How to Use Video to Increase Customer Engagement for Your Small Business
- Angela Wolf Video
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
Refining your small business customer engagement strategies can be a bit tough, but it's worth it to be able to have meaningful interactions with your target audience. Video is one of the best ways to spark audience connection and engagement (any interactions between your small business and online users who encounter you). Keep reading or our top tips on how to boost social media engagement with video.
1) Ask a Question
One of the easiest ways to spark customer engagement with video posts is by asking a question. In prompting a response, your video becomes less one-sided and more likely to hold your audience’s attention. As viewers start to respond and comment on your posts, they become more invested in not only your video, but in the community and personality behind your brand, as well. Generating this type of social media engagement is crucial, as it provides an opportunity for you to connect with a potential customer/client directly. Many social media sites also have a "poll" feature that allows viewers to respond to your video's question, making it quick and easy to engage with your post. Additionally, questions just tend to be effective video hooks to capture viewers--for more, check out our post on the best video post hooks here.
2) Format Videos for Each Platform
Unfortunately, when it comes to posting videos on social media, one size does not fit all. Each site has its own guidelines for posts, so it’s crucial you tailor your videos accordingly. In fact, all platforms encourage “native uploads” (uploading a video directly to the site, as opposed to posting a link to your video on another host), so your video specs directly correlate with how well your post does in the algorithm. Instagram and TikTok prefer vertical videos that are between 3 seconds and 3 minutes. On the other hand, YouTube and LinkedIn favor horizontal videos that are significantly longer (10-15 minutes). Before posting, be sure to check the best time of day and the best tags to use for each site.
3) Create an Eye Catching Thumbnail
While you don’t see thumbnails (static images used as the “cover” of a video post) as much on sites like Instagram and TikTok, they’re crucial for longer-form videos. While the aforementioned sites have “autoplay,” YouTube, LinkedIn, and other long-form video hosting platforms do not. This means that users have to stop scrolling and physically press play to see your post. That may not seem like much of a deterrent, but, on social media, it ends up being a huge barrier to a video post’s reach. To combat this, you need a thumbnail that is eye-catching and interesting enough for people to stop their feed and start your video. Start by making sure you have the right dimensions for your image (typically 1280x720). The best thumbnails contain a bright, high-quality image and clear, concise text. You want to pull viewers in as quickly (and authentically) as possible, so stick to teasing the main point of your video in your thumbnail image.
Angela Wolf Video offers corporate video production services near Philadelphia, PA. Do you have a specific video question? Schedule a free video analysis call at bit.ly/callawv
