At its core, social media engagement is always a two-way street. Yes, part of your success willrndepend on your ability to continue to put relevant, compelling content out into the world. Butrnthat content also needs to invite participation from your users. If their relationship with yourrnbrand is a passive one, you may get a lot of impressions on your content... but very few of thosernpeople are going to be motivated to the point where they take that critical next step and make arnpurchase.
This is why video content has always been a great way to supercharge your social mediarnengagement. According to Twitter, video tweets are 6x as likely to be retweeted as photos. Notrnonly are 75% of all video plays taking place on mobile devices, but about 92% of people whornwatch a video on a smartphone will share it with someone else.
But at the same time, none of this will matter if you're not leveraging the right types of videorncontent in the first place. With that in mind, there are five key video formats that you'll definitelyrnwant to explore to help you supercharge your engagement on social media and beyond.
1. Live Videos
Live videos are one of the most powerful and effective types of content on social media theserndays. Not only will viewers generally watch a live video for approximately three times longerrnthan a pre-recorded one, but about 59% of people actually prefer watching live videos over livernTV.
rnLive videos work great on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn that already have theirrnown "live" video solutions built right in, and so long as it's compelling, they can be any length yournwant - even an hour or more! For the cherry on top, most social media platforms notify yourrnfollowers when you go live, which can create a big spike in your engagement!
rnTo get a good sense of just what you can do with the live format, check out this recording of a livernbroadcast from video marketing coach Owen Video on his Facebook page where he discusses allrnthings video marketing
2. How-To VideosrnAccording to another recent study, about 65% of people say they actively use online videos tornhelp them solve a problem. People actively want to broaden their horizons, and if your brand isrnthe one to provide them with that insight, you'll come out all the better for it.
rnGenerally speaking, these videos are great on Facebook and Twitter and should be much shorterrnthan live videos. Think three to five minutes, or maybe slightly longer -- up to 10 minutes if yournreally want to go into great detail on an important task. A great example of this type of videosrncomes from Matt D'Avella. In this video, Matt talks to Thomas Frank, the Productivity Guru, onrnhow to be more productive
How-to videos are exceptionally good at keeping viewers engaged. How-to videos are also thernbest format to boost your views on YouTube and other social media channels.
rn3. User-Generated VideosrnIf you really want to grow an engaged community on social media, you need to make people feelrnlike they're a part of something bigger. This is why user-generated content works tremendouslyrnwell on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sites - because communityrnmembers can see and enjoy videos being created by other real community members, makingrneveryone involved feel like they're a genuine part of something unique and special.rnTake GoPro's user-generated content campaign, for example:
Not only did this supercharge the brand's engagement on social media, but it also gave themrnaccess to an endless array of short (one to two minute) videos that they didn't actually have torncreate. The users did all of the hard work on their behalf AND it deepened their largerrnrelationship with the Fitness brand at the same time.
rnEven if you’re not looking to make more money in fitness online, there are still many ways yourncan leverage user-generated video content. A great way to entice your followers to creaternvideos and submit them to you, is by creating a social media content.
rnSocial media contests are simple and extremely effective at boosting your engagement. Yourrncontest can be anything, but it should be something that your followers are actually interestedrnin. You can then ask your followers to submit their videos for a chance to win an awesome offer.
rn4. Product Announcements
Product announcement videos are a great way to raise awareness ahead of an upcoming release,rnbut they're also a perfect chance to increase social media engagement. Consider the fact thatrnaccording to Marketing Land, about 62% of people say they are actually more interested in arnproduct after seeing a video about it in their Facebook Story.
rnHere’s a great example of this type of video content from Buffer, on Instagram:
For best results, keep your announcement video under one minute and focus on teasing thernexcitement of the launch, not on "giving the entire game away,
" so to speak.
rn5. Company Culture VideosrnOne of the major reasons that brands often struggle when growing their online community isrnbecause they don’t give consumers something to rally behind that goes deeper than a logo or arnset of products.
rnPeople don't really engage with inanimate objects on social media - they want to feel a real,rnhuman connection to a brand. Company culture videos are your perfect opportunity to dornexactly that, in a format that works great on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and even morernbusiness-centric social media sites like LinkedIn.
rnThese videos can take any shape you need them to - from short, Ãve-minute interviews with keyrnemployees to a "birds-eye view" of your daily operations and anything in between.rnThe key value you're offering with these videos is a sense of perspective - people should walkrnaway with a better understanding of what your brand does and who you are. It can be silly orrninformative or both at the same time.
rnTake the short videos that Vidyard always does in their monthly "Meet Vidyard" series, as anrnexample:
They're never more than two or three minutes in length - but they also give people a chance torntalk about their favorite part of their job, in a way that is relatable and friendly.
rnThis type of video content tends to generate high levels of engagement on social media, in partrnbecause it gives people a sense of your organization’s values, but also because your targetrnaudience gets to understand why your company is different.
rn6. Behind the Scenes VideosrnSimilar to the company culture videos, BTS videos take your followers behind-the-scenes, andrnshow a different look at your brand and business. People love these types of videos.rnIn this video, you can share your exclusive insight into a process, or a project, that your followersrnwould be interested in. BTS videos are often less polished than your traditional online videosrnand incorporate lots of raw footage.
rnHere’s a great example of a BTS video from ConvertKit, an email marketing company:
Wrapping this up...rnThe types of video content listed here are only a few ideas: the only limit is your imagination.,rnHowever, of all the types of videos that you can use to boost your engagement, these havernproven time and time again to be among the most effective types to help achieve yourrnengagement goals.
rnKeep in mind that you should never rely too heavily on one particular format. Switch things uprnand focus on creating varied, high quality, relevant and engaging content for your audience.rnI hope this guide to the different types of engaging videos for social media inspires you to buildrnan engaged online community around your business. If you have any questions, leave them in therncomments!