Bringing movement to your social feeds

Over the years we’ve seen trends and advice come and go on social media, from using a certain number of hashtags to engagement strategies – but one trend that we’re certain is here to stay is the use of video.

The success of video on social media is now undeniable after seeing the incredible rise of TikTok over the past few years, with many other platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube following suit to try and integrate and push short-form video content.

So how can businesses take advantage of this type of content, and where can you start? At Harris our integrated in-house creative teams can help, here are our top tips.

Know your platform and audience to determine your content

It might seem obvious, but knowing your platform and audience is key to understanding what type of video content to share. For instance, fun and light-hearted short-form videos can work great on Instagram – and now Facebook with its integrated Reels feature – but might not be so appropriate for your corporate LinkedIn page.

This doesn’t however mean that you can’t share the same messages you want to get across, as it can be done in different ways. For instance, a short and eye-catching animation which sums up your marketing messages would work well and appeal to the LinkedIn audience more than a Reel. This can often work well in cases of paid campaigns, where a ‘scroll-stopping’ visual is needed to obtain and retain your audience’s attention.

Make it engaging

One great thinking point to ensure your content is engaging is to ask yourself if you’d stop scrolling and watch your full video. If the answer is no, you can begin to think about why and go from there.

It’s also important to remember that everyone’s attention spans are different, so it’s safer to think about your content with a short attention span in mind. Considering the pace of your video, and if it continues to keep the viewer engaged, from this perspective is important as otherwise your audience could give up halfway through before your key messages have been understood. As a general rule, aim for no more than 25 seconds.

A great way to make content more engaging is through animation – inserting colourful and interesting icons and designs to get your messaging across can help to keep the interest of your audience. Plus, it’s a great tool for furthering your brand identity, as animations which consistently use a company’s brand elements such as their colour schemes, fonts or even animation-specific elements such as transitions, can help to strengthen that familiarity.

In-app video editing features can also work well, with platforms such as Instagram and TikTok continually updating and adding new options for users. Plus, the trending music option allows you to capitalise on trends or even popular ‘sounds’ which can result in more relatable and engaging content which pushed further by the algorithm.

Familiarise yourself with the right ratios and other rules

This is key on Instagram where portrait videos are preferred by the algorithm, and the platform will automatically put your video into a portrait ratio no matter what size you upload. This can make a less-than-ideal viewing experience for videos in landscape or even square formats, as a clunky black border will be added to the sides.

With most social media users accessing the platform through their mobile phones, it’s also easy to see why the right ratio is important.

Other factors to consider can include the use of colour. For instance, on LinkedIn it’s easy for shades of blue and white to bleed together amongst the platforms brand colours, which could lessen the impact of your creative.

Or you could let us keep track of all the social media ‘rules’ and we’ll deliver engaging video and animation content to your audience in the right way – get in touch with our team today.