Take Your Sports Graphics to the Next Level with Video

Video has taken over social media.

Short-form videos get more views, engagement, and monetization than any other form of content on social media. That's why we've seen the rise of video-based platforms and features, from TikTok to Instagram Reels.

But you don't need to be creating videos from scratch to share video content. If you're a sports administrator, you have easy access to one of the most-loved forms of video content on the internet: sports highlights.

Take accounts like House of Highlights for example. The brand built its entire following by sticking to one form of content: epic sports videos. They've grown to over 50 million followers and have millions on millions of video views.

What is it about video that makes it so popular? It's short, entertaining, and easy to consume. It holds a viewer's attention for longer. More importantly, it's extremely shareable. And now, social platforms optimize for it. That means if you're sharing video, the algorithms are in your favor.

And that means that if you're posting videos to your social channels, you have better chances of getting seen. Videos get more reach and exposure on social media than any other type of content.

So, as the kids say, this is your sign to share videos. And we're here to help you figure out what, where, and how of sharing video.

What Video?

What's great about video content is that it can be completely organic. And by that we mean totally non-edited and non-produced. The videos that perform the best on social have nothing to do with the quality or aesthetic of the video. They have everything to do with what's happening in it.

So when we take away the need for expensive video camera equipment or complicated editing software, shareable video is everywhere. Here are some of the places you should look.

Your Hudl Highlights (Or Other Athletics Video Software Provider)

In this day and age, sports and video are so closely intertwined. We live-stream events, we record our practices. We review tape to prepare for games. We have analytics built into our video to fix form or technique.

All of these videos we capture can also be cut up and shared to social media. If you're live streaming games with your Hudl camera, chances are you've got epic touchdowns, goals, and celebrations on film. Clip those up, throw them into a Gipper graphic, and share right to social.

Are you a Hudl customer? You may be eligible for exclusive pricing on a Gipper subscription! Learn more

Your Phone Videos (Or Others' Phone Videos)

People are filming constantly. That means there's a high likelihood that the insane bicycle kick goal you just witnessed was captured on somebody's phone. 

Whether that person is you, a parent, or even another athlete, track that video down and post it. 

Need help getting your hands on those videos? Don't forget that Content Requests makes it easy to get media from anyone.

Media Day

Sports videos don't have to be all highlights. You've probably seen videos of athletes staring down the camera, tossing a football, or doing a live-action, arms-crossed pose with another teammate. Those videos are great for hype and can be more visually interesting than a static image. 

Many teams stage these videos during Media Day. You may have heard of Media Day on the professional level, but high schools across the country do them too. The goal is to capture high-quality content of all of your athletes before the season kicks into gear. 

Add video into your next Media Day. Set up a station with props and equipment, and let your athletes really have fun with it. The results end up looking super epic and professional. 

New to Media Day? Check out our guide to putting together a hassle-free (budget-free) Media Day at your school. 

Where Should You Post Video?

How Can you Post Video?

Again, the short answer here is: just do it! You can upload videos natively to any social media platform.

BUT, since we're optimizing video for Instagram and video-first platforms, there are some guidelines and best practices to go over:

First, sizing is important. The ideal video size on Instagram and TikTok is 9:16. This is the vertical orientation of your phone when filming. This can make restructuring your livestream clips a bit challenging since they're recorded in a landscape, 16:9 frame.

The length of the video is also a crucial factor. When it comes to sports highlights specifically, the shorter the better. Viewers have very quick attention spans. If they don't see something that grabs their attention within the first eight seconds, they're going to keep scrolling.

Now, you're not social media managers, so you don't have the time (nor is it your job) to be reformatting and clipping and editing videos for every social media platform.

Use Gipper's pre-sized and pre-styled templates to make posting video part of your already smooth social workflow. We have thousands of templates that are compatible with video and ready to go in any size.

Plus, it's a great way to add branding to your video and communicate important information like final scores. All you have to do, it's upload your video right into your graphic just as you would a photo. It's that simple. 

Some of Our Favorite Templates for Video