What makes video work in social? How can editing influence the number of views and the reach? For starters I’m going to give you a few tips to take into account when editing video for Social.
Square or landscape?
Square videos (or 1080 x 1080) are better received by Social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. One of the reasons is because this type of format fits all devices, especially the most popular of all: mobile.
So when you plan your next post, make sure the video is square, this way it has a better chance to pick up organically.
30 seconds or 10 minutes?
User’s attention span in social is pretty short. Studies show that the vast majority of views are of 2 to 3 minutes. Obviously, this varies with the type of content since people are more inclined to give stories a larger amount of time.
My advice is to always take an educated guess based on the type of content you have at hand.
Titles and captions
As I’ve mentioned above, most social content is viewed on mobile, therefore usually without sound. The square format accommodates the use of titles and captions. Their role is to grab the user’s attention, generate a thumb stop in the endless scrolling and let him know from the first seconds of the video if the topic is of interest to him or not.
Get creative with titles and emojis & don’t be afraid to try out new things when it comes to colors and formats.
Call To Action
Last, but not least, here’s where the video truly fulfills its use. Use a final call to action. It needs to be related to the content of your video and it can be as disruptive as you’d like. As long as you clearly explain to the user what happens when he clicks the link or button.
Try new graphics, songs, animations, anything to highlight the final action that you want the user to take.
To wrap it all up
I know it’s hard to sometimes overlook your general knowledge of video or filmmaking, more so if you are a specialist. What you need to bear in mind, though, is that you need to adapt your content to the platform you’re posting it on. That means, that for it to be successful, you need to know the platform dynamic and abide by it.
So try to be creative, use what works and create what works for you.
Looking to create videos for Social Media Platforms? Would love to help you make a strategy and create engaging content.
