Video Best Practices For Social Media
Optimize For Size
Not all social media websites are created equal -- and the wrong social media video size can hinder your ability to pop up in people’s newsfeeds and scoring views.
Even if you’re making the same content for each channel, optimize every video size for each social media channel individually. Next time your crafting a video marketing strategy, try the below specs:
Facebook
- 1280 x 720 for landscape video and portrait video
- 4096 x 2048 for 360-degree video
Instagram
- 600 x 315 for landscape video
- 600 x 750 for vertical video
- 600 x 600 for square (which we recommend)
Dove Men’s Care keeps up with the changing video sizes on their different social media accounts well. Stay up-to-date with the latest sizes and guidelines to maximize your reach here.
Choose The Right Length
Just like size matters, the correct video length can make or break your impressions, too. Every social media network’s audience has a different use for the platform, so tailoring the length of your social media videos to their needs will pay off.
Instagram and Twitter benefit from shorter videos -- aim for 30 seconds to one minute. However, Facebook and YouTube can handle longer content. Facebook has seen a big rise in long-form Facebook Live videos -- which live on your profile after the session. Meanwhile, YouTube SEO looks for high-value long-form content.
Search engine optimization expert Brian Dean breaks down some easy tips to help you rank on YouTube, such as timely headlines and proper tagging, but the length of his own video says a lot, too -- at over 15 minutes, it demonstrates how various videos perform differently on certain social media platforms.
Don’t Rely On Sound
Eighty-five percent of Facebook videos are watched without sound -- and it’s easy to see why. Most videos auto-play silently, and many viewers may be watching them at work or in areas that don’t warrant sound.
Therefore, it’s important to place your reliance on visuals for social media videos -- especially on Facebook and Instagram. Now, this isn’t to say you can’t have sound -- but give your viewers something else to hold onto.
NowThis News produces excellent silent videos on their Facebook page. They overlay text captions on every video that has speaking or create videos with engaging b-roll that allows the text to simply tell the narrative. This makes it easy for viewers to consume and completely understand their content.
Try Stories & Live Feeds
Studies show that 98 percent of mobile phone users watch video vertically. Although this information may not change our run-of-the-mill video marketing, it certainly correlates with the rise of live feeds and real-time story updates on social media platforms.
Networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all have vertical video options that are worth exploring -- especially if you want to start dabbling in multimedia but are still on a lean startup budget. These raw, uncut updates have the potential to reach millions of viewers -- Instagram stories alone has over 250 million daily users. Plus, utilizing story features in particular help you beat the algorithms and boost your discoverability by other social media users.
Wellness publication Well+Good often couples their Instagram stories with influencer marketing to capture an even wider audience. Recently, actress and singer Lea Michele “took over” their Instagram account and took viewers through a day in the life.
Test Different Formats
According to ReelSEO, 82 percent of surveyed marketers found the video marketing improves their bottom line. So, investing in any type of video will be worthwhile.
However, the type of videos that improve your SEO, reach high impressions, see high shares and speak to your audience may be different from what works for another brand. Don’t be afraid to create several different types of videos and see what performs the best. Or, make your strategy a little more official and A/B test your videos to determine the exact elements your audience identifies with.
After trying many types of videos such as text-based and behind the scenes, Vogue finessed their video strategy to encompass mostly slightly scripted celebrity-based content. The quirky, high-fashion videos have garnered them 2.2 million followers.
