There’s a time and place for everything, they say, and the point has special application with social media. It’s no good coming up with the right video and then showing it to the wrong people. You wouldn’t (let’s assume) labour for hours in making the perfect pecan pie and then offer it to someone with a fatal nut allergy. Even the right message aimed at the right person can miss the mark if the timing is off. Nobody likes to be cold-called on a Sunday morning – about anything. This is just annoying. Poorly planned communications can repel someone who otherwise would embrace your message.

Similarly, it’s annoying to have your social media bombarded with irrelevant nonsense. Anything which isn't strictly relevant is effectively useless for all involved. However, a social media video which speaks to you personally, which has particular meaning for you, can catch your interest and, most importantly, engagement, like no other kind of content.

This is the true value of social media – the potential for interactivity. A good social media video involves the viewer. It makes them a part of the meaning-making process by giving them a portion of editorial control. Consider that viewers can shape the way a video is framed (by posting it under a “headline”), appraised (by “liking” or not), distributed (by sharing or not) and interpreted (by commenting on it). All of this is empowering. It makes everyone an active participant in shaping the life of the video. The most successful social media videos tend to have the most participation from users.

Another important aspect of social media is the way they give everyone a voice. As a result, the meaning of a social media video grows out beyond its origin, feeding into a peripheral sphere of meaning (a meta-text) of conversation and debate, affinity and contention, between hundreds or even thousands of people. The best made and best placed videos bring all of these voices together like many threads through one hoop, driving engagement and investment, ensuring that the message not only lands but resonates.

So, how do we achieve this? As each social media platform is unique, different approaches need to be applied in each instance.