6 Common Reasons Why Your Video Content Isn’t Converting on Social

Creating video content is typically one of the most intimidating propositions when considering what kind of content you’ll create. When it comes to creating text-based content like a blog post, the average small business owner has enough confidence in their writing ability to sit down at a keyboard and create something.

Video, on the other hand, feels ambiguous to the average person. To be fair, most small business owners have written their fair share of essays in high school or college. The same can’t be said about informative 5 minute videos.

So, for those of you who took the plunge, bravo. But being brave isn’t enough to convert with video. In fact, there are probably some mistakes you’re making right now that are negatively impacting your marketing efforts.

1. Be Captivating

You’ve created a 5 minute video with unique, in-depth, industry specific content. It’s highly valuable and sure to turn you into an online authority overnight, right? Not quite.

The reality of making videos for a social media audience is that you aren’t the only act playing at this concert, so to speak. Honestly, you’re probably not even at the top of their mind as they’re scrolling through their News Feed.

The only way to ensure that they sit through that 5 minute video is by grabbing their attention with a powerful first impression. A good rule of thumb is that the first 5 seconds of your content should be absolute dynamite.

But that’s not all. Your thumbnails should be custom made and intriguing. You should avoid any sort of intro music or animation. They already know who you are — your name’s in the corner. Your title should be well-thought out, with something specifically designed to get people to at least check out the first few seconds.

2. Be Specific

It might seem like a strange point to harp on, but it’s absolutely crucial that you be as specific as possible with your video title. Remember that your audience in this exact instance isn’t searching for videos like yours. They’re scrolling through their News Feed and your goal is to stop them by piquing their interest. Your video shouldn’t ramble on and on aimlessly. Have a point. Address it. Finish strong. The less fluff you include in the video, the more likely it is that people will make it to the end.

Another good rule of thumb? You should be able to summarize your video in a sentence. If you can’t, then you’ve likely gotten too complicated and you’re likely to lose your audience’s interest somewhere through the video.

3. Be Understanding

One of the worst things you can do when it comes to video on social media is pretending that this isn’t a unique experience. Being in denial about social will only make things harder for you down the line.

Recognize the user experience and you’ll be amazed at how many people are willing to meet you in the middle. For example, when people are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, the sound will be off by default. Instead of hoping and praying that they accidentally click on your video so they can hear what’s going on, go ahead and add captions to your videos. It might be a bit time consuming, but the benefits outweigh that by a long shot.

Having captions means that users can start to invest into the video with no effort on their behalf. If they’re intrigued by those first few seconds, they’re likely to turn on the sound and experience the video the way it was meant to be seen. But extending that olive branch within the first few seconds has the potential to make a huge difference.

Of course, you can go even further than that. If you really want to focus on being understanding, you can suggest that viewers tap for sound on Instagram. It might seem a bit corporate, but this simple ask can be massively effective when handled properly. If your video is heavily visual, you can run that message over the video without any issues.

If you’ve created a dynamite first few seconds, you may want to delay that by a bit to give people time to turn on the sound after your request. All of this depends on what kind of video you’ve made and how you’ve chosen to present it, but what really matters is remembering that it’s your job to make engagement as easy as possible for your audience.

4. Be Square

No, seriously. Focusing on creating square videos can have a surprising impact on your social media video marketing conversions. Keep in mind the way that people are using social media in 2017. Desktop is still relevant, but mobile is slowly becoming the status quo of social media, with more than half of video views taking place on mobile.

So, if you’re building a video experience for mobile, square videos are going to be your bread and butter.

5. Be Converting

This is one of the most frustrating issues with video content on mobile that you’ll see today. Even if the content is above average and the likelihood for engagement is high, businesses aren’t putting CTA’s on their videos.

Maybe it’s because they figure if someone liked their content on Facebook, they’re likely already following them or going to like the video.

Say it with me: never assume anything that isn’t backed by metrics. It’s impossible to predict with 100% certainty who will be watching the video. It’s also impossible to predict what anyone watching the video will do. Your best bet is to assume that everyone’s going to be so mesmerized by your content that without a CTA, they’ll be so speechless by the end that they’ll forget to engage at all.

Your video content is here to provide value and develop your online authority, no question. But it’s also there to leverage that attention into a conversion. If you’re serious about converting, you need a CTA at the end of every single video your business puts out on social.

6. Be Observant

The great thing about social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is that they do so much of the heavy lifting for you. Let’s say you just addressed the 5 common issues listed above and your content still isn’t converting! At that point, it’s time to take a good, long look at your metrics.

An easy place to start is the average watch time. Over time, you’ll get a better sense of where you’re losing your audience and what you can do to avoid that happening in the future. You can go on to see the reach and engagement of your video content, to see just how many people your content is attracting.

Creating engaging video that actually manages to convert requires a deep understanding of your environment and the position your audience is in. Once you start to focus on those two aspects, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it’ll be to convert with video content on social.