I like things that are indescribable like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia. – Barbara Streisand 🥑
Did you know that there are hundreds of different variations of avocados; there is the Hass avocado, the Maluma, the Hall, the Rin con, the Tonnage and the Choquette to name a few. They have slightly different properties, are ripe during different parts of the year, and interestingly enough, only a few are sold commercially. It’s not the number of variations that draw people in it’s the benefits to the human body, including the fact that they are easy to digest due to a wide range of nutrients and healthy fats! People love them because of the fact that the body retains the good stuff.
Now flip a switch and think about online video. I bet you are thinking how are they gonna stretch this one. It’s not even a stretch. There are hundreds of different variations in the kind of videos one can produce, yet only a few are used in commercials. Again, it’s not the types of video that draw people in, it’s what video does for the brain. Video is easy to digest! When it comes to video versus other forms of content, it is the easiest for a consumer to take in. They not only take it all in, they can retain your message longer and clearer. So, just like an avocado does good things for the body, online video does good things to your marketing strategy.
Learn a thing or two from an avocado and follow the timely tips below to get your video marketing out of the pits and ripe enough to eat.
Mobile-Friendly
We read this all over the place. What does it even mean? Don’t worry, it’s nothing like website optimization. No code involved! More than 75% of worldwide video viewing is done on our favorite little tiny screens. Your new standard of thinking should be mobile-friendly.
Thumbnails – An enticing thumbnail has the power to stop people mid-scroll! The thumbnail you choose is not to be taken lightly. Think clear HQ quality and up close frames. You may even have to create an image to upload as the thumbnail if you can’t capture a good enough frame.
“Having Shorter Titles is…” – Longer titles get cut off on mobile. If your title is really long the topic could be completely unclear to scrollers. Keep titles short.
Tighter Shots – Film tight and up close to the people and objects you are filming. In wider shots, detail gets lost. A helpful thing to think about is can people see the whites of the eyes on screen? This establishes trust and reminds you to get tighter shots.
Solid Audio – Most videos are viewed with the sound off. When filming keep background noises to a minimum, capture clear audio and increase the volume as much as you can when editing. Add captions manually or with software.
External Promotions – If your video is mobile friendly but you’re sending the audience to a landing page that is not then your video is unsuccessful. Optimize the video experience for external promos, if applicable. If you want someone to click on a link after viewing, make sure the landing page well suited for mobile.
One-Size Doesn’t Fit All
I mean you can try to use the same landscape video for every platform…and don’t get me wrong. You will get somewhere, but you could get farther by tailoring video format to each platform. The experience varies on each different social channel, so video viewing is a little different as well. We have identified which formats are better for which platform below, and why!
Square
Be there and be square! This is the motto of today. Square video is seeing dominance over widescreen and vertical on Facebook. It occupies roughly 78% more space in the Newsfeed than other formats. Users are taking a liking to getting the full video effect without having to rotate their screen. Square video also costs less to advertise with.
Not only does it take up more than three-quarters of the Facebook newsfeed, it outperforms other formats in views, engagement and completion rate on ALL social platforms. Square is in! You can tell because larger advertisers, like Vans and Disney, have already adopted square video for their social marketing efforts.
Use square video on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Widescreen
Widescreen is your standard landscape formate. Using this format on most social platforms forces a user to rotate their mobile device for optimal viewing. It most costly to advertise on mobile than square and vertical video; however, it is the cheapest option if you are targeting desktop users.
Use Widescreen video on YouTube and in ads targeting desktop devices.
Vertical
Vertical video, much like square, generates more than 9x the viewing-completion rate than horizontal on mobile.
Vertical video is an accepted and successful social media video format. However, by taking up the entire screen vertically, a user has trouble reading the post text while watching the video. It certainly demands a users full attention which is a plus.
Use vertical video on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook Live video.
Check out Ariana Grande’s new Vertical Music video. The first of its kind!
Timely Tactics
Sound off – Most online videos play the sound automatically. The catch is if the sound on a users device is not on, they won’t hear it. Unfortunately, most choose not to turn it on for one video. 85% of videos watched are done so without sound! This means a heavy focus should be on making a visual impact and to always always always add captions.
Live Video (Live streaming) – Live streaming does so well because consumers cannot get enough behind-the-scenes content. Many predictors state that live video, in particular, is becoming a marketing NECESSITY! The great news about that is it’s easier and cheaper to produce and promote. It’s authenticity that matters after all…not your video budget.
Bite-Sized Video Content – You go to great lengths and hours of work to create the best three-minute video ever to post to your business’s Facebook page. It’s a week later and you check the analytics only to find your average video watch time is just seconds…7 seconds…this is today’s reality! Bite-sized video content is in. Think 15 – 30-second videos.
Letterboxing – Letterboxing a video is basically a landscape video inside a square frame. Therefore, it is both square and widescreen. Square and letterbox videos outperformed landscape in every test run and they are very popular on Facebook. The example you see here from Prager U is a letterboxed video with text. Less frequently you will see letterboxed videos without text.
Current Examples
Le Tote | The Perfect Outfit Everyday – This is a perfect example of how to change the format for each social platform. This Le Tote commercial is landscape on YouTube. The same video is posted on their Facebook in square format with big bold captions.
Lucid Charts | What is a Pupper? What is a Doggo? – This is a perfect example of the kind of content to use in your marketing strategy. Puppers and Doggos have nothing to do with flowcharts and diagrams, but why not? By utilizing popular trends in media, this marketing video has over 1.5 million views on YouTube!
No matter what your video budget is, or how you eat your avocados, following the tips displayed here will keep your video marketing effective and up to date. Not sure how to discover the video strategy for your business? Schedule a free conversation with us today!
