Are you using video for social media marketing? If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track. The potential of social videos can’t be understated. Whether it’s catching up with friends and family on Facebook or posting photos on Instagram, the average person spends 142 minutes per day on social media. Social media is where your customers are.

However, while most brands understand this, they still don’t fully understand the value of engagement. It takes much more than posting just any video on your social media accounts to get the kind of attention that can help your business grow.

Here, you’ll discover expert tips on how to increase engagement on social videos and take advantage of the full potential of your social videos.

Understand your audience

The videos you share on social media ought to be produced with your target audience in mind. This will allow you to harness the power of social media to its fullest.

Social media platforms collect a lot of data about their users. Businesses can leverage this by specifying the audience to whom their videos should be shown. You can restrict the audience to whom your video is shown by age, gender, location and other data.

While your audience will be restricted, you’re more likely to reach people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Capture your audience within the first 7 seconds

If you want to get more people to watch your videos, the first step is to create a great video. Hiring a great video production Toronto service is a great place to start. Corporate video production Toronto services will guarantee you better quality for your video.

Put a lot of effort into the first 3 to 7 seconds of the video. Work on your intro and make it engaging. The first few seconds of the video will determine whether a viewer will continue to watch the content or scroll to something else. Therefore, a video’s intro is the the part of the video that sees the highest drop-off rates.

Make use of the first few seconds of the video to tease your audience. Create a sense of excitement or suspense to keep them hooked long enough to present the value of your proposition. Use the first few seconds to whet the audience’s appetite.

Keep it short

This can’t be stressed enough. While people spend a good deal of their time online scrolling over social media posts, they don’t spend more than a few seconds on each piece of content. If you want to increase engagement, you’ll need to keep your videos short.

Statistics from Facebook show that 65% of people that watch the first three seconds of social videos on the platform are likely to watch at least 10 seconds of the video. It is therefore important to get right to the point.

While it’s generally good advice to keep the video short, the actual length will depend on the type of video you created and the social platform you’ve chosen.

Upload your video directly on the platform

Many find uploading content to their social media platforms tedious. They’d much rather be working on growing their business (or doing anything else really). They don’t realize that how the videos are shared on the platforms is just as important as the video itself.

Don’t be tempted to upload the video to YouTube or any other video platform then simply share the link on your social profiles. Users of social platforms are more likely to watch native videos compared to videos shared from other platforms. Upload the videos on each and every one of your social profiles. If you’ve hired a Toronto video production company, check to see if they include uploading content as part of their video production Mississauga services. Ask them how they intend to upload content to your social profiles.

Include text overlays and captions

Most social media platforms auto play videos shared on the platform on mute. This means that viewers are likely to start out watching with the sound off. As a result they may not understand what your video is all about.

Be sure to add captions and text overlays to your videos. People that watch your videos will better understand the content even when the video is on silent mode. It’s always a good idea to include subtitles or closed captioning on your videos, especially on social media platforms.

Include a Call-to-Action

What do you want your audience to do after watching the video? The success of your video is measured by the impact it has in driving viewers to action. Thus, you need to include a Call-to-Action.

A Call-to-Action will provide specific instructions to the audience on what they should do after watching the video. For example, the Call-to-Action may ask the viewer to watch another video, subscribe, share or visit your website for more information on a product.

In conclusion

Social media videos are highly effective as marketing tools. If you want to leverage the potential of social media videos, you’ll need to learn how to increase engagement on social media. Take the time to understand your audience and create content that is compelling. Keep it short and include captions and Call-to-Actions for best results.

Get in touch with us. We’ll help you create engaging videos that will win over your audience and increase your reach on social media.