We know video is essential, but how do you shoot for success on different social platforms? Webflicks founder Lou Harness gives a quick rundown.
Video has a visceral, immersive quality that engages and connects far beyond the written word. As a medium it combines visuals and sound – tapping into our strongest senses. Moving images and sound grab attention, invite engagement and create an emotional response – empathy, trust and memorability. Video makes an impression that lasts.
In a video narrative we can read an expression and follow emotional cues and action even without understanding a word, making it a powerful tool for communicating across cultures and languages. We can observe real people and experiences – creating trust and relatability. Humans are hardwired for story and video can weave narratives that capture attention and create emotional impact.
Brands and video: a special relationship
Consumers increasingly use video as an integral part of their journey with brands – and businesses that want their messaging to resonate are creating more video than ever.
An area of speciality for many marketing leaders and teams, brand story has a special relationship with video. Across stratified audiences and platforms – through all the levels and types of video production – video storytelling has the power to delight, engage and connect.
But video production costs can be off-putting for small business owners and SMEs. With supple strategy, businesses can plan brand stories with high production values alongside lower cost video across channels. A suite of content can be created to appeal to different audiences – it can be targeted, affordable and incredibly successful. And did we say fun?
Platform chameleon tactics
The power and versatility of video make it perfect for crafting with specific social media platforms in mind. Each platform has different audiences, styles and particular format requirements, which can be easily accommodated by forward planning during production and edit. You can take one video story and re-edit for these different parameters or craft an entirely fresh story for specific platforms. Here’s a basic guide:
TikTok & Instagram Reels: Playful Casual
Keep it short, sweet and insanely creative. Hook viewers in the first few seconds with eye-catching visuals and sound or clever edits. Showcase your brand personality, share milestones, fun team moments or explore product features in a playful way – or jump on a viral trend with a unique twist.
LinkedIn: Professional Authentic
Focus on establishing thought leadership and industry expertise. Create videos that address industry challenges, offer insights, or showcase successful team or client profiles. High-quality production video with powerful and concise messaging works perfectly here but the community also values authentic selfie-style sharing moments.
Facebook: The Everyman
Strike a balance between informative and entertaining. Use shorter videos with eye-catching visuals or sound to grab attention in the feed.
Keep learning
As versatile as video can be, it’s also an ever-evolving medium that requires businesses to learn and ideate to stay ahead of the curve. Right now there are so many exciting approaches to creating, sharing and viewing video content – making it the best time to embrace change and stay relevant.
There are always shifts and trends: short form and vertical video, the lightning proliferation of AI video generation (Open AI Sora, Deepbrain AI, Runway, Flicki), the metaverse. Integrating this incredible array of generative AI creator tech to streamline and augment video development, creation and editing is on everyone’s agenda. But it’ll be tempting to move to a quantity not quality approach – watch the explosion of a tonne of AI gen social content that likely lacks nuance and value.
Even in its simplest forms, this will make well-crafted, considered and authentic video story an even more powerful tool for connection.
This was first published in our June/July 2024 issue
