Why Videos Are The Best
Engagement Tool You Can Use
Video is now the top tool for online marketers. If you use Facebook, you can’t fail to see that a huge number of posts in your daily feed are videos. YouTube is now the biggest social media channel in the world. A billion people watch YouTube videos each month, with 80% of users outside of the United States. This means you need to place video right at the forefront of any social media marketing campaign you create.
We Love Video
Everyone loves a great video. From cat videos to web design tutorials and personalized poker videos, people are happy to spend their lunch hour tuning into interesting video content in their social media or news channel feed. Watching video content is almost as popular as playing online games. In fact, you can even use video to boost your gaming skills. But while nobody doubts the popularity of cat videos or “crazy guy surfs with his dog” videos, video is also the best social media engagement tool in your arsenal.
Video content is massively popular on social media. Changes to Facebook’s feed and the new auto play feature mean that video attracts more views and gains greater attention than a regular post. As a result, video posted on Facebook achieves a greater organic reach than any other type of post. This is not to say you should abuse the power of video, and you should avoid trying to saturate your social media fans with an endless stream of video, as it could seriously backfire.
The Power of Auto Play
Viewers are more engaged by video content, which is why many brands use video to get their message across. People are more likely to watch a video than they are to read a long post. Thanks to the auto play feature on Facebook, as a user scrolls down their news feed, once they reach a video post, it automatically begins to play. It’s hard to not watch, especially if the content is very compelling. You can make this really work for you.
Tell A Story
Use video content to tell a story. We love stories, but we don’t have the time or the patience to sit and read a lengthy post. We do, on the other hand, have plenty of time to watch a cute video with a captivating message. If your brand has a message to get across on social media, video is the medium you need to utilize to boost user engagement.
Be Entertaining
Social media is supposed to be fun, which is partly why video content does so well with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. People don’t want to login to their Facebook feed and be greeted with stale posts about a new widget. Instead, they want content that makes them smile, laugh, cringe or cry. There’s a lot of mileage in funny videos, but almost any video will work, as long as it’s entertaining first and foremost.
Personalize Them
If the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that people love taking quizzes that tell them more about themselves. Whether it’s the Hogwarts House The Sorting Hat would have placed you in, or which Disney character you’re most like, people love to share the results with their friends. Many companies are taking personalization and adding it into videos. The personalized poker videos on 888poker, for example, can illustrate your playing history and tell your poker story. When shared with friends, these create engagement, and truly personalize the communication with customers.
Be Helpful
Another factor in the popularity of video content is that it’s helpful. People use social media to search for brands they’re interested in, so if you post helpful content for your fans, such as “How To” guides, you’re more likely to engage better with users. Brands who go the extra mile for their customers achieve better engagement than brands that don’t “get” what their customers want. You don’t even need to go to the time and trouble of creating a 30-minute video. A short taster video linked to a longer blog post will do the job.
Make High Quality Videos
In the 21st century people expect to see quality videos. Long gone are the days of shaky camera footage uploaded from dad’s dodgy VHS camera. Today, you need to produce slick video content if you want viewers to engage with you. This doesn’t mean it should be at corporate level, but it should have a professional feel about it. Invest in video editing software and a decent video camera. If not, employ an expert to produce your video content.
For maximum social media engagement, always include a strong call to action button on your videos. And if you want an extra boost, pay for video ads on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
