Where should video sit within your social media strategy?

The rise of video as a social media content format is a topic on the mind of many a marketer.

With video-first platforms like TikTok seeing unparalleled growth in user acquisition, other social channels are also making bold moves into video in order to hang on to market share.

Why is video so important on social media?

At the end of the day, it comes down to engagement. Video is a super-engaging format, which makes it much easier to draw users in and keep them on the social platform for longer.

In Australia, Hootsuite’s Global State of Digital Report for 2022 shows that Instagram users averaged 8 hours a month on the platform, while TikTok users clocked up a whopping 23 hours on average.

Taking these stats into account it’s clear that, to have the best chance of competing for – and holding – the attention of your target audience on social, you need to have at least some video in your content mix.

And it’s not just video – it’s the kind of video

Traditionally, video has been by far the most expensive kind of content to produce which means many marketers are put off by the idea of a social media strategy that leans heavily on this format.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be that way.

That’s because the most engaging social videos AREN’T highly polished. In fact, to a point, the more authentic and organic your content feels, the more engaged your social media audiences will be… Which brings us to an important piece of advice: Please don’t repurpose your TVC for TikTok!

As a specialist social media agency, seeing brands base their social video strategy around TVC cutdowns is one of our biggest bugbears. That’s because this kind of content is far less effective in driving engagement and conversion from social, and it doesn’t take into account what your customers actually want from you on the platform.

Your audiences are looking for engaging content that gives a real-world insight into how your brand behaves, and what it stands for. They don’t want a glossy ad, and most will quickly skip past it when it pops up.

How to make sure your social video strategy works

Want to get the most out of your video assets? Our advice is to think carefully about their function within your social marketing funnel.

Here are a few tips from our team:

• Expecting your audience to engage with video content AND click a conversion button on a social media ad can be challenging. We find video often has the most impact as a ‘first touch’ activity in the top part of your social media marketing funnel – i.e. the phase where your primary objective is awareness.
• Retargeting video watches is an incredibly effective way to push your audiences further down your social marketing funnel – we’ve seen this work incredibly well for clients in a range of sectors, using a variety of social media platforms. (Side note – if you’re not retargeting via social media, put that at the top of your marketing to do list… we’re happy to help you put it in place).
• Think carefully about the type of video content you’re producing – and don’t be afraid to try new things! Instead of using TVC cutdowns, we recommend setting aside a small portion of the campaign budget for social video production. This will enable you to leverage your campaign much further – adding layers to it that give your customers multiple ways to engage, and opportunities to convert.  

Figuring out what kind of video content to create for your social media channels (not to mention finding the time to create it!) can be a huge challenge for marketers. 
If you’re in this boat, talk to us – our team creates social video on behalf of clients in a wide range of industries. We know how to make create video content that helps drive brand awareness and engagement across multiple social channels. Get in touch via hello@matteragency.co.nz