Understanding Social Media Content

I’ve had experience creating social media content for many contexts and genres. I’ve designed event announcements for my club, researched and simplified news into bite-size videos for weKaypoh, and now pretty much doing both for RVI :DD

Short form content wasn’t really touched much while I was in school (we focused more on films and TV show writing) so a lot of my skills were actually picked up along the way through trial and error. I hope to maybe share some of the things I learnt over the years to help out any budding content creators out there because real creatives don’t gatekeep 🔥🔥🔥🔥 btw I DON’T CLAIM TO BE AN ABSOLUTE GOD AT CONTENT CREATION i just think if someone had told me these when I first started out I would’ve had more confidence. So here are some tips from me to you!! ^^

Safe Zones!!

Reels and TikToks are 1920x1080 but what they don’t tell you is that you can’t even fully utilise 50% of that space 💀 This is due to the app’s UI blocking the sides of your video, or the fact that full-screening an IG Reel hides the video’s edges. Don’t even get me started on the Many Screen Sizes of Various Phone Brands. The worst thing that could happen to your video is that your stunning shots and important text are awkwardly hidden from your viewers - hence the importance of knowing your Safe Zones! You can find templates online or even make some of your own based on measurements other people have done.

Prep your Camera!!

This isn’t strictly for short form content but for filming any type of content. For socmed content specifically here are some settings (if you use an iPhone) that I think are pretty crucial. First, go to Settings > Camera > Record Video and select 4K at 60 FPS. This is so that when you edit in 1920x1080, you can zoom in without compromising the video quality, giving you room to play with shot sizes! Second, scroll until you see HDR and switch it off. This is to ensure the colour of your clips aren’t compromised when importing them into your editing software!

Our Attention Spans REALLY Suck

Yes unfortunately our 8 second max attention span has a large impact on the type of content that gets views BUT that’s a conversation for another time 🗣️🗣️🗣️ So how do we plan our videos around our viewers’ attentions spans? Duration - try to limit your videos to a minute and 30s max, and get to your point as fast as possible. Simplify - use as little words as possible, avoid too much flowery vocab and keep the purpose of your video as streamlined as you can. Editing - be generous in cutting out what you don’t need. Get rid of filler words or stories that go nowhere in an interview.

BONUS: NEVER SPLIT A VIDEO INTO MULTIPLE PARTS UNLESS NECESSARY. I observe that people are too lazy to find out what happens after a cliffhanger so they just don’t bother looking. I’d advise ONLY to make multiple parts if your video doesn’t end on a cliffhanger or they still make sense as a standalone and not tied to another video. Always try to condense your story into one conclusive video.

Do research on formats YOU like!!

Knowing popular trends and formats is a good skill, but what’s more important is understanding which of those are effective in conveying your point! For example, what’s an effective format for an event wrap-up? Can this be reused for, let’s say, a promo video? Discover how to get your message across in every way possible. It’s also important to understand that trends aren’t always effective, so it’s up to you to look for formats YOU enjoy! Try to be more conscious of the videos you heart and why. I like to save videos with formats I enjoy in an IG folder for inspiration. Conversely, be aware of what videos you don’t like as much. Everyone’s preference is different so it takes time to find that sweet spot that appeals to most people :D

I hope my list gives you a better idea on how to create content on socmed! You’re free to take whatever you think is helpful and leave whatever’s not, I am just one person and there are other creators out there with opinions that may differ from mine! If you have tips and tricks of your own feel free to add them in the comments!! ^^