7 Steps to Social Media Video Advertising and marketing Technique

With sound, photographs, music and different participating parts, video advertising has all of the bells and whistles to draw viewers. It’s projected that adults will spend three hours and half-hour per day watching digital video by 2028, about half an hour greater than the 2024 common. In 2024, digital video consumption surpassed TV viewing time within the U.S. for the third 12 months in a row.

That pattern is predicted to proceed within the years to return, making digital video a necessity for entrepreneurs growing their video advertising technique on social media.

Fortunately, there are various methods video can be utilized in social media advertising. We’re not restricted to TV-style advertisements or completely polished instructional movies. With a number of networks supporting short-form video content material, an curiosity in model authenticity and accessible modifying apps, it’s simpler than ever to dip your toes into the video advertising world.

Our seven-step information will stroll you thru every of the items it’s essential to create a profitable social media video advertising technique. You can even watch the under video for a crash course, together with ideas for scaling your video course of from pre-production to post-publishing:

1. Set targets for video advertising

Originally of any new advertising technique, you’ll begin by setting targets. What would you like your movies to realize?

In the event you’re simply beginning out, we suggest setting just a few targets so that you don’t turn out to be overwhelmed. An instance of a video advertising aim can be producing model consciousness.

However with the appropriate script and creativity, your video advertising technique can do greater than increase consciousness of your model. It may well additionally information potential clients by means of the choice stage of their purchaser’s journey, educate clients on their model new buy and gas a model’s advocacy plans.

There are 5 levels of a typical advertising funnel and movies can fall into every stage so long as you develop your social media advertising technique to align with every one.

As you replicate on what your targets are on your video advertising technique, take into account the place they’ll fall inside every stage of the client’s journey and use it to encourage your social media video concepts. Figuring out the funnel stage will make it easier to create extremely efficient calls to motion in your video content material as effectively.

Listed here are 5 instance targets you may obtain inside every funnel stage:

Consciousness: Attain new clients

In keeping with The 2024 Sprout Social Media Content material Technique Report, social media customers are utilizing video-centric channels like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for product discovery. These are greater than “social networks” for audiences, particularly Millennial and Gen Z customers. Digital video content material is a method to discover and vet manufacturers, services.

Within the first stage of the client’s journey, manufacturers are attempting to seize customers’ consideration and introduce themselves. Social media video advertising is a superb medium to succeed in new clients and present them who you might be and what you worth, what your model affords and what differentiates it out of your opponents.

With video chances are you’ll solely have seconds or minutes to seize your viewers’s consideration–get proper to the purpose whenever you’re creating awareness-stage video content material. For instance, eye-catching instructional movies or opinionated thought management can set up credibility and your model identification, so when customers intend to purchase, your model is prime of thoughts.

Some manufacturers use movies closely for promoting. These movies can seem on product pages on a model’s web site or in social advertisements throughout networks. That is particularly helpful for direct-to-consumer manufacturers like Patagonia, the place product movies are crucial to assist the buyer image themselves with the product.

Within the under product video, the outside gear model showcases a few of their youngsters’s winter gear, together with coats and hats. It options children carrying the gear whereas exploring the surprise of the outside and taking part in sports activities like snowboarding. The video is relatable and quick, and can be utilized as each a Fb submit and promoted as a social advert.

Consideration: Generate demand

As soon as customers have reached the consideration stage, they could learn about your model and what you supply, but it surely’s nonetheless your job to generate demand on your services.

There are a number of methods you may obtain this aim with social media video advertising. For instance, how-tos and tutorials present your product in motion and make it simple for the buyer to check how they’d use the product themselves. Manufacturers within the skincare, make-up and wellness areas, like HUM Vitamin, are masters of consideration-stage movies.

HUM Vitamin incessantly shares short-form movies of influencers, creators, clients and workers members utilizing the model’s dietary supplements of their day by day lives. The movies characteristic a brilliant, clear aesthetic that assist the complement bottles’ colourful labels stand out. Within the under instance, the model’s Hair Sturdy nutritional vitamins are featured as a part of a routine to revive hair well being.

It’s a relatable video that gives ideas past the model’s merchandise to present followers a simple, relevant routine. When individuals can see how your product works or how different individuals use your companies to resolve an issue, they’ll visualize themselves doing the identical factor.

Animated explainer movies are another choice to live-action demonstrations. Although extra summary, they’re nonetheless a chance to place the shopper’s drawback into perspective and introduce your companies as the answer.

Consideration-stage movies don’t must focus solely in your services or products, both. Customers additionally take into account an organization’s tradition and core values earlier than committing to being their buyer.

Information from a Q2 2024 Sprout Social Pulse Survey reveals 87% of all customers strongly or considerably agree they anticipate influencers to talk out about causes that align with their values and take a stand on social media. It is a huge distinction from our 2023 information, the place solely 25% of customers mentioned essentially the most memorable manufacturers converse out about causes/information that align with their values.

Lean into this shopper curiosity through the use of video to spotlight your model story and core values. You’ll set up an emotional connection together with your viewers, making it extra seemingly they’ll select your organization over a competitor.

Choice: Drive conversion

The choice stage is when prospects can turn out to be clients. Right here, buyer testimonial movies can go an extended method to present the true potential and payoff of your services.

Codecademy, a web based coding college that gives free programs and a thriving group, shares quick movies about particular person college students’ tales. On this video, Codecademy alum Noah shares his journey, from self-taught programmer seeking to create a reserving resolution for his yoga enterprise to full-stack engineer.

Noah tells a robust story and the video options enjoyable, participating modifying. What makes this video a robust decision-stage piece, is the aspirational, but genuine, “this could possibly be you” feeling. Codecademy isn’t only for people with a background in coding desirous to uplevel their profession. Noah’s story showcases that anybody with any background can soar proper into the courses. Codecademy isn’t simply making a promise and hoping you are taking their phrase for it: they’re exhibiting they’ve already earned their college students’ belief and made a distinction of their lives.

Use this sort of video content material to indicate potential clients the outcomes and the true advantages that others have reaped and what they stand to achieve from selecting your online business.

Adoption: Educate clients

It’s not simply entrepreneurs who wish to make certain they’re seeing a return on their investments. As soon as a prospect turns into a buyer and enters the adoption stage, educate them about how they’ll get essentially the most out of your services.

An brisk how-to video is good for platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram Reels, the place individuals are prepared to spend a bit extra time watching and studying.

You’ve got a couple of choices:

Academic video: In case your services or products have a whole lot of options based mostly on particular wants or there’s a studying curve that comes with them, lean into educating your viewers. Content material that’s targeted on hacks, ideas, optimization or particular options can put complexities into perspective and make clients extra assured.
Webinars: These might be extremely efficient mediums as a result of they offer clients an opportunity to interact together with your model in real-time and ask questions.
Reside stream: Going stay can assist you seize a broader viewers, particularly on a platform like TikTok the place stay streams are advised as customers scroll their feed. Nonetheless, it’s your largest followers and current followers who’re most definitely to tune in. Instagram Reside streams seem on the prime of the interface in the beginning of Tales. Followers who’ve their app open whenever you go stay will even obtain a notification that you simply’re broadcasting, to allow them to simply tune in to get the most recent out of your model.

Advocacy: Encourage evangelism

By the advocacy stage, you will have happy clients that’ll sing your praises and champion your model.

The attractive factor about advocacy movies is that clients don’t really feel like they’re being offered something. Capitalize on natural, real love on your model and product utilizing social listening instruments like Sprout Social’s. With Sprout Social Listening, you may seize model mentions from engaged profiles and floor user-generated content material.

Not each advocacy video can be viral or come straight out of your followers. Model methods might be bolstered by worker advocacy content material. Think about showcasing your colleagues to indicate the ins and outs of your organization and why they love working there.

2. Determine in your social media platforms for video advertising

Each main social media platform has its personal type of video, so there’s loads of actual property to include it into your technique.

In the event you’ve by no means used video on any platform, start with those the place you have already got audiences established. The 2024 Sprout Social Media Content material Technique Report discovered that Gen Z and Millennial audiences gravitate towards Instagram with at the very least three quarters of customers in these age teams utilizing the platform. Gen X and Child Boomer audiences lean towards Fb and Instagram. YouTube has a spot within the prime 5 platforms of all age teams as effectively.

Selecting any of those networks to start your video advertising technique is an efficient first step. Let’s dive into TikTok and YouTube in additional depth.

When to make use of TikTok for video advertising

Indisputably, TikTok helped popularize the short-form video and has turn out to be one of many web’s favourite apps due to it.

Within the Content material Technique Report, our information confirmed that 68% of all social media customers use TikTok, however Gen Z and Millennials prepared the ground with 86% and 73% respectively. Gen Z particularly makes use of the channel for each on-line purchasing and as a information supply.

The app’s collaborative options like Duets paired with a nuanced tradition fueled by TikTok developments and TikTok sounds give manufacturers new methods to get inventive with their video advertising.

The app is a robust consciousness driver, however developments like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt present that short-form video may convert customers into clients.

When to make use of YouTube for video advertising

With over 2.5 billion month-to-month energetic customers, YouTube nonetheless reigns as probably the most in style video platforms amongst customers and entrepreneurs. An enormous person base is nice, however that isn’t the one purpose manufacturers ought to take into account YouTube advertising. YouTube is likely one of the hottest serps on this planet, and movies from the platform present up in Google’s search engine outcomes pages (SERPs). Entrepreneurs can use YouTube to extend their model’s visibility by producing content material that targets generally searched subjects.

YouTube Shorts supply a short-form video possibility. Brief-form video delivers the very best ROI in comparison with different present advertising developments, so it’s price contemplating in your technique. Use these to showcase clips from longer movies, share user-generated content material or supply bite-sized insights alongside your in-depth movies. You can even snag our free social media video workbook for maximizing the worth of the short-form movies you create.

You should use YouTube video advertising to handle all of the levels of the advertising funnel, so you may attain the targets of your technique it doesn’t matter what you select.

Social media video codecs and options

To decide on the appropriate platform on your model’s video advertising, it’s essential to perceive what every one affords and what video dimensions might be displayed. In the event you’d prefer to repurpose your movies, it’s finest to decide on platforms that complement one another. Many platforms (together with Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts) use a 9×16 vertical video side ratio, making it simple to cross submit your video on all of them.

As totally different social platforms add extra options, it may be onerous to maintain observe of what sort of video content material might be uploaded the place or whenever you may have to do some extra modifying.

See under for a fast reference, however go to our full social media video specs information for all the small print it’s essential to add on every community.

Fb

Panorama and portrait feed video
Reels posted or crossposted by way of Fb and Instagram
Fb Reside (stay streaming)
Fb Tales (disappearing content material)

Instagram

Threads

Panorama and portrait feed video

YouTube

Panorama video
Portrait video (might use pillarboxing on some uploads)
Reside streaming
YouTube Shorts (portrait, short-form video)

TikTok

Portrait feed video
Reside streaming
TikTok Tales (disappearing content material)

X (previously often known as Twitter)

Panorama and portrait feed video
Livestream

LinkedIn

Panorama feed video
Livestream

Pinterest

Portrait feed video
Concept Pins (set of photographs, movies or textual content much like Tales)

Tasty’s social media content material affords nice examples of the way to tailor your movies for various platforms. The model incessantly makes use of video advertising, custom-made for platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Not solely are the orientations totally different, the subjects and sequence additionally range between platforms. This range of content material ensures that the viewers will discover unique content material regardless of which Tasty social media web page they’re on. For instance, on this video Tasty shares a compilation of vertical short-form movies in an extended panorama video for mac and cheese recipes:

Repurpose content material throughout platforms that assist comparable video codecs

If you put a lot effort into creating high quality video content material, you wish to make certain as many pairs of eyes as doable see it. Why not reap the benefits of repurposing your video content material throughout channels?

Your viewers and thus, your model, might have a most well-liked social channel. It is smart to strategy your video content material with that community prime of thoughts. But, your viewers in your different accounts will seemingly take pleasure in a well-made video, too.

Video lengths and kinds can range by community, however the excellent news is, characteristic and size parity are getting nearer. YouTube just lately elevated the utmost size for YouTube Shorts to three minutes, making it simpler than ever to repurpose your movies from different platforms.

Reels, TikTok‌ and YouTube Shorts all use a vertical 9×16 video fashion, that means you received’t have to crop or extensively edit a video to repurpose it. So long as you retain the utmost size in thoughts, there’s no draw back to reposting your rigorously made Instagram Reel onto YouTube and TikTok. You could even attain some members of your viewers who didn’t catch it in its unique kind, or discover new clients alongside the way in which.

3. Choose your video sorts

Figuring out the kind of video that works finest on your model is a crucial step in your advertising technique. Not all movies are made the identical and that’s okay–what’s most essential is that they assist your key targets.

Our analysis within the Content material Technique Report discovered that customers are extra prepared than ever to work together with manufacturers on social media. Some 48% of customers mentioned they’ve interacted with manufacturers on social media extra incessantly within the final six months. They’re utilizing these interactions for each connection and consumption, and so they worth a model that feels human and actual.

The takeaway right here? Customers are searching for all-around authenticity inside your content material.

Listed here are a couple of several types of social media video concepts and their advantages to get you began with undertaking the real content material customers are searching for:

Academic: These are informative and may create model consciousness for brand spanking new clients. They usually take a extra polished tone to determine the model as an skilled. If created for present clients, then the movies could possibly be targeted on guides and ideas for getting essentially the most out of a product.
Explainer: Just like instructional movies, explainer content material focuses on educating the viewers extra about your model and the services or products you supply. Use these movies to rapidly clarify what your organization does and the way the model can assist clear up a specific drawback. Finish with a robust name to motion to immediate viewers additional alongside the advertising funnel.
Behind-the-scenes: These give a glance into firm operations and workers. They serve to entertain the viewers or give a digital peek behind the scenes.
Interviews: With visitor audio system, interviews are an effective way of introducing your viewers to a brand new influencer and vice versa. Handing the digital mic over to a visitor might be enjoyable and supply a bit extra authenticity to your model.
Entertaining: These embrace jokes, cute puppies and even pranks. They serve to entertain the viewers however are an effective way of emphasizing your model voice and constructing a way of group amongst your viewers. Clients additionally take pleasure in “edutainment” content material: 66% of respondents in our Content material Technique Report mentioned it’s essentially the most participating sort of name content material.
Testimonials: These movies appear like buyer highlights and assist to create social proof on your model. Movies that showcase how a buyer makes use of your services or products and their satisfaction with it function on a connection degree: ideally, a possible buyer will see themselves in that video and be persuaded to buy.
Product: Spotlight the highest options of your model’s hottest services or products by exhibiting it in motion. Exhibiting off what makes your services or products distinctive can assist clients envision themselves utilizing your model.
Narrative: Put your creator’s hat on and inform a fascinating story to depart a long-lasting impression on viewers. Use animation or go documentary-style to clarify how your model was based or a buyer drawback you resolved—something that showcases a memorable story.

When you’ve decided which forms of movies to sort out, it’s time to maneuver on to planning the precise video.

4. Plan the content material manufacturing

An excellent content material manufacturing plan will prevent money and time in the long term. Whether or not you propose with a spreadsheet or old style pen and paper, it’s essential to set up the way you’ll create and movie movies.

Consider your choices for content material manufacturing and post-production. Hiring an company or manufacturing firm will alleviate a whole lot of the stress. They’ll deal with all of the planning and approvals, you simply want to present the steering.

However if you happen to’re planning on doing this all in-house, you’ll want to consider all of the steps wanted to provide a profitable video. This contains however isn’t restricted to:

Figuring out wanted gear and props
Writing a script
Enhancing the script
Storyboarding the video
Planning the shoot for optimum filming. Filming received’t be linear for essentially the most half.
Gathering and nurturing expertise (the people who find themselves featured within the video)
Figuring out the place(s) you’ll movie and taking pure daylight into consideration for timing
Realizing the place to ship the footage to be edited
Figuring out who will do the approval sign-offs for every step. For instance, you wish to guarantee that the script sounds good and is in step with your voice. This may require two individuals to assessment it.
Checking that the music you’re utilizing is licensed for you

As you run by means of the content material plan, you’ll discover some methods it’s essential to tweak it or belongings you missed earlier, particularly if that is one among your first efforts placing collectively a complete video content material plan. Be prepared to regulate the place wanted. After a stable plan is executed, it’s time to maneuver on to post-production.

5. Know what post-production entails

Allot loads of time for post-production, particularly in case your movies can be used for advertisements or have heavier modifying wants. Put up-production doesn’t imply simply reducing scenes and placing them again collectively to music. It additionally contains additions like closed captions, textual content overlays, call-to-action screens and extra. The extra you movie and the extra polished you need your video to be, the extra time you’ll want.

Some movies will solely want gentle edits submit manufacturing. For instance, if you happen to host a Fb Reside, the video is revealed instantly after it ends. You’ll be capable to edit the caption and title however not a lot else.

Uploaded movies will undergo the post-production course of. On YouTube, for instance, you’ll be capable to add tags, a number of language closed captions, detailed captions and extra.

Know what you’re getting your self into earlier than you begin: formal, polished movies on YouTube require much more work than a primary livestream.

6. Schedule and promote the movies

Now that you’ve the finished video, it’s time to schedule and advertise. Some administration platforms like Sprout Social supply publishing choices for movies.

For example, Sprout’s YouTube publishing choices embrace particulars like tags, class, playlist and privateness settings. We’re the one social media administration software program that allows you to handle your TikTok content material by permitting you to schedule your movies in the identical calendar as your different social posts, all on one platform.

Don’t consider movies on social media as one-and-done. One absolutely produced video could possibly be uploaded to a number of networks over a month-long time interval, relying in your social schedule and plan for repurposing video content material. On X (previously often known as Twitter), you might advertise many occasions. For livestreams, you’ll want to advertise usually to make sure a lot of individuals will take part on the proper time.

One movie recording session may produce a number of movies. Totally different clips could possibly be used for promotion or spliced collectively to create new movies. Suppose large whenever you’re selling movies.

7. Perceive and analyze metrics

The final step in any technique is crucial of all of them: analyzing and reflecting. You received’t understand how a video performs except you check out the statistics related to it. What are the view counts? The watch occasions? The shares and likes and feedback? How is your YouTube engagement or TikTok engagement?

Every community offers totally different units of video metrics, so it’s essential so that you can know what they’re earlier than you begin on manufacturing. Each platform additionally has native analytics that can inform you how your video content material carried out. The metrics you employ to research success ought to match the targets you set at first. In the event you wished model consciousness for a video, the matching metric is likely to be impressions or video views.

Together with scheduling, Sprout affords a collection of analytics instruments. For instance, you may analyze your efficiency by reviewing TikTok analytics to establish which video posts have been essentially the most profitable. TikTok’s native analytics solely saves your information for restricted time intervals, however Sprout’s Reporting and Analytics instruments don’t put an expiration date in your submit efficiency information. You may view how your TikTok movies carry out over time, and examine it to the content material in your different platforms.

Remember that audiences will watch your older movies. With the appropriate mixture of key phrases and an evergreen matter, a three-year-old video may nonetheless be related to your customers immediately.

Begin your video advertising technique immediately

Social media video advertising is one (albeit giant and thrilling) piece of your total content material technique. Setting targets that align together with your broader social media advertising plan earlier than you begin creating content material will make it easier to select the appropriate platforms and kind of video on your model. With a thought out manufacturing, promotion and analytics plan, you’ll be able to craft participating movies that attraction to your audiences.

Simply as your video content material must be tailor-made to particular person audiences and networks, you’ll want to make sure your whole social media content material will get a custom-made strategy. To construct a data-informed social media advertising technique, obtain our 2024 Social Media Content material Technique Report for particular insights by platform.