Contrary to what many might think, Twitter is actually a gold mine for video marketing. There has been a 95 percent increase in daily video views on Twitter over the past 18 months. Likewise, there has been an 85 percent year-over-year increase in watch time on Twitter. More so, you are losing out if your Twitter marketing strategy does not include videos. Why? Apparently, tweets with videos attract 10x more engagements than tweets without.
What it takes for effective video marketing is understanding its peculiarities and adapting your strategy appropriately. The following points highlight the best practices for video marketing on Twitter.
Consider your Target Audience
This obvious first step determines everything about the video including how effective it is going to be.
Twitter is about starting and joining conversations. Your video strategy must address the needs of your audience else it won’t fly. Two questions you must ask before making your video are:
- Needs. What is my audience concerned about?
- Trends. What is my audience talking about?
Any video that is not relevant in at least one of those respects is dead on arrival. Therefore, before the questions above, you must also ask yourself, ‘who is my audience?’
Only when these factors are clear can you make a video that will appeal to people the right way.
Keep Videos Short and Direct
You need to communicate your message as soon as possible. Passing a message within the first 3 seconds can impact overall breakthrough metrics by 13%. Also, Twitter recommends keeping messages below 15 seconds to maximize branding impact.
In the mood for something sweet after enjoying your fave pizza? Try our delicious Death By Chocolate dessert today! So which pizza are you going to enjoy with this dessert? pic.twitter.com/BlHc6KeImY
— Debonairs Pizza (@DebonairsPizza) October 11, 2020
This video by Debonairs Pizza exemplifies this. The 10-second video passes a simple message which is ‘dessert for every pizza’. The message was displayed for exactly three seconds and was followed by different pizza pictures and a persistent chocolate dessert. With such succinctness, no viewer is left in doubt of the message of the video.
Include Product and People
Your video should feature both your product and the people using your product. Don’t ignore the importance of emotions in advertising and the role that displaying a human connection to the product plays. Don’t leave your audience clueless; help them to connect the dots. According to Twitter, videos that show a positive human interaction or human desire for a product record a 40% increase in the overall response.
With Budweiser Zero, I can stay 100% on my game with 0% alcohol — 0 Bud Drops, 0 Goals, 0 Compromise. ⚽️ Show us how you stay on your game with your own trick shot or save! @budweiserusa #TrickShotChallenge pic.twitter.com/nsOjbuOylt
— Aubrey Bledsoe (@AubreyBledsoe) October 14, 2020
This Budweiser Zero ad does a good job of this. In the video, soccer goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe stops shots with one hand while holding a can of Budweiser Zero in the other, obviously having fun at it.
Use Visual Cues
Every element in the video should reinforce the message you are trying to pass across. Hence, even the tiniest details must be products of deliberate choice. More so, display aspects such as color, typography, graphics, etc. are not tiny details.
Display your logo or branding element as early as possible in the video. In addition, displaying your brand for more than half of the video could result in a 25% increase in brand recall and a 21 percent increase in message recall.
🔍 Safe Browsing helps protect more than 4B devices
✅ Google Play Protect verifies 50,000,000,000+ apps a day
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That’s a lot of protection!See all the ways we’re keeping you safe online → https://t.co/2UzNpTAZ9G pic.twitter.com/A9UhvD0ZZn
— Google (@Google) October 14, 2020
This video marketing Google Safe Browsing opens and closes with the Google logo, such that, no viewer can be left unclear of which brand.
To determine if your video has an effective visual display, try playing it without sounds. If a third-party cannot understand the message in a video without the sounds, then you need to up your visual game.
What if you could recreate ad hoc office talk, right in your own Slack channels? 🎙 #SlackFrontiers pic.twitter.com/uTfxPA1qQg
— Slack (@SlackHQ) October 7, 2020
Consider this video by Slack. It displays a recreation of the usual office talk with Slack channels. And without a sound (even without the accompanying text), anyone can understand the message.
Keep Tweet Copy Concise
A 280-character limit for tweet copy accompanies the 280-second limit for videos. However, you need to pick which to emphasize. And if you are sharing a video, there is no need for a lengthy piece. The tweet copy should only be used to call the viewer’s attention to the video or to call the viewer to take an action.
If the video can’t say all that you want to explain, then the tweet copy should only contain a short and precise call-to-action, such as below:
We are bringing the hottest #GalaxyZFold2 features to the #GalaxyFold.
Here’s everything you need to know about the update: https://t.co/Ush7q4IV5s pic.twitter.com/ysX2ilQW34
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) October 15, 2020
The tweet precisely states what the video is about and also includes a call-to-action for viewers to read more about the product.
Finally, If videos haven’t featured in your Twitter marketing strategy in the past, then it is time to make a change. And when making videos, always aim for impact. That is why you must set clear metrics ahead to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
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