In my last article, I wrote about the best way to amplify a video reach on social media. In this article, I’ll highlight 4 types of videos that can get you more engagement on social media.

Social media users favor video content more than anything they can find on each platform. That’s why social media videos earn ridiculously more engagement than other types of content. On Facebook, video content receives 400% more engagements than text only.

Being on social media has become increasingly important because 80% of consumers expect their favorite brands to be on social media and actively interact there.

Now that you know this, your next reasonable move should be planning to expand your reach to social media (if you haven’t already).

In their 2016 Q3 earnings report, Facebook revealed that 3 million businesses upload videos to Facebook monthly, but this is only a tiny portion of the 60 million businesses on the social network.

I bet that if you haven’t signed up for an account for your business, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

Facebook isn’t the only place where videos can help you attract a bigger audience. You have plenty of other options: Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, Vine, Vimeo, Pandora, and Meerkat… to name just a few.

Before I continue, keep in mind that each social media platform has its own favorite video type. But in general, these are the most popular video types on social media right now.

Facebook Live video

Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to invest in the Facebook Live feature is paying off. Between June and November of 2016, viewership on Facebook grew from 14% to 17%.

To promote Facebook Live, the company has paid top social media influencers over $2M to produce live videos. This money is part of a total $50M paid to large publishers and celebrities to do the same.

This investment definitely pays off for Facebook. According to SocialBaker, media, celebrities, and companies are rapidly adapting the usage of Facebook Live for their pages with media leading the way.

Vibhi Kant, Product Manager at Facebook, said in a Newsroom article:

“People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live. This is because Facebook Live videos are more interesting in the moment than after the fact.”

In the meantime, according to Emarketer, millennials are currently the biggest consumers and creators of Live videos: 64% have watched and 42% have created at least one live video.

One of the main reasons that sponsored videos made it to this list is people’s tendency to check their social media’s news feed.

According to IDC’s “Always Connected” report, people return to Facebook’s News Feed at least 14 times a day.

Business Insider’s data also shows that Americans spend an average of 37 minutes daily on social media, which is a significantly higher amount than other activities online.

Facebook is among the favorite social media platforms for publishing sponsored videos.

Facebook offers flexibility for your brand to be discovered across devices because sponsored videos on Facebook work on both desktop and mobile.

Facebook’s adopted sister, Instagram, does not support advertising on its desktop version. But Instagram makes up for its lack of ad impressions with engagement.

In fact, Instagram users are 250% more likely to click on an ad compared to users of any other social media platform. That makes Instagram the social media with highest engagement-per-follower rate at 2.3 percent.

Engagement has a higher value than impression. A Selfstartr study says that an active Instagram follower is worth $65, while an active Facebook follower is worth $55.

Engagement Bait Videos

Out of 600 million posts from 2016, questions, images and videos are the most engaged-with content on social media. The same BuzzSumo study also shows that videos are the most shared content on Facebook.

Facebook’s engagement rate reaches its peak on Sundays during leisure time. The engagement rate and the number of public posts on Facebook are inversely related.

That means the more public posts there are, the less engagement there is, and vice versa.

Now, to the “engagement” part of this subtitle.

Engagement bait with videos is simple, and there are a few different ways to get it.

First, you can ask questions or opinions of viewers using your video. It will motivate them to leave a comment that actually relates to the posts instead of a random comment.

Second, if you’re optimizing your video for Facebook, you can use 2 to 4 options as your call to action. For example: leave a like if you prefer A, heart if you prefer B, etc.

Third, you can always use the old “tag your friend who does this” engagement bait. Most of the time, this method is used by companies that rely heavily on their traffic and engagement.

Video Blogs

Video blogs (or vlogs) are great when you’re too short on money to have professionals make your videos. This format is especially great for small business that can’t afford to run paid campaigns on a large scale.

As the name says, video blog is basically blogging with the help of videos. All you need is a camera/smartphone, a good command of your preferred language, an Internet connection, and, most importantly, expertise of your niche.

Nowadays all major social media platforms support their users with video hosting and playback features. That means you can shoot your video almost anywhere with your smartphone. You can shape the content of your video blogs to match what your audience seeks from your expertise.

Marketers are gradually learning to use this trend, along with the surge of technological advances, to their benefit. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk is active in engaging with his audience through vlogs on Snapchat and YouTube.

Takeaway

Social media videos indeed present a golden opportunity for small business to rise, but some tactics can ease your way to greater engagement and building your audience through social media videos.

  • Go live on your social media as often as possible.
  • Create sponsored videos on integrated platforms (e.g Facebook and Instagram).
  • Make sure your content asks your audience to participate.
  • If you lack financial resources, routinely make video blogs.

So, what’s your take on social media videos?

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