Social Media Video - How to Use and Reuse It

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Doesn’t it sometimes feel like all you hear people talking about when it comes to social media marketing is video? That you need to be using video, people are consuming more video, don’t forget live video!

But is it all hype or is there some real data behind the ‘social media loves video’ bandwagon? If you are going to invest time and energy in creating social media videos, don’t you want to know that it is worth it?

My mission then is to help you with the best information on how to use and reuse your video content as well as some solid stats on why social media video is such a big deal. And trust me, after this, you will be keen to get started yourself!

How video dominates social media

The big change in how popular video has become is largely due to the younger generations – you know, the millennials and Gen Z as they are called. They are more likely to listen to a video than to read a blog post or to watch video content on social media for entertainment.

But as digital marketers, what about if you aren’t targeting those age groups? Does that mean that video isn’t effective?

The simple answer is no, it is still just as effective for all age groups. Studies of video consumption show why this is. For example, in their State of Marketing Report (2020), HubSpot found that:

People are starting to rely on marketing videos from brands to find out about new products or services
People watch videos to relax and escape from daily life
Consumers also use it to find out more about their interests and passions (or their niche in the case of businesses)
There’s no expectation of big-budget style video from consumers – in terms of the reasons people watch a video, ‘high production quality’ was only 10^th on the list
If you are targeting younger audiences, they watch longer videos (as well as more of them)

Types of video content to create

This is a snapshot of the world of social media video and how important it is. People have come to expect a video from brands, companies, and even people they follow and if you don’t feed that expectation, you could miss out.

But if you are like me and the idea of creating a video gives you the same dropping stomach feeling that the downward bend of a roller coaster does, then the key is to have a clear idea about the types of video content to create. Then you can spot the ones that work best to start with – and you can always try other types later.

How to videos

Combine two facts – the huge amount of videos we watch and the fact that ‘how to’ searches on YouTube are increasing by 70% each year. What this shows you is that a simple how-to video can have massive results.

Find a common question or problem your audience has and create a short, to-the-point answer to it. Walk them through the steps, show them how to do something, or even use graphics to teach them.

Introducer videos

Introducers’ videos often tend to feature people and are a simple way to introduce a new product or service to your audience. These are short messages that can be funny, quirky, or just to the point. They emphasize what is unique, helpful, or interesting about the product or service in an easy-to-consume way.

Advertise written content

This is one I have dabbled with a little and it is a great way to make video without recording yourself. You can use still images or graphics in tools like Lumen5 to create a highlight of a written blog post in video form. It also works great for recipes where you have in-process shots – pop them together with instructions, show the finished recipe and you have a recipe video!

Mini case study

In a similar way, if you have a case study, report, or white paper, you could create a slideshow of the main points and then do a voiceover to create a short 1-2 minute summary. Then encourage people to go to where the full report is for more information.

Sneak peeks

Sneak peeks are great before launches or events where you share a little about what’s coming and build up interest. You can almost do a news-style piece, interviewing someone that’s involved, or use footage from previous events to show what’s coming.

Thank you video

A quick thank you video can be very useful to build that brand recognition and connect with customers. Maybe they bought a big product from you or invested in a good-sized service. You can record a quick thanks video, tell them what to expect, and make that instant connection.

Behind the scenes

Another simple video is the behind-the-scenes shots. These can be your workspace, your routine, your business premises, where products are created, or anything else. The idea is to give a glimpse into the people behind the business and connect to people better.

Animated video

I’ve mentioned using still photos to create videos, but you can go further and even make an animated video. There are a few tools that do this for free and also a few paid ones for something more polished.

Live video

Live video is when you go Live on a social media profile such as Facebook or Instagram and talk about anything. You might introduce a product, do a Q&A, handle a customer question, sneak peek something, or do a behind-the-scenes. Then you can reuse that content elsewhere (more on that in a bit).

Video specs at a glance

Do you have an idea about what type of video you want to make? Great! Next, you need to think about the size, length and format, depending on where you want to use it.

This is really important because different platforms have different specs or requirements for their video content. On some it is about ratio or size; on some, it is about the length, and on some a whole list of things. Getting the video in the right format for your chosen platform is very important – but remember, you can often resize, crop, or cut as well.

Facebook

Facebook loves videos and there are tons of them on your feed. You can use either portrait or landscape for these videos. Their basic format requirements are:

Recommended size: 1280 x 720 px for landscape or portrait
Minimum width: 600 px
Ratio: 16:9 landscape, 9:16 portrait
Max file size: 4GB
Format: .MP4 or .MOV
Maximum length: 120 minutes

Instagram

No surprise that Instagram also loves video and with the addition of their new Reels feature, it should be a part of any IG strategy. Their basic format requirements are:

Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 (landscape), 600 x 600 (square) or 600 x 750 (vertical)
Ratio: 16:9 landscape, 1:1 square, 9:16 portrait
Max file size: 4GB
Format: .MP4 or .MOV
Maximum length: 60 seconds

Stories sizes are the same as images, 1080 x 1920 and the video length is 15 seconds.

IG TV has the same size as stories with a minimum of one minute and a maximum of 15 minutes when uploaded via smartphone or up to 1 hour via desktop. Files must be in MP4 format.

Twitter

While Twitter tends to be landscape when it comes to images, videos can be either landscape or portrait as long as you share directly to the platform.

Recommended size: 1280 x 720 px for landscape or 640 x 640 px for portrait
Minimum size: 32 x 32px
Maximum size: 1280 x 1024 px
Ratio: 1:2.39 or 2.39:1
Max file size: 512MB
Format: .MP4 or .MOV
Maximum length: 140 seconds

Snapchat

With its younger audience, it is no surprise that video is a huge part of Snapchat. Video content here is a lot shorter than on other platforms, however.

Recommended size: 1080 x 1920 px
Ratio: 9:16
Max file size: 32MB
Format: .MP4 or .MOV
Maximum length: 3-10 seconds

YouTube

YouTube sits as the second largest search engine after Google (who owns it) and it is all about video. There is every type of video on the platform but still a few best practices:

Recommended size: 426 x 240 (240p), 640 x 360 (360p), 854 x 480 (480p), 1280 x 720 (720p), 1920 x 1080 (1080p), 2560 x 1440 (1440p) and 3840 x 2160 (2160p).
Minimum size: 426 x 240 px
Maximum size: 3840 x 2160 px
Ratio: 16:9
Max file size: 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less
Format: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
Maximum length: 12 hours

LinkedIn might not be first on the list when you think of social media videos, but it is growing in popularity. In fact, 75% of business executives say they watch video content on the platform every week.

Ratio: 1:2.4 or 2.4:1
Max file size: 5GB
Format: .ASF, .AVI, .FLV, .MOV, .MPEG-1, .MPEG-4, .MKV, .WebM
Maximum length: 10 minutes

Pinterest is very into video at the moment and is actively encouraging people to add their video content. You can share a vertical or square video.

Recommended size: 600 x 600 square, 600 x 900 vertical
Minimum resolution: 240p
Ratio: 1:1 square, 9:16 vertical
Max file size: 2GB
Format: .MP4 or .MOV
Maximum length: 30 minutes

Mastering video content

Mastering video content doesn’t come naturally for all of us, I know it is quite alien to me. But I know my audience wants to see it so I’m going to learn. Meantime I’m going to use tools to make different types of video content and capture that middle ground.

How can you use social media videos in your marketing strategy?