Tag: #AutomatingVideoContent
Video Tips and Tricks for All Social Media Platforms
HOW TO OPTIMIZE VIDEO ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Whether you’re just starting out on social media, or you’re a veteran company with thousands of followers, optimizing content for each platform is an ever-evolving challenge. While applications continue to roll out new time limits, changes to their algorithms, and new features, staying engaged with optimization methods can help your video content reach the spotlight. So what video tips and tricks can helps across social media platforms?
As video continues to explode in popularity, social media platforms are in tough competition with each other. While photos, carousel posts, and text are still important parts of communicating with your audience, video is a chance to tell a story efficiently. So, grab your camera, and let’s dive into optimization!
Video Tips and Tricks for Social Media
Here are four things to keep in mind when designing and creating your content.
1) Have A Plan
Video content doesn’t require you to throw out any of your existing branding or marketing strategy. You still need to think about your brand colors, your key message(s), and your audience.
Whether it’s reach, sales, conversions, or just communication with customers, establishing a plan sooner rather than later is the way to go. Draw from your previous strategies, look at your highest-performing posts, and pull some data from the platforms you’re already on. What do people engage with the most? What seems to get the highest click through rate?
In most cases, it’s important to include some kind of call to action (CTA), whether a hard or a soft sell. Sometimes ‘Order Now!’ will be appropriate, while other times, ‘Learn More’ might fit. But the idea of leading people to the next step along the journey is important even with public awareness campaigns. On any social media platform, the best content will tell a brand story, highlight an important moment, or show off industry knowledge—all of these are great places to start building a video marketing plan. Garlic Media Group has a great blog related to this topic.
2) Choose the Right Aspect Ratio
For most platforms, a 16:9 (with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels) will serve you just fine. This is the standard aspect ratio that you would watch on YouTube or your home TV. This ratio is a great place to start.
However, for the past few years, vertical video is on the rise, thanks to Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. In addition, story functionality (vertical content only available for 24 hours) has been added to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For vertical video, whether for a feed post—think Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, etc—as well as stories, it’s best to use a 9:16 aspect ratio.
It’s also, of course, important to consider the destination of your content. If the majority of it is being consumed via mobile, a square (1:1) aspect ratio may be preferable, and more broadly applicable. A 1:1 aspect ratio can be ideal for social media platforms that play automatically in their feed, and perhaps more importantly, it’s unlikely that a video with a square ratio will be cropped automatically.
Here are the quick & dirty reference points for best aspect ratios for each platform:
- Instagram Feed Posts and Ads: 1:1 (Square)
- Instagram TV (IGTV), Reels, and Stories: 9:16 (Vertical), 4:5 Vertical, or 2:3 Vertical in a pinch
- TikTok: 9:16 (Vertical)
- Facebook In-Feed Ads: 16:9 (Landscape) or 1:1 (Square)
- Facebook Stories: 9:16 (Vertical)
- Twitter: 1:1 (Square)
- LinkedIn: 16:9, or 1:1
- Snapchat: 9:16 (Vertical)
3) Sound, Music, and Subtitles!
There are always going to be times where consumers have the sound off, either on their TVs or smartphones. Other times, they might be scrolling or avidly watching, with full sound capabilities. Because as a creator you can’t count on either one, it’s important to think about both!
Optimizing your videos to work well with and without sound isn’t as tricky as it sounds. You can use tools like background music (royalty free or a trending piece of audio), subtitles or closed captioning, simple text and branding, a personalized voiceover—or a combination of these. Using royalty-free music and a customized voiceover in combination can provide a professional vibe, while trending audio and quirky captioning can angle more towards comedic and viral content. Closed captions or subtitles can help not only with the situations where consumers have their volume off, but also extend the reach of your content to those who are hard of hearing.
The biggest takeaway is: create your content to be viewed with sound available, but don’t count on it. Before posting, make sure to watch it back and ask yourself: Would this make sense without audio? If not—consider using another of the visual options mentioned above.
4) Keep Time In Mind
Time is a toughie—but we’ve got you covered. Content creators often struggle with a) keeping track of the limits for each platform as well as b) knowing what length of video performs the best overall.
As social media apps—particularly the video capabilities of each one—evolve, the time limits might change frequently. Fortunately, there are a couple lengths that work well as standard units: six seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, and 60 seconds.
Here are the current limits for several main social media platforms as a reference:
- Instagram Feed Posts, Reels, and Stories: Maximum 60 seconds
- Instagram TV (IGTV): Maximum 60 minutes
- TikTok: Maximum 60 seconds
- Facebook In-stream Ads: Maximum 15 seconds
- Facebook Stories: Maximum 60 seconds
- Twitter: Maximum 140 seconds
- Snapchat: Maximum 60 seconds
As you can see, the majority of platforms currently have an ultimate limit of one minute. However, you should also consider what people will actually watch. In general, shorter is better! Having a hook, catchy audio, and a professional branded look are what will keep people watching, especially if the video is on the shorter side.
Video length is something that is good to experiment with, because it relates so intimately to the type of content you’re producing. Announcing a sale would fit will in a short video but sharing industry knowledge would suit a longer clip. Play around with the pairings of content and time and analyze the results as you go.
One Key Takeaway from our Video Tips & Tricks: Optimization Is A Journey
You can ‘go deep’ into video creation, whether you’re filming your own footage or automating the whole process, and the good news is that there are many ways to succeed. Finding your brand video voice, working within the limitations of each platform, and establishing a consistent posting schedule will take you far. Iteration and optimization will help you produce the best result!
To learn more about automating the video creation and scheduling process, check out the free trial of Prontopia.
Automated Video Creation 101
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AUTOMATED VIDEO CONTENT CREATION.
Marketing experts and content creators across all industries will undoubtedly have noticed the global appetite for video content: it seems insatiable. Even five years ago, experts knew that video content would be the way forward in communications, advertising, and even politics.
But creating cost-effective video content regularly can be challenging, especially for resource-strapped businesses. The video creation and editing processes are time-consuming, especially if your company wants to engage consistently on a more personal level while still increasing reach.
That’s where automated video creation comes in.
What is Automated Video Creation?
Put simply, automated video creation is the process of using software to create engaging and exciting video content automatically. The method uses AI to match high-definition video content to your industry, business goals, etc.
How does it work?
There are numerous strategies your marketing team might want to take. Automating the video creation and editing process starts with identifying your priorities, choosing a platform, uploading the material you’re using, and then, letting the software do the heavy lifting.
Again, depending on what audience you are targeting, you can be more or less involved in the editing process. If you’re looking to employ a highly efficient system, you can confirm your details within a template and be ready to publish. If you’re looking to customize video content with text overlays, captioning, and graphics, you can certainly achieve these goals. This is commonly used for franchises.
How can automated video creation be used effectively?
Your company most likely has many marketing campaigns in flight at one time, from advertising and promotions to large audiences, all the way down to one-on-one contact with clients (like a birthday message). With the wide range of demand in the type of communication happening, you also need a variety of video content: perhaps 6-second ads for YouTube and minute-long informational messages announcing a new product for Facebook or TikTok.
Most social media platforms each have their video creation tools but are just different enough in their capabilities and requirements to be frustrating, and they often do not look professional. You can save time and budget by creating high-quality automated videos and posting them to different platforms simultaneously.
How can we get started?!
Prontopia is a simple-to-use AI-based tool for creating videos to market your business on social and video platforms. Prontopia is making the process seamless and focused for your team, even for employees with no editing skills or experience, at the forefront of AI-based video creation. This is crucial as content marketers from different industries adapt to the voracious appetite for video content happening around them.
Plus, with Prontopia, you will have detailed insights into your videos’ performance with data analytics to see what’s working! Whether it’s quick transitions or punchy overlaid text, you can track the efficacy of your efforts in a split second.
Making high-quality videos has never been easier for businesses—start today!
Visit prontopia.com or learn more at Why Your Brand Should be using Video Content on Social Media
VIDEO MARKETING IS EFFECTIVE BUT CAN BE COSTLY
Putting aside all the advice, all the lists of tips and tricks, and all the re-branding announcements, there is one very simple truth about online content: video rules. But how do you jump on the video bandwagon and make effective videos without breaking the bank?
The last two years threw many plans into disarray, but one repercussion has been an even more intense demand for digital content. From information and news to funny dance videos, video content is even more firmly established as a popular form of digital media.
Even if you’re not familiar with video as a creator, you’re likely familiar with it from the consumer point of view. Whether it’s a friendly-looking video of your family dentist or a clean-cut advertisement for a local real estate company, we remember and trust brands that we see producing high quality video.
WHY VIDEO MARKETING
According to Statista, as of 2020 over 83% of all internet users in the US accessed digital video content. Even as early as 2015 and 2016, video marketing was taking off, and for good reason. Insivia reports that based on many metrics, video is impactful almost anywhere you use it: as a YouTube Ad, embedded in an email, on social media, or even in a training scenario.
Video is highly engaging. It gets shared more frequently with others, and the information is also often retained more easily than if it was consumed via text originally. Long story short: if you automate the creation process, video has the potential to provide an amazing ROI.
Some reports say that including video on a landing page can increase conversion by up to 80%. In the same vein, according to WordStream, marketers who use video grew revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
These statistics are worth taking on board because they are about video in general, not about specific industries. Video can be impactful for small businesses owners as well as large enterprises. It’s still all about maintaining brand identity and marketing effectively. Every company, cross-industry and no matter the size, should be using video in their digital marketing strategy.
If you weren’t convinced already, video is also becoming even more prioritized on all social media platforms, from Twitter to LinkedIn. Even Instagram announced that its algorithms would be more actively promoting reels (short videos) instead of still images.
So, how can you jump on the video bandwagon?
TIPS FOR VIDEO MARKETING
Whether you’re looking to use video as a source of ad revenue, a chance to build customer trust, or just provide an update about your current stock levels, there’s an easy and cost-effective way to give video a shot.
- Don’t abandon your marketing plan. Think about who you want to talk to – your customers—and how you can connect to them. Your brand identity, your style, your brand colors and ‘vibe’, are still crucial parts of how you approach video, whether you’re using it to promote a one-time sale, or just remind clients of your hours.
- Use Prontopia to automate video creation! Add a few of the keywords associated with your brand, choose the duration, as well the style/theme you like, and plug in your text. A high-quality, fully tailorable video will be yours in just minutes.
- Schedule the video. With Prontopia, this step is seamless. You can connect your social media accounts, and schedule your video to post on each one, or just one, platform. You can also then set Prontopia to produce and publish additional videos as frequently as you want!
- Sit back, relax, and check out the analytics. As your videos go out, Prontopia will help you check out the data. You can see things like the engagement rate for each platform, which is invaluable data. Monitor, tweak, check back, and watch your results unfold!
Digital marketing is a fast-moving and competitive field, but you can be ahead of the curve by automating your video content creation process. With your plan and Prontopia’s prowess, you’re off to a strong start already.
Want to try it for free? Check it out here!
The secret’s out: everyone loves video. From search engines that prioritize links to YouTube videos, to algorithms that rank your website higher if you have video embedded in the landing pages, video is the reigning queen of digital content. The same goes for most social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. There are various reasons why you should start automating your video content.
However, knowing that video is desirable doesn’t mean every business has the resources to invest in high-quality production and editing. In fact, many brands still think that video has to be a costly and time-consuming process, draining precious resources away from other marketing initiatives. These considerations are particularly salient in the current climate: there’s a high demand for video, along with staff shortages and tight budgets.
The great news is that automating your video content can solve several issues at once. Automating the creation, captioning, scheduling, and posting processes can help companies save time and money, and build brand-consistent messaging.
Three Big Reasons Why You Should Start Automating Your Video Content… Right Now
1. Save Time
When it comes to video automation, hours of filming and the days of editing are a thing of the past. Video is the perfect candidate for automation: there are many elements that can be re-used and recycled cross-platform and cross-video, and creating short form content (like 15- and 30- second videos for social media) can and should be a very straightforward process!
Automating your video content creation could mean that you go from spending days on a single project, to a high quality finished product in under one minute. Choosing templates, audio, and clips based on keywords you set with Pronto can save your team time in every step.
It doesn’t stop there, though: once you have a completed video, you can also save time by batch-producing more, saving your favorite templates, and scheduling additional automated videos to post automatically to your linked social media platforms. These automated steps are the future of digital marketing. If your team is spending hours creating daily content, it’s time to rethink how you are spending precious time.
2. Save Money
Over the last decades, the cost of video has come down dramatically, but high-quality content still seems to come with a high price tag. The costs of renting a production studio, hiring a contractor who has the right filming equipment, perhaps hiring someone else to edit hours of footage down to a single minute… it adds up.
But gone are the days of a single video project running your business upwards of five, ten, twenty thousand dollars. When you automate the video creation process, you save money immediately: Pronto will learn from you about what features you want, what styles you prefer, and then report back to you about what content did well.
With built-in, easily customizable features like text-to-speech, voiceovers, and transitions, you’ll save money on each part of the video creation process.
3. Stay Consistent
While videos that go viral are seen as the pinnacle of digital achievement, real success is to be found in consistent, valuable content. When you regularly produce high quality video, your staff and your customers implicitly understand you are a reliable company with high value. Automating your video content makes it incredibly simple to have a unified style in your material, in everything from the genres of background music, to the font styles you choose. You can tweak many aspects of your videos, without straying from what you know to be effective.
Consistency is a crucial part of rolling out completed content, too: algorithms favor accounts and sites that regularly post content (especially video!). With Prontopia, you can schedule your videos to post at any time of day or night, weeks ahead of time. After you’ve posted, our analytics will help you find the most effective posting times for your brand for each platform you’re posting to.
As digital marketing becomes more and more data driven, it’s crucial to find and embrace tools that make both production and analytics more efficient. Automated video can set your business apart!
To learn more, please read our article: Eight Need-To-Know Strategies for Effective Video Marketing
Get started today at: prontopia.com
