Although producing video content might take longer than creating static images, the advantages for your social media advertising make it worthwhile. It’s only natural to want increased brand awareness, engagement, traffic, and conversions, right? Compared to static images, video content forges quicker and deeper connections between companies and their intended demographics because videos leave less to the imagination. They can more effectively convey your narrative, share your message, and engage viewers on different platforms—if done correctly.
This guide will explore our top social media video marketing strategies for seven popular platforms:
- Snapchat
- TikTok Let’s begin!
Effective social media video marketing strategies
We’ll delve into best practices and suggestions for enhancing your social media video marketing across seven major platforms. Additionally, we’ll examine how to ensure that each channel complements your overall marketing plan and yields a positive return on ad spend (ROAS)!
Facebook and Instagram video advertisements
While YouTube might hold the top spot for video content viewership among Americans, Facebook comes in second with 60% of people watching videos in the United States. As Magot stated, “Facebook video ads are the most effective way to guarantee that people remember your brand and return to your website.” Facebook remains a cost-effective platform for video advertising, effectively guiding users through your marketing funnel. It achieves this through prospecting campaigns and then re-engages them via remarketing efforts across its platform and others.
One successful tactic we’ve employed for clients is testing a video views campaign objective with potential audiences. These videos serve as a quick introduction to the brand for new users, telling a relatable story and enticing them to learn more about our products or services. In these campaigns, we also establish custom audiences based on the percentage of video watched by users.
For instance, we aim to retarget viewers who have watched 75% or 95% of a video. These viewers indicate interest, making them more likely to convert later if they haven’t already. If your video views campaign ads include a clickable link, incorporate those landing page visitors as a custom retargeting audience as well. If users showed significant engagement with your video ads, create another retargeting audience comprising users who interacted with a post or ad within a specific timeframe.
Image via Everlywell The critical aspect to remember about Instagram video ads is that the specifications differ from some Facebook ad placements. Instagram Stories have a maximum duration of 15 seconds, except for carousels, which allow up to 120 seconds of split video time. Meanwhile, the feed ad placement permits up to 60 seconds of video.
Image via Yumi Don’t fret if your video creative collection is limited—Facebook’s free built-in Video Creation Kit is at your disposal. At the ad level, this tool allows you to create simple yet effective videos using your existing static images and animating them with available features. The Video Creation Kit lets you add overlay text, special effects, and other edits that subtly capture users’ attention as they scroll through their feeds. If you’re short on static images, numerous royalty-free stock photo websites can serve as a temporary solution while you develop more on-brand and less generic visuals.
Pinterest video advertisements
While Facebook and Instagram typically receive most of our attention and budget, we often expand into Pinterest for many clients. Although we haven’t observed Pinterest independently generating direct conversions effectively, we find it highly beneficial for raising awareness and driving website traffic when using promoted videos, particularly for upper-funnel prospecting campaigns. Pinterest video ads are significantly more affordable than those on other social media platforms. This makes it worthwhile to attract relevant users to our funnel at a lower cost and then retarget them on platforms we’ve found more effective for conversions.
Pinterest enables you to incorporate videos into awareness, video views, traffic, and conversion campaigns focused on checkouts, signups, and lead generation. If you’re new to Pinterest ads, two video sizes are available: one that matches a standard pin and a “max-width” option that stretches to double the size. The max-width format occupies more screen space, potentially enhancing user focus and engagement with your ad, albeit at a slightly higher cost due to the increased ad real estate.
Unlike other platforms, Pinterest encourages using overlay text in video ads, so don’t hesitate to do so concisely. If your video includes spoken words, add captions. This caters to users who may be watching without sound and ensures inclusivity for the hearing impaired. Effective video content on Pinterest should be actionable and instructional. Demonstrating your product or service’s use increases the likelihood of prospective customers taking action and exploring your offerings further.
While certain Pinterest best practices are universal when using video, one specific to Pinterest is utilizing video content between 6-15 seconds in your ads. Make your videos concise, on-brand, direct, relevant, and actionable. If applicable, incorporate instructional steps and number them to highlight the ease of use. Finally, ensure viewers can quickly grasp how to use your product. Here’s an excellent example from Glad plastic wrap, showcasing their product’s strength and spill-proof nature:
Image via Pinterest
LinkedIn video advertisements
If your business targets professionals, explore leveraging LinkedIn Ads for your video content. Currently, video ads are supported in brand awareness, website traffic, and conversion campaigns aiming to generate leads and website actions.
LinkedIn recommends that your brand awareness and website traffic, or consideration video content, focuses on establishing your brand as an industry authority. Alternatively, share your mission, brand story, or customer success stories through short interviews or case studies. Utilize prospecting campaigns to pique interest and offer value to your audience. If you opt to test lower-funnel campaigns for driving conversions, these present a prime opportunity for brief product demonstrations, webinar teasers, or upcoming event promotions. For prospecting campaigns, experiment with shorter videos to capture attention effectively. As you move users down the funnel, consider testing longer, more comprehensive videos alongside stronger calls to action.
We’ve witnessed success with both prospecting and retargeting campaigns on LinkedIn and across platforms. We achieve this by capturing upper-funnel LinkedIn prospects through Facebook or Instagram retargeting campaigns. Finally, remember to include captions in your LinkedIn video ads, as they default to mute.
Image via Mercedes-Benz Vans USA
Twitter video advertisements
With a large 62% increase in year-over-year daily video views on its platform, Twitter actively encourages using video to amplify and enhance the memorability of your brand messaging. Similar to other social media channels, video ads on Twitter also benefit from brevity. Capture your audience’s attention by utilizing videos lasting between 6-15 seconds and featuring your product early on. Failure to showcase your product within the first 10 seconds may lead users, particularly those in the upper funnel, to misunderstand your offering and scroll past your ad. Incorporate captions if your videos contain spoken words, as many viewers watch without sound.
Image via Nat Geo Channel Regarding their campaign objective offerings, use your goals to storyboard and develop platform-appropriate video content that aligns with your objectives for video views, app installs, pre-roll views, website clicks, engagements, or followers. While you can certainly test warmer audiences for retargeting using the app re-engagement conversion campaign objective, we’ve found that Twitter serves our clients better for upper-funnel campaigns. We then leverage other channels to drive retargeting conversions.
Like Facebook and Instagram, Twitter offers horizontal and square video ads. However, the square format tends to occupy more ad real estate and generally performs better. Maintain concise, direct, and informative copy to encourage viewer action. Finally, prominently display your logo in your video ad’s top corner. According to Twitter, doing so results in a 30% increase in unaided brand recall!
SnapChat video advertisements
You might be missing out if you haven’t ventured into Snap Ads. Running 3-10 second full-screen vertical video ads is effortless on their platform. These ads appear between users’ friends’ stories and Snapchat’s curated content, guaranteeing increased exposure. Users can swipe up on your brief video ad to access a longer video, visit your website, read an article, or install your app.
We’ve observed that content performing well on Snap and Instagram Stories tends to yield similar results on both platforms. If you haven’t experimented with Snapchat ads, try what’s been successful for a specific audience on Instagram. Run it on Snap and observe how users engage with it there. The advantage of using Snap alongside Facebook and Instagram lies in its user base—over 60%—watching videos with sound compared to Facebook’s 85% who don’t.
Image via Postmates
TikTok video advertisements
Similar to Snap, TikTok skews towards a younger demographic, with 66% of their user base of its users under 30. Currently, advertisers can choose from three campaign objectives: website traffic, app installs, and conversions. This platform supports horizontal, vertical, and square video formats. Experiment with each to determine what best suits your content and goals.
One of TikTok’s standout features for advertisers is its Video Creation Kit, which provides access to a library of over 300 free background music options. No other platform currently offers this, so leverage these free sounds to complement your video content. This can help captivate users, draw them into your funnel, and enable retargeting within the app or across other platforms based on performance. With TikTok’s rapid growth, its current 800 million monthly active users surpasses LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest. If you haven’t already, explore what TikTok can do for your brand.
Image via TikTok
Elevate your ads with this social media video marketing cheat sheet!
You might not advertise on all these platforms due to budget constraints, target audiences, and specific goals. However, if you experiment with multiple platforms, save time by repurposing high-performing video content from successful channels on other platforms. Once you understand how each channel’s audience interacts with your video ads, use that data to guide budget allocation and efforts.
If a channel excels at attracting upper-funnel prospects, increase spending to fill your funnel and convert those leads through retargeting campaigns on other platforms. If a channel proves successful throughout the entire funnel, that’s fantastic—continue scaling it. Video is a potent creative medium. Use it to introduce your brand and guide your audience through the customer journey with engaging motion.