How to Create Catchy Video Content with a Small Budget

Many marketers will have you believe that the only types of videos you should post on social media are those that are professionally made and super sleek; which means they will have to spend a ton of time and money creating these videos. This is simply not the case.

Facebook Video Algorithm – Capture the Biggest Audience possible

The bottom line is that videos are becoming more and more an effective platform to reach your social fans and followers. On Facebook, for example, videos have more weight in the search algorithm than any other type of content.

It’s no coincidence that videos are the top-ranking posts on Facebook. Post a video and you have a much better chance of them reaching your intended audience.

Ever notice when your friend, or a business you like, goes live? Facebook makes sure you do! You get a notification that the user or business is live.

Our next blog post will be devoted to LIVE videos, in which we will tell you about ideas for your LIVE presentations and share the best practices.

What types of videos should you post?

People respond best to personal, relatable videos. There are a lot of options available, in terms of actual content and those that help to eliminate background noise. If you think that without a real product you can not record a valuable video, you’re mistaken. We’ve analyzed successful pages of Small Businesses (both product & services) and saved some great examples of different types of videos that you can start creating as quickly as today!

Product video

It’s not hard to take a short video of your awesome product. Trilogy spent a little budget for this simple product video.

TIP: Try Stop Motion video (the new video trend) – surprise and engage!

By showcasing your products and showing your fans and followers what your company has to offer, you increase the chance of conversions – including sales. When they see it, there are more chances for them to want to buy it.

Invite them Inside your Office or Store

What better way to get people to come see you than to show them what they’re missing? You can also show how the products are created in your location, showcase your services etc. Melba, the coffee house is all about coffee making. Watching this “coffee” video will intrigue the follower to want to come for themselves and taste this artsy cup of coffee!  

TIP: Process videos are viral. People like watching something created from scratch (e.g. coffee making, recipe, make-up videos etc)

Industry-Related How-to Videos

You know your product/service best and know how to use it effectively (e.g. if you are a restaurant – post easy recipes, a beauty salon may reveal secrets for 15min active face masks, a clothing store – ready-to-go looks etc). Kikki.K a stationery shop, recorded a video tutorial explaining how to wrap gifts.

TIP: think of unusual ways to use your products. Create your own hacks and share them with your followers.

Show Off Your Team

Going behind-the-scenes is not something new. We know now to engage with our customers, it’s more than just showcasing your product/service. It’s also about making it personal by rolling the camera on your staff.  Odettes is a restaurant who understands the value of their clients by posting both videos and photos of their food and interior. If your brand is about people and connecting with them – start creating videos with your team and by your team. Show how eager they are when working all together – your followers will appreciate their hard work and camaraderie!

TIP: Try Boomerang videos to create short and catchy video content (see Instagram camera settings).

Video posts that let your audience get closer to you and your business is more valuable than you could possibly imagine.

Get professional quality videos from your smartphone

Not everyone has the budget to create a professional video, here are some tips and tricks you can follow to make sure they look just as good to your social audience. Here is a handy list of tips you can keep in mind when you’re filming your next social video:

• Avoid vertical video syndrome
• Think about what you’re going to say ahead of time – dead air never did anybody any good
• Let people know if you’re going LIVE before you do – that way they’ll be waiting for you
• Time your live videos for when your followers are online – otherwise participation will be low
• Make sure the lighting is on point – you want to be seen, after all
• Write a compelling description of your video – that way when it’s just a video, people want to watch it
• Be yourself – social media is all about relationships
• Eliminate background noise as much as possible – a microphone might come in handy. The Audio matters as much as the Video.
• Keep your phone or camera still – no social video should be in “shaky cam” style
• Get Close to Your Subject. Mind the messy background. Choose the background that will fulfill the video image not distract attention.

Follow these easy guidelines; add video into your content plan, and in return you get  engagement and conversion on your social media efforts. With hardly any time or effort, you can really boost your social media game. Give it a try!

How to Optimize Your Facebook Page for Product Sales

Every Small Business’ main goal should be to sell via Facebook. Whether you are a Brand, Artisan or Personal Coach, this is something you all need to thrive for; to achieve any form of revenue or profit. Big brands can easily settle with basic Social Media presence because their budgets are not comparable to yours. It all comes down to simply publishing posts, attaching the links to your website which then converts into leads and voila! your product/service is sold.

Setting up your page

In the current state of online shopping, you don’t need an actual website. Now you not only promote your company with Social but also sell directly from Social. Facebook rolls out new features all the time. You can turn your page into a great market place. But to see results, you need to set it up properly.

Choose the Right Facebook Page Type and Category

Depending on what product or service you offer and the sales methods you use will determine what type of page setup your business requires.  For ex.: A retail store will need a special Shop tab, Restaurants will drive followers to their physical location etc…

There are some page templates to help you promote your products more effectively. To find them – go to Settings–Edit Page.

You will see a standard page template. Click on it to choose the one that fits your business best:

• Services
• Shopping
• Business
• Politicians
• Venues
• Nonprofits
• Restaurants and Cafes

Before you set up a certain template, make sure you are happy with all its call to action buttons and tabs. Some page templates do not have tabs that you may need, but you can manually add all those you do.

Select a Call To Action button

Your call to action button represents the action that you expect them to perform. Whether you want them to shop, learn more, or place an order – make sure your button represents your current objectives.

To change your call to action button, click on your page and choose your option.

Now you need to decide on the website (if you choose Shop now) or Contact (if you choose Contact Us) that your button will lead to.

You can test different call to actions and change them according to your relevant campaigns. You can see statistics on each CTA and promote them.

Set up a Shop section

If you want to sell products directly from Facebook; setting up a Shop section (if applicable to your business) is the best way to do this.

Go to the Shop tab to create your Facebook storefront. First step – agree to the Merchant Terms and Policies.

Next – choose your checkout method: allow people to purchase via Facebook or by navigating to your site when they click on a product.

Now add products and describe them.

Upload Video Cover

Now it’s possible to update your Facebook cover — with a video! Once people visit your Facebook page, the video will start to play. This will create a more dynamic page and more engaging interaction for your Facebook fans and followers.

Small businesses, entrepreneurs, artisans, creators, and big brands will benefit from this update because:

• Videos can help better tell a brand’s story
• Users prefer to view video content
• Your brand will have the opportunity to highlight your key features & benefits

What to highlight in the video:

• Product/Service
• Inspirational words of wisdom
• An overview of your company

What you need to know about Facebook Cover Videos

• Users will upload a cover video in the same way they upload a cover photo
• Facebook Cover videos can be 20-90 seconds in length: no longer, no shorter
• The recommended video crop is 820 x 312 pixels
• Facebook Cover videos start playing with the sound muted

Setting up your Messenger

Messages are a way to build good relations with your audience. Some marketers neglect this hidden side of social media marketing. Why hidden? It’s a form of communication that occurs behind the news feed.  

When they see your promotional post, they don’t need to send you an email or contact you via your website to ask about your working hours, price, shipping etc – they simply tap on your profile and PM you. Instant Access to you – genius, really!

• Pop-Up Messenger

Facebook offers you pop-up instant messages if your response rate is higher than 90%. Seeing that you use messages so actively, the network pops a message in the feed to provoke visitors to ask business questions or simply start a conversation. Make sure you respond instantly to keep this feature running on your page.

Go to Settings and choose Messaging to set up:

• Response Assistant

Send Instant Replies to anyone who messages your Page

• Response time is IMPORTANT – instant replies let users know you care about them.

Be honest and choose from “instantly” to “within hours”

• Stay responsive when you can’t answer

Let customers know that you are there for them and will respond soon

• Show a Messenger Greeting

Create a greeting that people will see the first time they open a conversation with you on Messenger.

Social Selling with Facebook Pages Manager App

Save time by responding to all enquiries within a single Inbox: Messenger, Facebook and Instagram comments. Take a load off, now you know that you aren’t missing an important message or comment. To use updates, please download/update Facebook Pages Manager Mobile App (iOS, Android) or find the notification from Facebook on web version.

A single Inbox for Messenger, Facebook and Instagram comments

• Personalize

Simply tap the person’s name to see their public profile, as well as their previous interactions with your business. You can also create your own labels and apply them to people based on what they messaged you about.

• Reply to Comments

You can reply to Facebook comments, visitor posts, reviews, messages and Instagram comments directly from the updated inbox by tapping on the content you want to answer.

Reviews and Comments

Online shoppers are influenced by reading social media reviews, comments and feedbacks. Studies say that 85% of consumers read up to 10 online comments and reviews before they can trust a brand. Hence the effectiveness with which you manage your comments could have a great impact on your business. Social media is about personal contact, and comments show your followers how important they, and their needs, are to you.

Here are the basic rules of handling Social Media Comments:

• Respond ASAP

Not only should you respond within an hour (at most, 2), you should ALWAYS respond.

TIP: Use Facebook Manager Page Mobile App to easily manage all your messages, comments and posts (iOS, Android).

• Be friendly and personable

You are the voice of a brand and the voice should always be a good representative of the company.

• Be transparent

As a brand, it is important to be absolutely transparent and not make it seem to the customer that the brand is trying to cover up for an error.

• Keep good records

The social media comments you receive can give you a lot of insight into how you can better serve your customers.

• Go private

Never leave comments about product/service without sending a private message to the responder. Your lead is hot – now is the time to talk about your best offers, as long as you make sure to immediately resolve the problem the commenter may have had.

To PM (private message) them, tap on the profile photo and choose Message. Don’t forget to advise them in the comments that you have sent them a PM.

• Request a review

Where applicable, it might make sense to request the customer to leave a review.

Make it easier for them by inserting the link to review your service in your comment.

• Encourage people to visit again

Always encourage your customers to come back and bring their friends along as well.

Responding to Negative Comments

• Always respond

When you don’t respond, you look like you don’t care. That makes people angry and they’re likely to leave even more negative comments. This hurts your brand.

• Apologize first, acknowledge the error

Always begin the comment with a polite and courteous apology.

• Ask for more information

Sometimes frustrated customers may not give all the info that may be required to help sort out the issue.

• Go private

It may be prudent to take the conversation private in some cases.

• Do not ignore/delete

Odds are that people saw the post, and if it just disappears you look like you’re dodging the problem.

• Let a discussion happen

Your community might want to get involved. There is no better proof of your brand’s likeability than fans and followers sticking up for it.