If you’re not using video in your social media marketing, what are you waiting for? The engraved invitation came back in 2006 when Google bought YouTube. In 2011, YouTube passed Yahoo to become the world’s second-largest search engine. Video is a powerful tool, and leveraging it correctly can yield amazing results for your social media marketing. Social media video is hugely popular and includes everything from Vine (Twitter’s 6-second mobile video app) to long-form videos on YouTube. According to research by Pew Internet, 71% of online Americans use social media video sites (and that study was conducted in 2011—the percentage has likely increased since then).
A picture is worth a thousand words so the cliché goes and a motion picture is priceless, which is why Pew Internet described videos as “social currency” when they reported in 2012 that 41% of adult internet users share and repost videos on social media.
Social media marketing is about conversation and relationships and a great way to start conversation is by creating highly-shareable content for your audience. And there is no content more shared than video on social media…except possibly cat pictures. What does this mean for your social media marketing efforts? Incorporating video into your social media marketing is a great way to get earned media attention for your brand and results in a boost to your social lead conversions.
Video is an excellent means of building trust on social media—and building trust s a critical part of relationship management. After all, holding the door for someone shows them that you are polite—and works far better than if you just say you are polite. Create video for social media from the mindset of creating value for your potential customers—answer questions and inform them. Teach them something new and solve their problems. All of these things build trust on social media. And once people trust you, they buy from you.
You always want to reach your customers where they are and speak their language and social media video is the perfect way to do both! So, if you are looking to amplify your social media marketing, make sure to leverage video in your social media strategy!
