Make Your Social Video Stories Irresistible
Compelling videos that drive action without feeling hacky
Video is the inescapable next move on social — online videos will account for more than eighty percent of all consumer internet traffic by 2020. Have you noticed recently that scrolling through Facebook is starting to feel more like one long stream of auto-play videos? That’s because Facebook is pivoting toward becoming primarily a video delivery platform, read more here.
Learning to create video yourself isn’t as daunting as it sounds, and although beautiful, professionally produced spots are important to branding and online reputation, especially for lifestyle brands and influencers, daily video content created on smart phones, webcams, text animator apps, and even PowerPoint can still accomplish the basic social media goal of offering consistent content, and sometimes even feel more authentic.
Here are some ways that I storyboard videos that grab your attention and drive action without getting forceful and hacky.
The first five seconds
Since people on YouTube can skip after the first five seconds, and people on Facebook can keep scrolling, you need to show them something that grabs their attention even faster than that. You’re going to need either a really fascinating shot, a direct appeal to a specific target, or something vague to hook their attention in less than five seconds.
In this video for the eleVAte SNAP E&T program, I needed to drive phone calls about a program but I was limited to just fifteen seconds by Instagram video specs at the time of production (now they can be up to one minute). So I kept it very simple — I just addressed our target audience directly, told them what they can get for free, and then encouraged them to call. The graphics and the voice-over are bright, clean, and direct. Sometimes keeping it simple is better than any overly directed creative if your goal is simple, too.
Don’t tell them, show them
Don’t just tell the viewer that you’re the best tailor in town, or have the lowest prices on life insurance, or can guarantee that your marketing will bring them more customers. Get your cheerleaders to tell them — your happiest clients.
I was tasked with helping Professor Isi Kessel win the VCCS Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) by creating this video to accompany his application, hoping to help him win the recognition he deserved for his career-long dedication to creative teaching. This video wasn’t for social, so a longer runtime was suitable. I scheduled as many students, fellow faculty, and parents as possible and interviewed them all back to back before interviewing Professor Kessel himself; I think I did fourteen interviews in a row before getting him on screen.
Why?
Because hearing from those he has helped is always going to be more compelling than hearing him speak about himself.
We only hear from him for thirty seconds out of the four minute runtime. I wrapped the video with another thankful student who continues to visit him after graduating because I wanted to sandwich his own remarks between the voices of those who are so thankful to have known him.
And Professor Kessel did win that recognition by the way, he’s thanked me for my help with several endorsements since last spring.
Chill with all the transitions and effects
Yes, most video editing software has all kinds of animated transitions you can use to move between shots, but just because something is there, doesn’t mean you should use it unless there’s a strategic reason to go with a retro (or Tim and Eric!) aesthetic.
Now I’m gonna show you something a little embarrassing.
When I first started editing videos oh-so-long-ago, I was at least able to recognize that checkerboards and screen wipes weren’t appropriate for policy videos, but wasn’t experienced or confident enough to just stick to regular cuts, so I used cross dissolves thinking they were a conservative but necessary compromise. When I watch videos I did back then, like this one advocating on behalf of housing voucher users which was screened on the floor of the Virginia General Assembly, I realize that I shouldn’t have used them at all because even the most basic options look dated and hacky.
I also overdid it on the animations and effects. These stories are strong on their own; very little is needed here other than framing a basic narrative around the questions proposed. But I was required by branding guidelines to use their “transitional branding” — I was helping them during a period when they were transitioning from a two-tone brown color scheme to a green and blue color scheme. They required all external communications to incorporate all four colors and visual branding elements from both brands. I knew at the time that it would look less than optimal to do this instead of the clean break that most rebrands execute, but I had to stick to their branding guidelines.
Despite being a little embarrassing because of the transitions and effects, it does do one thing really well though, and that’s:
Show real emotion
This housing video was still good at accomplishing its goal, which was to help legislators empathize with how unreasonably strict the sixty day window for housing voucher use is — because it shows raw emotion from the subjects.
Consider this from “The Dangerous Power of Emotional Advertising”:
“It takes less than three seconds to have a gut reaction. According to Dan Hill in Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success, “Emotions process sensory input in only one-fifth the time our conscious, cognitive brain takes to assimilate that same input.” Emotions, rather than cognitive thinking, have a more profound impact on our actions; create lasting, instinctual impressions; and actually predispose us to follow the same course of action in the future.”
It’s hard to hear how a cancer-stricken single mother with a disabled child finally received her housing voucher after years on a waiting list, but was unable to find a housing unit that would accept it within sixty days before it expired and was passed on to the next person. Overdone graphics or not, it still told a story from otherwise-unheard voices to help legislators make the best choice for their constituents.
Show them something new
How do you make home insurance exciting?
How do you make buying a new car epic?
How do you make a new donut flavor something full of scandalous intrigue?
I haven’t done the first two, but as for the third:
If your subject matter is a little dry, think of ways to frame it that have never been done before. If you’re pitching IT phone support, why not do a spoof of the Matrix scene where Neo gets the phone call in the office? Pitching a chiropractor? Maybe a video where they go around in public spaces straightening things that are crooked before clocking in at the office. Going wacky, wild, or weird with everything isn’t always appropriate, but in some cases, for some brands, it’s a great way to cut through the noise and be truly memorable.
Ultimately, there’s never going to be an exact formula that makes every one of your social videos a viral hit, but these guidelines can help you consistently create videos that are interesting to the viewer and hit your KPIs for impressions, clicks, engagements, and conversions. And consistency is important on social — an ongoing series of relevant videos created in-house over time that end with a strong offer for the viewer will perform better than spending three thousand on one high-end professionally produced video that doesn’t have a specific, limited-time call to action.
Businesses that use social video marketing grow revenue 49% faster than those who don’t. Do you need help creating your videos in-house with basic cameras and smartphones, or just want to buy a reliable stream of personalized video content to use on social? Email me and let me know what you need.
