Q: Why include video in social media marketing?
Vincent Driscoll, director, asicentral.com: Video is huge on social. Every platform supports it and encourages it. It’s the preferential medium, and you’re going to get preferential placement with it on social forums. Think of it like this: Video is the belle of the social media ball. It’s free publicity for your brand.
Patrick Kennedy, social media specialist: Vin is right. Video is going to outperform other types of posts, whether it’s links or photos.

Podcast

ASI's Vinnie Driscoll and Patrick Kennedy are joined by Counselor Executive Editor Chris Ruvo for a vibrant discussion on how and why you should incorporate video into your social media strategy.

Q: Is it important to plot out a particular strategy for how you’ll use video?
PK: It’s less strategy and more over-arching philosophy. You should ask and answer questions like: “What are some of the goals we want to achieve with this? How do we want to represent the company and the brand?” From there you ask: “How do we achieve those things? Are we going to have a structured weekly show? Are we going to have in-depth ‘How This Product Is Made’ videos?” Those are all answers that can be on the same board, and you build from there. There’s no wrong answer. It’s OK to have some sense of organization, and to also be fluid.
VD: To that point, when it comes to things like live videos in particular, you can be impromptu and much more informal. We do a lot of Facebook lives at ASI. Something happens – a breaking news item – you just go and do a live video. There’s an immediacy that can help with views. You can’t really integrate that into your content strategy per se, but make it part of what you do on a regular basis.

“You’ll make mistakes and that’s OK. Slip-ups humanize the brand and make you relatable.” — Vincent Driscoll, ASI

Q: What are some essential “must-dos” with video on social?
VD: First, use live video for platforms that support it. You’ll make mistakes and that’s OK – nobody’s perfect. Little slip-ups humanize the brand and make you relatable, which helps build relationships. Secondly, upload your videos directly to social media platforms. Video links from other platforms are considered links, not video, and they won’t get the traction a native video will get. Finally, use good SEO when uploading your video, with strong titles and descriptions. Social media platforms act like a search engine; ensure people can find your content.

Q: What are big mistakes to avoid?
VD: Producing video that’s of no interest or use to the audience you’re trying to attract. You have to think about the user and build content based on that. You have to think about how desired audiences will look for your videos, and then do your titles, descriptions, tags, etc. with that in mind. Doing otherwise is a big mistake.
PK: Another pitfall is failing to include subtitles/captions in videos that have people talking or a voiceover. More than 80% of videos on Facebook, for example, are watched on mute. Take the time to add the text; it will help your view count.

Q: What social platforms should firms be active on with video?
VD: You should have all your videos on YouTube. Google owns YouTube, right? What do you think happens with content added in YouTube? If it’s SEO’d well, it’s going to come up high in search results. Also, Facebook – there are a billion or so people active on Facebook and video is the driving force. Don’t sleep on Instagram or Pinterest, either. There’s huge video potential there. That said, though, it all comes down to your time and resources. If you have time for only one network, that’s cool. Choose one and do it right – and if you can only do one, I’d start with YouTube, as that’s where people look for video.
PK: Keep an eye on LinkedIn, too. It’s doing a lot more with video and it will be doing live videos soon. In the B2B marketplace, LinkedIn could soon be pretty effective.

“Keep an eye on LinkedIn. In the B2B marketplace, their video options are poised to be really effective.” — Patrick Kennedy, ASI

Q: What’s the role of social media influencers in video marketing?
VD: Influencers generally have large followings, so you want to identify who they are in your network or niche, follow them and try to engage. Eventually, they may follow you back and engage with you as well. If they don’t, there’s no harm in sending them a direct message asking if they’d like some of your content and perhaps re-tweet it. I get that all the time on Twitter, where some consider me to be an influencer because of the following I have within the industry. Depending on what it is, I’ll go ahead and do it.
PK: There are also micro- and nano-influencers – people with smaller followings, but who wield a lot of influence over those followings. If you’re targeting certain audiences, partnering with a number of these influencers who impact those audiences could be helpful when it comes to video.