Quality is key when it comes to social media videos, and you should make no compromises as far as it is concerned. The fact of the matter is that viewers expect to be able to watch high-quality videos – and will click away if that’s not what they get.
If you’re concerned that your social media videos aren’t quite hitting the mark in terms of their quality, you must do something about it. Fortunately, there are several relatively easy ways that you can start to create social media videos with far better quality.
To make compelling videos to engage viewers, you need to implement the best practices around technique, lighting, audio, equipment, and editing. Invest in a good camera, proper lighting setups, audio capture methods, and editing software. Let’s have a look at some of the best ways to create good-quality videos.
To be completely honest, you should be recording videos in 1080p Full HD – at the very least. That is the standard that viewers have come to expect from social media videos, and anything less than that is bound to disappoint a significant number of viewers.
In fact, now that more and more people are starting to use 4K displays and most social media platforms support it, you may even want to record in 4K – if you have the right equipment. That will somewhat future-proof the quality of your videos and ensure their longevity.
Just keep in mind that it is more difficult to manage and edit 4K videos, and the file size will be significantly larger.
Another key factor that will affect the quality of your videos is the frame rate. A higher frame rate will make the video look much smoother, and any movement in the frame will look more crisp and fluid.
Nowadays, many social media platforms support videos in 30 to 60 frames per second. You can take advantage of that and dial up your frame rate accordingly. As you can imagine, a frame rate of 60 would be best if it is supported. However, at a minimum, you should be recording in 30 frames per second.
On a slightly different note, you should always use the same frame rate when recording your video footage – to avoid any issues when you cut it together.
Lighting plays an important role in video quality. Make sure that the scene you are recording is brightly lit with a soft light that is evenly distributed. This would make your video noticeably more impressive.
If recording indoors, you may want to consider using a three-point lighting setup that gives you more control over the lighting. Moreover, if you record outdoors, try to avoid the harsh afternoon sun. Record during the golden hour right after dawn or right before dusk instead.
Any movement of the camera can adversely affect the quality of your video – so you should try to avoid it and keep the camera as steady as possible.
That may not be easy if you’re holding it in your hands, which is why using a tripod stand or some other camera holder can make a big difference.
It should be noted that you should keep the camera steady when you are moving it as well, and pan or tilt gradually to avoid any loss of quality.
While you’re focusing on the video quality, you should make sure that you don’t overlook the audio quality as well. After all, the audio is part of your video, and its quality will reflect on the video quality as a whole.
If you are not recording audio but instead using background music, the audio quality shouldn’t be a problem. All that you need to do is ensure that the quality of the source material is good.
However, if you are recording audio as part of your video, things can get a bit more tricky, and there are a few steps you should take:
Make no mistake, that is just a rough overview of what needs to be done. However, it should give you a fairly solid idea of how you can improve the audio quality.
Raw footage from the camera directly rarely makes the video compelling. You will need professional editing software to take the clips to the next level. There are programs like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, or DaVinci Resolve that offer free versions with the pro tools.
Import the footage to this softwares and make the necessary changes. Use effects like color correction, speed adjustments, color grading, chroma-keying, transitions, animations, titles, jump cuts, and image stabilization to polish the content.be careful while reviewing the clips.
Keep the best parts, sequences, and shots to maximize the impact. Make sure that the story moves at a coherent speed and the story flows. Take care of the brightness, contrast, and saturation frame-by-frame until the image looks vibrant.
Try some tricks like montages, acceleration ramps, along with innovative camera moves. All these things add transitions for some more dynamism and energy. Let the clips roll long enough so that it feels cinematic before you cut it off.
Audio also plays an important role. Adjust the audio levels get some background music, and use ducking to bend the sounds well. With a little practice, these editing softwares can turn your raw footage into a beautiful social media video that would look like a professional product.
After you’re done editing your video, you should encode it in the right format and settings – based on the recommended format and settings of the platform you’re using.
Typically, most social media platforms use the format MP4 with H.264. However, other parameters, such as the resolution, frame rate, and maximum file size, may vary.
By encoding your video in the right format and settings, you can avoid any issues when uploading them. More importantly, you will ensure that its quality isn’t affected once it is uploaded.
If you have already encoded the video, you should convert or transcode it to the format that you need. That should be easy enough, and for example, you could use an Online Video Converter to convert AVCHD to MP4.
By now, you should know what you need to do to produce high-quality videos for social media. None of the methods outlined above are really that difficult, yet each one will help improve your video quality in its own way.
If you apply all of them, you should notice a remarkable difference in the quality of the videos that you’re able to produce.
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Abdul Aziz Mondol is a professional blogger who is having a colossal interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, he loves to share content related to business, finance, technology, and the gaming niche.
