Six steps to create impactful social media videos for news

Matt Sullivan, COO, Spotlight Delaware (Photo credit: Spotlight Delaware)

We listened to the people in our Spanish-speaking communities at the end of 2024 to determine if it made sense to publish a Spanish-language newsletter. We were told that’s not how most people consume news. Instead, it’s videos on social media.”

Matt Sullivan

An increasing portion of the news audience is seeking information on social media and viewing videos for that purpose. It follows that producing video content for social media is a wise business strategy for news publishers, and they are not as time-consuming and costly to create as many think.

Step #1: Understand your audience

Spotlight Delaware is a nonprofit, collaborative news site launched in early 2024. Creating social videos was always part of its original business model, but Matt Sullivan, COO, and the staff started by understanding their audience.

“We listened to the people in our Spanish-speaking communities at the end of 2024 to determine if it made sense to publish a Spanish-language newsletter. We were told that’s not how most people consume news. Instead, it’s videos on social media,” Sullivan said.

Step #2: Establish goals

Some news publishers may create social videos to drive people to their websites, increase subscriptions and generate more revenue. According to Sullivan, that was not Spotlight Delaware’s primary goal, but to share credible, truthful and believable information with people where they need it.

Step #3: Develop a content strategy

Julia Merola, Spotlight Delaware reporter, social video post (Photo credit: Spotlight Delaware)

The content of social videos can be more than standard news stories. For example, a behind-the-scenes look at how the news is gathered and published can build trust. Many nonprofit news organizations are using social videos to connect with the local donor base.

Short videos, such as those Spotlight Delaware created, are easiest to produce and can make an impact quickly. Some investigative journalism news outlets have discovered that long-form videos about complex issues also gain traction on social media.

“At the end of 2024, we decided to start a Spanish-language recap of the week’s news with a two- to three-minute video, and we created an English version too. We have three or four bilingual reporters, so we didn’t have to rely on one person. The Spanish-language audience is often younger, so one of our recurring segments is called ‘Tell Your Tía.’ It’s information to share with one’s aunt or grandmother who doesn’t speak English,” Sullivan said.

Step #4: Allocate staff and a budget

Because smartphones record high-quality video, local news outlets can capture and post social videos without the need for expensive video equipment and a production team. With some basic training, many journalists can record videos like the Spotlight Delaware staff.

“Our reporters are recording social videos with their phones. I bought a $30 microphone that they share and an Adobe Premiere subscription, and that’s the end of the costs. We also hired Elsa Kegelman as our marketing and events manager, who took video production under her wing. Our videos are now shorter, tighter and more conversational. She has a theater background, so she’s doing some performance training with the staff,” Sullivan said.

Step #5: Select the right platforms

Olivia Marble, Spotlight Delaware reporter, social video post (Photo credit: Spotlight Delaware)

With a thorough understanding of the target audience and social media user profiles, news publishers can match their audience to the right social media platforms. With their huge user audiences, Facebook and YouTube are good choices, especially for news outlets creating, posting and testing their first social videos. If, like Spotlight Delaware, a younger audience is the target, then Instagram and TikTok are likely to attract more of them.

Step 6: Analyze data

A periodic review of social videos’ analytics will reveal audience numbers, and comments/feedback will help news outlets adjust their social video strategy and content. According to Sullivan, Spotlight Delaware’s videos generate hundreds of views on TikTok, often thousands combined on all social media sites, sometimes exceeding 10,000 on TikTok alone. The TikTok page has more than 1,200 followers.

“I am surprised that there was so much hunger for social videos in the community and the specific demographic we targeted. We are constantly looking for ways to reach parts of our community that have been underserved by the media. We have funders who encourage us to experiment, and we’ll be telling that story during the next year about our success with videos,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan’s advice for news organizations is “to hire people you trust and let them do it. I let my staff do the work, and if they make a mistake, then we’ll have a conversation. The worst-case scenario is that we must remove a video. The only way of doing social videos is to keep the team lean and let them run.”

Editor & Publisher readers are encouraged to research social videos thoroughly and ask for advice from news publishers who have been successful with the format.

Bob Sillick has held many senior positions and served a myriad of clients during his 47 years in marketing and advertising. He has been a freelance/contract content researcher, writer, editor and manager since 2010.  He can be reached at bobsillick@gmail.com.