Keep videos snappy
Videos continue to be a big hit on social media this year, and keeping them short and sweet will be a focus in the next. “People like that five-second kind of update,” says Jim Meinecke, residential dining coordinator at Penn State Food Services. Behind-the-scene videos have been very popular with students at the State College, Pa., school, he says, as have short recipe videos similar to Buzzfeed’s Tasty videos.
Robert Flynn, a new media coordinator who runs social media for Boston University’s dining program, also praises Tasty-style videos, and suggests that video content on social be under a minute. Flynn has seen success using video to promote menu items and events, such as BU’s annual lobster night, which he hyped up with a video showing how to break down a lobster on Facebook. The video, which clocked in at 60 seconds, garnered 5,300 views and over 70 shares. By comparison, the second-most popular video on the dining team's Facebook page netted only 456 views.