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Your Guide To Video Production For Social Media Marketing

February 10, 2023
Team Video Training
Your Guide To Video Production For Social Media Marketing
Everyone, from small startups to huge multinational companies, is making videos for social media these days. But if you’re a larger enterprise, the pressure is on you to produce videos of the highest quality that engage your desired audience. The good news is that this is more easily accomplished than ever, but it takes some planning and education to make social media video production effective for marketing and sales conversions.

Here are some expert tips to get you started so you can hit your stride quickly and turn social media into a serious revenue source.

1. Decide on your goal as part of a larger marketing strategy

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds if you just start posting social media videos randomly without knowing why you’re doing it. You want to start with a goal and work backwards, not the other way around.

For example, let’s say you run a global travel business that includes boutique hotels and small luxury cruises. You particularly want to appeal to high-net-worth pensioners over the age of 55 who enjoy travel and five-star accommodations. Narrowing it down even further, you want to entice them to book European river cruises that visit cultural sites, wineries, and major culinary centers.

So, you’re not going to do videos for young people or for travel destinations in Australia. You’re not going to sell at bargain prices or trends. You want exclusivity and extravagance. Your video efforts will be targeted towards your desired demographic, and you’ll develop a budget, timetable, and metrics for success accordingly.

2. Choose the social media platforms where you’ll find your audience

Let’s keep going with the hypothetical cruise marketing scenario from above. Because you’re trying to reach a somewhat older audience, you’re not going to choose social media platforms where twenty-somethings hang out. You’re also not going to try all social media platforms at once since marketing to everyone is actually marketing to no one.

Facebook will likely be your number one site, along with perhaps YouTube and Pinterest. Only once you have these mastered do you want to move on to places like Instagram or TikTok, which might have some hip seniors but are more likely to appeal to a younger crowd.

Aside from demographics, pay attention to optimizing your videos for different platforms. Research information about the following to comply with rules and make your videos look good:

  • Posting guidelines
  • File sizes (minimum and maximum)
  • Aspect ratios and dimensions
  • Video length
  • Accepted formats
  • Recommended resolution
  • Frame rate

3. Hook your audience early

No matter which social media platform you choose, competition will be stiff, so you need to catch and keep your audience. You can’t afford to wait until later in a video to bring out the good, meaty content. You need to grab your audience’s attention straight away, ideally in the first 30 or even 10 seconds of your video.

How do you do that? First, you want to tell a story. Forget cold facts, data, and objective material. People buy on emotion and how you make them feel. Sure, you can always work with less subjective content, but the overwhelming thrust should be storytelling that creates impact. Decide what you want to say, the tone you want to use, and the mood you want to convey. Script it out carefully to make words, actions, and production values match your goals.

4. Make sure your video quality is top-notch

We mentioned production values above, which are vital in creating both a professional-looking and compelling video. You can support your scripted message with the right lighting, color palettes, camera techniques, and music. But it has to be good, especially in the imaginary case study described above. When it comes to video production, social media enthusiasts today are savvy and choosy. They expect the best, especially in the luxury market.

5. Be inclusive with language and graphics

One of the best social media video tips we can offer is to be sure to include sufficient graphics with your video. This especially applies to:

  • Full captioning for the hearing impaired
  • Special captioning for new vocabulary, foreign words, etc.
  • Subtitles for foreign language audio
  • Captioning when audio is difficult to hear, such as in the wind or a crowd
  • Graphics for numerical data, charts, prices, and the like
  • Step-by-step instructions or recipes
  • Your call to action at the end (see next section)
Most people will remember your message best by seeing and hearing it in the video, but there are people with disabilities and those who learn best by reading who need extra support.

6. Include a call to action at the close of the video

Each video should include a call to action — what you want the audience to do next — at the end. Going back to our pensioners’ cruises, perhaps you want them to book a tour today. Or maybe you want to ease them more gently into your funnel by inviting them to an online wine tasting or live streaming of an opera festival in Vienna. Be sure to include plenty of information and links to help them get to the next step.

7. Evaluate your response periodically

Is your social media video campaign working? You will need to evaluate it to find out. You might consider doing some A/B testing, trying a couple of different platforms, or video styles to see which ones get the best results.

At the start, set a timetable for reviewing your numbers periodically. And remember, it’s not just the number of views, likes, and shares that matter; you want to know click-throughs, time spent on your website, where visitors navigated, sign-ups, and sales conversions too. The bottom line speaks for itself.

Try Shootsta Pro for polished social media video production with an impact

To get that polished, professional look you crave for your social media videos, Shootsta Pro is a fantastic tool. When doing post-production in-house might be more than you can handle, this cloud-based subscription service is the perfect medium. It’s a collaborative process between you and our editors, and you decide how much direction you want to take during post-production. Shootsta Pro can even help with your video shoots as well!

We bring you a cost-effective post-production solution with easy integrations and ultra-fast turnaround times — often as fast as 24 hours. Book a free consultation and demo of Shootsta Pro today, or contact us any time with your questions.

Interested in simple, fast and effective video?

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Discover more about customer experience strategy best practices…

Can I invite a colleague? And will my colleagues have access to my videos

You can add or remove any team members from your Shootsta ‘Workspace’ at any point in time. Want to keep a video private? No problem, as the creator you’re in control of who in your team can see and or access your video projects.

Can my creative producer write my script for me?

Within our specialised Plan Assists, your Creative Producer aims to script as much of your video as possible. If there is more to do, they can either give you very clear next steps or book in another Plan Assist.

How are businesses incorporating video in their sales?

There’s a variety of ways that personalized sales video is being incorporated into pitches, but one of the most common is simply including it in an email being sent to an existing or prospective customer. This provides a greater reason for the recipient to engage with the email, while also making it far easier for them to share with other people in the company or via social media. 

How can I improve email marketing campaigns?

There are two major factors that improve a customers’ reception of email marketing campaigns: personalization and timeliness. The vast majority of leads expect to see some type of personalization in their email messages. Whether that involves their name in the subject line or data-driven product selections, 55% of customers believe that customization makes their emails more enjoyable. It should be noted that personalization leads to enormous profit gains over time, potentially increasing email revenue by 760%. It’s also a good idea to time the market, improving your chances of cutting through the clutter. The best time to send an email varies according to industry and niche, although 9 AM to 11 AM is a safe bet. Be sure to do additional research and A/B testing to narrow down other dates and times.

How can I promote my product in a video?

Product promos are essential to any marketing arsenal. Showcase the efficacy or utility of your offerings by discussing use cases, showing off unique features, or demoing a product or service on camera. These same ideas apply to B2B or SaaS enterprises. To smooth the process, tools like Shootsta Cast allow businesses to create short and easily sharable video snippets that are adaptable to a wide variety of needs.

How do you follow up in sales without being annoying?

After you’ve actually made a sale, you’re best off sending a thank-you email or something similar to demonstrate your appreciation. When done skillfully, this can keep the conversation with the client going, leaving them open to future sales. Ultimately, what’s most important is that every interaction you have with the client provides them with value. This is also why it’s good to stay in contact periodically without specifically trying to sell a product. Personalized videos are an effective way to create effective sales outreach or provide stakeholders comms, but they can also be great for reaching out on birthdays, public holidays, or other special occasions.
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