Capture Your Audience's Attention: Social Video Marketing Tactics That Keep Viewers Watching (Part 1)

Brands large and small are now using video extensively in social media marketing, and video marketing has become an unstoppable trend. But how can you make the most of video's authenticity and interactivity to get better results from your posts?

#1: Find the ideal video length
Are long videos more engaging, or are short videos more powerful? The length of a video should depend on the purpose and category of its content. Try editing versions of different lengths and you will find the best fit. Before you start shooting and editing, you should first understand the video length limits of each social platform.

#2: The split second of "autoplay"
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all support autoplay. As soon as users scroll past, the video starts playing automatically. Moving images attract more attention than static thumbnails and greatly increase the number of views. Because the video starts playing the instant a user glances at it, whether the opening frame can firmly grab the viewer's attention will be the key to the video's success.

#3: Adding subtitles is the key
Subtitles definitely add value to a video and encourage more people to watch it. The broad user base of social media includes all kinds of people, some of whom we may not normally come into contact with, or may not understand very well. So when planning a video, try to think of as many situations as possible, so that you can reach the most diverse range of social media users.

#4: Live streaming is hot
Live video lets brands and individual users share the moment with their audience in real time through their phones. While streaming, you can see how many people are watching and interact with them. The streamer can also answer viewers' questions on the spot. Surveys show that social media users spend three times as long watching live streams as they do watching traditional videos, and live streaming is becoming a trend.

#5: A good start is half the battle
A video must spark interest from the very beginning, or viewers' attention will immediately move elsewhere. To be precise, you have only a golden 10 seconds (or even less) to hook your audience, or users will swim off to another page right away. So the story must open straight to the point. Vine limited videos to just 6 seconds yet remained hugely popular, which shows that capturing viewers' attention within 10 seconds is not an impossible task.

#6: Launch "tutorial videos"
Tutorial videos are popular on all social platforms. They can be used to explain a concept, teach a skill or provide professional instruction, and the content should follow the principle of being simple and easy to understand. For example, making a seven-layer dip salad is much easier than pan-roasting a beef Wellington. The more relaxed and fun the tutorial, the more likely viewers are to follow along and try it themselves. Videos should not be too long, and short videos often perform better than long ones. If you are not sure how to cut content, you can use a video editor to speed up playback slightly, which lets you fit in more content without lengthening the actual video.

Tutorial videos are also a smart and effective form of advertising. They can place promotional messages skilfully within the video to achieve the goal of marketing a product without putting viewers off. They not only give consumers useful information but also raise the value of the brand and its products, becoming the best kind of living advertisement.

#7: Win viewers over with emotion
Genuine emotion is the most infectious weapon. Only videos with deep emotional impact can win viewers' identification and linger in their minds, leading them to make a purchase or take action. Compared with other media, video has high authenticity and interactivity. Its moving images, sound and visual effects are the best vehicle for genuine emotion, and even slight changes in tone of voice or subtle shifts in facial expression can stir ripples in viewers' hearts.

To win hearts and create resonance, you must consider every detail, including wording, background music and even font choice. Every detail must convey a consistent message to create the right atmosphere. Incidentally, sharing inspiring or cheerful content can make people form a good impression of a brand. This is because the emotion of "happiness" is especially contagious and can bring positive energy and extra credit to the brand.

#8: Keyword optimisation
Besides offering social sharing, social media is now often used by users as a search engine. To let more social media users find information about a brand, every post the brand makes should follow keyword optimisation principles. Using the right keywords can greatly increase the chance of the brand being found in searches, and in turn increase exposure. To strengthen search results, you can add suitable keywords or copy to the title and description so that the video can be seen by users on various search engines and platforms. You can also share the video on Twitter and Instagram and embed relevant hashtags (#hashgtag).

#9: Build a "call to action"
It is not enough for viewers to understand the video's message. If the brand has a clear action goal, such as directing users to the official website, encouraging people to share the video or persuading consumers to buy a product, you must build a clear "call to action" into the video to guide viewers to interact. These small actions can guide fans to take action and so achieve the video's purpose. YouTube's clickable annotations can serve as call-to-action buttons and are a very useful tool. So far, no platform other than YouTube offers this feature for free.

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