Lights, camera, action — is your brand’s social video content ready for its close-up?
With more and more platforms moving toward a video-first approach, the quickly evolving world of social video has a lot of ramifications for brands big and small and social media marketers in all types of organizations. Simply put: if your social content isn’t utilizing video content, you’re missing out on a lot of audience reach and engagement.
If you’re in the process of planning your content strategy for next year, here are three of the most important social video trends for 2023:
#1: Watch More, Read Less
While it’s no secret that keeping an audience’s attention on social media has always been difficult, those attention spans have gotten even shorter as a result of the explosion in short-form video content popularized by TikTok and Instagram Reels.
As you’re creating video content in 2023, there’s no room for fluff: you need to be direct and hook the viewer within the first few seconds they engage with the content. (In fact, most audiences decide whether or not to continue watching a video within 3 seconds.)
This isn’t just for the video itself, either — the optimal copy for an Instagram Reels post is just five words (not including hashtags). This doesn’t leave you with much room, so it’s important to be strategic and make every word count.
For example, Scooter Media’s best-performing video on Instagram Reels is part four of our “office superlatives” series, which was viewed 21,800 times and generated 1,126 likes. Although the copy is just slightly longer than the five-word sweet spot, the shorter copy helps to hook our audience and tell the viewer they’re about to see our team members at their trendiest.
#2: Be Authentic, Not Perfect
The Scooter Media team recently attended a Social Media Show and Tell event, where Brayton Deal of Iron House Studios great advice for producing social video content:
“Real video gets real results. If you don’t like watching it, no one else will.”
The takeaway is simple: while professional and polished videos still have a place on social media, more and more audiences are turning to content that feels more organic and natural. Social video is one of the best ways to show your brand’s personality, so take extra care to think about what message your video is communicating.
Many of the videos we produce at Scooter Media feature one of our team members speaking directly to the camera (or to the person behind the camera), which helps the content feel more real and approachable.
In the TikTok below, we combined the authentic and genuine approach with our niche to create a video that is both entertaining and educational.
@scootermediaco Here are some of our go-to PR tips from The Laurens™️! #ScooterMedia #PRTips #LearnOnTikTok #PublicRelationsAgency
#3: Promote People, Not Products
While the increasing authenticity of social video can help brands feel more personal, it also means social media marketers need to think more creatively about how to promote their brand’s products or services. Instead of telling an audience why they need to purchase a product or service, social video offers the opportunity to show the benefits of that product or service in action.
To capitalize on this opportunity, carefully think through who your audience is and the types of content that are most likely to resonate with them. In general, placing an emphasis on the people in your organization instead of the product you’re trying to sell will help to make your content feel more approachable.
For example, local brewery Rhinegeist capitalized on the popular “give this to Kevin” TikTok trend from the classic holiday film Home Alone to promote their taproom. The combination of placing employees front and center in conjunction with leveraging a popular trend proved to resonate with audiences, as the TikTok racked up more than 269,000 views.
@rhinegeist Come join us in the taproom for movie night on Dec 19th at 7pm. We’re showing HOME ALONE on our big screen! BYO chairs, blankets, and whatever makes you comfy on our lawn. See you there! #CincyMade #MovieNight #HoppyHolidays #HomeAlone #HolidaySeason #SpotifyWrapped #AmazonMusicJingleBellTok
Which social video trends will you be working into your 2023 social media strategy? Let us know by tweeting @ScooterMedia, and be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok to see our social video content in action.
Searching for more social media strategy tips? The Scooter Media blog is full of useful info about social video trends, including:
