Photo by Angela Compagnone on Unsplash
How To Make Short Videos For Social Media
People love to watch short videos on social media. But how exactly do businesses create these eye-catching videos that stop you mid-scroll? Making short videos for social media doesn’t have to be hard. Today, there are many editing software solutions and AI tools that make the processes easy. In this article, I’ll review how to create short videos for social media and best practices to help your videos have the biggest impact.
How to create short videos for social media
- Plan your video content
Outline who you’re audience is, what topics you want to cover, areas of your business you want to showcase, and your video schedule.
- Capture high-quality footage
Take the time to capture video content using a good camera or smartphone. Make sure the lighting and audio are good.
- Edit your videos
Import your long-form video into your editing software of choice. Trim it down and focus on the story to keep it engaging. Add captions, titles, transitions, music, and graphics to make it even more engaging. - Use the correct aspect ratio for each social media platform
Take note of the video specs for each social media platform so
you export videos in the correct size for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
7 best practices for creating engaging short videos
When creating impactful short videos for social media, you’ll want to follow these best practices.
- Hook your audience in the first few seconds
The opening moments of your video are like a storefront; they need to be inviting enough to make viewers stop and explore. Start with something bold—a striking visual, a compelling question, or an unexpected action to pull viewers in instantly. This initial spark is key to keeping your audience engaged until the end. Remember, you're competing with endless content, so make those first few seconds scroll-stopping.
- Tell a clear story
Keep your video concise by focusing on the key points of your story. Remove any content that complicates the story or gives more detail than your audience needs. Otherwise, you risk confusing viewers leading them to scroll on.
- Use high-quality visuals and audio
When shooting a video, make sure the lens is focused and the audio is clear. There’s nothing more frustrating than a blurry video with muffled sound. Consider these resolutions to create high-quality videos:
Square videos - 1080x1080 pixels
Landscape videos - 1280x720 pixels
Portrait videos - 720x1280 pixels
- Encourage interaction with questions or prompts
Creating a successful video doesn’t just mean it looks good. It also means your audience engages with it. By asking questions or adding prompts at the end, you give your audience something to respond to, which can encourage more likes, comments, and shares. - Use a consistent brand voice & style
When you look at all the videos on your page, you want them to have a similar look and feel. That way viewers will recognize the brand when they see your videos. So try to use similar colors, formats, fonts and cover images to create a unified look and feel.
- Tailor the video length per social media platform
When it comes to sharing videos on social media, size does matter! Each platform has a preferred video length. For instance, quick and snappy videos work best on Instagram, where people scroll fast. On YouTube, viewers are looking for more in-depth content so longer is better. Twitter likes brief clips, while Facebook gives you more room to play. Knowing these ideal lengths can help your videos get more views, likes, and shares.
The ideal video length per social media platform:
- Instagram Feed: 60 seconds
- Instagram Reels: 7 to 15 seconds
- Instagram Story: Up to 60 seconds
- Instagram Live: Up to 4 hours
- Instagram Feed ad: up to 60 seconds
- Reel ad: up to 30 seconds
- Instagram Story ad: 5 to 15 seconds
- TikTok: 21 to 34 seconds
- TikTok ad: 9 to 15 seconds
- Twitter: 20 to 45 seconds
- YouTube: 8+ minutes
- YouTube ad: 12 seconds to 3 minutes
- LinkedIn: Under 30 seconds
- Snapchat: 7 seconds
- Pinterest: 6 to 15 seconds
- Leverage trends, relevant hashtags & captions
Researching trending keywords and hashtags will help you create videos that appeal to the public and increase post discoverability. By focusing on breakout topics you can join the conversation and show your audience you’re relevant.
Use AI tools to do the work for you
Leveraging AI tools to create short video clips for social media can significantly streamline your content creation time, making it easier to produce compelling, high-quality short videos on a consistent schedule. AI technology offers a wide range of features that help improve video creation and performance, from editing and voice-overs to automated captions, video analytics, and more.
Create short videos with Munch
Munch is the #1 AI video repurposing platform. It simplifies video creation by turning long-form videos into short shareable clips. Though an all-in-one platform, Munch automatically edits your video, generates captions, and publishes your post on the social media platforms of your choice. Through extensive machine learning capabilities, it understands what to focus on to tell a clear story and uses analytics to measure clip virality. So, whether your business creates videos often or you’re just getting started, you can create engaging short videos consistently with the power of AI.
Key takeaways:
- Capture high-quality video footage with good lighting and sound
- Hook your audience in the first few seconds
- Tell a story and maintain your brand’s style
- Optimize length & video specs per platform
- Leverage trends to ride the social wave
- Use AI tools to help you create short, engaging videos faster
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Keep these points in mind, and you'll be well on your way to creating short videos for social media that not only capture your audience’s attention but also encourage them to interact with your business (and maybe even become a future customer).
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