How to Optimize Video Content on Different Social Media Platforms

We’ve all been there. It starts with a few flicks of the finger, and it ends hours later realizing you’ve yet to eat dinner – or worse, the sun is about to come up. We’re talking, of course, about the occasional social media video binge.

Kittens wearing clothes, dogs rolling in snow, babies giggling, dancers wiggling, miniature horses, fabulous courses, slam dunks, stinky skunks, skateboarding pugs, lion and trainer hugs, celebrity sightings, families fighting – the content NEVER ENDS!

Call it escapism, call it curiosity, whatever you call it, there’s no denying the viewing power and digital marketing potential of social media videos.

So how does your business get in on all this content fun? Well, for starters, if your company isn’t utilizing the branding potential of social media videos, you can rest assured you’re missing out on plenty of eyes. Studies have shown that 96% of consumers have increased their online video consumption in recent years, and 90% of those consumers wish that more brands and businesses produced their own video content.

But is there a science to perfecting the art of the social media video (aside from adorable animals)? Like all aspects of digital marketing, there are certainly tools, tricks, and techniques you can incorporate into your social media marketing strategy that will maximize your viewer potential and capture the attention of your target audience.

Whether you’re a roofing contractor looking to share tutorial videos via Facebook, or you’re a nail salon eager to showcase your skills across Instagram, here’s how your business can optimize video content across all of your social media platforms.

1 | Know Where Your Target Audience Is Watching

The first rule of social media video optimization is determining which social media platform best suits your business or industry. Let’s start with the Big Kahuna: Facebook.

Around 75% of Facebook users are over the age of 25, so if you’re trying to target college students or teenagers, it’s probably best to invest elsewhere.

Otherwise, Facebook is an essential platform for sharing social media videos for each of the following reasons:

• Massive audience reach potential (over 1 billion active users every day)
• Unparalleled target advertising tools (easily find your target audience and preferred demographics)
• Easy-to-use tracking analytics and data (see firsthand who is watching your videos and where they’re watching them)
• Direct consumer interaction opportunities (easily share video content and engage with viewers)

Now the other social media platforms are where it gets a little bit more precise in terms of the target audience. Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat – these are all platforms for younger audiences, ages 35 and under, who are more intrigued by visually-stimulating content.

They’re perfect platforms for any business in the following industries:

• Health and fitness
• Beauty and cosmetics
• Travel
• Service (dining) and hospitality
• Fashion
• Creative arts
• Lifestyle

As for Twitter and LinkedIn, these are perfect social media platforms for sharing B2B content, as most of its active users tend to be representatives for businesses or industries relevant to your own.

2 | Native Uploads

Perhaps one of the most overlooked elements to optimizing social media videos is native uploading, which is uploading your video content straight to the social media platform of your choosing.

In addition to posting original, custom videos to your feeds, research has shown that native video uploads on social media platforms, specifically Facebook, produce more engagement than sharing photos, video links, or live videos.

The engagement opportunities of native video uploads don’t just apply to Facebook either, which is why native posting is recommended for uploading video content across all of your social media channels.

3 | Aspect Ratios

To make your social media video content more accessible and visually appealing, you need to adjust the video’s aspect ratio accordingly to whatever social media platform you’re uploading it to.

A video’s aspect ratio is its width in proportion to its height, and it also impacts its pixel resolution or video quality.

For example, the most commonly uploaded video aspect ratio tends to be 16:9, translating to a pixel resolution of 1920 px by 1080 px (this is the most popular aspect ratio for YouTube uploads).

While that standard 16:9 ratio is recommended for uploading videos directly to your website, vertical videos are the best suited aspect ratios for social media. A 9:16 ratio is the dominant aspect ratio for videos uploaded to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., because they’re better suited to be viewed on smartphones and other mobile devices.

Failing to take the aspect ratio into consideration when uploading your videos to social media can have a negative impact on your engagement levels.

4 | Video Length and Audio

As anyone who frequently scrolls through social media knows, you only have so many seconds to capture the attention of any given social media audience. This is where the length of your social media video comes into play, with each social media platform having its own recommendations for varying video lengths.

For Facebook, keeping your videos around one minute in length is generally preferred and recommended for the highest engagement opportunities. For social media platforms geared toward younger audiences, such as Instagram, Tik Tok, and Snapchat, the shorter, the better, as anywhere between 15 seconds to one minute is essentially the universal rule for video lengths.

Despite what you’d assume, videos with no audio tend to perform successfully on social media in terms of engagement. This isn’t to say that you don’t need to include audio in your social media videos, but you will want to incorporate captions, title-cards, or accompanying text that will draw in viewers scrolling through their social media feeds on mute.

Finally, incorporating hashtags, video descriptions, and specific target keywords into every video you upload on social media will expand its potential reach for drawing in new audiences actively searching for content relevant to your brand.

5 | Tracking Metrics

Lastly, the most important aspect of social media video optimization is taking advantage of all the insightful analytics and data you can monitor with each and every post.

There are so many tracking metrics and performance reporting options available to view that will help you understand which videos you post are most successful in terms of engagement and which types of videos seem to be underperforming.

Some of these powerful metrics include:

• View count
• Unique viewers (track where or how viewers came across your videos)
• Engagement rates (comments, likes, shares, etc.)
• Retention levels (how long viewers watch before stopping)
• Conversion rates (viewers who visit your website or make a purchase after viewing your videos)

Keeping an eye on all of these valuable metrics is what will help you learn which elements of your social media videos are proving successful – and which areas could be improved.

Enhance Your Social Media Marketing With Triton Commerce

Managing your company’s social media profiles can prove to be quite an exhausting task, especially if you’re already managing your own small business. At Triton Commerce, we have a social media team that will help you expand your brand, attract new customers, and increase your engagement opportunities with your target audience.

Contact us today to see what professional social media marketing can do for your business!