How To Use One Social Media Video On Multiple Platforms
We know that creating high-quality and engaging social media videos can be incredibly time-consuming for businesses, especially when every platform prioritises a different video style or length. But what if we told you there’s a simple solution that allows you to repurpose one video for use across multiple channels?
Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it’s not!
With the right strategy and the right formats, you can save time, money and energy by using one social media video across all your platforms. Here’s how:
Know Your Goals
When it comes to repurposing one video across a range of platforms, the very first thing you need to do is know your goals. Know why you’re making these videos. Is it to educate? To inspire? To get leads? When you know your goals, it’s going to be far easier to create a video that you can use across multiple platforms, without feeling completely overwhelmed.
Know Your Platforms
Before you even get to the filming stage, it’s important to know the kinds of content that works well on each of your chosen platforms. Whilst platforms like YouTube may be better for longer-form content, short-form video is going to perform best on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
In addition to the lengths of content that perform best on each platform, it’s also critical to know the kinds of content that are going to perform best on each social media platform. Whilst you might want something more corporate and informative on LinkedIn, TikTok users expect authenticity and therefore might prefer a behind-the-scenes or day-in-the-life style video.
Think About Your Audience
We probably sound like a broken record here, but there’s no point in creating content that your audience simply isn’t interested in. When it comes to repurposing a video across multiple channels, you really want to get the most bang for your buck and creating a valuable core video is the best place to start.
When you create content without your audience in mind, you run the risk of wasting valuable time (and money) on a series of videos for social media that your audience simply won’t watch or engage with – and no one wants that!
Create Your Core Video
You want to think of your core video as the master key to all the videos that come after it. Once you know the kind of video you want to create, the platforms you’re going to use and who you’re making your content for – you can get to creating! This is arguably the most exciting part of a project as it’s when you really get to see your vision come to life.
If you don’t have experience with video content creation, you might be best to work with a video production company like us at Pictures For The People. We can create a range of different kinds of content, including branded content, animations, corporate videos and more, so that you can really nail exactly what you have in mind.
Our team is also able to convert your file to fit multiple platforms, and we can help cut and edit your piece to suit different channels so that you don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the post-production process.
Whether you’re looking for short snippets, longer content, or clickbait-style videos to get your audience to check out your website, we can help you create content for all the right channels.
Optimise Your Content
So your video has been made, chopped, and repurposed, and it is ready for use across a range of different channels – now what? Well, it’s time to optimise your videos for each platform. Repurposing your video content isn’t just about smart editing, it’s about how you show it to your audience.
Make sure your captions are suitable for your chosen platforms and that you use specific hashtags for each social media (ie, #fyp for TikTok). You also want to create different CTAs based on each social media platform, whether it’s encouraging people to DM you, check out your website or book a call with your team, different CTAs, captions, and hashtags are going to work better for different platforms.
Is There a General Rule When It Comes to Video Length?
Video marketing for social media can be incredibly fickle, and every single social media platform is unique in the kinds of content it’s going to prioritise for users. Whilst there’s not a secret formula for social media videos that’s guaranteed to work every time, these are some of the guidelines and best practices for video lengths:
Instagram Reels/TikTok/Youtube Shorts: These platforms love short and sharp content, think anything between 60 seconds and 1 minute. Captions are key on these platforms, and ‘authentic’ content tends to do best.
LinkedIn: Videos around the two-minute mark are best for LinkedIn, you also want to try to keep it more professional and informative than the former platforms.
Facebook: Storytelling-focused edits work best here, the video length is really up to you, but captions are going to be critical to reach the right users.
X: Keep your videos on X (formerly Twitter) sharp and under 2 minutes, and add captions for additional context if you need to.
YouTube (not Shorts): Long-form content works well here, this is generally the best platform if you’re looking for instructional videos, tutorials, vlogs or interviews.
Filming one longer video and cutting it into the length you need is going to be the most effective way to get multiple pieces of content for multiple platforms from one video.
Remember to Track Performance
In order to see if your social media video marketing content is working well on each platform, it’s important that you track and measure your success. Try to keep an eye on your content and see what’s working, and what’s not, so that you can refine your videos as you continue with your strategy.
If you need some guidance on how to create engaging video content for your brand, get in touch with our team today to find out more! We can help you create content that converts for a range of different platforms.
