By now, we all know it: Video is a very big deal when it comes to social media marketing.

According to Sprout Social, more than half of marketers say that video is the most valuable content type. And, maybe more importantly, half of all social media users prefer video over other types of content.

So clearly, video is a big deal in our world.

Then why do we continue to give it such short shrift?

Undoubtedly, you know what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about brands that post videos on LinkedIn in the wrong format (vertical).

I’m talking about brands that post videos on Facebook without captions.

I’m talking about brands that re-post their most recently 60-second spot on Insta.

These brands aren’t taking social video seriously. In fact, for many, I would argue social video is nothing more than an after-thought.

Tell me if the following scenario sounds eerily familiar.

Your marketing team is working on a cool new video to complement an upcoming campaign. They work on it with your advertising agency partners. You know they’re working on it, but aren’t included in the brainstorming or planning sessions. Then, a few weeks later the marketing team comes to you, hurriedly, with the final video asking you to “get it out on social.” You post the video, which is clearly an advertisement designed for TV/streaming, to Facebook, Insta and Twitter, but it’s not in the correct format for any of those channels. And, it doesn’t include captions. Result: A complete flop. It generates views because you pay to boost it, but you see little in the way of other meaningful engagement. It becomes nothing more than an ill-executed online billboard.

This is the state of social video in 2022–sadly.

However, I think there are some things we can do, as social media marketers, to improve the quality and effectiveness of social video. A few ideas:

Get invited to the brainstorming and planning meetings. Be a little bull-headed about it, if you have to. But, get a seat at that table. As the social person, it’s imperative you’re involved in the front-end planning of these videos. Remember: most (if not all) of the other people in the room aren’t thinking about the social executions. Worse yet: Most aren’t even remotely familiar with social specs, best practices and guidelines to provide informed guidance to the creative team.

Learn–and teach others–how to shoot on an iPhone. Some of the better, and most impactful, social video I’ve seen in the last year has been shot on a phone. Think: Sara Blakely’s announcement to her team that she was giving them $10,000 and 2 round-trip first-class tickets anywhere in the world. Audiences don’t want polished, branded videos in 2022. They want authenticity. They want real. Think TikTok–not TV spots. Plus, the iPhone camera, as we all know, is a wonderful piece of technology full of features. Heck, people are shooting movies on them now! Certainly, you could shoot your social videos on them and make them look “brand ready.” All you need to do is learn (and teach your video team the same thing).

Forget ads and talking heads–think DIFFERENT. Social video can’t be about TV ads and talking heads (panel discussions or interviews) in 2022. That’s just not going to cut it in the attention economy. To cut through the increasingly crowded social video clutter, you must think DIFFERENT. Your video has to stop people. It has to draw them in (especially if it’s going to be longer than 10 seconds). Long gone are the days when you can mail it in with social video. You have to put in the time to create something that you truly people people will watch for more than a few seconds.