Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ll know that video is where it’s at for social media marketing.
Not only is video the most engaging medium, but it’s also how people love to digest information on their mobiles. People already spend more time on mobile devices than they do watching TV and Facebook predicts that this year, 79% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video.
You may have experience in creating video for TV but creating content for social is a different beast. You’re basically creating content specifically for mobile use – so the length, style and creative of the video is very different to that of a TVC.
Here are our top 7 tips to optimise your video for mobile.
Engage your audience quickly. Use the first three seconds of your video to entice your viewers with the most compelling, thumb-stopping visual.
Don’t wait to show your product – get your brand or product in front of the view immediately so the viewer knows what to expect.
Keep content short, snappy and visually exciting.
A large percentage of people watch video without sound, so make sure you communicate your story visually so it’s effective with or without sound.
If you do have a script, or a more complicated message, add captions or subtitles.
To the dismay of videographers everywhere, video should be shot vertically for social. This aspect takes up the most real estate in people’s feeds and looks the most impressive.
If you don’t have budget for video, try to create your own animated content using effects, graphics, panning, zooming and slideshows to add an element of movement.
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Here at Wanderlust Communications, tourism is our passion. We love being tourists in our personal lives, and we love working with tourism businesses in our work lives. We see so many inspiring destination marketing campaigns when reading about and working in this amazing industry, so we thought we’d share a few of our favourites with you, and offer some ways you can incorporate these tactics into your own tourism marketing strategy.
Video content for Facebook and Instagram
Tourism Australia is often heralded as the best of the best when it comes to social media marketing. They invite operators and tourism businesses to share their content with them so they can share with the world. Video is the best performing type of content across Facebook and Instagram, so they often lead with that. Here are Australia’s top tips when it comes to the perfect video for social media.
Length: Optimum video length is 15–30 seconds long
Orientation: Square or portrait format preferable
Format: MP4 preferable
Background music: Suitable copyright-free background music, or no music. Check out www.premiumbeat.com or www.jukedeck.com, or there’s a range of other royalty-free music sites available on the web.
Overlay text or logos: None if possible
Fade in and out at the start or end: None preferable
Talking heads: None preferable
Voiceovers: None preferable
Digital storytelling
Tourism New Zealand has been knocking it out of the park in terms of digital marketing for years. We loved their Middle Earth campaigns which capitalised on the Lord of the Rings franchise, but we also love the way they tell their story through digital. These recent road trip videos are a wonderful way to link together self-drive destinations and make the journey part of the fun. If you have a product that is a little complicated or has many stages, consider a suite of videos to help break down barriers and tell your story clearly.
Working with Influencers
Influencer marketing is the new black, so to speak. Whilst it can be a minefield trying to find genuine influencers that actually have an engaged audience – if you get it right it can be extremely powerful. One of the influencers we love is @notsomumsy. Originally a blogger but now an avid Instagrammer, Marcia Leone manages to speak to her audience of more than 180,000 followers like a best friend would. She chooses her endorsements wisely, so although they are paid for sponsorships, they really seem to be genuinely loved by her. She tells the story in varying ways through her channels – a lengthy blog post with images on her website, beautifully polished posts on her Instagram feed and more “behind the scenes / real life” style snippets via Instagram Stories. It works well holistically and really helps push the message through.
Finding an influencer that really gels with your brand and has the right audience for you can be a wonderful marketing tactic to help raise brand awareness, open you up to a new audience, drive sales and increase your own social media engagement.
Influencer marketing is something we do for many of our clients. We recently worked with our client Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef to host journalist, photographer and influencer, Rhiannon Taylor, and saw some fantastic results. Her website In Bed With has the perfect readership for our target market, and her Instagram account is well-read and highly engaging. As Rhiannon is predominantly a journalist, we negotiated with her about deliverables and made sure we got more from the visit than just a couple of pretty Instagram pictures. Rhiannon featured Sal Salis on her website, she posted images on her Instagram account and on her Stories; plus she did a takeover of the Conde Naste Instagram account which has more than 1.7 million followers, secured an article in Vogue Traveller and provided us with 50 high-resolution images to use across our own marketing channels.
When it comes to working with influencers, be sure to do your research, negotiate on deliverables and be sure to maximise the results wherever possible.
Cross-platform marketing
Digital and social are wonderful, but campaigns really pack a punch when they extend through other marketing channels too. Just check out this idea from British Airways using their outdoor advertising boards and then amplyfying with social media. This video has more than 1.6 million views on YouTube and went viral online.
A simple idea but one that combined a clever use of technology with perfect timing, and a cute kid!
Think about how you can promote your campaigns across different channels and platforms. I’m sure not many brands have the budget to do something like this, but if you’re creative there are ways!
We once did some guerilla-style marketing for a brand in the UK which helped increase brand awareness and drive traffic to the website. At the dead of night, a team went into the City Centre and graffitied the clients’ logo and web address across the pavements with chalk. (Note chalk!! It did wipe off very easily) When people started their morning commute, they saw the drawings and curiously checked out the link! A PR campaign added some more word of mouth weight to the combination of tactics and made for a fun and successful strategy.
Next week we are out on location filming some new content for our client Australia’s Golden Outback. Throughout my career, I’ve written countless briefs, scripts and notes for on-camera interviews, and helped project manage the filming. Some people just come to life on camera; speaking easily and naturally and they just invite the viewer in. Others… not so much.
I myself am actually much more confident behind the camera. But in today’s digital world where video is a must-have for savvy digital marketers; how do you create engaging video content if you hate being on-screen?
We’ve compiled our top tips to create engaging and professional looking video content, even for the shyest people out there.
Capture things other than you.
Videos don’t always have to be of you. If you have a product that looks good on camera, or you’re selling an experience or destination – capture that on film and let it be the focus. If it’s talking on camera that bothers you most, don’t worry! Did you know 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound? If you need to explain something, use subtitles to get your point across
Think Vertically.
It used to be that all video content was created “movie style” in landscape mode. However, on Facebook and Instagram vertical footage is now the preferred style. This allows for more tight shots, focusing in on products or a focal point of interest. You can crop yourself out slightly and let the product do the talking.
Animation.
You can now create animated videos cheaply and easily online. This style not only removes the need for you to be on camera, but it helps to break up other more traditional imagery and video and will stand out on people’s timelines and newsfeeds. Go Animate and Explee are great affordable options that we love.
Practice makes perfect.
If you really need to be on camera (and sometimes, you will) then practice, practice, practice! Now be warned, some people become more wooden with every take and can you hear that they’re reading a script. So try not to keep re-reading what you’re going to say. Rather keep practising being in front of a camera so you get more comfortable. Do a couple of takes without your notes, being spontaneous and see what feels right and sounds like “you”. The more time you spend in front of the camera, the more natural it will feel and you will come across. Remember the latest stats show short videos (between 15 and 30 seconds) work the best on social media. So even if you’re uncomfortable it really isn’t for long; fake it till you make it, baby!
Research for inspiration.
Sometimes a key to finding your own voice is identifying what YOU like in a video presenter. If you see something on Facebook that stops you scrolling, save it and come back to it later. What was it that you liked? The style, the content, the way the person spoke. Use this as inspiration and find people with a similar disposition and style to your own. This is a great way to build confidence and take away the fear of starting with a blank page.
Turn images into video.
There are now heaps of tools you can use, even straight from your mobile phone, to edit together images and short videos into great videos for social media. This is a great way to repurpose content and make it more engaging for your audience. You can even add stickers and emojis to make it more fun for channels like Instagram Stories. Great tools we love are Magisto,InShot and Ripl.
Dive in.
The biggest piece of advice is to just give it a go. Find a style that suits you and you feel comfortable with and just begin! Consumers these days buy into brands they love and they want to know the person behind that brand. Channels like Instagram and Facebook Stories are growing rapidly in popularity and offer the consumer a chance to see “behind the scenes” into your brand. These snippets into you and your brand are a great way to build confidence and connect with your audience in an informal way. There’s no need for polished performances, just an insight into you and your brand.
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