In the ever-changing digital world, it’s important to stay relevant and keep your audience engaged.
When creating video content for social media, there are many factors at play. How long should my videos be? Where should I post? What’s the most effective editing style? These are all frequent questions in the content creation world. Although the specifics may vary from person to person, the base strategy and philosophy remains the same.
People in today’s world, especially online, tend to have an extremely low attention span. The key to creating engaging, quality content usually lies with capturing that attention – especially on TikTok, where users decide within the first second or two if they are going to watch your video. It’s critical to include something not only interesting, but also “eye-catching” in the first few moments of any created video. This could be something as simple as a quick cut, a direct address of the viewer, post-production effects, synced music-to-video action, and more. Whatever it is, it should draw genuine interest and pique the curiosity of the viewer. Doing so will enable the algorithm on social platforms to get your video seen by more prospective and interested viewers/customers.
Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is another vital part of content creation. What good is spending time shooting, editing, and publishing if your videos aren’t suited towards your target demographic or on the best platform to garner success? For example, if you primarily upload short-form content to a younger audience, TikTok is likely your best bet. Conversely, if you are tailoring to an older audience with longer-form content, Facebook will probably be your best option. Dive deep into the analytics and learn as much as you can about who is watching your videos – what time of day are viewers most active? Where do they live? What are they interested in? What length videos tend to engage them the most? The name of the game is audience knowledge – the more you know, the more insight you’ll have to apply to growing your audience in a successful way.
Variety Is Key
Mix it up from time to time. If you’re selling a product, it’s fine to make posts and content related to said product and attempt to sell it that way; however, there is a fine line that must be walked. Too much “ads-y” content, and prospective customers may feel overwhelmed and unfollow. Too little, and your message isn’t adequately delivered. Instead, there should be a fair mix of product posts and organic content. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “Would I really watch this video myself?” If not, re-evaluate the situation and spend more time brainstorming and browsing competitor’s socials. Look at current memes, trends, and internet fads as inspiration for new content that might be suitable to pair alongside your current content. Search for and incorporate popular audio tracks, if applicable, to connect with viewers more easily. Look to draw emotion with high-quality editing and planning. Creating an impression from humor or with a touching video is a likely scenario in which a viral video may be born. Once there’s one viral video, it tends to snowball and catapult into many more.
Utilize Available Resources
It’s critical to keep up with social media trends, and more importantly, know how to take advantage of the plethora of resources and tools at your disposal in order to create content worth watching. Even though video posts typically get better engagement and retention, it’s also a good idea to incorporate some static image posts – behind-the-scenes photos of the team at work, your brand out in the community, or anything else to drum up a greater sense of personality. Some people would rather look at a picture instead of watching an entire video, so it is certainly important to cover all the bases as far as content goes. With good social media practices and quality content, you should be well on your way to developing a successful brand in the digital space; however, like all things, it will take time. Staying frequent and dedicated to your digital efforts will ultimately pay off in a big way.
