Social media video is a powerful asset for sharing your brand story, building your community, and establishing trust with your audience. However, your videos are only going to be effective if you’re able to get people to stop and watch them. Otherwise, they’ll scroll on by!
Luckily, implementing the right social media video production tips will help you grab attention and get people to watch your videos in their entirety. This way, you can begin using videos to generate more awareness for your brand and increase your success online.
Why You Should be Strategic About Social Media Video Production
Research has shown the average attention span was 12 seconds in 2000. In 2015, it dropped to 8.25 seconds. That means our attention spans have decreased by 25%! It’s even been said that humans now have shorter attention spans than goldfish. But what does this have to do with social media?
Many believe that social media has contributed to our steadily declining attention spans. After all, it’s easy to continue scrolling if something doesn’t instantly grab your attention. That’s why you need to be smart about social media video production by creating videos that are captivating to your audience.
If your videos aren’t pulling people in within the first few seconds, you risk losing them altogether. Then, all your hard work will essentially go to waste since people will move on instead of watching.
The Main Benefit of Creating Social Media Videos
As mentioned above, social media video content offers several benefits for brands that have an online presence. Videos can generate awareness, establish trust, and attract sales. However, the main benefit of consistently creating video content is that videos tend to be more engaging than static photos. And you always want to be mindful of what your audience (and the algorithms) prefer!
For instance, videos get the most engagement on Instagram, generating more comments than single images or carousels posted to the feed. Even Twitter has found that tweets with videos receive 10 times the engagement of tweets without videos. The key is creating videos people will enjoy.
5 Tips for Grabbing (and Keeping) Attention With Social Media Videos
Whether you’re going to create video content in-house or you plan to outsource it to a professional team, here are a few social media video production tips that will help you appeal to your audience:
1. Start With High-Quality Footage
Thanks to today’s technology, you don’t have to invest in expensive equipment to create high-quality social media videos. Instead, you can use your smartphone and still get gorgeous footage with the top-notch cameras that exist today. And for that reason, people aren’t going to tolerate low-quality videos. Even Instagram has said they will de-prioritize Reels that are blurry or have low resolution.
To level up your footage, be sure to have ample lighting as well. Take advantage of natural light or purchase an affordable ring light and use that when needed. A microphone is also a must for great audio quality. And you’ll also want a tripod to ensure your videos are steady, not shaky.
2. Grab Attention Immediately With a Strong Hook
The first few seconds will make or break your video’s success. Now that you know how short our attention spans can be, you need to make every effort to grab your viewer’s attention right off the bat. How do you do this? Put yourself in the viewer’s shoes and ask yourself what would resonate with them.
Consider starting your video with a fascinating fact, asking a question, or teasing the story that’s to come. You could also target their pain points by stating a problem your viewer has and then presenting your solution. The ideas are endless. You just need to determine what’ll lock in the right people.
3. Keep It Short and Sweet
When you have a lot to say, it can be easy to ramble on in your videos. However, that’s going to push people to exit your video without watching it in full. Instead, you want to keep it short and sweet and make sure your videos are only as long as they need to be. That means you want to only use as much time as is necessary to get your point across.
Editing is a crucial element of social media video production. It allows you to cut out those moments when you go off on a tangent so you can ensure your video flows from beginning to middle, and to the end. When your videos flow effortlessly, viewers will be more likely to watch and enjoy every second.
4. Add Text and Subtitles for Accessibility
Another thing you cannot forget as part of the social media video production process is adding subtitles. There simply is no excuse to not have them, especially since most platforms will automatically generate subtitles for you. Just be sure to edit them before publishing your video to ensure they’re accurate because those generated subtitles are never 100% correct.
This is important to the success of your videos because you need to remember that those who are deaf or hearing impaired won’t be able to enjoy your content otherwise. Plus, people sometimes watch without sound and you want your videos to be accessible to them as well.
You can also add separate text to highlight important quotes or points made throughout the video. Not only will this grab attention, but your content will be more memorable to its viewers.
5. Wrap Up With a Call to Action
How you end your videos is just as important as how you start them. Once you’ve gotten your viewers to the final moments of your social media videos, you want to instruct them on what to do next. Don’t let them scroll away without taking some sort of action with your brand. Invite them to follow you to ask them to leave a comment to generate engagement. Alternatively, you could direct them toward your website to check out a free download or a paid offering. It all depends on what fits your goals and content.
Master Social Media Video Production With the Help of Our Team
Creating captivating social media video content can be overwhelming when trying to go it alone. That’s why it’s smart to work with an experienced team that can help you bring your vision to life. Here at NG Production Films, we know a thing or two about producing videos your target audience will love so you can generate the awareness, engagement, and sales you desire.
Our Orlando Video Production Company, NG Production Films, can communicate effectively and efficiently to produce high-quality video production. We have over a decade of experience to produce the next video production project for your organization. Call NG Production Films today for a free no-obligation consultation at 407-233-3236 or fill out our contact form for a prompt reply.