Social Media

The technical side of doing Twitter videos (and why you must incorporate it in 2016)

Twitter videos are underutilized, yet wildly increase engagement levels. Know the technical requirements so you can get started like yesterday.

Nichole McNiel

Published

March 14, 2016

Social media is entering a new video age

In 2015, Twitter added video features and Facebook had a giant push to make video a major News Feed component. This past year alone, Facebook has seen the number of videos on the site grow by 360%. Of the Americans who use Facebook on a daily basis, 50% watch at least 1 video every day. Similarly, Twitter reports that 82% of its users watch video content on Twitter.

Read also: Four ways successful people are killin’ it on Twitter

With all of that, video gives marketers great power. Twitter video, especially, should be completely embraced by marketers. Video on Twitter is still relatively new, meaning it’s the perfect time to start using and experimenting with it. Now is the time and opportunity to incorporate video into your Twitter strategy.

Native video improves engagement big time

According to Twitter’s preliminary analysis of performance, “…native video on Twitter drives more overall engagement than third-party videos shared on Twitter: 2.5X replies, 2.8X Retweets and 1.9X Favorites.” Videos on Twitter autoplay now similarly to videos on Facebook which provides you with even more potential to grab your audience’s attention as they scroll through their feed.

And if you want more tips to create the best promoted video, here are 5 from Twitter:

Make a human first impression to draw consumers in
Highlight how your product delivers value to increase recall
Structure storytelling to drive purchase intent
Serve up high-energy entertainment to engage
Align with influencers to drive earned media

Twitter’s video option is pretty easy to use

Twitter offers several different options when it comes to uploading a video
Option 1. Record and upload directly from your Android or iOS phone app.
Option 2. Import a video the same way you would attach a photo to your tweet.
Option 3. Upload a video from your computer on Twitter.com

Twitter does have some limitations when it comes to videos. When sharing videos on Twitter, keep in mind to keep your videos under 30 seconds. Also, take note of Twitter’s other video requirements:

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The video format supported for mobile apps are MP4 and MOV
The video format supported on the web is MP4 with H264 format with AAC audio
The maximum file size you can upload on the web is 512MB

#TwitterVideo

In this article:Social Media, Twitter

Written By Nichole McNiel

Nichole earned a Master's in Sociology from Texas State University and has publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has spent her career in tech and advertising. Her writing interests include the intersection of tech and society. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Communication and Media Studies at Murdoch University.

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