If you were to look up the definition of engaging, you’d find synonyms such as attractive, gripping, engrossing, and captivating. Strong words, wouldn’t you agree? They don’t refer to something mildly interesting but rather something irresistibly fascinating.
That raises a question. How can make your social media videos more engaging, captivating or attention-grabbing? There are at least six things you can do to hook viewers at the start of your videos and keep their eyes glued to the screen until the very last second.
Related eBook: Social Media Pocket Guide
6 Tips for Creating Engaging Social Media Videos
1. Make Your Impact Quickly
Start your videos with a bang. Showcase your product, show an emotionally-charged image or clip, portray a desirable lifestyle, share an intriguing stat. The best approach will depend on your followers (for more video marketing ideas, check out this post). Yet, whatever you choose, the key is to introduce it quickly. Why?
Attention spans are shorter than ever these days, especially when it comes to social media. As people scroll through their feeds at lightning speed, they’re constantly anticipating the next heartwarming photo, the next shocking news story, the next funny video, the next, the next, the next.
It’s your job, then, to stop them in their tracks, to pause that anticipation and get them so invested in your video that they aren’t thinking about what’s further down their timeline.
2. Spotlight Your Brand
One thing that could contribute to grabbing the attention of your followers quickly is clear and recognizable branding. Displaying your logo early on in the video, as well as matching the aesthetic to the rest of your account could stop fans from unintentionally scrolling past.
Carrying that consistent branding throughout your video will no doubt make your brand more memorable, opening up countless future marketing opportunities for those who only casually follow your business.
3. Give New Life to Your Best Content
Think about your best-performing content recently—blog posts, case studies, white papers, checklists, guides, and so on. Turning that content into (short) social media videos can achieve much. It can drive website traffic, encourage content downloads, reach those who didn’t see the original content, and help you position your business as an industry authority.
Plus, with videos becoming increasingly more popular, you can be sure that a quality video will be just as well-received as your top content, if not better. This will greatly increase your reach on social media and create increased awareness of your business.
4. Leverage the Power of People
What’s perhaps the most powerful visual element you could use in your videos? Humans. People gravitate to people. They relate to people. They aspire to the portrayal of people. You can use all of this to your advantage. How?
Include in your videos relatable individuals that represent and resemble your target audience. Those that have the same likes, dislikes, challenges, backgrounds, and goals. This creates a powerful emotional response because your viewers can see themselves portrayed in your video.
This kind of mirror effect can be even more persuasive when your video clearly shows the benefits that result from what you offer. When they see the positive impact on their relatable on-screen counterparts, they develop confidence in your business’ ability to provide value to them.
5. Consider Convenience and Clarity
More than three quarters of all social media videos are watched without sound. This leaves you with a minor dilemma. How can you make sure that users who watch without sound understand your video, while also keeping sound lovers happy?
To ensure the clarity of your messages for those who prefer silent viewing, make use of subtitles and on-screen text. Then, closely link the images to the wording so that the progression of your video is easy to follow.
As for those who prefer to watch with volume, who said you have to have narration? Instead, you can choose some background music that, while not distracting from your video content, fits the mood or theme it carries.
This way, more viewers will gladly watch your video in its entirety, which may even result in them taking action based on what they saw. But don’t leave that last bit—-action—to chance.
6. Promote Action
If you want your viewers to do something after watching your video, you can’t just sit back and expect them to take the initiative. If you do, you’ll find that most people will just keep scrolling down their feeds. That action doesn’t drive you any closer to your social media marketing objectives.
What should you do instead? In addition to direct calls to action (CTA’s), promote action through your language. Take, for example, a video focused on a serious but little-known problem. After presenting that problem and sharing emotional stories or facts, how could you indirectly promote action?
One way would be by “giving” your audience the power of choice. In other words, making them aware that they have a measure of power to rectify the issue that you just introduced. You motivate them to want to do something.
You can’t stop there, though. Sometimes, although the motivation is there, people don’t quite know what action to take. If they’re left scratching their heads, they’ll settle for no action at all. That’s where your direct CTA’s come in and give viewers the last bit of info they need to act.
More Engaging Videos Means More Effective Marketing
What will you get in return for incorporating the best practices above into your videos? With time and consistency, you’ll see an increase in views, comments, likes, shares, audience size, website traffic, and more. It’s well worth the effort, then, isn’t it? Get started on your next video with these tips in mind and see the results for yourself!
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