When you’re creating content for your brand, it’s important to keep in mind that social media videos are a great way to engage with your audience and boost customer loyalty.
That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the best apps for social media videos. Whether you’re looking for an easy way to create animated videos or something more advanced, these options will help get your project off the ground and into the spotlight.
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Best Apps For Social Media Videos
Want compelling video content? Use one of these video editing apps to enhance your social networking.
By creating animated videos, infographic templates, video ads and other social media graphics, you can increase user engagement on your social media channels.
Remember, when you’re creating social media videos, you need to tell a compelling story.
Once you become proficient in creating animated videos and quality social media posts, consider implementing them in other areas to attract greater attention to your brand.
For many small businesses, social media marketing can seem like a constant struggle, especially when trying to mimic the viral content of a popular social media marketer.
Nowadays, entrepreneurs, influencers, and other like-minded people can create compelling user-generated content, including time-lapse videos, GIFs and long or short video clips using apps on their phones or tablets. The most popular social media video editing apps are usually available for both Android and iOS mobile devices and can be downloaded through the app store.
According to many social media marketing experts, video is one of the best tools to take your business to the next level, as on Facebook alone, videos receive 8 billion views a day. Fortunately, there are many video editing apps out there that make video and photo editing much simpler than it used to be.
How do you make a social media video?
Social media videos can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. On the simple end, you can shoot some great videos on your phone. The more complex end involves getting a higher quality camera, lights and sound equipment.
How you film your videos and how involved you want to get with editing really depends on where you want your videos to end up, so begin with the end goal in mind.
Whether you’re a small business or a multimillion-dollar corporation, creating quality video content is one of the best ways to reach your target audience. By creating animated videos, infographics, video ads and other social media graphics, you can increase user engagement on your social media channels.
The most important thing to understand when creating social media videos is that it needs to have a compelling narrative. As humans, we innately understand good versus bad storytelling, and by taking the time to create a coherent narrative, you’re setting yourself up for viral success.
There are numerous video editing apps you can use to polish your videos. These are the key features to pay attention to in an app:
Pricing. The differences in pricing for video tools are enormous. Some free or cloud-based applications offer a surprising range of features.
Editing possibilities. The more editing tools you have, the more options you have for enhancing your video footage. Adding video effects, animations, and even photo editing can improve your media marketing efforts.
Usability. It’s best to find out if the app is user-friendly. Does it slow down video production and the overall editing process or speed it up?
Video formats. Check to see if you can produce a video in both portrait and landscape modes. Can you optimize the clips for different social media channels? If you and your team use different platforms for your mobile devices, it’s important to verify that the app is iOS and Android compatible.
Direct imports. Uploading user-generated video content can be done faster and easier if the app allows you to import your finished product to multiple social media channels simultaneously.
Video marketing is one of the most effective media formats to promote your business and brand, according to Jean-Pierre Gautreaux, founder of Venty Media.
“It allows you to stand out from your competitors, and people love them because it makes it easy to share and consume information,” Gautreaux told Business News Daily. “Videos have a higher organic reach on all social media platforms and keep users engaged for longer.”
Gautreaux says that videos are great to use in digital ads, and apps provide an amazing set of data that is perfect to use in video creation and retargeting campaigns. Gautreaux shared a few important tips for creating engaging social media videos for your business:
Start with a hook. With so much content available for users, you need to capture their attention in just a few seconds.
Export in the right format. Each social media platform has a preferred or native video size and format. For example, Facebook and YouTube have a 16:9 preferred aspect ratio. Instagram has a few format options, but the most common is the square 1:1 aspect ratio for the timeline and 9:16 for Instagram stories.
Choose the optimal length for best results. YouTube and Facebook lend themselves to longer videos – 2 minutes or more. Instagram videos perform better when they are between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
Use captions. Many users watch videos with the volume down on their phones. If they are interested in what they see, they will turn up the volume.
Have a clear call to action. Tell viewers what you would like them to do after watching your video. Consider how you want viewers to engage with your brand. Do you want them to like and share your video? Do you want them to visit your website?
Which video app is the best?
There are many social media video apps available online and in the app store. We’ve gathered five of the most popular apps to help you choose the best video-making app for your business.
Canva
Canva has been a popular graphic design tool for years. It’s used by individuals and marketing professionals to make stunning flyers, social media posts, business cards and so much more. Canva rolled out Canva Animator, which gives users the ability to create the same beautiful posts that can now be animated with six different effects for free or a small fee.
This is a fantastic feature, especially for brands that are already accustomed to working with the Canva platform. Even those who have never used Canva – or any other graphic design application – will find the mechanics very user-friendly. Once the design is ready, you download your animation in either a GIF or movie format, depending on where you wish to use the post.
Spark Video
Spark Video is a true game-changer. This tool is completely free and made by Adobe. The easy-to-use interface guides you as you create beautiful videos that can contain your own graphics, video clips, icons, images or text. You can search for free graphics covered by a creative commons license or purchase one from the Adobe digital library, which has an extensive collection of materials to choose from.
The platform has a remarkable number of free themes to make it easy for anyone to create stunning videos that feel professionally crafted. The free music library further elevates the final creation.
Crello
Crello is like Canva in many ways. The functionality and ease of use are at about the same level, and Crello is also free. Where Crello jumps to the next level is the fully customizable animated posts.
While Canva allows you to animate the text of your post, Crello provides fully animated post templates. All you have to do is add your text, save and upload to your favorite social media site. These files are saved as MP4 and can be played anywhere that allows video. [Interested in social media marketing solutions? Check out our top picks.]
Lumen5
Lumen5 is a great option for businesses of all sizes that produce regular blog content. Lumen5 allows you to easily transform blog content into a stunning video.
The free service pulls images and words from your posts, which you can then customize as needed to create a video that tells the story for you. Make it interesting enough to keep people watching, but leave viewers wanting more so they click through for the full story. Free and paid plans are available.
Quik
Quik is a free phone app by GoPro that allows anyone with an Apple or Android device to quickly and easily piece together images and videos and make captivating movies. You can also install Quik for Windows or Mac desktops. Even if it’s only a few seconds long, Quik can make the difference in how engaging your content is.
It offers a huge selection of templates that you can individually customize to make it look as though hours of editing and design went into each video. Do not discount this powerful piece of software simply because it is on mobile platforms.
Remember, there are many ways to use animated posts, GIFs or videos other than as posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. You can use them as a profile or cover image and in advertisements.
On all of these platforms, moving images convert better than text or static images. Once you become proficient in creating animated videos and quality social media posts, consider implementing them in other areas to garner even more interest in your brand.
most popular apps for social media
Whether you are a seasoned social media marketer, a marketer looking to venture into social media marketing, or a business owner looking to leverage social media, it’s helpful to know about the most popular social media sites out there right now. This will allow you to maximize your brand reach on social media, engage with the right people, and achieve your social media goals.
Of course, it isn’t only about the size of the social media sites. It’s also whether the social media site is a right fit for your business and for you. Does it fit your brand image? Is your target audience using that social media site? How many social media sites can you manage at once?
To make things easier for you, we researched and compiled information about the top social media sites in 2022. Some will be familiar to you, while others might sound new. We recommend reading through this list to learn more about the social media sites that might be great for your brand. And remember, you don’t have to be on every social media site to have a successful brand.
The top 20 social media sites of 2022
The rankings on our list are based on the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs).
- Facebook — 2.9 billion MAUs
Facebook Page of Foster Coffee Company
Facebook is the largest social media site, with more than two billion people using it every month. This means that roughly 36.9% of the world’s population are Facebook users. More than 200 million businesses (mostly small businesses) use Facebook tools, and more than seven million advertisersactively promote their business on Facebook, which makes it a pretty safe bet if you want to have a presence on social media.
It’s easy to get started on Facebook because almost all content formats work great on Facebook — text, images, video content, and Stories. But the Facebook algorithm prioritizes content that sparks conversations and meaningful interactions between people, especially those from family and friends. To learn more about how to start conversations on Facebook, check out our guide to marketing your business on Facebook — and measure your results.
- YouTube — 2.2 billion MAUs
YouTube homepage
YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users watch a billion hours of videos every day. Besides being the second largest social media site, YouTube is often called the second largest search engine after Google, its parent company.
So if you use video marketing to promote your business, then you definitely need to be on YouTube. To get started, here’s how to create a YouTube channel for your brand. And to help your videos get discovered by more people, we recommend reading up on YouTube SEO or consider advertising on YouTube to increase your reach.
- WhatsApp — 2 billion MAUs
WhatsApp conversation screenshot
WhatsApp is a messaging app used by people in over 180 countries. Initially, people originally used WhatsApp to send text messages to their family and friends. Gradually, people started communicating with businesses via WhatsApp.
WhatsApp’s business platform allows businesses to provide customer support and share updates with customers about their purchases. For small businesses, there’s the WhatsApp Business app, while enterprise businesses can use the WhatsApp Business API.
As the most widely used messaging platform, WhatsApp can be a great customer service channel for your business. Check out these WhatsApp Business user success stories.
- Instagram — 2 billion MAUs
Instagram feed screenshot
As a visual platform, Instagram is the place for showcasing your products or services with photos or videos. On the app, you can share a wide range of content such as photos, videos, Stories, reels, live videos, and IGTV for longer-form videos.
As a brand, you can create an Instagram business profile, which provides you with rich analytics of your profile and posts and the ability to schedule Instagram posts using third-party tools.
To help you use Instagram like a pro, we have a complete guide to Instagram marketing.
- Facebook Messenger — 1.3 billion MAUs
Messenger conversation screenshot
Messenger used to be a feature within Facebook, but since 2011, Messenger has been a standalone app with expanded features. Businesses can advertise, create chatbots, send newsletters, and more. These features have given businesses a myriad of new ways to engage and connect with their customers.
If you’re thinking about using Messenger for your business, read seven ways you can use Messenger for your marketing.
- WeChat — 1.26 billion MAUs
WeChat wallet
WeChat was released in 2011 by Tencent, one of China’s biggest tech companies. Like WhatsApp and Messenger, WeChat was originally a messaging app, but it’s evolved into an all-in-one platform. Besides messaging and calling, users can shop online, pay bills, buy groceries, transfer money, make reservations, book taxis, and more.
WeChat is the most popular social media platform in China and other parts of Asia. So if you want to boost your brand in China (where popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter are banned), WeChat is a good alternative. You can run ads on the official WeChat account or on WeChat Moments. There are also many WeChat-based influencers who can help your brand reach millions of Chinese consumers.
- TikTok — 1 billion MAUs
Tik Tok app screenshot
TikTok (known as Douyin in China) is a short-form-video-sharing app. Despite only launching in 2017, it’s one of the fastest-growing apps in the world and recently overtook Google as the most visited internet site.
TikTok allows users to create and share videos between 15 and 60 seconds long, and the app has a vast catalog of sound effects, music snippets, and filters to enhance the videos and make them more appealing. You can find videos relating to almost all interests, ranging from lip-syncs, dancing, and challenges to DIY tricks and make-up tutorials. About 47.4% of TikTok users in the U.S. are aged 10-29. So if your target demographic is young, then TikTok is a great platform for your business to be on.
We recently added TikTok scheduling to our publishing platform! You can plan and schedule TikTok posts in advance to help you grow your brand and increase your followers!
- Sina Weibo — 573 million MAUs
Sina Weibo homepage screenshot
“Weibo” (微博) means “micro-blog” in Chinese. Launched by the Chinese technology company Sina Corporation in 2009, Sina Weibo or simply Weibo is, you guessed it, a microblogging platform that compares to Twitter and Instagram.
Through Weibo, users can post images, videos, and stories, see trending topics, use hashtags in posts, and use the platform for instant messaging.
In comparison to WeChat, Sina Weibo has a younger demographic, and it offers more informational and trending content. In fact, The New York Times said Weibo is the place to be if you “want to go viral” in China. Weibo also allows businesses to set up official and verified accounts to communicate with their followers and to use paid advertising.
- QQ — 538.91 million MAUs
QQ screenshot
QQ was released in China in 1999 by Tencent. Prior to the launch of WeChat, QQ was the number one Chinese messaging app. Besides its instant messaging features, QQ also enables users to decorate their avatars, watch movies, play online games, stream music, shop online, blog, and make payments.
While WeChat has become the market leader in China, QQ is still popular with younger users. It’s also used in 80 countries and is available in many other languages. One of the upsides of QQ is you don’t need a phone number to sign up. This attracts young people who don’t have mobile devices but use the desktop version.
However, the largest audience for QQ is in the workforce. QQ’s desktop messenger is popular for its ease of use and ability to transfer files greater than 25 MB, which WeChat doesn’t allow.
- Telegram — 550 million MAUs
Telegram app screenshot
Telegram is a free messaging app that works across multiple devices with no limits on media sizes.
Telegram’s distinctive feature is its end-to-end encryption for all activities, including chats, groups, and media shared between participants. Its focus on security has drawn more customers over the years, especially when WhatsApp announced changes to its privacy policy that would allow it to share information with parent company Meta.
There are several ways brands can make use of Telegram, besides providing one-on-one customer support. For example, brands can create chatbots for the Telegram platform or make use of Telegram’s channel feature to broadcast messages to up to 200,000 people.
- Snapchat — 538 million MAUs
Snapchat discover screenshot
Snapchat focuses on photos and short videos (known as snaps) shared between friends. It made the vertical video format popular, which eventually proliferated on other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. But the rise of Instagram Stories, specifically, seems to have hindered Snapchat’s growth and marketers’ interest in using Snapchat for their brands in general.
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Nevertheless, 69% of U.S. teens say they use Snapchat. So if your target audience is mostly teenagers, you should consider using the app. If you’re not familiar with Snapchat, check out our beginner’s guide to Snapchat. Or if you’re undecided between Snapchat and Instagram, we wrote a little comparison of Snapchat and Instagram for brands.
- Kuaishou — 519.8 million MAUs
Screenshot of the app Kuaishou
Kuaishou is a Chinese rival to Douyin or TikTok. Like its competitors, Kuaishou allows users to overlay text and stickers to images or videos and add sound bites. Users can also live stream content to their followers on the platform or record longer videos.
Compared to TikTok, Kuaishou is more popular with an older audience, especially in rural parts of China. The app also relies more on e-commerce revenue than on advertising revenue.
- Qzone — 517 million MAUs
Qzone homepage screenshot
Qzone is another China-based app from Tencent that mixes social networking and blogging. Users can upload multimedia, keep diaries, write blogs, play games, and stream music.
Like Facebook, users can also connect with friends, see a feed of updates, comment, share or react to posts, and update cover or profile photos.
- Pinterest — 444 million MAUs
Pinterest feed screenshot
Pinterest is a one-stop shop for inspiration and discovering new products and ideas. On Pinterest, users “pin” photos that link to websites, product pages, blog posts, and other content across the internet. It’s a great platform for driving traffic to your website, and Pinterest users are 7x more likely to purchase products they’ve pinned.
Popular topics and themes on the social platform include fashion, beauty, home, garden, and DIY. So if your business operates in any one of those industries, then you should highly consider using Pinterest marketing to gain exposurefor your business.
Conclusion
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