I was listening to the Social Media Marketing podcast from Michael Stelzner, chief of Social Media Examiner and all-around expert. The discussion was about creating short, Instagram-friendly videos that people would love. A bit of the content from that podcast made me think a little deeper about video production across different platforms.
To make this quick, I figured I would round up a few different platforms, and showcase the types of video content people consume.
With Facebook, you have a few different types of video content you can produce:
Facebook Live
- Keep your videos engaging from the start. If nothing is happening, no one will care!
- I strive to keep my face away from the camera, as people care more about my brand than my blue eyes.
- Once you press “go live,” you will always have this feeling as if you aren’t ready. Know that it won’t go away, but you will learn how to create a checklist of items to make sure you are as ready as you can be.
- Using a tripod of stabilizer will help you keep your videos smooth, less Cloverfield (Google “Cloverfield trailer” if you need to know).
- Practice using your own profile and making the live video private. You can learn a lot by practicing how you hold the camera, and developing your own opinion about strategy.
Produced Video
- Videos automatically play on Facebook when uploaded through your profile.
- Make it engaging and make sure your video gives viewers a sense of the additional content, at the beginning.
- Shortcut: keep your videos at a minute or under, so you can use them on other platforms easily.
- Add text, allowing viewers to gather more information, instead of using the sound on their phones.
Live
- Imagine you read the exact same thing here, as you did for Facebook 🙂
- Twitter Live is a great way to showcase content, but make sure you keep it engaging at all times, so you don’t lose anyone.
- If you shoot on Instagram Live, save the video and publish it across other platforms.
Produced Video
- This is the same as Facebook, but you are limited to the amount of time you can show your video. Twitter allows you to trim your video to show a certain amount.
- I suggest a 30-second video with a link to a full video on YouTube.
Instagram Live
Now that Instagram saves your live video as a story, this is a great method to kill two birds with one stone. If your content has a link to learn more, add an image at the end with a call to action for viewers to swipe up (add the link with the button at the top), and find either a full video, information, etc.
Produced Video
On Instagram, you are limited to a one-minute video as a post, but there are a couple different ways to showcase produced video content on your profile.
- Assume that 95% of your video views will be on silent. Make your video in a format that does not require audio.
- However, add music as a background for viewers who do want to hear something.
Another method, is creating produced video that you upload as an Instagram Story. You will need to make sure the specs of your video are 1080W x 1920H.
- Don’t show your whole video. Instagram Stories is a great place to gain and lose followers, so don’t bog them down with anything more than 30 seconds of video or photo content.
- End your short Instagram Stories video with a photo and link to the full video, or more information.
YouTube
Guests to YouTube are expecting to listen to voices or sounds, so this is where you can produce a video with directions or an actual speaking role. This is also the platform where you can embed your video into your website, something I highly suggest, when possible.
- This video can be where you send links on other platforms to, with a video of any length, with the most information and audio.
- Make great use of the description and tags for your videos, to increase the ability for users to find your videos.
For video marketing, there are endless ways to get your message out there. For me, it’s important to evaluate the content, and producing videos specific for the various platforms.
When you are presented with a piece of content, think about whether it would be suitable for a live video, or produced video. Think about whether you want your Facebook viewers to see it live, or your Twitter viewers to see it live.
Tip: Don’t go live and show the same content for different platforms. Give live viewers of Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat a different experience, it provides more value in following your page across each platform.
Dave Solce 