Social media videos is one of type of videos that your audience is watching a lot.
Video content had been taking over the Internet rapidly ever since smartphones started being mass-produced and social media’s popularity rose. In fact, over 70% of Internet users are routine viewers of social videos.
Animoto surveyed over 1,000 consumers in 2015 and found that 84% had liked a company video in their news feed and that nearly half (48%) had shared a company video on their profile.
If you’re not making videos for your campaigns, I’m going to tell you right now that you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
Social media is a goldmine for your marketing team, especially if you are doing video campaigns.
You can gain a lot from it even if you are still a beginner in social video marketing.
Our guide to amplifying social video reach will help you reach or increase your target audience, if you need more assistance please go to this awesome video marketing checklist infographic.
What are social media videos?
The meaning of the term social media videos can vary from a professional-made Adidas commercial you see on your Facebook timeline to a vertical video of your friend Anne’s pet dog and everything in between.
But my definition of social media video is a digital video that’s been designed to be seen and published on social media.
With that said, there are some main types, or categories if you will, that you should know:
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Promo video
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A promoted video is any video that aims to eventually sell a product.
It doesn’t always refer to those annoying ads you see on pre-roll when you try to watch YouTube.
Sponsored videos are very popular right now because many content creators work with brands as one of their income sources.
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Content video
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A content video is the kind of video you will see coming from a creator in a certain niche.
These videos don’t try to sell you anything.
Well, not at first, anyway. These videos work as lead magnets.
They aim to impress you with the content they made so you give something up in return, like your email address or your Facebook like.
For example, companies’ social media pages, like Tastemade, Tasty and Food Network come out with content videos about food and beverages because they actually “sell” their content.
Their videos are what make them respectable companies in their niche.
With that said, it’s understandable that they put great efforts to promote their videos.
And often times their videos receives more than tons of views. The one above has 106 million views by the time I write this article.
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Personal video
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Basically, it is just like the name says: personal videos. The personal video category covers a large variety of videos.
Virtually anything that anyone uploads to their own social media profile can be categorized under personal video, regardless of whether it’s further monetized or not.
Yes, people get money if some large publishing network (like UNILAD, LAD Bible, etc.) publishes their video.
It could be a video of their pet dog, a video of their friend being goofy, or a palm-sweating video of daredevils hanging around on rooftops, like this.
Social Video vs Viral Video
Many people confuse social video and viral video. Viral videos usually don’t serve any purpose other than, well, being viral. Like this video of a cat playing piano.
When it comes to marketing, social videos don’t need tons of views to be considered successful.
They just need to reach the right people who are your target market. A video telling your product’s story can get 750 views and still be a success because it reaches your target market.
Virality is a good trait for any marketing video. However, you shouldn’t aim solely for that. Yes, shareability is important, but shareability among your target market is the key.
Making your videos
First things first: You have to decide where you’re going to publish it with the best video distribution strategy. Every social media has a unique audience, and you should not mix them up.
A video that performs well on Facebook might need some serious revisions and edits before it can satisfy your audience over on Instagram.
In most cases, making an entirely different video is strongly recommended.
The strongest type of video, regardless of where you will share it, is content video.
But, as I mentioned before, you don’t have to get tons of views as long as your video content isn’t your main selling point.
