Social media has gotten more sophisticated. Your posts need to adapt. Video outreach is not only easy but, according to strategic marketing agency Insivia, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch a video ‚ compared to 10% when reading it in text. And since social-media posts with video have 47% more views, according to HubSpot, the time is now to start re-thinking how you’re posting your work — and how video can play a part.

Video DOs and DON’Ts

It’s easy to build a video presentation of your comic. For example, Apple’s iMove, which ships with Macintosh computers, is intuitive and versatile as a video-editing tool. But take some time to avoid some easy mistakes.

• DO keep in mind social-media aspect ratios when prepping your video. A widescreen format isn’t going to be your best bet. And Instagram is going to favor a square shape over anything else.
• DON’T use sound! 85% of Facebook posts are watched with the sound off.
• DO use captions.
• DON’T post a long video. Twitter limits video to 140 seconds. Instagram posts can be 60 seconds. Stories can be longer, but they will be chopped into 15-second segments.
• DO get to the point. A lengthy intro is death on a social-media video.
• DON’T start with a blank screen and fade in. Remember, the first frame may be used for the thumbnail/cover by the social-media platform you post in.
• DO choose an attractive thumbnail/cover image if you have the opportunity
• DO consider closing the video with a call to action.

Panel-by-panel

A panel-by-panel run-through of your comic is a no-brainer. Be sure to leave enough time for a slow reader to make it through all of the word balloons in the panel before advancing the video to the next panel.

If you’d like a quick-and-easy way to do this, upload the comic in a multi-image post for your Patreon backers. Open the post in Patreon’s app, and use Screen Record on your iPhone. (If you don’t have it, go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tap the + next to Screen Recording. Android users will have to download an app or unlock the built-in recorder by going through a few steps.

Comic trailer

Consider creating a trailer for your comic. Just like a movie trailer, this introduces the central themes in your comic — or in the latest chapter of an ongoing-storyline comic — and entices the viewer to find out more. This is also an excellent way to promote a new downloadable eComic.

Video comic

Why stop there? Record yourself reading your comic and sync it to a panel-by-panel pan-through of your comic. Upload it on YouTube. Check out the Comicstorian channel to get some ideas.

Tutorials and time-lapse videos

We already discussed the effectiveness of time-lapse videos, but why stop there? If you livestream or record process videos for your Patreon backers, pull a clip and record a quick voiceover (and/or add some captions) and explain why you’re doing what you’re doing. Artists and non-artists alike enjoy learning about how art is made.

Don’t stop there

You got into comics because you wanted to be creative. So get creative! When I was looking for a new way to share clips from my podcast, ComicLab, I turned to my UArts intern, Asia Blackshear, and encouraged her to tackle it as an animation project. The result was a series of video posts that generated excellent engagement.