The power of video in social media marketing for education
A video that catches and holds your audience’s attention on social media is a powerful thing. Connecting to a person through storytelling, novelty, humour, or simply an engaging personality, is no small task. Yet reaching through the screen, via video, has a real impact, when it’s done right.
Brands big and small, across industries, have discovered there’s a lot of return on investment to be had. From longer brand building to quick conversions, videos can form an integral part of your marketing plan – especially if you’re in the education field, where consumers and students actively seek out useful information, lessons and advice.
Over the last few years InVideo have found that “96% of consumers increased their online video consumption”. Hubspot back this up, sharing the news that 86% of companies engage in video marketing.
We recommend that you start harnessing the power of video for your educational institution. Not only does it promote your company, but it also puts a face to your brand.
Let’s explore how video content can benefit your educational institution. Moreover, we offer you a step-by-step guide on how to create the best video for you, – whether you run an English Academy or run the marketing department in a university or publisher.
The key benefits of video content for education businesses
There are lots of benefits of using video content in your education marketing – and a few big misconceptions too. Here’s a quick break down:
Creating video content is easier than you think
We get it – many people are put off making video content because they think it’s difficult to do. But that’s not always the case. Yes, people can spend thousands on producing top quality movies, but that’s (usually) not the case when making videos for Instagram or TikTok.
You don’t always need special editing skills, programs or equipment to make good quality videos. In fact, some online video editing tools like InVideo, mentioned above, allow you to easily and quickly put together the perfect video. If you’re interested in how to edit video successfully, their guide is super useful. But ultimately, all you need is a camera or smartphone and a clear message to communicate.
This video alone has received over 3 million views. It’s not exactly a Steven Spielberg production, but it does make people laugh.
Video can humanise your education marketing
Humanising your content is a big trend for the 2020s. By lifting the veil and being less corporate, you better connect with clients.
Of course, marketing or product-focused videos can be incredibly corporate, if you want them to be. But if you decide to invest in social media video content, you’ll need to loosen up and put a human face to your brand. For example:
- Behind the scenes videos give people insights into how it is to work at your company.
- Customer experience videos give potential students an idea of what to expect.
- And, if you put your instructors or experts in front of the camera, your audience will get a feel for your school, academy or service.
Social media videos engage your audience faster
While videos can’t pack in as much information as blogs do, they’re easy to consume and sum up the key points in a very short time. This is great for capturing attention fast and keeping it!
According to Social Media Today, video content is also more likely to get users engaging with and reacting to it. They say that “tweets with video see 10x more engagement than those without, Pinterest users are 2.6x more likely to make a purchase after viewing brand video content, and video generates more engagement than any other content type on Instagram.”
Social media videos can be created on a budget
A common misconception is that video is expensive. Of course, if you’re hiring a studio, renting equipment, paying actors and an editing company, then yes – the prices will be exorbitant.
But they certainly don’t have to be. Recording short videos for social media using your phone costs nothing but time. You can make them from your own home by simply using your smartphone to record a video and upload it.
The production quality might not be so high, but people don’t expect feature films on Tik Tok. They want fun, entertaining, engaging or useful content.
Video content can be brilliant for SEO
YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google. A simple ‘how to…’ search in Google, brings up a list of the best ranking websites and YouTube’s video results. This means that video content can be a huge driver of traffic to your company.
Pro tip #1:
There are a number of tools you can use to discover YouTube SEO keywords:
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
- VidIQ Vision
- TubeBuddy
Pro tip #2:
Follow these steps to ensure your video is optimised for YouTube and search:
- Name the video file including your primary keyword.
- Add the keyword in the title of the video and in the video description
- Include your primary and secondary keywords in the YouTube meta tags.
- Add your video to an appropriate category
- Upload a custom thumbnail image for your video’s result link.
8 steps to creating the perfect video for social media
Now you know the benefits of video marketing for your educational business, here are 9 simple steps to creating the best video for your social media channels.
1. Capture attention early on
The first 5 seconds of your video are vital for keeping your audience engaged. With so many videos on the internet, yours needs to stand out from the crowd. So it’s crucial that you engage your audience immediately for your video to be effective.
In the following video, BBC Learning English sets the tone and states the purpose immediately, using spoken and visual language. If you don’t explain what the viewer should expect, then they’re more likely to move on to the next.
Do: Make it fun, interesting and show off your company’s personality.
Don’t: Bombard your viewers with advertising.
2. Get the ideal length by platform right
To give you an insight into the ideal length your video content should be across different social media platforms, check out this table from Vimeo.
| Social Media Channel | Optimal Video Length |
| 15 seconds to 3+ minutes | |
| IG story: 1 – 7 slidesGrid video: 60 seconds or lessIGTV: 2 to 5 minutes | |
| 43 – 45 seconds | |
| 6 – 15 seconds | |
| 30 seconds or less | |
| TikTok | 9 to 15 seconds |
| YouTube | 15 minutes |
Do: Keep it short and simple.
Don’t: Overload your viewers with too much information.
3. Sound quality is important
Bad sound can ruin a good video – even if overall production quality isn’t exactly Hollywood, people do need to be able to hear you. It must be clean, crisp and well balanced. Listen with and without headphones to be sure you meet the mark.
Also note that many online video editing apps, such as InVideo, offer the option to add sound effects to your content. It’ll bring your video to life, without you having to record any sounds yourself.
Do: Make sure you use a good microphone.
Don’t: Use copyrighted music or sounds. Make sure to double check that you can use it before uploading it, or your video could be taken down.
4. Include subtitles
Although adding sound to your videos is a great move, it’s important to accompany any speaking with subtitles. Here’s why:
- Accessibility – Subtitles makes video content accessible for the hearing impaired.
- Language differences – Non-native English speakers may need subtitles for extra language support.
- Preferences – Localization Lab found that “69% of consumers prefer to watch videos without sound when in public”.
- SEO ranking – Google indexes subtitles on video which improves your SEO.
Do: Make the subtitles clear and easy to read.
Don’t: Place them over any crucial on screen information or features.
5. Consider your lighting
Lighting helps create an effective story when it comes to video. While it’s possible to spend money on professional lighting equipment, you can also do it for free as long as you find a light and airy space to film in.
In this Instagram video, they BBC Learning English have chosen to use natural light:
Ensuring you’ve got good lighting will improve your video quality and make it look much more professional.
Do: Choose a clear space with lots of natural light if you don’t have professional lighting equipment.
Don’t: Put the light behind you or the backlighting will make it very difficult to see you.
6. Choose your camera angle
Ready for your close up? Before you begin filming you need to consider the camera angle. Make sure that if you’re going to have someone talking, to position the camera in line with their head and not directly up their nose!
Similarly, keep them in the centre of the shot. It looks a lot more professional and is easier for the viewer to watch.
Do: Make sure whatever you’re featuring is in the centre of the shot.
Don’t: Cut off any part of the person that is speaking.
7. Consider the background
There’s nothing worse than watching a video with clutter, noise or distractions in the background. Make it professional and choose your background wisely. Here are some simple ideas:
- Use a plain paper backdrop – keep it white and simple, or choose a nice colour that compliments any other video features.
- Stand in front of a whiteboard – you could either leave it clean and blank, or write examples on it if you’re explaining language points.
- Use your office – if you decide to do this, make sure it’s quiet and tidy!
- Go outside – if it’s a nice sunny day, you can take advantage of the natural light.
If you’re using a room, such as a living room or office, to do the video, make sure you consider the mise-en-scène. Do you want plants and flowers? Would some language books look good in the background? Whatever you do, keep it simple and make sure nothing obstructs you.
Do: keep the background clean and tidy.
Don’t: Obstruct the main feature or person in the video.
8. Include a call to action
Rather than waiting until the end to invite your viewers to act, look at the average viewing times of your video content. You’ll find that across the majority of channels, it’s common for viewers to leave the video after watching 50-60% of your video content. So, it’s important to include the call to action early on, or they’ll most likely miss it!
Do: Make it clear what your call to action is and offer a link for the viewer to use.
Don’t: Make it too long or tedious or the viewer will stop watching.
Video Content for Social Media
Now you know how to create the perfect social media video content for your education institution. Remember, it doesn’t have to cost thousands to create high-quality videos that engage your audience.
If you’d like to include video content in your social media strategy, get in touch with us today and we’ll show you how.