5 Proven Ways to Create an Eye-Catching Video for Social Media

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Photo by Terje Sollie from Pexels

Creating an eye-catching video for social media can be an exceptionally challenging task. Some people would go as far as to say that it’s more complex than designing an image or writing a blog post.

Every day, millions of people from around the globe engage in social media. While they aimlessly scroll down on their smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other devices, they typically find themselves drowning in a flood of videos.

Quite often, though, they end up watching a two or three-minute promo video, and without considering their actions, they find themselves ordering products from that website. In essence, creating quality visual content by using a professional promo video maker to engage your audience will upsurge your brand growth quickly.

According to research into the efficiency of social media video, it’s crystal clear that this form of marketing significantly outperforms all other content types. The statistics are staggering:

  • In general, 64 percent of social media users will buy a brand’s products after watching its production
  • Shared posts consisting of a collection of videos increase views by 48 percent
  • More than half of the people that engage in social media find other forms of content significantly less interesting than watching brand productions
  • More than 88 percent of marketers are satisfied with the return on investment (ROI) on social media video marketing

So, how do you produce visual content for social media that’ll engage your audience? To answer this question, we’ll explore five proven methods for creating an eye-catching video.

Plan Your Production

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Brainstorming Ideas
Without thorough research and effective planning, no project will ever be 100 percent successful. Luckily, there are five quick and highly efficient ways to brainstorm and generate a multitude of ideas:

View Popular Videos on Social Media
View well-liked videos posted by your competition on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. By doing this, you’ll get a better idea of which topics are currently trending amongst social media users, typically resulting in some exceptionally lucrative ideas.

Rehash Your Business’s Top Blog Posts
Revisit and take a closer look at your venture’s top blog posts. The content and ideas that best appealed to and captured your audience’s attention usually make excellent video material.

Study the Most Frequently Shared Content
Study your company and other similar organizations’ most shared content. To help you with this endeavor, there are various cloud-based platforms, such as Buzzsumo.

These programs will help you discover the best outreach, content, and engagement opportunities as well as trending stories, content success, consumer questions, and new keywords across search engines and social media. Using one of these tools will provide you with tons of ideas for your next video.

Choose Questions From Your Company’s FAQ Page
Despite the length of the production you plan on creating, touching on crucial points by answering specific questions from your business’s FAQ page is essential. Choose one of the top queries and create a video around it. It should draw the attention of the right consumers and also build credibility with them.

Record Behind the Scenes Footage
Visual content that contains behind the scenes (BTS) material is an exceptionally effective method for showcasing your venture’s culture. It gives the audience a glimpse of how your company functions and what it’s like to work there. It:

Builds trust with your clients
Shows you’re sense of humor
Humanizes your brand
Reveals your mistakes
Shows your affection and loyalty for your team

Planning Your Production
When you’re done brainstorming content ideas and choosing one to work with, you need to create a well-crafted script that’s heart throbbing and real. To do this, you need to carefully plan the opening, middle, and closing parts of your story, with either specific use cases or stating the challenges that need solving. The two most effective ways to plan are:

Write a script
Create a storyboard

Both methods encourage you to consider the most vital aspects and the entire flow of the video. However, creating a storyboard also enables you to visualize what a shot would look like in advance. Regardless of which technique you use, it’s essential to make an emotional, thoughtful, and heart-throbbing story that’ll engage and captivate your audience.

Such tales have the potential of generating oxytocin in your brain. This neurochemical typically results in people becoming more charitable, compassionate, and trustworthy. It’s the heart and soul of any video marketing strategy, and when used correctly, it’ll result in motivating and persuading your audience to support and buy from your venture.

The First Few Seconds Are Crucial

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

It’s said that the average human attention span is a mere eight seconds. For this reason, and because most social media platforms have visual content on auto-play, it’s crucial to use the video’s first few seconds to capture the audience’s attention. Start by revealing fascinating elements, using post copy, and displaying your brand identity and message early.

It’s essential, though, to keep this message as short as possible.

Also, consider that your video needs to be watchable without sound, as most social media users will typically view them while in transit to and from work. Thus, the use of informative and to the point subtitles and captions is crucial.

Additionally, it would help if you kept in mind that size matters. Square videos consume less screen space than landscape ones if the user’s smartphone is held vertically. It’s most likely for this reason that vertical ones are outperforming landscape productions in terms of views and engagement on social media platforms.

Record and Edit Your Production

Thanks to modern technology, recording and editing high-quality video content are possible with minimum expense and basic equipment. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

Record Using Your Smartphone’s Camera
There’s no need to lay down tons of money on costly equipment to get started. The latest smartphones come with high-quality built-in cameras, making it possible to record top-notch videos with these convenient devices.

Use a Tripod to Stabilize Your Phone
Unstable, shaky videos typically look unprofessional and sloppy. However, you can avoid this result by stabilizing your phone with a tripod. If you don’t have one, you can find these affordable tools online for less than $20.

Use a Microphone
The one downside of using a smartphone to record a video, especially if you’re not recording in a quiet location, is that your sound can easily be affected by the ambient noise. Yet, you can easily overcome this by using a $20 microphone that you can plug into your phone.

Shoot Your Video With Good Lighting
One of the best light sources anyone can use to shoot a video is natural light. If your schedule or other circumstances prevents you from using it, you can always fall back on artificial lamps.

Choose or Create a Background
Scout out your surroundings and choose a visually pleasing background for your video. Alternatively, you can create a simple, plain-colored set.

The latter is an excellent option as it allows you to control what happens and encourages the audience to focus on you and what you’re saying. It also prevents them from becoming distracted by something that may occur in an uncontrolled environment.

Edit the Recorded Material
When you’re done recording, you can edit the material using a video-editing app. These platforms enable you to clean up and alter various elements, including:

Position
Size
Unique motion and special effects
Filters

Streaming Live Events as an Alternative

A practical alternative to producing a video is to stream live events. This type of broadcasting not only works exceptionally well on social media platforms, but it’ll also help to differentiate and distinguish your brand from the rest.

These transmissions have shown remarkable success on Facebook, as approximately 20% of all video content is live-streamed. Furthermore, the amount of time users spend watching these broadcasts on this platform has increased four-fold. Yet, to gain the most from live-streaming events, it’s critical to optimize your marketing strategy in the following two areas:

Pre-Event Promotion

Promoting the event in advance is crucial. It’ll allow consumers to prepare for it and log in at the appropriate time. Additionally, the teasers are likely to build interest and eagerness with your followers.

You can also run a mock broadcast for your audience. It’ll give your supporters a general idea of what’s in store and enable you to smooth out all the glitches, guaranteeing that everything runs smoothly during the actual event.

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Real-Time Message
As the live-streaming event starts, it’s vital to inform your audience about your venture and the broadcast. It’s essential to provide the consumer with as much value as possible, letting them know who you are and what your brand can deliver.

It’s also vital to include a firm call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the broadcast to convert viewers into followers. The CTA should be straightforward and easy to understand, such as inviting them to follow your page. Just remember to keep it applicable to whatever you’re discussing during the live event.

Remember to Share the Production or Broadcast

After successfully producing your video or broadcasting the live-event, it’s crucial to share the content. The easiest way to post your visual content on social media is by using tools such as Hootsuite, MeetEdgar, or Buffer’s Tailored Posts. These platforms enable you to upload and post various videos to all your social media profiles from a single place.

To Wrap Up

Videos are currently the third most sought-after content on the internet. Even though producing one or broadcasting a live-stream event may be challenging, the rewards are well worth it. By brainstorming and thoroughly planning your production or transmission, you have the potential of creating content that’ll engage and captivate your audience.

Keep in mind, though, the first few seconds are the most crucial as it’s the one factor, when done correctly, that’ll ensure the audience watches till the end. Lastly, remember to share your production, or the whole process would be a complete waste of time.