Shortform video is one of the hottest trends. Should your brand take it on and how?
Shortform video is here to stay. From TikTok taking the world by storm with lip syncs, sing-alongs and fails, leading to Facebook, Instagram and YouTube playing catchup with their own platforms. People love it because it’s like a short snippet of life, social media being authentic – or authentic enough. And it’s a limited timeframe, so it really is like peering into a person’s life, to see where they are at that exact moment. And that also makes it exclusive. If you don’t catch the post at that moment, then you’ll never see it.
Of course, this has led to a lot of experiential clutter and flotsam. People posting a lot of nonsense and the like, which is what makes it fun. And marketing companies scooting in to see how they can use it as a free marketing device.
Because essentially, it IS a free marketing device. And it would be silly not to be using it for your brand. Here we’ll be discussing why to use Facebook (and Instagram) Stories and some strategies/things to keep in mind for using them.
Why should you use Facebook stories for your brand?
There are a million reasons to use Facebook stories for your brand, besides their ease of use and their low cost (free). We’ve narrowed it down to five compelling reasons to keep in mind. If this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.
High user engagement
There are a lot of users on Facebook and Instagram Stories. Facebook Stories alone carries over 300 million daily users at the beginning of the year. People love it because it gives an authentic view into others’ lives and into your brand’s personality. Is it a stodgy corporate place or a more down-home, friendly and personal place? Stories is the best place for you to curb that appeal, and people are absolutely into it.
Increased visibility
Stories are currently the most visible product on Facebook. They appear right at the top of the feed, and placed in various places throughout the body as you scroll as well. The algorithm also prioritizes accounts that regularly use Stories. That means your brand page will be more visible in other interactions for your followers and friends of followers too.
Reach a Younger Audience
Younger users prefer shortform videos like Stories. It was part of why Facebook had a big exodus when Snapchat came back. Then they later surged past them after implementing Stories, especially if you include Instagram. If your brand wants to tap into a younger, 20s something market, then Stories would be a valuable and easy addition to reach across social media platforms.
Cross-Promotion
When Meta was rolled out, it became incredibly easy to cross promote posts on Facebook and Instagram, with some easy sharing features available on WhatsApp. This means that you can hit up a wider audience with less effort. With more posts per channel, the more likely you are to have a higher visibility and drive traffic to your site.
Cost-Effective
Did I mention it was free? Facebook is already downgrading business sites in favor of people’s friends and family (you know, the whole reason people joined Facebook in the first place). However, they are still adding weight to businesses who are using Stories. You can easily create Stories too, as people don’t expect something that lasts 24 hours to be flawlessly produced, but they do rather expect a touch of “authenticity”.
Keep Up with the Trends
I didn’t write a whole blog on 2023 social media and web trends for nothing. The shortform video trend has been skyrocketing ever since social media companies picked it up. If you don’t get on board, then you really do risk falling behind your competitors. Promote your brand with Facebook Stories to stay relevant and connect with your audience in a way that resonates with them.
How to use it to promote your brand:
Now you see why you should be using Stories. Here are some winning strategies and tips to promote your brand with it.
Behind-the-scenes-content
Put some faces onto your brand. People want to know they’re dealing with other people, not some giant corporate machine. Give faces and voices to your employees and employers, and that’ll do a lot to personify the brand. Plus, people want to know what it looks like behind the screen of the companies making their favorite products and services, so show them!
Use pre-recorded/edited content
Though I do stress authenticity, make it a measured amount of authenticity. Just like those guys who look like they have great “bed hair”, but really they spent an hour preparing to have that precise, relaxed look that makes them all dreamy. Do you think Brad Pitt’s hair really just falls naturally like that? So even if you do film it with your phone, stick it through an editor so you can get some precise cuts, filters, and music.
Make sure to tag relevant contacts
Does your post have something to do with other brands or influencers? Tag them! Of course, it’s polite to get their permission first, but when you tag them it puts just that tad bit of valuable algorithmic weight onto the feeds of their followers. Which increases your reach.
Use the custom links and buttons features
I can never stress this enough. The easier you make getting to your site or Facebook page, the more likely people will visit it. If you make it hard – like posting a url on an Instagram post rather than a link in your bio – then nobody is going to follow it. And while we’re talking about Instagram bios, the best thing to do there is to use something like linktr.ee to make it super easy to follow a list of links.
Use original music
Online shortform video makers, like Instagram or TikTok’s app, do have the advantage of letting you use pop music. They licensed it after all. This of course, limits your video legally to that one social media platform, since there’s no way of telling if the same songs were licensed to other platforms. Because of this inter-platform in-operability (say that 10 times fast!), it’s often best to use original stock music that you got licensed yourself. There are many companies available for that, but probably the best is Smartsound Cloud, where you can easily get a snippet of music for any length that perfectly fits your video. And the music is guaranteed royalty-free on any platform, since it’s licensed to you and not the platform. Since you should be using a video editor anyway, this doesn’t really add much to your workflow either.
Use Meta to post both to Instagram and Facebook Stories
About a year ago, Facebook started rolling out its Meta Business Suite to business page users. It’s available under “More Tools” on the left hand side bar of your business page, if you haven’t noticed. Click on the “Meta Business Suite” and you’ll access it. I was using third-party schedulers before, but Facebook and Instagram are well known for making things difficult for them (especially since you can’t have a pic and a link at the same time using a scheduler). The scheduler provided in the Meta app isn’t that bad. It works for both Instagram and Facebook, compiling it all into one place. You can make the same post available, and create versions of the same post that are edited for the app. And what’s more, you can upload and schedule Stories for both apps as well. Unless you’re using a score of other social media, there’s probably no reason to use a third-party app when a perfectly free one is there and works without limitations.
To sum up
Shortform video – especially Facebook and Instagram Stories – is an invaluable marketing tool for businesses. The high user engagement, increased visibility, ability to reach a younger audience, and more make it a must-have for businesses. Especially if you want to stay relevant and connect with your audiences. Using strategies like those listed above can help businesses promote their brand in a way that really resonates with their audiences. It’s important for a business to embrace the shortform video trend so as not to be drowned in the sea of brands and businesses.
