Go to any social media channel and you will quickly come across a video that impresses you. From bright colors and animations to effects and drone shots, there are endless ways to capture viewer attention. However, you need not hire a professional to make captivating videos for your social media accounts.
Editing social media videos is much simpler than it seems. With a few simple tools and techniques, you can start producing professional-quality, attention-grabbing video content that successfully engages your target audience on social media platforms.
Before you dive deep into learning this amazing online video editor, you should explore one of the many online video editing tools that make the process a breeze, and far less daunting than it once was.
In this guide, let us cover some basics about mastering video editing for social media.
Getting in the Right State of Mind
Whether you are creating something from scratch or repurposing an existing piece of content, your primary goal should be to promote your products and brand. This is why it is essential to ensure that your content always looks fresh and appealing to audiences on social media. After all, you want your content to reach a wider audience and engage as many viewers as possible.
When it comes to preparing your videos for social media, the first thing you can do is to be proactive. Plan the content of your video before you start shooting. Consider creating the video in the format that suits the social media channel the best to save time spent on optimizing it later. For instance, when you can’t plan in advance, it helps to know some techniques to edit an existing video for social media.
Identifying the Intention
To get the desired results from your video marketing efforts, it is important that your social media videos align with your goals. If you aim to generate brand awareness through social channels, use high-quality product videos as a part of your bigger marketing campaign.
Social media video content can also help you optimize engagement. To realize this goal, identify what type of videos impress your audience the most. Figure out their challenges to define a niche and content that resonates the best with their needs.
Starting with a Bang
You want your social media videos to capture instant attention and retain it till the end. This is because brands are already fighting for attention on these channels. To ensure that your video doesn’t get lost in the feed, ensure to kick off things in the first few seconds. Avoid using too-long intros and consider delivering the most important information without any delay.
Also, make sure your social video focuses on a single message at a time. Keeping it clear and concise helps project your brand as professional and authoritative.
If your footage is so good that you can’t decide what shots you should discard, make two videos and compare them against one another to pick the best performing one. The ultimate goal is to keep your content engaging and to the point so you don’t lose attention.
Finally, select a thumbnail for your videos uploaded on social media platforms. Having a visually-appealing, relevant, striking image from your video as a thumbnail can encourage clicks and views.If you are following fashion updates regularly then these social media trends in fashion advice can help you.
Editing without Sound
A silent auto-play feature for video is common on social media platforms. Focusing on how to create a compelling video without audio can set you apart from others. It is easy to remove audio from your content within the social media app using the volume button. While this is true for Instagram, it doesn’t work on Twitter and Facebook, so consider editing your audio before uploading it to these platforms.
Another way to convey the desired message without audio is to add subtitles. Doing this will improve your video’s accessibility, making it easy for viewers to watch it anywhere without having to turn on the sound.
Subtitles will also eliminate the language barrier when it comes to conveying your brand message to a wider global audience on multiple platforms. Most video editors provide an easy way to upload subtitles to your social media videos.
Making the Most of Your Toolkit
The best way to master the art of video editing for social media is to dive right in. Start with your choice of a simple video editing software with basic features.
Get an overview of what tools your program offers, watch tutorials and play around with options to see what you can do. Most editing software solutions come loaded with basic functionality like splitting, adding background music, effects, transitions, and exporting to multiple formats.
Make sure you tailor the video for the platform you are looking to upload it on. Most channels impose restrictions on the length of videos, so keep your content within the permitted range. For example, Facebook allows you to upload videos with a maximum length of 241 minutes but the recommended length for engagement is 2 to 5 minutes. Instagram Stories, on the other hand, allow only 15 seconds long videos.
Making the Content Fit in
As social media platforms grow and evolve, new changes are seen to designs as well. It is important to be aware of the user experience on different platforms to ensure your content looks like it is native to them.
With over half of the online videos watched on mobile devices, it helps to optimize your content for small screens. Prioritize square videos for mobile editing as they tend to work well on most platforms.
You can also create portrait videos in aspect ratios 2:3 or 4:5 for uploading on Instagram and Facebook. Twitter allows both square and portrait videos but displays the preview in a 16:9 aspect ratio, so it is a good idea to use horizontal video for this channel. However, when editing for Stories, you want to shoot them vertically and edit within the 9:16 ratio.
Uploading Directly on Social Media Platforms
While it may seem tempting to share a video link on different platforms, it is much better to upload customized videos on every social media application. Native content is known to deliver better results than links. A study proved that Facebook prioritizes native videos so much that they drive up to 500% more engagement than YouTube videos embedded on the platform.
Also, consider using the creative features each platform offers. Today, these channels are much more robust with stickers, effects, and filters, helping you elevate your content and engage the target audience. Moreover, the platform’s algorithm is more likely to favor you if you use its features.
Final Thoughts
Mastering video editing skills for social media should not be a daunting task. Take charge of it, plan your edit and rely on your intuition to get started. Keep your mind open to new ideas and suggestions to improve and grow.
This guide should provide you with the basic understanding you need to start editing your social media videos to boost engagement on these platforms.
