Social Video Formats

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Content formats

Social video offers a number of native content formats. These include:

•      Explainers
•      How-to’s and guides
•      Interview and Q&A videos 
•      Behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos
•      Challenges
•      Recaps
•      Play throughs
•      Live broadcasts
•      Reviews

Explainers

People look to YouTube as an information source. Explainer videos can illuminate a subject based on the opinion or understanding of the presenter. Some Explainer videos go further and guide people through a process, similar to a how-to or guide video.

Example: Our Changing Climate

Our Changing Climate is a bi-weekly video essay series that investigates humanity's relationship to the natural world. It aims to equip people with knowledge about climate change. The channel features explainer videos that are designed to shock, educate, and inspire viewers into action. Examples of video content on the channel include “Here’s why we need to rethink veganism” and “Which milk should you buy?” The channel presenter provides a voiceover, explaining details and supplying information around each video topic. 

How-to’s/Guides

How-to and guide videos are like online tutorials. They are simple videos that describe how to use a product, how to create something, or how to do certain tasks. These types of videos usually feature a presenter who can demonstrate exactly how to use a product or service, and can talk the viewer through some of the key features and benefits. These types of videos are highly-ranked in YouTube and Google, as they often contain popular keywords and phrases that customers are seeking out. They can easily influence a user’s purchase decision if they are comprehensive and credible. 

Interview and Q&A videos

Interview and Q&A videos are a great way to engage your audience with insightful and exclusive content, and to help convey information about your industry and expertise. You could create videos in which you interview industry thought leaders and influencers, team members, or even customers. While you can prepare the questions yourself, you could keep your fans more engaged by collecting their questions.

You could make an announcement beforehand and gather their questions through social media. Then compile and vet those questions to see which ones would suit your topic or theme.

Besides interviewing other people, you could also have a solo Q&A session where you address your audience’s pressing questions, offering them value as well as showcasing your business expertise. This format is best suited to live video, as this allows you to connect with the audience more effectively in real time. 

Behind the scenes (BTS) 

You can give people a glimpse of what it’s like behind the scenes through authentic and engaging behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos. These videos are perfect for showcasing your company culture and giving recognition to the people behind your brand. In other words, they can help you humanize your brand, build trust, and strengthen your connection with the audience.

You could provide your audience with office tours and take them backstage at an event you’re a part of. You could also show them your employees in action using a ‘day in the life’ theme, or even the process of how your products are manufactured.

Example: Microsoft UK 

Microsoft uses the ‘day in the life’ format to showcase what it’s like to work for the software giant. This BTS format has been used several times by employees showing different sides to working for Microsoft UK. During global lockdowns, many of the team were working from home so the videos feature employees at home, giving insight into their daily tasks and duties. The videos are in a low-fi format, most likely filmed on a smartphone. 

Challenges

Challenge videos generally feature a participant recording themselves taking a popular challenge, and then posting the content asking others to try. Challenge videos have a good chance of going viral, particularly on platforms such as TikTok. Dances, pranks, practical jokes, and tricks tend to spread quickly, especially when they use a popular dance track as audio or a trending hashtag. They are collaborative videos - and sometimes they have hilarious results. A great example of one of the original challenge formats used by a brand was the ice bucket challenge, which brought awareness to the ALS Association.

Recaps

Recap videos contain content where the host or hosts discuss a subject, most commonly other forms of media such as comics, video games, television shows, or movies. Many TV networks use this format to help promote high-profile TV shows or movies.

Play throughs

Play through videos, also known as ‘Let’s Play’ videos, are mostly associated with the video game industry. Viewers see the creator’s point of view as he or she plays a video game while explaining what’s happening on screen. Often, video game companies encourage creators to make play through videos, because they can give more information on how the game was made.

Live broadcasts

Live broadcasts are videos that feature a conversation, performance, or virtual event that is broadcast live. Examples include an interview, announcement, news broadcast, or a report on an ongoing event. Most of the major platforms now offer live video broadcasting to every user, so there has been a real surge in live streaming activity, particularly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As many events were forced online, consumers grew more confident in the live streaming format. Brands can benefit from live broadcasts as they can create more personal relationships with viewers, they attract high engagement, and they are relatively easy to do.  

Reviews

Review videos are where creators try out and review a new product that is of interest to their audience. They can be made by amateurs or experts – it doesn’t really matter – to give their opinion on a product. Brands often offer creators access to their products and ask them for a review. Obviously, a brand wants that review to be favorable! Often review videos include an unboxing process, where the user excitedly unwraps the products from its packaging and talks the viewer through their opinions on every aspect of how the product is presented.