The presence of video on social media is growing without signs of slowing down. More and more people are using video on Facebook. And Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIN and other big social platforms are catching up too. As more and more users are posting more and more videos, brands are starting to try to get into the mix as well.

But sadly not all brands are using video right on social media. There is such a great opportunity to present your brand on social because people are consuming video content like anything. Wordstream reports that 45 percent of people online watch at least an hour of video content on Facebook or YouTube every week.

If you’re a business, you want to be using videos on social, but you also want to be using them right. As they say, if you’re going to do it you want to do it right. Here are some branding mistakes to avoid when using video.

Being Too Shy to Put a Call to Action

Have you ever felt too shy to put a call to action on your video? Don’t worry. We’ve all been there. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that the lack of confidence to put a proper call to action proves our apprehensions towards our own service offering. And that’s a natural part of the process.

But if we want to brand on social right, we need to get rid of those apprehensions and convince ourselves of our products so we can put out at least one call to action for people to take after watching our videos, whether that’s subscribing to a channel, liking a page, sharing a post or buying a product.

Making It All About the Brand

Or maybe you’re not too apprehensive about your offering. But you feel like you can’t put a call to action that serves you because the whole video already has too much of you and your brand. Well then maybe you can take the content of your videos and switch the focus on to someone or something else.

You can put out video content that features your customers, a community, your employees or a group or individual you want to help. Most people do this by doing interview and story videos that feature the lives and stories of others and then correlating it with their values and products towards the end. You can do the same.

Not Communicating Your ‘Why’ through Video

The easiest thing to talk about on video is the “what” and “how.” We have very little problems talking about what our product is and how they can be availed. And as important as those messages are let’s not also forget to communicate our why. Why did you start your business? What is the mission of your organization?

Communicating with your way helps your audience connect with you at a values level. Your brand will stop becoming superficial (which people hate) and will start becoming authentic.

Neglecting Good Cinematography

There’s a lot of noise about making DIY videos. I have nothing against DIY videos- as long as they’re done right. You see you can still make your own videos and have great cinematography.

Anyone can shoot a video with a smartphone and post it on social that’s true. But I do implore you to do your research and learn at least the basics of what a good film should look like. Some good points to start with are capturing good audio, good lighting, framing and video quality. Then you can actually keep improving your videos as you keep doing them.

Being Inconsistent

When putting out content- may it be video or any other format- try your best to be consistent. Inconsistency in pushing out content on social can be a big mistake. The temptation is always to settle and think “people have a lot of my past content already.”

On social, however, people are always looking for something new. It’s best that you find a rhythm and start providing that. The quantity can be small in the beginning. You can start with two a week and build up from there. What’s important is that you’re consistent.