How to engage your audiences on social media with video
By Matilda Ekström
Videos. I don’t think anyone needs an explanation of what a video is. Right? It’s something that’s been with us for decades. But somehow, this beautiful medium keeps evolving and reinventing itself right in front of us, no matter how long it’s been around. What does this have to do with digital corporate communication? Well, the answer can be said in three words: social media marketing.
Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past two years, you’ve probably heard of a short-form video platform called TikTok. When the covid-19 pandemic first hit in 2020 and lockdowns were enforced all over the world, the platform grew rapidly and as of October 2021, the app has one billion users worldwide. Of course, TikTok may not be the ideal platform for a company with a focus on corporate audiences—having the Board of Directors promoting a business with a viral TikTok dance may be, well, questionable. But the platform is an important indicator for how videos slowly but steadily are working their way into people’s social media consumption, changing the idea of what engaging content really is.
So, for businesses who want to jump on the trend but don’t want to engage in TikTok dances, what options are there? Let’s have a look at what opportunities other major platforms offer in terms of creating and sharing video content.
LinkedIn
There are mainly two (free) options for posting videos on LinkedIn. The first option is to post an embedded video by uploading your video to a video platform such as Vimeo, and then sharing the URL on LinkedIn. The second option is to create a video on the platform itself. The latter is the most advisable option for two reasons:
- It allows the video to play automatically in your feed when someone scrolls past, making it more likely to grab their attention.
- Videos that are created on the platform are likely to be favoured by LinkedIn's algorithm, meaning that they are more likely to reach a wider audience.
In 2021, LinkedIn announced a new feature, the LinkedIn Cover Story. This feature can be added as a complement to the profile picture on your company’s LinkedIn page, showing as a (mute) three-second clip with the option of clicking on the story to see the video in full. This can help you stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of someone who may otherwise just have scrolled past.
Instagram
Posting videos on Instagram via Instagram Stories and in your Instagram feed has been around for a long time. Instagram Reels is the newest addition to this. Reels allows you to create short videos (up to 60 seconds) with the help of several editing tools, including a Timer and Countdown tool that allows you to film yourself without holding the phone, and a handy Align tool that allows you to combine different clips into a single video with smooth transitions. In addition, unlike ‘regular’ videos (native or uploaded) that you post to your feed or stories, Reels can also be shared in Explore, helping you reach a wider audience. Pretty great, right?
Twitter
Similar to LinkedIn, Twitter offers the option of either creating a video organically on the platform or to upload/import a pre-recorded video. Native videos will autoplay in the feed, and any video that’s less than a minute will automatically loop.
Facebook
Unlike the other platforms, Facebook has narrowed down the options for video content. The platform used to offer the option of uploading a short Cover Video instead of a profile picture (similar to LinkedIn’s recent addition), but last year, the function was removed. However, Facebook still offers the ‘usual’ options of posting organic and embedded videos for your feed and stories.
While the public’s hunger for engaging content and the launch of new tools and features on social media platforms opens up great marketing opportunities, it also puts pressure on the type of content that businesses post. It’s not enough to just post a video— it must be relevant, support the brand and company narrative, and engage corporate audiences. What's the best way to do this? Get in touch, we’re more than happy to discuss it!
