Five Video Editing Tips: How to Create Engaging Videos for Social Media
Social media videos have quickly become one of the most powerful marketing tools for attracting and connecting with audiences around the world. Platform algorithms prioritize video content, so creating high-quality, engaging videos is essential for maintaining and growing your audience.
At Common Ground Public Relations (CGPR), we’re constantly reviewing social media marketing best practices and strategies to keep our clients looking sharp. Below are five video editing tips that are optimized for social media sharing.
Video Editing Tips for Social Media:
1. Hook viewers early with a short, captivating introduction
Research shows the average person’s attention span for a single screen has decreased to 47 seconds over the past six years. The average person scrolls quickly, and you often have less than three seconds to grab their attention. If the beginning of your video is slow, viewers will move on before hearing your message.
Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook prioritize popular videos and use insights such as watch time, audience retention and viewer engagement to determine which videos to show. A good, short hook at the beginning can capture and keep your viewers’ attention, resulting in better video performance
2. Always include subtitles
Adding subtitles is often overlooked or viewed as time-intensive and not worth the ROI. But, whether it’s because their environment is loud, they don’t want to disturb others, or they want to better understand what’s being said, people are watching videos without sound more than ever.
Subtitles create more inclusive and engaging content for audiences, and without them, viewers may scroll past your video.
Many platforms have the ability to automatically create subtitles for your video, but be sure to review them before posting to correct any errors!
3. Be mindful where you place subtitles and photos
Different platforms have different aspect ratios. If you place subtitles or images too close to the edge, they may be cropped out.
Most social media platforms’ video editing features will overlay elements—such as the play button, like/comment/share icons, and the username or profile—directly on the video to serve as guidelines for where to place your content. For third-party editing software, consider adding guidelines to ensure all your content is viewable in frame.
4. Check platform guidelines frequently for updates and algorithm changes
Each platform has different guidelines, ratios and recommendations for content, and they are constantly changing. To ensure your video fits and performs well, check platform guidelines frequently for updates.
Most platforms don’t notify users of these changes. We recommend signing up for daily newsletters that provide social media news and updates, such as Social Media Today and Marketing Brew, or partnering with an agency like ours that can monitor these trends for you.
5. Be strategic with the content
Video may be the current content king, but not every message is video worthy. Static content done right can perform very well.
Even short-form videos can be time-intensive to produce, and social media feeds are oversaturated with video content. Be strategic. Whether your goal is to sell a product or recruit a student, make sure your video is visual, engaging and has a clear message.