by Want to add more video to your social media marketing? Wondering how other businesses use video?
In this article, you’ll discover three types of video that work for any business on IGTV, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Why Social Video Matters to Your Business
According to a 2019 survey by Wyzowl, 87% of marketers see video as an important part of their strategies. In fact, the 2019 Social Media Marketing Industry Report shows that over half of marketers plan to maintain or increase their use of marketing video on top social media platforms.
Additionally, a Sprout Social survey reveals that consumers find video the most transparent content format on social media; 43% cite live video as the most transparent. Further, 86% of people say a lack of transparency on social media will lead them to turn to a competitor.
So what types of video will work for your business? Here are three to create for your social media channels.
How-To Videos
How-to videos can be captivating and informative and help your audience better understand your products or services. Posting this type of content on your social media accounts will engage viewers and encourage them to seek more information about your business.
When you produce how-to videos, make sure you include a call-to-action (CTA) message at the end. It can be anything from inviting viewers to visit your website or sign up for a free trial to asking if they are interested in purchasing your product.
In this Twitter video, artist Kate Jobling shows viewers how to paint flowers using the Crayola Signature acrylic paint set. The CTA at the end of the video points viewers to Crayola's website for more information about the Signature product line.
Learn how to paint Mom a beautiful bouquet of flowers in this quick and easy painting tutorial from @KatieJoblingArt! pic.twitter.com/ErxDpP4f60
— Crayola (@Crayola) May 9, 2019
Product Videos
Product videos are a great way to increase your conversion rates. Showing your target audience a video of your product that highlights its benefits can have a strong impact on their purchase decision.
Product videos should be a part of your social media marketing whenever you launch a new product. Conveying product information via video makes it easier for users to absorb the information than simply reading about it in an article.
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CLICK HERE TO LEARN MOREIn this short Twitter video, Aura outlines the main features of its digital photo frame, shows how it works, and introduces the Aura mobile app that controls it.
“Best gift ever for my 87-year-old mom. She now gets to see photos sent from her 4 children and 8 grandchildren from across the country.” ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7dvfrPSqef
— Aura (@aura_frames) October 21, 2018
Customer Testimonial Videos
Customer testimonial videos are effective for social media because they're relatable and show your business from another angle—through the eyes of a customer. Hearing about your products from someone who isn't a PR or marketing expert in your company helps instill trust and increases your chances of turning viewers into customers.
When researching the right product to buy, people often look for reviews to help make an informed buying decision. With videos like the one below, the level of trust in the review is higher because prospects can see your customers, hear their voices, and listen to them explain why they're happy with your products.
User-Generated Testimonial Videos
You've probably already published some user-generated content on your social media accounts, so why not do the same with customer videos? With the tremendous potential for shareability, user-generated video content can bring you a new group of followers.
The customer who published the video will offer a fresh perspective on your product by revealing how it helped them in a certain situation or by simply listing the reasons why they love it.
Now let's look at how businesses use these three types of video on IGTV, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
#1: IGTV Video for Business
Building meaningful relationships with prospects and customers is the real value of using Instagram for business. With different Instagram video options, you can boost the visibility of your products, educate and inform your audience through long-form content, and build your own community.
IGTV is a relatively new feature for Instagram. Initially, the platform struggled to find ways to encourage users to publish their videos through IGTV because they preferred YouTube. But in February 2019, IGTV previews started appearing in the Instagram feed, allowing businesses to enjoy higher reach and engagement.
Businesses use IGTV to publish video announcements, tutorials, testimonials, interviews, and event-related content. For example, beauty retailer Sephora regularly publishes how-to product tutorials on their IGTV channel.
In this IGTV video, Sonos engineers talk about how they designed the Sonos Beam speaker and explain notable features to consumers.
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In their recurring Wearing Warby IGTV feature, Warby Parker shares customer testimonial videos like this one from illustrator Sophia Chang.
B2C businesses can also incorporate IGTV into their influencer marketing, organizing Q&As or having influencers review their products.
IGTV Video Specs and Tips
Save your IGTV videos in MP4 format. If your account has a smaller following, opt for a video length of 5 minutes or less; well-known brands can go up to 60 minutes. Always use vertical orientation, with an aspect ratio of 4:5 to 16:9. When you post the video to your IGTV channel, the ideal caption length is 125 characters.
#2: Twitter Video for Business
Twitter says that tweets with video attract 10x the engagement of tweets without video, and including video in promoted tweets can save as much as 50% in cost per engagement.
With a limited number of characters per tweet, including a video allows you to convey more information to your audience. And native Twitter video autoplays in the feed so it's hard for users to miss. Of course, it's important to capture your audience's attention quickly so they'll stop scrolling and start watching. You can also embed native Twitter video on your website or landing page to increase reach.
Home Depot uses short-form Twitter videos to help customers learn how to perform various home care and maintenance tasks.
Pressure washers help you freshen up your outdoor living space with ease. Learn how to use one with these easy-to-follow steps. https://t.co/Ys9DnBxotd pic.twitter.com/a15FoZXqgu
— The Home Depot (@HomeDepot) May 2, 2019
On their Twitter account, KFC posts humorous videos like this one announcing the return of Kentucky Fried Chicken & Waffles.
We hope you liked it the first time, because IT'S BACK. Get a second helping of Kentucky Fried Chicken & Waffles at KFC! pic.twitter.com/JM2po5L8Po
— KFC (@kfc) March 24, 2019
You can also use Twitter video to showcase testimonials from happy customers, as in this example.
A fab start to the week, delivering social media 121 coaching to this lovely lady who is just starting out on her solo business journey – #coaching #socialmedia #testimonial #MondayMotivaton #lovemyjob pic.twitter.com/ED6B2FDOmc
— Cheryl Turner (@VirtualTao) May 13, 2019
Twitter Video Specs and Tips
The maximum length for Twitter native video is 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Videos that are 60 seconds or shorter will loop automatically. Twitter supports aspect ratios between 1:2.39 and 2.39:1 and the recommended file size is 1GB or less.
#3: LinkedIn Video for Business
LinkedIn is used by marketers to showcase their products, share customer experiences through video testimonials, educate customers on ways to use products they've purchased, and so on.
What differentiates LinkedIn from other social media platforms is its purpose. People use LinkedIn to develop professional relationships and make business decisions. Offering your product as a solution should be your main objective on the platform. According to LinkedIn, video shared on a company page is 5x more likely than any other type of content to spark conversations.
As long as your videos are engaging and informative to the LinkedIn community, you have a good chance to connect with your target audience.
In the video below, link research tool Ahrefs walks viewers through basic steps for using their site audit tool. The video post also links to a longer video that interested viewers can click for more detailed how-to instructions.
In this video on Slack's LinkedIn company page, they introduce the Slack Enterprise Key Management product and explain the security benefits for businesses.
Almost any video that involves a customer talking about your business has the potential to convert viewers into prospects. After all, people trust people, not companies. In this LinkedIn video from Current, a happy customer shares some of the services the marketing agency has provided to his organization.
A twist on customer testimonials is to have somebody from your team invite people to apply for job openings and explain the benefits of working for your company.
LinkedIn Video Specs and Tips
Ten minutes is the maximum length for LinkedIn native video, but 90 seconds or less is recommended for most businesses. The platform accepts these video formats: ASF, AVI, FLV, MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, MKV, and WebM. LinkedIn supports aspect ratios of 1:2.4–2.4:1, with a maximum file size of 5GB.
To better engage your audience, LinkedIn suggests using a maximum of 150 characters of text in your video post.
Conclusion
When creating videos for your social media channels, keep your audience and the technical requirements for the platform in mind. Here are a few tips for creating video for any channel:
- Add captions. People who watch social media video at work or in public often have the sound muted, so captions are crucial for communicating your message.
- Optimize your video for mobile viewers. Video in a square or vertical orientation is ideal for mobile viewing because viewers don't have to rotate their device to watch it.
- Use good lighting and clear audio. Videos with poor lighting or sound quality reflect negatively on your business and muddle your messaging.
What do you think? Will you use these tips to post more video for your business on social media? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
More articles on social media video:
- Discover tips and easy-to-use tools that will help you incorporate video into your social media marketing campaigns.
- Find a six-step video workflow to produce more social media video content for your business.
- Learn how to repurpose one video into content that can populate your blog, podcast, and multiple social channels.
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