Video is Important for Social Media Engagement

Even though I train many people how to present well on video, I have not been using it as much as I know I could on social media platforms.  This got me thinking and I began to research the answer to this question, “Exactly how important is video in social media today?”  Some would say, “it’s absolutely everything”, and many have built successful social media marketing campaigns solely around video.

There are three key reasons why video has become increasingly important:

1. It’s simply popular. It gets more sharing and other interaction on social media than other types of content. People love videos.
2. Videos appeal to the most hyper-active age group of people on the internet – those in their teens, twenties, and early thirties. And now video is appealing more and more to an older demographic.
3. Major social media sites have native features that allow you to share video easily and there is a wealth of tools that make video production easy.

Another reason – your competitors are probably already using video.

Yes, video is becoming even more popular and it is likely to become even more important in the future, so if you’re not using it yet consistently, it’s time to get started. A good place to start is by observing your own social media activity. Have you watched any videos on social media in the last few weeks? This will help give you some ideas on the type of videos you can produce yourself. Answer these questions for your video watching:

• Which social platform do you watch them on?
• What topic(s) most attract you?
• Why did you watch them (information, education, humor…)? This will help give you some ideas on the type of videos you can produce yourself.

For many businesses just getting started with video, it can be hard to imagine what video you can create. Here are some ideas for videos that you can produce yourself:

Answer a Question or Solve a Problem.

Take a common question/problem your customers face and solve it for them in front of the camera. This is especially handy for businesses that perform services that you can demonstrate on video. You can show your audience step-by-step how how to solve their problem.

Get in Front of the Camera and Talk.

“Vlogs” or “video blogs” are simple but extremely popular on the internet. This is where a person simply sits in front of the camera and talks. Take a topic that’s of interest to your audience and discuss it in a quick video- just a few minutes. Express your opinion on a topic and and ask for your audience to chime in with their opinion. You can pre-record and post or host a live video.

Behind the Scenes

Lastly, take your audience behind the scenes in your business or industry and show them a side they don’t usually get to see. Show how you make your products. One client of mine who made organic bath products would take people behind the scenes once a week and it was very popular. By doing this, people also got to know her and her process in a more connected way.

Most important is to just get started. Ready? Here is a link to another blog post I wrote to help you with getting seen on video:  https://www.thrive4success.com/7-common-video-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid/

In summary, remember that videos don’t have to be complex. In fact, short simple videos are  one that are the most shared on social media.  So let’s get shooting!

Note: This blog post was originally written on October 27, 2016 and was updated because video continues to be an important marketing and visibility tool.