Overview
Do you use video marketing to improve your social media results? If so, you are not alone. Consumers cannot consume enough video content these days.
That is why Cisco predicts by 2020 how 80% of all internet traffic will be online videos. The question therefore is not whether we should use video marketing, but how to optimise it for greater results.
To do this, we need to explore how to market your videos on some of the largest digital marketing platforms. Specifically, we want to look at how long a video should be to succeed.
Video Marketing Best Practices
Before we go into the video marketing lengths, we should also discuss a few of the best practices you should follow to get the most out of your video. While the videos’ length is important, you still need to follow these best practices to ensure your video works no matter the length.
- Purpose– What is the purpose of your video? Creating a short video just to see if it will work generally does not pan out well. Therefore, plan your video ahead of time.
- Keep it simple– If you want to keep your videos relatively short, make sure you focus on one specific topic. Your video needs to get to the point before your audience tunes out to go to the next video.
- Be Unique– The best way to get the most out of your videos is to be creative with your videos. Therefore, you should look at how to take an interesting view to your video. For example, in the video Dumb Ways to Die.
- Give more value– How does your video help your target market? Don’t make the video about yourself. Instead, focus on how the video can help your audience achieve more.
- Have a CTA– The purpose of your video at the end of the day is to attract new customers. Therefore, you always need to ask customers to learn more about your business by taking some action. Therefore, you need a CTA.
Video Marketing Length
Due to the loosening restrictions on video lengths at Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter it is important to understand which videos lengths yield the best results.
According to research from HubSpot, the video ranges vary from social network to social network. Here are the different times along with the reasons behind those lengths.
Instagram- HubSpot saw the highest number of comments on Instagram videos when they averaged 26 seconds.
Because Instagram feeds show the video as silent when you scroll through, it is important to grab their attention as quickly as possible. This is where creating interesting videos we discussed in best practices are vital.
Twitter- While the 140-character social network wants brevity, users watch videos a little longer. On Twitter, the best videos averaged 45 seconds. A good illustration of this are the Twitter’s #VideoOfTheDay, which average 43 seconds.
However, if you want to improve the engagement you will want to add native videos. That means you want to use original videos on the site. According to Twitter, it increases 2.5 ties replies and 2.8 retweets.
http://t.co/wqzAD1oWdi http://t.co/vLP9Pu4fg3 #videosoftheday
— OH… (@ONRV9) November 15, 2013
Facebook- The largest social network sees an average video length of 1 minute. These videos are great, because they are short and snappy that can be liked or shared before moving to the next video.
The key is that if you can get someone to see the first 3 seconds of a Facebook video, then 65% will watch for at least 10 seconds, and 45% watch for 30 seconds.
YouTube– Since YouTube is a video platform, creating 2-minute videos can work well on the platform. Some long form videos work well on the video sharing platform as well.
Just make sure that when you play longer videos, you are cognizant of the value you provide to your audience. Longer videos are easier in some respects to create, because you do not have to filter yourself. However, they can drag on more to the detriment of your audience.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking to improve your videos, you must look at more than just the length. That is why we started out with best practices above. However, video marketing length is a definitive component for any professional video.
Therefore, spend time trying to create short, relevant, and valuable videos that work for your audience.
If you need help with this, contact us to set up a free appointment with one of our specialists at Shout. We can review your video marketing length along with the video itself to optimise it for your next marketing push.
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