Making Video Work for Your Different Social Media Channels

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again and again: video is the future of marketing. Plain and simple. Because of this, we believe that everybody should be doing video, and if you aren’t already on board, you better hop on fast.

If video is the future of marketing, then social media is the means of taking us there. Social media has become the vehicle for sharing and distributing content across all channels, from Facebook to Twitter and so on. This doesn’t mean, however, that every social media site should be treated the same. If you want to make video work for all of your social media channels, you’ll need to approach each with a different strategy. Let’s have a look at the big two: Facebook and Twitter.

By getting more and more into video, Facebook and Twitter are shaping the ways we create and think about content. Over the past few years, they’ve not only acquired other photo-sharing/video-sharing services (Instagram for FB and Vine for Twitter) but have also developed native video players. By doing so, this stops them from being “middlemen” and allows them to host video content natively on their own platforms. This means that people will no longer have to leave their sites to get the video content that they want to see. While this will allow for greater user attention and visibility, it also allows the two sites a greater control over the how/what/when/why of posting video content.

Facebook is making it clear that they are the new video empire, and it’s true that they’ve grown very powerful over a short period of time.

• YouTube videos are now being shared less on FB
• FB makes their own video platform stand out above the rest
• Easy-to-use video creator
• The all-powerful auto-play feature
• Increased video user engagement
• A brilliant functionality

FB doesn’t want you to create content for YouTube or Vimeo to then be shared on their site. They want you to create content specifically designed for their platform. Otherwise, they may just leave you in the dark.

Twitter has developed its own native video player, but they’re being less “controlling” about it. The option of a native video player is brilliant and strategic, but they aren’t burning any bridges while launching it and developing it further. In fact, they’ve created partnerships with other streaming services. It seems that while FB wants to build its own video empire, Twitter just wants to make video, in general, more friendly, accessible, and easier to watch.

While you should begin thinking about creating content specifically for FB’s native video player somewhere down the line, it’s important to keep in mind what kinds of content you should be creating for these sites. FB places a certain importance on short, visually appealing content. Video content on Twitter should be even shorter. Twitter is the greatest social media source for news and information offered up in small bites, so make your video content work for that easily digestible format.

At the end of the day, while the world of online video grows more competitive and complex and changes the ways we think about content marketing, it’s important to maintain a focus on what matters most: story.

Skillman Video Group LLC is a Boston video production company. Call us anytime at 1-800-784-0140.