The world lives online now. Businesses, personalities, and ideas alike are all most commonly engaged with virtually–through social media.
If you’re somebody looking to get your ideas, products, or services visible on the internet through video, you may already know just how critical an online presence is. You need strong ratings on Google Reviews. You need to ensure your location exists on online map services. You need a website to give your elevator pitch–and your contact information–to the public.
And of course, you need a social media page–on multiple platforms–to demonstrate what you’re doing to existing and potential customers.
Here are three ways you can optimize videography to generate bigger traffic on social media.
1. Know Your Audience
There are a multitude of social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram) out there, but they don’t all service the same markets or demographics. Plenty of research is publicly available that sheds light on which people are using which platform, but that doesn’t necessarily give you a recipe for social media success.
For example, if you’re looking to capture the imagination of the 18-to-29 year old demographic, you may be aware that you’ll have more success on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok than if you targeted Facebook. If you’re looking to attract attention from the media and/or business world, you’d be right to publish videos on Twitter and/or LinkedIn. The real question is, “how do I produce high quality video content that will actually engage those who watch it?”
For example: in the world of Instagram and TikTok, time is precious. When video is produced with these user bases in mind, they take into account that these are apps designed for sharing short videos. The audience is looking for quick, informative dopamine hits that get viewers in and out of the door quickly. You’ll need to prioritize hiring a video production team in Kelowna that excels at efficient, snappy messaging. You only have a few moments to present yourself or your business, so every second has to count.
In the world of YouTube (a website the majority of people under the age of 65 say they regularly use), there’s more of an appetite for long-form videos. Many popular content creators often post videos upwards of 10 minute videos, so if you need a social media video that has a lot of depth, you know that YouTube (or your own website through embedded code) will be more receptive to it.
Ideally, you should be looking to have different types of videos for different applications. Need to introduce a concept to get people interested? Use the right platform for the intended goal. Need to demonstrate a product or service in its totality? Use the right platform for the intended goal.
Consider your market and your goals, and then make your methodology decisions. Many video production companies in Kelowna are eager to brainstorm your project with you to find a way to meet your audience where they’re at.
2. Find Your Voice
“Professional video production” probably brings up a mental image for you. When I hear that, I think about sweeping, cinematic shots with precise lighting and emotive music.
Some people are getting results by using professional video production for that TV-ready style, but it’s not the only way to use video in the social media age.
Some brands are using professional video studios to create stop-motion “reminder” advertisements–perfect to catch the eye of somebody casually scrolling through Instagram. These are effective videos because they can be engaged with even if your phone is muted, and they get their message across very quickly. The result is a clever and memorable marketing campaign.
Other companies successfully augment professional content with shareable “real life” videos that strip back the gloss and showcase their brand in a more relaxed light–in this example, we see a sports league seem relatable on their Instagram page, while still investing in deeper-dive professionally shot videos on YouTube.
Other organizations, like TED Talks, are bound to long-form conventions but have discovered their voice on shareable social media platforms by utilizing “snippets” of longer clips that act as a hook to the viewer. This means that the organization does not have to dilute the purpose of their videos (each “snippet” contains a link to the longer video), but instead manages to be realistic about who/what they are while showcasing their “voice” in truncated form. Sometimes you can have it both ways.
What your “voice” is might come through repeated experimentation, and you don’t need to be in a rush to find it. It is, however, important to be open to different case uses of video production to discover just how you can best make use of the medium.
3. Trust the Experts
As your business or idea grows, managing your social media content will begin to exhaust you. You can only wear so many hats, and for many, the right choice is to find the right person to take ownership of your online presence.
If you have deep pockets, it’s easiest to find a combination of a marketing strategist with a big idea and a video production company with the means to execute. In smaller cases, your first step might just be to hire somebody already in your organization to take more time to focus on product videography and/or social media campaigns. There isn’t one right way to do it.
But if you’re only able to dedicate a fraction of your time to generating great video content for your organization or brand, your social media presence will suffer.
Identify and start discussions with experts locally or remotely who can elevate your brand to the next level with clever video production. Brainstorm with videographers who can help you generate ideas about what your “voice” could be, and how you can use different social media platforms to your advantage. In many cases, you can literally just call a video production company in Kelowna with only a fraction of an idea–it’s their job to help you flush out the idea to its totality. They know that world better, and if they’re good at their job, they’re going to get you a higher return on your investment.
For most people in 2021, it’s no longer enough to exist by word-of-mouth. Get your message out with video production: find your voice, identify your methodology, and hire some-one (or yourself) to make it happen. This is a digital, visual age where it’s critical that you look good. It’s time to put your best foot forward.
Distill Media is a video production company in Kelowna, serving the entire interior of British Columbia, dedicated to the “essentials of visual storytelling”: isolating and expressing the core messages of businesses and organizations through video. We provide industry-leading products with high return on investment.
