More and more businesses are turning to the power of video to communicate on social media. In October alone more than 3 million small businesses shared a video on Facebook and videos have proven to increase conversion and inspire positive sentiment. Video communication will only continue to be more and more essential to how we all communicate online—experts even predict video will account for 80 percent of online traffic by 2019.
But as social media continues to drive marketing success, the traditional commercial format has been disrupted. These days social videos—that capture attention in the first three seconds and generally last for less than a minute—are at the core of successful social media marketing. So what kind of videos should you be posting to your social media channels? Here are the seven types of videos that entrepreneurs and marketers should fold into their marketing strategy, complete with examples from real small businesses and brands.
The Mission Statement
Mission statements quickly sum up what you and your organization is about.
Here’s an example of a restaurant tracing its inspiration and origin with video. In under a minute it communicates its values and main offerings—and delivers lots of food porn along the way.
In another strong example, a school takes viewers inside its halls to capture the student experience. In around 30 seconds, viewers get a sense of the community and values.
The Process Video
People love getting an inside look at how things are made and a behind-the-scenes view of your business. Process videos have the power to turn objects into significant treasures by attaching a story to them.
Here artist Jessica Niello adds narration to explain her inspiration for her pottery, making the video double as a mission statement for her work. But makers can never have too many videos showing their handiwork. Set up a tripod, set your iPhone to time-lapse, and capture your art. Up close angles that showcase rich color or texture perform great on Instagram, while Facebook allows a bit more room for storytelling.
In another example a coffee company takes its customers to Thailand in order to show how they source beans, which highlights their fair trade values and helps customers know where their purchases come from.
The How-To
Cooking videos dominated social media in 2016. In fact Buzzfeed’s Tasty saw more online engagement growth than any other US publication because of its extensive library of short, snappy cooking videos posted to Facebook. But even if your brand isn’t food related, how-to content in general is some of the most popular on the web and it offers a great opportunity to showcase your brand’s value prop without overtly advertising. Find a topic you know well that’s related to your business and drive traffic to your site by offering up content for free. More and more brands are finding that content marketing converts at a higher rate than traditional advertising.
Here GFF Magazine, uses the power of chocolate to drive followers to its subscription page.
Read more about how to create thumb-stopping how-to videos. Even if your how-to content is not food-related, you can learn a lot from the structure of these immensely popular videos.
The Mission-Focused Advertisement
In this advertisement, nonprofit CHOICE Humanitarian takes viewers inside their expeditions. Their objective is to inspire a particular type of traveler
The Thank You Message
A personal greeting to your followers go a long way! Celebrate milestones and thank your customers for helping you get there, or simply say “Happy Holidays!”
Here Denver Animal Protection looks back on a year of rescuing animals and wishes its community happy holidays.
The Trending Topics Video
In order to stay relevant and encourage user-generated content and social media shares, it’s important to keep an eye on seasonality, trending hashtags, or memes. Tracking popular hashtags and online video trends can help you create a content strategy that will fit in larger social media conversations.
Here's a short video on how I #BreakTheGlass! Cc @Empower_Women #EmpowerWomen #WEE #EmpowerWomenRally https://t.co/OKFxhcJ6Q0 pic.twitter.com/t5UHg4su2e
— Great Anu Adelakun (@duchess_royale) December 4, 2016
Earlier this month #BreakTheGlass was trending on Twitter so @EmpowerWomen and @UNWomen invited their followers to share how they empower women.This in an excellent example of a branded hashtag inspiring a community.
The Explainer Video
Explainer videos help put your organization or cause in larger context. You might describe a problem you’re attempting to solve or tell a story about something related to your brand.
So… what is #BlackoutDay? To watch the full video, check out this link: https://t.co/3le1xLmXfB pic.twitter.com/PmuG1fRIgz
— #BlackoutDay (@theblckout) September 6, 2016
In this example, a cause-based social media account explains what #BlackoutDay is and how people can get involved.
Juice your organization’s social media with video–Spark Video makes it easy, and free!