Are you doing the proper video marketing on the right social media site? In episode 195 today, we talk about an area we have delved a little into, video. In specific, we discuss mastering the art of social first video marketing. Our subject matter expert today is Adam Chandler. He is the Founder of Reel Film, a film and animation production company helping businesses turn strategies and results.

Adam's journey into video marketing: He started as a freelance filmmaker in different TV shows in the UK and short videos for charity and local schools. He loves that filmmaking allows him to be creative and help businesses with their video marketing needs. Today, he has a global reach as he deals with both local and international businesses. (It is always good to love what you do and make money doing it).

How he helps businesses through video marketing: Adam explains that through video marketing, he strives to help businesses to scale. As such, he first seeks to understand why a business needs video marketing, whether for sales improvement, brand awareness, etc. Upon understanding the goal of video marketing, he would help a business grow by developing highly creative content with a purpose and impact. He handles end-to-end production from pre-production to post–production and social media marketing.

What is social first video: Adam describes the social first video as video content developed specifically for social media. When creating video marketing content, there is a particular focus on the target audience on the specific social media channel. Social first videos are typically shorter, often less than a minute. Also, social first videos are vertical, unlike the horizontal 16:9 TV commercials. Our subject matter expert today reveals remarkable differences among social media sites. For instance, LinkedIn accommodates relatively longer social-first videos (e.g. 2 minutes) while Instagram demands very short videos.

Recommendations for making video content per social media channel: Today's subject matter expert unpacks the specifics of developing social-first video marketing according to the target site. Overall, he argues that the content has to be human because you are advertising to people regardless of the social channel of choice. He describes LinkedIn as typically B2B, with more professional content that is less user-generated. The content would have the most impact if it carried a clear call to action. The audience on LinkedIn, according to Adam, is highly active, attentive, in work mode, and thus open to a bit longer engaging content.

Role of metrics in determining the success of social first video marketing: Adam says the number of people engaging with the content is a key metric for measuring success. In particular, he pays greater attention to the average viewing length and the specific drop-off points.

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