The popularity of video engagement on social media has made it the perfect tool for marketers to drive awareness and connect with their audience. Stats and figures continue to show how social videos significantly captures attention and compels followers to interact. Consequently, key networks have given videos prominence in newsfeeds.
Facebook video posts, for example, have a 135% greater organic reach than photo posts. Instagram videos create double the engagement as photos. Finally, social videos generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
Social users have a preference for video. By adding more into your social media marketing, you position yourself for greater reach and brand exposure. You’re providing additional ways for followers to get to know your company while giving value. Videos are a must if you want to engage today’s consumer effectively.
Here are five unique ways to energize your social media strategy by leveraging video.
1) Share Branded Content
Your story is a powerful asset to your marketing strategy. By highlighting your brand, its story, and the values you embody, people can genuinely connect and relate to your company. You’re establishing common ground with your audience, giving them a reason to follow you.
Sharing branded content on video is an effective way to communicate your story. Dive into the “why,” or the reasons for starting your company. Whom do you aim to impact? What problems are you solving through your products? What’s the driving force that motivates your team to show up every morning? Use video to share your purpose and why people should do business with you.
2) Broadcast Live
Did you know people spend three times longer watching live-streaming videos on social media opposed to ones already recorded? Facebook Live, Instagram and Snapchat Stories, and Periscope are generating massive engagement on social media. Brands are taking full advantage of having the chance to connect and interact with their followers in real-time, bringing authenticity and transparency to their content.
Live social videos can build your brand fast. You’ll accelerate goals such as social engagement, traffic to your website, and lead generation. Adding this tool to your social media marketing is a must in 2017.
There are many ways you can leverage live videos to deliver amazing content to your audience. Consider hosting live Q&A sessions where viewers can ask you questions on-the-spot and receive prompt responses. Be sure to document these inquiries as they can serve as future content topics.
Also, take your audience behind-the-scenes to give them an inside scoop into your culture. Keep your followers in the know by reporting the industry-related news. Or repurpose your favorite blog content by expanding on the most important points in your article.
There are a plethora of ways to using live video to enrich your social media marketing.
3) Post Short Instructional Videos
How-to videos are widely popular on social media. Users glean great value from these short videos that either demonstrates how to use a product effectively, offers a solution to a common problem in the industry, or shares unique tips and tricks that are simple to follow. Showing followers how to achieve a particular result help position you as a reliable source and leader in your niche.
The key to creating engagement with instructional videos on social media is keeping them short, so they last about 15 to 30 seconds. Reduce your video to the most basic steps, then use video editing tools to speed up the visual.
A significant advantage to these snippet videos is the ability to quickly solve a pain point for users, making them highly valuable for your followers.
4) Address FAQs
Every question presented by your target audience provides the opportunity to expand on that topic in your content marketing strategy. Staying in tune with your market’s needs gives you useful content pieces for your blog, email campaigns, social media content, and videos.
You’ll publish exactly what your audience wants because they initiated the concern. Addressing readers’ questions boosts your thought leadership, enhances your credibility and supplies you with endless content to share across your marketing platforms.
Use video to highlight a question typically asked by your audience offering an in-depth response. Remember, short videos perform better on social media so keep your questions to a minimum. Additionally, since many social users are leveraging search as a way to discover and connect with new brands, optimize your posts by including relevant hashtags or keywords to increase visibility. Hashtags are relevant on Twitter and Instagram, but keywords work better on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.
5) Highlight Fan Content
According to Curata, a study revealed that 61 percent of people would be more likely to engage with an advertisement if it contained user-generated content. Your fan’s content is an excellent way to show positive experiences from your brand.
Testimonials and reviews quickly build trust especially with those who are on the fence of doing business with you. Reposting user-generated content can accelerate results in gaining new leads and boosting follower engagement.
Putting this content on video can be even more powerful. You can collect user-generated content and compile it into one compelling video or multiple ones to grow your content.Once Share them on social media but also leverage them on your website and your email messages as an online review. The more positive content you have from happy customers, the more chances of generating more customers.
The popularity of video is undeniable. People enjoy videos shared on social media and brands have taken full notice. Leveraging video in your social strategy will position you for better engagement, more followers, and favorable business outcomes such as traffic and lead generation.
Use this guide to begin energizing your social media with video and giving your audience more of what they want.
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