With people spending increasing amounts of time and money online, the last decade has seen a massive proliferation of social media across the world. As household and mobile bandwidth increases, video is an ideal way to engage with your audience in the digital space. This being said, the way we are consuming video content is forever changing. With 85% of videos on Facebook being viewed without sound, it’s clear that to get noticed, we need to rethink the traditional approach to production of video content… but the absence of sound is just a small piece of the puzzle.
We have seen a huge increase in the amount of video content pushed to social platforms in the last few years. At the beginning, ANY video content was always deemed more engaging than its static image cousins. This being said, video is now the norm, and brands need to do more to differentiate.
The amount and frequency of video usage is partly due to the fact that video production has become far more cost-effective. This means you don’t need a massive budget to produce video, but what you do need is a clear strategy.
Check out our top five tips for creating engaging video content below.
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1. Start with a clear strategy
A clear content strategy ensures that your communications remain consistent, relevant and meet your broader marketing, business or sales objectives. Without a strategic foundation, you may be wasting crucial time and money producing content that isn’t fit for purpose. Video is one of many content formats, and should be considered as part of a broader, integrated strategy. This being said, you should also be strategic in the execution of any content in video format.
2. Shorter isn't always sweeter
It’s definitely the case that the first 10 seconds of a video are the most important to engage your audience (actually, we would recommend that you use even less time), but it doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s all anyone will watch. Although there’s nothing wrong with short videos, it’s important to think more about ‘why’ someone would engage with the content rather than trying to cram everything you need to say into the first five seconds. If the first 5 - 10 seconds isn’t interesting, you will likely lose your audience. In saying this, if it’s really engaging, you could potentially maintain your audience’s attention for much
longer.
3. Stand out from the feed
Your videos will be competing for attention with holiday snaps, rants about public transport, cat memes, as well as all the messages from other brands trying to steal your audience’s time. This is why it’s crucial to find a way to command attention and stand out from the crowd. This is where you need to get creative. Think about what you’re saying and then how you can say it in a way that will give you the edge. There’s lots of different ways to approach this, and we’re really only limited by the capabilities and policies of the platform(s). Designing with social platforms or devices in mind can be a great way to get people engaged!
4. Keep it relevant
Ensuring your content is relevant to your audience will result in the highest likelihood of engagement. Businesses often mistake frequency with relevance. This can result in ‘spamming’ your market with information that is not of interest, which can potentially lead to disengagement with your brand. Now more than ever, we have online tools and analytics at our fingertips to help us understand our audience, and can even target content based on specific criteria. Establishing clear content pillars that align with your brand goals and values will ensure your communications are cohesive and relevant to your audience.
Further to this, don’t forget about the relevance of the content to the social platform itself. Thinking about how your audience engages with the platform will ensure your content is most effective. For example, what may be appropriate for Facebook may not for LinkedIn, Instagram, or Snapchat.
5. Know your true purpose
Always think about how your video content fits into the broader strategy. Think about:
Call to Action
Do you want your audience to ‘do something’, such as share, register, subscribe or shop? This will significantly impact what you say and how you say it.
Format
Is the format chosen the best way to achieve your objectives? Although video is generally more engaging, consider if a different execution would be more appropriate for the audience, the message or the platform.
Channel Purpose
Are you using the channel to broadcast or engage? This is particularly important, as a broadcast and engagement strategy will significantly affect how you communicate across your social channels, as well as the kind of content you produce.