Video Content Ideas (Re-Purposing Videos For Social Media)

Following on from our previous blog about how to make your video content go further on social, it seemed only apt that we’d throw a view content ideas your way. After covering the mechanics of using video content across social media, it’s time for the creative part. Because, after all, you can post until your heart’s content, but if the content’s no good, then no one’s going to watch it.

Re-editing To New Dimensions

This one is following on directly from the previous blog. Re-editing for social sizes is a must if you’re engaging in social media marketing. After making this point last time, I quickly realised it would be a good idea to give you an idea of what you could actually do with these re-edited sizes. So, here we go…

Instagram Stories is now a ridiculously consumed area of social. This can easily be overlooked with traditional, permanent posts being prioritised. However, the regularly updated nature of Stories as well as the flexibility the in-post creation options offer, lead them to become very attractive to users.

What you need to be doing is looking at the content you currently have. Let’s say you have a 60-second promotional video for your brand. Then, mix up the narrative of this into say, a 20-second piece that contains the same footage but tells a slightly different story.

For example, if you’re a clothing brand, just lift out the close up product shots and you can then overlay text, hashtags, polls etc directly related to the products in question. This can then even be cut to different music (an age-old trick) and you’ve got yourself fresh content. This then needs to be edited to portrait and chopped into short snippets for Instagram Stories and hey presto, you’re away.

You are only limited by you’re own imagination here, the trick is to look at the footage you’ve currently got and find a new message in it. Whether it be a homemade video or a feature-length film, video footage always has the ability to tell multiple stories. It’s this point that you’ve got to keep in mind when you’re crafting your social media marketing campaign.

Montage With Text

Here we have an editing trick for those looking for a quick turnaround. This will allow you to completely change the message of your content, with little effort. All you’ve got to do is add text.

The idea here is to offer the viewer a new message or piece of information using the exact same footage as previously. This may be changing a specifically made video advert, into a short advertisement for a flash sale.

You can get as elaborate as you like with this and don’t get me wrong the Glacé team live for a bit of animated text. However, to keep it simple, design a slick looking static frame, insert the copy you’ve written, edit as many times as you require for the message you’re delivering and then insert these static frames in between the footage you have. This doesn’t even require a music change as you can slide these frame over the section of existing footage and the music will still be synced.

As I mentioned, if there is extra time to be spent on the video, animated text goes a long way. This can totally transform a production and give it a more dynamic and modern vibe. However, for the time-strapped, basic static frames are more than enough to give you the video content you need for your fresh marketing campaign.

Longer Cuts/ Shorter Cuts

Cutting into both longer forms and shorter forms works on a visual storytelling level as well as on a technical digital marketing level. By offering up different lengths of video you are firstly giving the audience the choice of how deeply they invest in your content, as well as giving yourself the choice to tell your marketing story in a detailed or more succinct. 

Short videos of 1-2 minutes are always a quick win. Cut another version between 15 and 30 seconds and you’ve instantly got yourself either a teaser or a more digestible form of content. You can then use a teaser to build up to the content you are releasing and therefore attract more hype to your campaign. Or, use the shorter versions on platforms where attention is most sparse such as Instagram and Facebook ads.

A long cut may seem counter-intuitive for social media marketing as you are taking up more of your audience’s time. However, in a digital world where premium video content is increasingly gobbled up, a longer, more in-depth version of your video content has many uses.

Firstly, it allows you to join the space of ‘branded content’ which usually comes in the form of a mini-series. This capitalises on the generation of Netflix lovers and usually finds its home best on Youtube. With only 9% of small businesses currently using Youtube as part of their marketing, this is an untapped area with plenty of potentials.

A longer cut over 4 minutes gives the feel of well-shaped content that is produced solely for the viewer rather than for marketing purposes. A position which allows you to market in more subtle ways and attract viewers who solely invest the quality of your content. It’s always worthwhile planning your production as if it is part of a mini-series, as the options it then gives you are vast.

On top of this, long-form video tends to receive algorithmic benefits on both LinkedIn and Facebook. As they are both pushing towards attracting more watchers of quality video, their system will automatically boost videos of a longer length. So as you enter a new area of long-form content, the platfoms will give you a little boost over the wall.

I hope this has given you some good ideas to start getting more out of your video content. The beauty of videos is that it allows so many creative opportunities. Although these are only three fairly simple ways to re-purpose content, don’t think you are by any way done yet. As I said earlier, you are only limited by your own imagination. The stories you can tell through video have no limit. You never know, you may already have the content for your next killer marketing campaign already sat in front of you.