“Video marketing is an incredible way to create new and interesting content that will drive engagement on social media. Now is the perfect time to begin experimenting with video and figuring out what your audience enjoys most. Social video is continually evolving and so it is up to us as marketers to keep up,” writes Brian Peters in a recent blog post published by Buffer, about the value of video marketing content, and how to create it for social media. This blog post is a bit of a read, so get comfortable.

Buffer quotes some stats that solidify the above statement:

• YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network.
• YouTube does all this with just mobile traffic! (The above stat doesn’t include desktop visits.)
• After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to purchase a product online.
• Conversions may increase by as much as 80% with a video on a landing page.
• Visitors spend 88% more time on a website that includes video.

You can’t argue with hard numbers. Read this excerpt from the blog post for some great tips for maximizing your video potential on social media.

1. Facebook Video is Fun, Emotional, and Highly Shareable

Think back to the last time you shared a video on Facebook.

What was the overall feeling of the video? Was there a particular reason that you shared it? Thinking share-first when planning and creating Facebook video will help put the story you’d like to tell in perspective.

Facebook also provides brands and marketers with incredible opportunities to target video advertising towards potential customers on granular levels. Metrics such as personal interests, locations, website visitors and much more are all available as targeting options.

And let’s not forget that there has never been a better time to create native Facebook video content. Over the last several months Facebook has begun to place a huge emphasis on video content in their news feed algorithm which means more organic reach and growth for marketers.

It’s a good time to be a video creator on Facebook!

For Facebook videos in particular, here’s a quick cheat sheet for making the most of Facebook video:

• Use “square” or 1:1 format. Studies show 1:1 outperforms landscape videos by 30-35% (source)
• Add captions to your video! 85% of videos are viewed on Facebook without sound (source)
• Make the first 3 seconds count. Facebook’s Autoplay will count 3 seconds as a “view” (source)
• Use high-resolution 720p or 1080p HD. 720p format has a resolution of 1280 x 720 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 1080p format has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 (source)
• Export your video in the format and resolution in which is was filmed (source)
• Write a compelling headline for your Facebook Live sessions to attract more viewers (source)

2. YouTube Remains the World’s Largest Video Search Engine

Some brands and influencers have found an incredible niche on YouTube. YouTube personalities Casey Neistat and Amy Schmittauer are awesome examples of influencers with a loyal following while GoPro is the Cinderella story of brands making it big. Those, along with countless others, have discovered a formula for YouTube success and it has worked well.

For the rest of us, YouTube serves a much different (yet still important) purpose – discovery.

YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches per month and is the second largest search engine online right behind Google, which makes sense because Google owns it.

Uploading and optimizing social video to YouTube allows you to seamlessly embed videos across your website while also creating content that is discoverableon Google and other search engines. Create videos that bring value to your audience and optimize them with closed captions, tags, and descriptions that will make them discoverable.

For YouTube video marketing, here’s a quick list of best-practices:

• Add captions to your video! YouTube videos may see 40%  more views with captions/subtitles (source)
• Make the first 3-10 seconds count. 20-25% of viewers will watch less than 10 seconds (source)
• Use robust video descriptions and tagging in addition to meta data to help with SEO rankings (source)
• Use high-resolution 720p or 1080p HD. 720p format has a resolution of 1280 x 720 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 1080p format has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 (source)
• Spend some time picking the right keywords to unlock major channel growth and video views (source)

3. Snapchat Video is Raw, Authentic, and Going Mainstream

We recently published an article asking:

If you could travel back in time to when Facebook or Instagram first started grabbing mainstream attention, knowing what you do now about the opportunity they hold for brands, you’d jump aboard, right?

Well, that opportunity is now on Snapchat.

Snapchat users are currently watching an incredible 10 billion videos per day on the platform, up from 8 billion in February. The sky is the limit for Snapchat and brands are quickly jumping aboard – figuring out what content is driving the most engagement and growth on this platform.

For a lot of users, especially the younger generation, Snapchat is a premier form of communication. This makes Snapchat an important channel to be active on as an influencer or brand.

A quick cheat sheet for Snapchat video marketing best-practices:

• Add text and drawings to your video! 33% of videos are viewed on Snapchat without sound (source)
• Make the 1st Snap count. We’ve found that 22% of viewers drop off after one Snap (Add us on Snapchat)
• Record in a vertical format. Viewers tend to engage more with content that looks and feels native (source)
• Provide a variety of content that your users will find either entertaining or helpful (source)

4. Instagram Video is Captivating, Thoughtful, and Inspiring

With the recent launch of Instagram Stories and their long-form video app, IGTV, Instagram is the new major player when it comes to social video. Brands and marketers are jumping on the new feature, testing it out, and looking for ways to stay at the top of user’s minds.

The main question, however, is how do Instagram Stories differ from the video marketing content that we’re used to seeing on Snapchat?

When Instagram first introduced video in 2013, more than 5 million videos were shared within the first 24 hours. We’re seeing a similar trend with Instagram Stories as marketers look to find what works on the new medium. What we do know is that the introduction of this new feature has opened up tons of new video marketing opportunities on Instagram.

Here’s a quick list of video marketing best-practices on Instagram:

• Use “square” or 1:1 format. Studies show it costs 33% less to get someone to engage with square video (source)
• Think “no sound.” Instagram requires that you “tap video for sound” meaning silence is automatic (source)
• Part of the appeal of Instagram is the quality of content. Aim to keep your videos on par with your photos
• Posts with at least one hashtag get 12% more engagement. Remember to optimize captions & tags (source)
• Instagram Stories allows uploading of videos within 24 hours of being “added” to your phone. Anything you create on your computer and send to your phone counts within that rule
• “Bring your photos to life” with Instagram Stories. Behind-the-scenes looks at how the photo was created

5. Twitter Video is Quick, Personal, and Entertaining

Twitter is the silent hero when it comes to social video content. While everyone is talking about Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube, Twitter continues to innovate its video platform – bringing new ways for brands to share video on Twitter to light.

Did you know that 82% of Twitter users watch social video content on Twitter and that an additional 41% of them say that Twitter is a “great place” to discover educational video content?

Social media marketers know that Twitter is a highly-personal and engaging platform when you take time to interact. There is so much content these days that one of the only ways to win on Twitter is to dive into those 1-on-1 relationships.

Create personal video content on Twitter and take the extra time to follow up in an authentic way.

For Twitter videos, here’s a quick cheat sheet for making the most of them:

• Humanize your videos. Videos showing people in the first moments are 2x more like to be viewed (source)
• Tell a story. Videos that have a clear beginning, middle, and end can increase viewership (source)
• Videos that simply aim to entertain your audience can lead to a 15% higher intent to share (source)
• Maximum video length is 140 seconds with a file size of up to 512mb (source)
• The video format supported for mobile apps are MP4 and MOV (source)”

Read the full blog post HERE.