Why Video Works on Social and How to Stand Out

When Susan Stripling spoke at our our Book More Brides Facebook Live event, she shared, “I know a lot of… photographers out there in general who are trying to market their work, tend to get really stuck when they think about marketing with video.”She herself admitted that she hesitated when getting started, worried that video would be too complicated and wouldn’t look good enough to share.

But once she got a better understanding of what a marketing video actually is, she was able to begin making her own marketing videos — ones that outstripped the performance of static images and helped her broaden her reach. Take a look at her talk in the video below, and then read on below for a rundown of her favorite types of marketing videos.

Why video works on social media

Why use a marketing video instead of simple photos? Because, as Susan shared, “marketing videos give you a much more interactive experience to blend your images with text and have it all moving together in a way that’s compelling.”

And that blend gives you better results just about everywhere. Susan said, “Videos see nearly 3 times the engagement compared to photos, twice the engagement of link posts.” And beyond the statistics, Susan learned, just by checking her Facebook Insights, that her videos were significantly outperforming static images almost every time.

Marketing videos that work on multiple platforms

Even if you know video is important, it can be tough to get going without some inspiration. Take a look at a few of Susan’s favorite marketing videos that she uses to wow potential clients on social media and on her website.

• Individual wedding previews. Susan likes to create a 60-90-second video, using the wedding preview images for a given client. Then she shares it on YouTube, uses the YouTube link on her website or blog for SEO purposes, shares it on social media (tagging clients and vendors to increase her reach), and finally, saves the video to use in later projects.
• “Best of” wedding portfolio video. At the end of each year, or even each season, Susan makes a “best of” portfolio video. Once again, these videos can be shared pretty much anywhere.
  TIP: Susan shared, “It’s best if, as you’re going through the year, you keep a catalogue of your favorite images, and you keep those previews in one main catalogue so you have a huge body of work to pull from every time you make one of these videos.”
• Vendor or venue specific spotlights. Work with the same vendors or venues a lot? Make a spotlight video featuring them. “I’ve taken images I’ve shot over the years at each of these venues, bundled them together, and made one Animoto video for each venue.” Those videos make it possible for couples searching for a particular wedding venues to find you, plus it creates a lot of good will between you and the vendors or venues you promote with your video.
• “Type of” spotlights. One thing Susan does during the slow season is create spotlights for different aspects of the wedding (like the wedding details video below). These videos can get quite specific (say, a video about white bouquets), which can help your SEO when couples are searching for inspiration.

Want more tips on how to help your wedding photography business thrive? Check out The Wedding School, where Susan offers up more advice for your wedding photography business. Or take a look at the whole Book More Brides Facebook Live event to hear from Jerry Ghionis, Vanessa Joy, Susan, and Jared Platt.