Have you ever noticed how regularly a video pops on your social media feed? It seems like there is a lot of video pushed through your notifications. Do you pause to view it? How often does that happen?

If you feel that there are a lot more social media channels pushing video content notifications, you are correct. More and more, algorithms are pushing relevant video content onto social media feeds.

Perhaps your club members have already started including videos in your club’s social media strategy. Maybe you are considering video creation for greater engagement.

But how do you make a video that attracts attention and keeps the viewer from scrolling past?

Your first step is creating a social media video content strategy.

Tip #1. Create a Social Media Video Content Strategy

Whether it’s a fancy computer app or simple pen and paper, you need to plan your content based on the social media platform or platforms your club is using.

For example, if you club has both Instagram account and a LinkedIn account, your content creation strategy will be slightly different for each, because one platform is highly visual with a dominant age group of 18–24-year-olds, while the other platform has a much lower adoption rate for that same age group (Source: Ryerson University Social Media Lab, “The State of Social Media in Canada 2020”).

Decide in advance 3 things:

1) the type of message you wish to convey (will it be educational, entertaining, inspiring, etc.),
2) the content your target audience will be interested in viewing (are you solving any of their pain points?),
3) and your platform’s video limitations.

Once you have your social media video content strategy planned out,

Tip #2. Know Your Optimized Platform Length

Every platform has a different algorithm and different functionalities. This means that your video for one platform may not work well for another. To achieve greater success, optimize your video length for your platforms’ specification.

According to SproutSocial (https://sproutsocial.com), here are the video length best practices based on the network:

• Facebook– for higher engagement, aim for 2 to 5 minutes.
• Instagram – Stories and Reels max out at 15 seconds, feed videos at 60 seconds and IGTV videos at 60 minutes. Instagram feed videos are recommended at 26 seconds.
• Twitter – length max is 140 seconds, but Twitter recommends videos at 15 seconds or less.
• LinkedIn – the maximum length is 10 minutes, but LinkedIn suggests video under 30 seconds have higher engagement.
• Pinterest – Pins max out at 15 minutes. Stories max out at 60 seconds Pinterest recommends to keep videos at 4 seconds to 15 minutes for Pins.
• Snapchat – the platform recommends that you keep video within 3 to 5 seconds with the call to action in the first 3 seconds.
• YouTube – the length will vary depending on what the viewer wants. Longer videos at a minimum of 10 minutes have been more popular lately.

However, even with the right times, you video might still be passed over. What to do?

Tip #3. The First Few Seconds Count

Consider your own social media behaviour. When you see a video come across your feed, what compels you to stop and look?

When creating a video, you only have a few seconds to make an impression on your viewer. If you only have a few seconds to attract someone’s attention to keep watching your video, what can you do? Just like a 5-minute World Champion speech, there is room for preamble. You have to get right into the action of the story. Have a great attention-grabbing opening such as a leading idea, a question, or call-to-action at the very start of your video.

With these three tips:

1) Have a social media video content strategy
2) Know your optimized platform length
3) The first few seconds’ count

You are well on your way to adding video to your club’s social media repertoire.

And don’t be afraid to experiment and be creative with your videos. The more you create and upload onto your chosen platforms, the more you will understand what types of content resonates most with your target audience.

You’ll never know what works best until you try!

Created by Nancy Movrin DTM Public Relations Manager 2021 – 2022