It’s no secret to any social media professional that video marketing has been, and is still, on the rise. It’s been several months since Facebook’s algorithm change, and video continues to outperform other content on the platform. In fact, Facebook sees 8 billion average daily video views from 500 million users. That’s a whole lot of eyeballs. Plus, with more and more people consuming content on their cell phones, mobile video use has increased by nearly 10 million daily viewing minutes in the last two years.

So why aren’t you making more social videos? The answer is simple: Lack of resources. Maybe you don’t know how. Maybe you don’t have time. Maybe you don’t have a videographer on your team. Maybe you don’t have the budget to hire video services.

The Solution

Even though #CSUSocial has multiple team members capable of making social videos with our Sony A6500 or Nikon D750, we still wanted a simpler solution for creating quick videos with big impact. We found the perfect solution in Animoto.

Animoto is a powerful, intuitive, yet simple tool for turning photos and video clips into polished, engaging social videos. Here are a few reasons why it’s a great video marketing tool:

Easy to Use: Add your photos and video clips to make a video in just a few easy steps.
Customizable: Predesigned templates and simple drag and drop functions offer endless customization opportunities for creating the perfect video.
The Cloud: No need to worry about huge video files hogging space on your computer, Animoto stores everything you need in the cloud. This also makes it possible to post and share videos from anywhere.
Music Library: Animoto has a built-in music library that makes it easy and worry-free to find the perfect sound for your sentiment.

Creating an Animoto is Easy

Animoto videos are ridiculously easy to create. You can use your own photos and videos, or you can tap into Animoto’s stock library that hosts over 1 million high-quality stock photos and video clips. Did I mention it’s powered by Getty Images?

You can use one of the predesigned Animoto templates, or create your own unique video by selecting your own fonts, font styles, colors, and sizes. You can even add a watermark to ensure brand recognition with every view. And just like some of the hottest photo editing apps, you can even add special filters to your photos and video clips.

Animoto Demonstrated

CSU’s hometown, Fort Collins, Colorado, has been dubbed by some “The Napa Valley of Craft Beer.” So obviously we offer a B.S. in Fermentation and Science Technology. When the inaugural beer was brewed in our Ramskeller teaching brewery, we wanted to create a quick and informative social video showcasing our new brew. Here’s a timelapse showing how easy it was to create:

Here’s what the final product looked like:

6 Tips For Creating Engaging Animo Videos

Keep it short – Be brief and get your message across quickly. The average watch time per video is around 10 seconds.
Hook ’em – start with the most important thing you want to say first. If you’re not sure why, refer to tip #1.
Tell a story – Every good story has a beginning, middle and end.
Make it impactful without sound – 85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound, so make your visuals pop by using captivating images.
Know Your Audience – If you’ve done your homework, you know who your audience is and you know what they want. Construct your video for them.
Get Inspired – The Animoto Blog has a rich library of best practices and tips for creating social videos for every occasion, and platform. There’s even an entire section dedicated to creative inspiration.

Questions You May Have

Q: Verticle video is becoming a new best practice for social video marketing (check out Kimberly Stern blogs about it – add hyperlink). Does Animoto have a vertical video template

A: Not yet. Which is one of the only flaws I can find when it comes to Animoto

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Q: How much does Animoto cost?

A: It’s pretty affordable, actually. See for yourself.

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Q: Is Animoto paying you to say these nice things?

A: No. We just really like the product and believe in sharing knowledge, which includes tools we find helpful.

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Q: Do you only use Animoto to create videos for Colorado State University?

A: Nope. It’s just one tool in our toolbox.

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Q: Are there other video marketing tools you’ve considered?

A: Yes, we have also looked into Adobe Spark, Legend and Hype Type.

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Q: What is #CSUSocial’s favorite reality TV show?

A: Without a doubt, Big Brother. Duh.