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A recent report created by Cisco claimed that social media videos would make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic in 2022. The 82% increase is 15 times higher than internet traffic in 2017. There’s no getting away from this increase as videos will only be more profitable for businesses. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are the most popular places to view video content. In addition, it’s straightforward for people to make videos themselves using their mobile phones instead of needing expensive camera equipment.
However, even though the cameras on mobile phones are improving, there are a variety of considerations when creating social media videos for social media platforms. For example, if your product & service videos are of poor quality, this will reflect your brand and give your potential customers the wrong idea about your business.
Conduct Research
Before you start filming, we strongly recommend researching other videos in your niche and especially from your competitors. Conducting research will help generate ideas and indicate what videos are getting the most engagement with likes, comments, and shares. Look where you can publish; Youtube, tiktok, instagram etc.
Plan Before Filming
The old saying goes, “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail,” which applies to creating professional videos. You should be considering where you are going to film? Who’s and what’s going to be involved in the video? What professional equipment do you need? Etc. There are lots of elements involved with making good quality videos. In the filming pro, spending more time and effort, you invest upfront, the more likely it will turn out how you visioned the video to go in your mind.
Spending time writing scripts and creating a storyboard is a great way to solidify your ideas and communicate this to other involved people.
Camera
Even though mobile phones can produce good quality images, mobile phone cameras, however, they have significant limitations. Nevertheless, if you desire to take your videos to the next level, investing in a proper camera might be worth it. Digital SLR and mirrorless cameras can produce higher quality professional results, and you could pick a camera up second-hand for only a few hundred pounds.
Lighting
Whatever kind of camera you use, the lighting set-up makes a considerable difference to the quality of the video that you record. Generally speaking, the more light you have during filming, the better the quality of the image you will get. You provide sufficient lighting because, in low light conditions, the camera has to increase the amount of voltage to the sensor, which causes very unsightly grain.
Audio
The audio for your videos is arguably just as important as the visual image (if not more so) but is often an area that many amateur video makers overlook. Unfortunately, the microphone quality on mobile phones is not up-to-scratch to capture professional audio, so we strongly suggest that you invest in a dedicated microphone to get closer to the subject. A cheap way to do this is by using a lapel mic which you can plug directly into your phone.
Landscape, Portrait or Square
Traditionally all social media videos were filmed and shown in the landscape using a ratio of 16:9; however, social media has started to change this convention. Here is a breakdown of what ratio to use on each platform:
- Instagram grid posts: Square
- Instagram story: Portrait
- Facebook feed post: Square
- Facebook story: Portrait
- YouTube: Landscape
- TikTok: Portrait
It’s worthwhile bearing this in mind before you start filming because this will impact how you go about capturing and editing the footage
The Finishing Touches
Adding graphics, stock product photos, typography and royalty-free music to the video during the editing process can transform how your video looks and feels. Here are a few websites which are great resources for this:
Summary
I hope this blog has been helpful to improve the quality of your videos for social media. Improving your social media videos starts before you even pick up the camera by researching and planning. You might want to invest in better quality equipment like a professional camera and microphone and make sure you have adequate lighting in whatever environment you are filming in. Finishing your videos with graphics, typography, and music can transform your videos. Finally, don’t forget to use the correct aspect ratio for the platform you will publish on.
If you would like help making videos for your social media channels, we have a team of experts at MO Studios, so please get in touch. We would love to work with you.
Visit Fotonic blogs for more of our blogs on photography.
Still need convincing about videography? Check out this blog.
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