3 Easy Social Media Videos to Create for Your Business

Creating and sharing videos is one of the best ways for businesses to promote their brands on social media. In fact, a recent survey found that 85% of consumers say they'd like to see even more videos from brands.

Video content has 3 measurable benefits:

• Makes your business more visible in social feeds
• Boosts conversions and sales
• Improves your brand's search engine rankings

If you have limited resources for marketing, you still can create videos that engage your social media fans.

In this article, we show you how to create 3 different types of videos that your audience will love:

• Live streams
• Interviews
• How-to tutorials

1. Live Stream Videos Engage Your Audience

Live stream videos create a sense of community by welcoming your fans to experience an event in real time.

Live stream videos are low-cost and require minimal - if any - planning. It's as simple as pushing a button on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.

Here are 3 examples of brands using live stream video to connect and engage with their audiences:

• Women's running apparel company Oiselle takes viewers behind the scenes at road races
• Steve Roller of "The Freelance Manifesto" organizes weekly coffee chats
• Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner explains and discusses breaking industry news such as Facebook's recent algorithm changes

Live Stream Events

Women's running apparel brand Oiselle uses Instagram to live stream local races and highlight how its employees join together to cheer for the runners.

These unplanned and unedited videos create a sense of camaraderie by allowing fellow runners and Oiselle consumers to watch a race and feel the excitement of cheering runners.

Host Live Chat Sessions

Hosted chat sessions are another type of live video that you can use to build relationships with your audience.

For example, Steve Roller, author of "The Freelancer Manifesto," has a successful Facebook group called "Copywriter Cafe." The group is a popular hangout for professional writers.

Roller uses Facebook Live video to host a weekly "Cafe Chat" for members of the group. 

He starts his live session by sitting down with a cup of coffee. This works because it feels like you're sitting down to have a normal conversation with a friend. He then briefly discusses the week's topic before opening the chat to group discussion. 

Participants join in to say hello, share tips, and ask questions about the topic.

Copywriter Cafe's live weekly chat builds a strong sense of community and loyalty. And, It requires little production, expense, or preparation on his part - he just sits down and starts talking as though the entire group is sitting at the same table.

Stream Short Announcements or News

Another way to take advantage of live video is by streaming announcements, updates, or news about your business.

For example, in January 2018, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a public announcement about changes to the Facebook news feed. This was big news for small businesses and marketers who rely on Facebook to promote their brand.

Within the hour, Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner was broadcasting live on Facebook. 

He explained and reviewed the Zuckerberg announcement clearly. One by one, fellow marketers joined the conversation.

Stelzner went on to share his opinions on how the changes might affect the marketing industry. He then opened the chat to discussion with thousands of fellow marketers.

By simply hitting "live record" and talking about the issue, Stelzner engaged thousands of marketers worldwide. 

Stelzner's live Facebook video was viewed 581,000 times and shared by over 6,000 people. 

Learn how to create a YouTube following for your brand.

2. Interview Videos Increase Your Social Media Reach

Interview videos are a chance for your business to entertain and inform by telling a story. 

Interviewing people engages two audiences: yours and your interviewee's. This helps increase your reach because both parties may share the interview with friends and family. 

One way to create interview videos is by posing the same question to a number of different people. Then, turn those interviews into compelling content with a bit of light editing to create a composite.

For example, Code.org launched its business with an interview-style video, "What Schools Don't Teach."

The video features clips from interviews with well-known tech founders, celebrities, and business people. Each interviewee shares how they wrote their first line of code and what they created with it.  

The result was a collection of stories that the internet couldn't resist.

The video became #1 on YouTube in one day and continues to be shared on social media more than 5 years later.

How to Get Started With Interview Videos

1. Research your audience. Find out what type of people, information, and entertainment interests them. 
2. Plan interviews by creating a list of open-ended questions that require descriptive answers. 
3. Turn your interviews into engaging videos with some light editing. Include only the most compelling parts.
4. Keep the length of your videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Interview-style videos are a simple way to create successful social media content. Experiment with different questions and topics to see what brings out fascinating stories and dialogue from your subjects.

3. How-To Videos Build Audience Loyalty

Training videos provide value by educating your audience and sharing how they can use your product or service.

Businesses use how-to videos to:

• Teach customers how to use your product
• Train people on topics of interest
• Teach a skill
• Share a recipe for success

HubSpot, a company that provides marketing automation software, has team members record short videos to explain different marketing topics.

For example HubSpotter Brian Bagdasarian recorded a 30-second video that explains conversational marketing. 

Using Kool-Aid as a prop, Bagdasarian delivers a mini-tutorial in less than 60-seconds. He posted the video to LinkedIn, but it is also appropriate for Facebook and Twitter.

Great how-to videos simply involve sharing tips and short lessons by turning on your camera and having a conversation with your audience.

Boost Your Brand on Social Media With Simple, Inexpensive Videos

Videos can help your businesses improve customer engagement and increase product sales. Even the simplest, most low-cost videos can bring a high return on investment (ROI).

There are many ways to create engaging videos that are easy on your time and wallet. If you've never used video to promote your business, try starting with one of the video styles above: live streams, interviews, and how-to tutorials.