Social media not only has the power to make an outstanding video go viral, but conversely, it can also make your not so captivating video become unpopular.
As a marketer, your aim should be to let your target audience enjoy your video and possibly become a happy customer. To make sure this happens, it's important to know what mistakes to avoid before posting your video on social media.
webdew can help you with that by telling you 8 common mistakes to avoid when making a social media video in 2023.
By staying away from these mistakes, your videos can become more interesting and attractive to the potential customers, which could make your business the next viral king or queen on social media.
8 mistakes that need to be avoided while creating Social Media Video Content
The waiting time is over, and to keep away from some common pitfalls, here are those eight mistakes to keep in mind when creating social media video content.
1. Unstable Camerawork
When it comes to creating videos for social media, capturing steady footage is important to maintaining your audience's attention and engagement. Shaky footage can be distracting and disorienting.
Thus, making it difficult for viewers to focus on the message you're trying to convey. To ensure your footage is smooth and steady, it's important to use a tripod or stabilizer.
A tripod is a simple tool that allows you to keep your camera still and in one place. This is particularly important if you're filming in one location and not moving around too much.
So, if you're filming on the go or need to capture moving shots, a stabilizer can be a great investment. A stabilizer uses advanced technology to keep your camera level and steady, even when walking, running, or moving around.
2. Not Using Clear Lighting
Poor lighting can make a video look unprofessional, unappealing, and difficult to see. So, well-lit videos can enhance your content's visual appeal and professionalism.
One simple way to improve your lighting is to use natural light. Filming near a window or in a well-lit area can provide ample lighting and make your videos look bright and natural.
But relying on natural light isn't always possible, particularly if you're filming in a dimly lit environment or during the evening. Investing in affordable lighting equipment can be worthwhile, especially if you often create video content for social media for your brand.
Softbox lighting kits or ring lights can help provide consistent, even lighting and create a professional-looking aesthetic. Additionally, LED light panels or portable lights can be a great option if you're filming on the go or in different locations.
With better lighting, your videos will look more polished and engaging, helping you to better connect with your audience.
3. Creating Videos in the Wrong Format
Create videos that meet the format requirements of each social media platform, like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. It is important to ensure that your content looks professional and is optimized for each platform's user experience.
Each platform has its own specific guidelines for video dimensions, aspect ratios, and file types. These can affect how your videos are displayed and how they perform.
For example, Instagram video (IGTV and Instagram Stories) has requirements of 9:16 aspect ratio, and YouTube video has suggested requirements 16:9 aspect ratio and 1920×1080 pixels resolution.
Creating videos in the correct format for each platform ensures your content is eye-catching and optimized for its algorithm. Thus, helping it perform better and reach a wider audience.
Take the time to research and adhere to the video format requirements for each social platform. With this, you can ensure that your videos look their best and that the right audience watches them.
This will help you to better connect with your audience, increase engagement, drive more traffic to your website, and achieve your social media goals.
4. Lack of an Impactful CTA
A call to action is essential for social media video content as it directs your viewers on what they should do next. Without a clear CTA, your audience may not know what action to take.
Thus, resulting in lower engagement and conversions. To ensure that your CTA is effective, it's important to make it clear and concise. Use simple and actionable language to direct your audience to take the desired action.
Additionally, add visual cues such as on-screen text or graphics to emphasize your CTA. Encourage your viewers to take action by making your CTA compelling and relevant.
Whether you want your viewers to like, share, comment, or visit a website, ensure that the action is relevant to the content and valuable to your audience.
Include a clear and compelling CTA. As, it will help to direct your viewers on what action to take and increase engagement. Also, it will lead to conversions for your social media video content.
5. Not Creating Attractive Video Thumbnails
A video thumbnail is the first impression viewers get of your social media video content. Like a book cover, it must be eye-catching and make people want to click and watch the video.
To create an attractive thumbnail for videos on YouTube, Instagram or any other channel, use high-quality static images that best represent the content of your video.
Choose an image that is interesting and relevant to the content. Additionally, use bold text to add an extra element of interest and convey what the video is about.
Consider using design elements such as contrasting colors, borders, and graphic overlays to make your thumbnail stand out. But, be careful not to overdo it and ensure that the design elements complement the content of your video and align with your brand image.
Creating an attractive and eye-catching video thumbnail can increase the likelihood of viewers clicking on and watching your social media video content. This can increase engagement through video views and help you achieve your social media goals.
6. Not Optimizing Video Length
When it comes to creating social media video content, keeping the video's length either too short or too long is a mistake. If you create a too short video, you may not be able to convey your message, and if it's a longer video, you risk losing your audience's attention.
Find the right balance between keeping your video concise and ensuring you get your message across. Additionally, each social media platform has its own limitations about video length. So it's important to understand these limitations and optimize your videos.
A general guideline for creating shorter videos is 15-60 seconds and that of longer video depends on the type of content idea and platform you are using.
By doing right optimization as per the platform, you can create engaging, shareable, and effective videos on social media at reaching your target audience.
7. Creating Common Videos for Different Goals
Social media offers a variety of social channels and tools that help to achieve different marketing objectives. It's essential to tailor your social media video content to meet the specific goals of each platform or campaign.
Different social media platforms have their own unique features and audience demographics.
For example, Instagram's audience comprises younger users interested in stunning and immersive content. In contrast, LinkedIn's audience comprises business professionals seeking informative and educational video content.
This means the types of social media videos performing best on each platform will differ.
In a similar way, different social media marketing video campaigns have different objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving conversions. The type of video content you create for each campaign should align with its specific goal.
Modify your social media videos to meet the specific goals of each platform or campaign. With this, as a social media marketer, you can create content that resonates with your audience and drives engagement and conversions.
This can help you achieve your social media video marketing objectives and grow your business on social media.
8. Lack of Relatable and Interesting Video Content
To create successful social media videos, resonating with your viewers is important. One way to achieve this is by making your visuals relatable and interesting.
Use humor, storytelling, or other creative techniques to engage your audience and keep them interested. This can help you build a strong connection with your viewers and keep them returning for more.
By making your videos more relatable and interesting, you can create a strong brand presence on social media. Also, it can increase engagement and conversions.
Ready to make your Social Media Videos go viral?
Video content on social media is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience.
Thus, it has become important to create high-quality videos like video ads, live videos, user-generated content, promotional videos, behind-the-scenes videos, testimonial videos, and more. This is because you need to stand out from the competition.
Along with creating videos you need to keep in mind the above mentioned 8 basic mistakes to let your business outshine.
With this you can also create a valuable social media video strategy and video content to get help to achieve your social media goals.
But if you still feel doubtful to handle the whole video creation and editing process, you can feel free to contact webdew. Being an experienced video creation and marketing agency we will handle the rest.