- By creating animated videos, infographic templates, video ads and other social media graphics, you can increase user engagement on your social media channels.
- Remember, when you're creating social media videos, you need to tell a compelling story.
- Once you become proficient in creating animated videos and quality social media posts, consider implementing them in other areas to attract greater attention to your brand.
For many small businesses, social media marketing can seem like a constant struggle, especially when trying to mimic the viral content of a popular social media marketer.
Nowadays, entrepreneurs, influencers, and other like-minded people can create compelling user-generated content, including time-lapse videos, GIFs and long or short video clips using apps on their phones or tablets. The most popular social media video editing apps are usually available for both Android and iOS mobile devices and can be downloaded through the app store.
According to many social media marketing experts, video is one of the best tools to take your business to the next level, as on Facebook alone, videos receive 8 billion views a day. Fortunately, there are many video editing apps out there that make video and photo editing much simpler than it used to be.
How do you make a social media video?
Social media videos can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. On the simple end, you can shoot some great videos on your phone. The more complex end involves getting a higher quality camera, lights and sound equipment.
How you film your videos and how involved you want to get with editing really depends on where you want your videos to end up, so begin with the end goal in mind.
Whether you're a small business or a multimillion-dollar corporation, creating quality video content is one of the best ways to reach your target audience. By creating animated videos, infographics, video ads and other social media graphics, you can increase user engagement on your social media channels.
The most important thing to understand when creating social media videos is that it needs to have a compelling narrative. As humans, we innately understand good versus bad storytelling, and by taking the time to create a coherent narrative, you're setting yourself up for viral success.
There are numerous video editing apps you can use to polish your videos. These are the key features to pay attention to in an app:
- Pricing. The differences in pricing for video tools are enormous. Some free or cloud-based applications offer a surprising range of features.
- Editing possibilities. The more editing tools you have, the more options you have for enhancing your video footage. Adding video effects, animations, and even photo editing can improve your media marketing efforts.
- Usability. It's best to find out if the app is user-friendly. Does it slow down video production and the overall editing process or speed it up?
- Video formats. Check to see if you can produce a video in both portrait and landscape modes. Can you optimize the clips for different social media channels? If you and your team use different platforms for your mobile devices, it's important to verify that the app is iOS and Android compatible.
- Direct imports. Uploading user-generated video content can be done faster and easier if the app allows you to import your finished product to multiple social media channels simultaneously.
Video marketing is one of the most effective media formats to promote your business and brand, according to Jean-Pierre Gautreaux, founder of Venty Media.
"It allows you to stand out from your competitors, and people love them because it makes it easy to share and consume information," Gautreaux told Business News Daily. "Videos have a higher organic reach on all social media platforms and keep users engaged for longer."
Gautreaux says that videos are great to use in digital ads, and apps provide an amazing set of data that is perfect to use in video creation and retargeting campaigns. Gautreaux shared a few important tips for creating engaging social media videos for your business:
- Start with a hook. With so much content available for users, you need to capture their attention in just a few seconds.
- Export in the right format. Each social media platform has a preferred or native video size and format. For example, Facebook and YouTube have a 16:9 preferred aspect ratio. Instagram has a few format options, but the most common is the square 1:1 aspect ratio for the timeline and 9:16 for Instagram stories.
- Choose the optimal length for best results. YouTube and Facebook lend themselves to longer videos – 2 minutes or more. Instagram videos perform better when they are between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
- Use captions. Many users watch videos with the volume down on their phones. If they are interested in what they see, they will turn up the volume.
- Have a clear call to action. Tell viewers what you would like them to do after watching your video. Consider how you want viewers to engage with your brand. Do you want them to like and share your video? Do you want them to visit your website?
Which video app is the best?
There are many social media video apps available online and in the app store. We've gathered five of the most popular apps to help you choose the best video-making app for your business.
Canva
Canva has been a popular graphic design tool for years. It's used by individuals and marketing professionals to make stunning flyers, social media posts, business cards and so much more. Canva rolled out Canva Animator, which gives users the ability to create the same beautiful posts that can now be animated with six different effects for free or a small fee.
This is a fantastic feature, especially for brands that are already accustomed to working with the Canva platform. Even those who have never used Canva – or any other graphic design application – will find the mechanics very user-friendly. Once the design is ready, you download your animation in either a GIF or movie format, depending on where you wish to use the post.
Spark Video
Spark Video is a true game-changer. This tool is completely free and made by Adobe. The easy-to-use interface guides you as you create beautiful videos that can contain your own graphics, video clips, icons, images or text. You can search for free graphics covered by a creative commons license or purchase one from the Adobe digital library, which has an extensive collection of materials to choose from.
The platform has a remarkable number of free themes to make it easy for anyone to create stunning videos that feel professionally crafted. The free music library further elevates the final creation.
Crello
Crello is like Canva in many ways. The functionality and ease of use are at about the same level, and Crello is also free. Where Crello jumps to the next level is the fully customizable animated posts.
While Canva allows you to animate the text of your post, Crello provides fully animated post templates. All you have to do is add your text, save and upload to your favorite social media site. These files are saved as MP4 and can be played anywhere that allows video. [Interested in social media marketing solutions? Check out our top picks.]
Lumen5
Lumen5 is a great option for businesses of all sizes that produce regular blog content. Lumen5 allows you to easily transform blog content into a stunning video.
The free service pulls images and words from your posts, which you can then customize as needed to create a video that tells the story for you. Make it interesting enough to keep people watching, but leave viewers wanting more so they click through for the full story. Free and paid plans are available.
Quik
Quik is a free phone app by GoPro that allows anyone with an Apple or Android device to quickly and easily piece together images and videos and make captivating movies. You can also install Quik for Windows or Mac desktops. Even if it's only a few seconds long, Quik can make the difference in how engaging your content is.
It offers a huge selection of templates that you can individually customize to make it look as though hours of editing and design went into each video. Do not discount this powerful piece of software simply because it is on mobile platforms.
Remember, there are many ways to use animated posts, GIFs or videos other than as posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. You can use them as a profile or cover image and in advertisements.
On all of these platforms, moving images convert better than text or static images. Once you become proficient in creating animated videos and quality social media posts, consider implementing them in other areas to garner even more interest in your brand.