10 Social Media Video Ideas to Help Your Brand Stand Out

When it comes to video distribution channels, social media is a must but requires nuance, depending on your specific company and the platforms you use. Simply put: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to social media videos.

For example, a platform like Instagram requires a different approach to video than something like LinkedIn. One is centered on visually enticing social media content while the other operates within the realm of business professionals. Pushing the same video across both means you run the risk of not connecting with that audience or, worse yet, alienating members of it.

There’s also the fact that certain types of videos simply don’t translate well when directly migrated onto social media. An hour-long webinar from your website, while insightful and informative, likely won’t be well-received on social media simply because of its length. Generally, people aren’t logging on to social media with the intent of staying on those platforms for longer than a few minutes at a time.

These kinds of considerations should be top of mind for businesses when formulating social video content ideas. You need to be deliberate about the content you’re publishing for your brand, ensuring it will appeal to followers across different social platforms.

“You need to be deliberate about the content you’re publishing for your brand, ensuring it will appeal to followers across different social platforms.”

To help, we’ve put together a list of 10 social media video ideas that will educate and entertain your audience.

Social media video ideas for boosting awareness

Whether you’re trying to promote a new video series to get more viewers or highlighting your team and workplace to attract more employees, these social media video ideas will help focus your brand awareness efforts.

1. Content teaser videos

When you watch a brand new movie trailer, the goal of the company that created it is to get you excited enough about the upcoming film that you’ll go watch it in theaters and maybe even talk to your friends and family about it.

What’s to stop a B2B company from taking that same blueprint and applying it to hype up its own video content on social media?

Spoiler alert: there really isn’t any reason B2B brands can’t drop content teaser videos and start marketing like a media company. If you have great video content in your arsenal, entice your social media audience with cool trailers and insightful video clips.

“There really isn’t any reason B2B brands can’t drop content teaser videos and start marketing like a media company.”

With that in mind, make sure your marketing efforts always lead back to your brand’s owned properties. If you post an amazing content teaser on Twitter and it just links to a YouTube video, you won’t get full access to key viewership metrics and audience insights. Using a platform like Wistia that gives you immediate access to in-depth analytics is a better option for B2B brands.

So what does a content teaser actually look like? When we launched our original video series Show Business, we made sure to clearly guide Twitter users to where they could view the series on our site via a link.

Content teasers are the perfect appetizers before a full video meal. They give your social media audience a sneak peek of what to expect and lead them back to your owned property, where folks can consume the video content in its entirety.

2. Live Q&A videos

Social media channels are perfect for posting live Q&A sessions because most platforms already have built-in live streaming functionality. Users are generally familiar with using live streams to watch their favorite content creators, so it’s not a stretch to get them to watch your brand’s live Q&A video in this same format.

Q&A videos are great for engaging your current social media following by letting them ask questions in real-time. If someone isn’t a customer but is curious about your product or service, your answers in a live video might help sway them toward converting.

While that’s super valuable, attracting new customers isn’t the only use case for a live Q&A. Social media management company Hootsuite has used LinkedIn Live to answer questions about working for their sales team, which helps position them among potential applicants as a good place to work.

Promote a live social event to your followers in the weeks leading up to it. Encourage early audience participation by asking people to send questions in advance that will be answered in the live Q&A. The Q&A can include people from within your organization or outside of it, or both — the choice is yours.

3. Takeover videos

You might have already seen takeover posts in a social media context, but did you know you can do something similar with video?

The premise behind takeover videos is pretty simple. You enlist the help of an employee who works at your business or a special guest (think industry influencers or thought leaders) to drop a single video or multiple videos on one of your brand’s social media accounts. It’s the exact same as social media takeovers, but with videos. You let someone else essentially “take over” your account for a set time period.

The videos themselves can range in subject matter, but they can be particularly useful in building relationships with prospective employees. If one of your employees does a takeover video, they might show viewers their workplace and introduce them to members of the team. Getting an inside look into what your workplace is like can help motivate great candidates to join the team by showing the human side of your company.

Podcast software company Anchor produced an Instagram Live takeover video featuring one of its employees as the host and two podcast creators. In the video, they have a candid discussion about diversity and representation in podcasting. They share their personal perspectives and it makes for a compelling conversation.

If you want to step outside your own business and potentially reach a larger audience, you can also work with an influencer who already has a built-in audience within your industry. A guest takeover video of this nature might show the influencer interacting with members of your team and talking about products or services you offer.

Social media video ideas for building trust

Building trust is one of the most effective ways to get people to see your brand as an authority within its industry. These social media video ideas can help you successfully earn your audience’s trust.

4. Thought leadership videos

Thought leadership videos — which feature insights from your company leaders or subject matter experts — make for great shareable content on social media. A Founder or CEO already carries a high level of authority, so followers will likely be eager to watch their video and learn from your company leader. They’ll also be inclined to share the video to show peers that they’re staying informed about the industry and associated trends.

“A Founder or CEO already carries a high level of authority, so followers will likely be eager to watch their video and learn from your company leader.”

Start the video creation process by asking your Founder or CEO what industry topics they’re most interested in. If they don’t have a clear answer, set up a brainstorming session to talk about the industry with them for 30 minutes or so. Record the session and listen back to see if you can pull out any specific themes. Propose ideas based on the session; if you get one approved, ask your Founder or CEO to organize their thoughts around that topic. Use that outline to guide the discussion, and then film them discussing these themes to create a short social media video.

Thought leaders in the B2B space are usually much more niche, and their opinions generally hold a lot of weight in their respective industries. Because of this, securing one of these thought leaders to share their insights on camera can be useful in snagging the attention of your social media audience.

For a real-life example of thought leadership, check out the video below. Market research company SparkToro Co-Founder Rand Fishkin shared a video about audience intelligence on the brand’s LinkedIn page.

The video illustrates how SparkToro can help businesses get key marketing data. It toes the line between educating LinkedIn followers while also showing off Fishkin’s clear passion for the subject matter he’s breaking down in detail.

5. Company culture videos

Social media is already a place to share personal content, so why not show off your employees and their personalities? Team culture videos show followers that there are real people behind your brand and help you build trust.

The formula to do this can be pretty straightforward — simply highlight an important aspect of your team culture in your video. This can be anything from individual team member’s experiences working at your company to something lighthearted, like a team-building exercise or an office inside joke.

If you want your video to be more serious in tone, you can take a page out of customer service software company Zendesk’s book.

Zendesk uploaded an Instagram video about diversity, equity, and inclusion. In it, they take an honest position, admitting that while they don’t have DEI fully figured out on their team, they are working toward it. This vulnerability makes Zendesk more relatable as a company.

Sometimes B2B brands come across as more serious and product-oriented than companyes in other verticals. Company culture videos can be effective in helping change that narrative so more people understand what your business stands for and who the people behind the company really are.

6. Customer testimonial videos

A customer testimonial is a perfect way to share social proof of your product or service through social media. This type of user-generated content helps users understand the value your brand provides by learning the stories of current and past customers.

“Testimonial videos help users understand the value your brand provides by learning the stories of current and past customers.”

Post customer testimonial videos as organic content on your social media channel of choice, or turn them into video ads. If your goal is lead generation, investing in paid ads on a platform like LinkedIn or Facebook can be an effective way to boost the video’s reach for a specific audience.

If you already have long customer testimonial videos on your website, chop them up into shorter clips (30 seconds to a minute) for social media. Or ask a customer to record a short video testimonial that you can share on social media.

Customer experience software company ActiveCampaign did a customer feature video on their Instagram page with a small business owner who talked about how the product helped her build her brand.

ActiveCampaign’s customer testimonial video showcases how their product helped this entrepreneur without being overly salesy or promotionally self-serving. They even tagged the entrepreneur, giving her more exposure and the opportunity to share the video with her own audience — which in turn will hopefully drive more people in her industry back to ActiveCampaign.

7. Case study videos

Customer testimonial videos are a great way to show social proof, but sometimes B2B stakeholders are looking for a little more detail about exactly how your business helped another business. This is where case studies come in. Think of it less like a review of your brand and more like a blueprint that lays out what your brand did to help a customer.

You can often find case studies in written form on blogs, and they go into great detail with quantitative data like stats to back up the stories. If you’re creating a case study video in a social media context, you need to be a little more concise and picky with what you choose to include, as you don’t have as much space as you would in a traditional blog.

Workspace platform company Notion created a number of case study videos and shared them through their Twitter page. One of the case study videos they shared was from people management platform company Lattice. Notion even paired the Twitter post with a direct quote about their brand from Lattice to really drive home the value of their product.

Case study videos are especially useful in a B2B context. They give other businesses a clear understanding of how your product or service helped other businesses in their industry solve an issue, and you never know how many other people are struggling with that same problem. It also helps position your brand as a trusted expert that has already helped many businesses achieve success.

Social media video ideas to generate and retain customers

The goal of any business is to keep customers coming through the door on a consistent basis. These social media video ideas are all about beginning and maintaining relationships with your customer base.

8. Product launch and announcement videos

There’s nothing quite like announcing something brand new on social media. Whether it’s a product launch or another announcement, doing a social media blast of this type keeps your loyal followers engaged and sparks interest among potential customers.

Product launch and announcement videos are perfect for social media because they don’t have to be long-winded — they just have to be exciting. The energy around these types of videos is everything. If you have a new product and you sleepily explain it in a serious video, you’ll probably garner a similar reaction from viewers.

Add some life into your product launch and announcement videos. When we dropped the news about Wistia’s new podcast features, we worked hard to create a video that not only showed the value of these features but also got our audience pumped for it as well.

When executed correctly, product launch and announcement videos can build anticipation and help motivate viewers into making a purchase faster. Visually relaying all the benefits of this new product or service can work wonders on a B2B stakeholder who is already interested in working with your brand, basically moving them to take a more immediate action.

9. Feature explainer videos

Feature explainer videos highlight how a particular aspect of your product or service works and can help generate leads on social media. According to Wyzowl, “96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.”

“96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.”

For customers already following your brand on social media, these types of videos are an opportunity to stay up-to-date on new features. Posting a feature explainer video can pique their interest about what innovation is coming down the pipeline from your business, which can lead to a future purchase.

Alas, your window of opportunity is much shorter on social media than on almost any other video distribution channel. We all know the fast-scrolling nature of social media platforms makes users impatient, and they have an immediate need for content. To keep followers engaged, make sure your feature video is no more than five minutes in total. If you’re explaining a simple feature, consider making it a GIF, like social media software company Buffer did.

Buffer’s new feature announcement on Twitter used a GIF to show its niche B2B audience how this feature works; the retweets it garnered will help spread the word among a wider network.

10. How-to videos

There’s a certain timelessness when it comes to how-to videos. People are always looking for ways to solve and streamline complex processes, and offering easily accessible social media videos is not only useful, but it can also help you land new customers and retain your current ones.

When something goes wrong or someone is looking for an answer to a question, social media is one of the first places B2B professionals go to get answers. Filled with helpful information from peers, it’s one of the most effective ways to get answers and get them fast.

This is where sharing how-to videos comes into play. Just check out this example below from business analytics software company Databox. They use their Twitter page to link to a video tutorial that helps their audience set up and track HubSpot CRM data.

Not only does this type of video help Databox’s core audience, but it can also attract new prospects. Someone looking to complete this process may find this video from Databox and consider using them as a solution. This is because they’ve effectively built trust with the viewer, allowing the viewer to see them as an authority in their space.

Bring your social media video ideas to life

The best social media video ideas take some experimenting. You won’t necessarily have the perfect formula for success on every social media channel after one try. Keep tinkering with your content strategy to see which videos are working best for your audience.

For more information about how to create social media videos that strengthen your brand, check out our newly updated Wistia Guide to Social Media Video.