into your content without the usual wind up or cool down conversation. Your viewers know they’re watching a 30-second social video and aren’t expecting Shakespeare.
Show, Don’t Tell
The concept of “show” over “tell” is a long-standing tradition in both writing and filmmaking. Inexperienced content creators often over-explain their ideas instead of devising clever ways to clue the audience in without the extra words. If you can convey a ten-second explanation in three seconds of activity, then you can pack a lot more useful content into the video while saving the audio track for more important messages. This is especially helpful for both how-to and storytelling videos.
Make Quick Visual Elements
Of course, showing vs telling can be done with more than just actions and processes. You can make your video faster and easier to absorb by using modern editing software to add things like a floating brand logo or a hashtag you’d like the audience to join you in. In fact, you can use overlaid images, text, and even cartoons to emphasize and show concepts that would be hard to represent with your hosts and set alone. Be brave enough to get creative. Social media audiences often respond very well to a technique they haven’t seen before.
Multimedia Jokes
Laughter is the spice of life and humor is a great addition to your social video design. However, good jokes often take a little bit of set-up, which means time. To provide both humor and a snappy timeline to your video, don’t just tell jokes, create funny situations. The more humor you can insert into your videos that consist of explanation-free audio and visuals, the better. Musical stings, pratfalls, and even just funny faces can go a long way to making your videos memorably funny without using up precious seconds.
Stick to Your Formula
Finally, the best way to make sure your social videos are short, sweet, and engagingly punchy is to build a strong video episode formula. This should probably include stages like the greeting, opening theme and graphics, central content, shout-out to the audience, and your final call to action. Of course, how you build each element is up to you but the formula itself should keep your timeline and content concentration on track for every social video.
For more video marketing tips from the pros, contact us today!
