Choosing Creative Content for Social Media Videos

Opening YouTube, you might see a video from NordicTrack and you think, “What’s this?” So, you open the video and start dancing in your seat as people start dancing on NordicTrack treadmills. 

You’re captivated by the 2-minute, 31-second video. 

And, so are over 4 million other people.

That 2015 video, World’s Largest Treadmill Dance with Over 40 Treadmills by NordicTrack  is just one example of a successful viral video used to increase engagement and increase ad revenue. 

That’s one example of a viral video that Travis Chambers and his media company have successfully produced. Chambers, chief media hacker for Chamber Media, says video is one creative way of getting in front of customers quickly. Chambers has worked with 1800Flowers, Credit Repair and other larger companies.

As a body shop owner, you don’t need a large company like Chamber Media or a deep budget to create a successful social media video. You could start as soon as you have access to a smartphone and the internet. 

 Views of branded video content have increased 258 percent on Facebook and 99 percent on Youtube as of June 2017, according to Tubular Insight’s sponsored social video intelligence product, DealMaker. Tubular Insights is a global video measurement and analytics platform. 

Consider: DealMaker reports that, in 2018, 90 percent of all content shared by users on social media was video.

Closely behind the No. 1 search engine, Google, is YouTube, says Ian Anderson Gray, founder of Confidant Live Marketing Academy. 

Clearly, video is becoming a prominent player in social media and can help bring your business to the forefront. 

Gray and Chambers share their advice to determine the best content to post in a social media video.

Setting up the Video for Success

Gray recommends a video be around 14 minutes in length. The length of the video depends on the type of video. For instance, a live show is different than a quick social media video and could therefore be longer.

One mistake people often make is overcomplicating a video, Gray remarks. Anyone can simply take their phone out and start recording a video. A business operator doesn’t need any fancy equipment to be successful.

However, people will stop watching if the audio quality of the video is horrible, he says. If the audio on a phone isn’t good, Gray suggests purchasing a mic that can be plugged into the phone and then clipped onto the person’s outfit.

Chambers says video helps more people get connected to information resources faster. 

“Right now, video is the richest type of media we have,” he says.

Platforms like Google, Youtube and Facebook have helped businesses because they are able to get video advertisements in front of consumers for products they want before they even knew they wanted them, Chambers says. 

To start producing videos, Gray says to begin where the business is already receiving engagement. So, if a body shop is getting a lot of reach and interactions on Facebook, start there. But, don’t forget about YouTube. 

One tool a body shop operator can use is Morningfame. The platform will gather YouTube analytics of your videos, show which videos performed well and which did not, and then tailor recommendations for growing the channel and optimizing the videos in searches.

Chambers recommends a business owner spend about 60 percent of their marketing budget on Facebook ad videos, 30 percent on Google and then 10 percent on experimenting with new platforms.

Creating the Content of the Video

Each video can be a different type of “content bucket”, Gray says. 

One example of a content bucket is a “How-To” video. The content for each video depends on which platform the video will be posted on. A video that’s posted on Facebook might do better if it is filmed in a type of question-and-answer format, Gray says.

Some of the best types of videos that garner engagement from the audience include a live video or a type of “Behind the Scenes” video. These platforms give a sneak peak of how a company, brand or organization works and, as a result, often humanizes the subject.

Gray recommends the shop operator invite a guest on the video. Or, if a guest is not available, the leader can invite the audience watching the video to ask questions or be a remote “host” of the video. 

“You have to just start trying to produce videos,” Gray says, noting that the videos will tend to look better as business staffs get used to producing them. 

Chambers says there are about 100 different ways to run a video in an advertising format, but  there are seven important types of advertising videos that can be made. The video types include spokesperson anchor, product demo, social proof, closer ads, case study, unboxing showcase and lifestyle. Out of seven, the most important for the auto body is the spokesperson anchor video. (See Sidebar: The No. 1 Type of Video for Body Shops)

For prospecting or targeting customers that have not heard of the business before, Chambers says to keep the video length to about 3-5 minutes (See Sidebar: Glossary of Marketing Terms).

“You want to make it as long as you can while still maintaining people’s attention,” he notes.

For retargeting, it’s more of a reminder of what they already purchased from you. Retargeting videos can be shorter than prospecting ones.

“Generally, we’ve had a lot of luck with your first touchpoint being longer because you only have one chance to make a first impression,” Chambers explains.

Another common mistake business owners make is thinking they have to copy other successful videos.     Instead of downright plagiarizing the content of another company’s video, Chambers recommends a shop come up with an idea that makes the customer feel uncomfortable or places the customer out of their comfort zone and then pivot to content that’s more familiar for the customer.    

“We’ve found this very strong sense of randomness to creativity and it needs to start out being something that is very joking, confusing, perplexing or almost difficult to contextualize and then you bring it back to something people understand,” Chambers says. “So then they say, ‘Oh, wow, that was different but I still understand it’.”