Lights, Lens, Likes: Tips For Shooting Social Media Videos

Ready to level up your social media videos? You’re in the right place. We’ve put together some key insider tips from our social team on how to produce social media videos for your brand. From ideation through to posting, we’ve got your back.

Effective video production lies at the heart of successful social media campaigns, with people spending an average of 17 hours a week watching online videos, businesses must master the art of crafting engaging and shareable video content to stand out from the crowd.

1. Video Placement Options

Before you even start planning your social media video content you need to understand your audience and the platforms they use. Each platform comes with its own set of unique requirements, you must consider the following aspects when it comes to each platform you’re looking to post on:

• Aspect ratios

• Video lengths

• File formats

• Content guidelines

As an example, Instagram favours 1:1 or 9:16 ratios, whereas YouTube typically thrives on 16:9 ratios unless you’re posting a YouTube short then you’ll want a 9:16 video. By keeping these ratios in mind whilst filming you can film content that will work on specific channels or ensure you capture enough footage to edit into the correct ratios for each platform.

You will also need to look at the platform and ensure your content will align. While the core message and branding elements may remain consistent across channels, you must think about adapting the format, style and tone to align with each platform and the users. For instance, TikTok users often gravitate towards short, punchy videos with a playful tone, while LinkedIn users tend to prefer longer-form, informative content with a professional edge. By understanding each platform and which channels you’ll be posting on you can dive into the pre-production planning with confidence. Interested in optimal video lengths for each channel? Head over to our blog for the full breakdown.

2. Pre-Production Planning

Every great social video starts with strong ideation and concept development. Take time to brainstorm creative ideas that align with your brand identity, target audience and overarching marketing objectives. Consider factors such as the message you want to convey, the tone and style of content and any relevant trends or themes. Once you’ve got a bank of possible ideas you can then begin to refine these down into strong concepts that have the potential to resonate with your audience and achieve your desired outcomes.

With your concepts in hand, it’s time to create a concrete production plan and storyboard. This step is essential to ensure you're effective and efficient with video filming time. Outline key details such as filming locations, props, equipment required, shot compositions, text overlays, scripts/voiceovers and captions. The storyboard is the first step in making your idea a reality, for more information on storyboarding check out our blog.

To hold you and your team accountable, it’s a great idea to establish a clear timeline that outlines the various stages of production, including pre-production, filming, post-production and any necessary revisions or amends. It's important to factor in enough time for tasks such as scriptwriting, location scouting, equipment setup, filming sessions, editing and finalising delivery. Having a timeline ensures you can maintain momentum throughout the process and have a clear process to follow to meet your deadlines.

3. Filming Essentials

Now we’re into the fun part, filming your social media video! There are a couple of things we recommend capturing whilst filming content for your brand. The most important thing is that you mention or show your brand or product within the first 2 seconds of the video. By making your brand or product a focal point of your content, you can effectively capture viewers' attention and get your name out there before they continue scrolling.

Another top tip is to remember flexibility is key when it comes to filming social videos. Be prepared for unexpected challenges or opportunities to arise during filming. It’s important to stay open-minded and improvise to adapt your plans on the fly to accommodate unplanned situations. Whether it's adjusting your shot compositing, reworking your script or exploring creative alternatives, embracing the spontaneity of the filming process can allow you to create some amazing authentic video content that resonates with your audience. Having these authentic moments can really be beneficial to your brand as audiences are becoming more in favour of authentic content from brands that personify the real business - meaning audiences are more likely to trust you.

While the visual element of a video often takes centre stage don’t overlook the significance of sound and audio elements to enhance the overall experience. Pay attention to the audio and dialogue quality whilst filming. You may already have selected background music for the video so you must ensure you’re getting your timings right so the final piece works well with the sound. Whether you’re using a backing track or voice-overs, ensure your audio is clear and crisp to captivate your audience.

4. Authenticity Is Key

As we stated before, authenticity is key for social media video content. This goes beyond the overall tone and messaging of your video. You must prioritise genuine engagement with your audience by crafting content that speaks directly to their interests, needs and values. You want to avoid overly scripted dialogue and instead aim for a relaxed genuine communication style.

Trends are a great way to help boost your social video however, it's important to make sure the trend fits your brand. By jumping on a trend just because it's popular, and not because it fits your brand, could come across as inauthentic. You want to strike a balance between creativity and authenticity and not overuse filters and effects that can detract from the genuine nature of your content.

5. Mastering Your Social MEDIA Video

Social video is an important part of any brand's marketing strategy and getting it right can be tricky, however, if you do your research, formulate a plan and ensure you’re organised before getting to the filming this will help you create effective content. Check out our other blogs for more tips on all aspects of social media management, including content creation and paid advertising.

______