Marketers everywhere now recognize that video is an effective channel to promote their business, grow sales and communicate with customers. We all know from our daily experience of the internet and social media that the combined power of audio and video is much more compelling than just text or static images. Think about how many videos you watch in a day just on a whim, and compare that to how many full articles you read. Think about which takes more effort and which you can remember in entirety. There you have your answer to why video is so popular as a marketing channel nowadays. If you’re still doubtful you can read our previous article to know once and for all why your brand needs video marketing.
Videos can definitely get your company some great results but only if they are done right. So today we bring you some best practices that can help you succeed with videos.
Have a Plan
Granted that video is important, but that doesn’t mean one should start creating videos just for the sake of having some. Your reasons for opting for video content should be based on your marketing goals. Before heading out to make your content or hiring someone to make it for you, first take a look at your marketing objectives for the next couple months.
What part would this video play in your content plans? Are you looking for awareness or leads? Do you want to promote a particular deal or offer? Is there a need for fresh content for a product launch? Keep your goal in mind before you plan out a script. These are also the first things a video production agency will ask you if you approach them to help you out. So, brainstorm with your team on why you need a video.
Be Natural
You may feel the need to control every aspect of your video production process but this does not always lead to the best results. Viewers can tell if a video is “too scripted” or not authentic. Unless the purpose of your video is strictly to explain a complex process, try to go for either a casual setting or a story-telling style. Focus on a few points that you would like to get across and let them flow into the script conversationally instead of trying to sell too hard.
When the script allows it, just wrap up your sales point in a story completely as people are 22 times more likely to remember it that way. If you are going to a production company, give them as many details about your company, product and audience as possible and then just let them handle the writing.
Get a Good Start
Generally it is a good rule of thumb to keep your videos as short as you can because human attention spans are not what they used to be. We recommend staying within 15 to 60 seconds and for some cases going up to 2 minutes. If a video is getting to be longer than that, it is best to divide it into a multiple part series to get more of the information across. This is because a lot of viewers tend to click away after watching a few seconds of the beginning of a video. Up to 20% of people stop watching after the first 10 seconds of a video. Within the first 30 seconds, it’s 33% of viewers and at the 60-second point you can expect 44% of the audience to have moved on. There is just too much other content and too much going on in a typical internet user’s life to stick around for very long.
There are two work-arounds for this. Either create a hook that is good enough to keep people watching, or make sure to put the most important value of your product or service at the very beginning of your video. This way even if the viewer abandons your video mid-way, they will have gotten the gist of what you wanted to tell them.
Use Subtitles
You now know that people decide whether or not they want to watch a video in the first 5 to 10 seconds of viewing but did you know that people often watch these few seconds without sound? Around 92% of viewers on mobile don’t turn the sound on for their videos and 83% of all viewers prefer keeping the sound off.
This is something that you might do yourself. When you’re scrolling through social media feeds, you might find yourself reluctant to unmute the video and just watch it with captions on. This is why it is so important to have captions or tactful text overlays for all your videos. People may decide to skip the video altogether rather than turning the sound on if they find it doesn’t have proper subtitles or captions.
Adapt to Any Platform or Device
It might be tempting to post the same video to Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, but that would not work out as well as you’d like. Your video also wouldn’t do well if you make it with only a laptop or a flat screen TV in mind. Videos look different on different screens and social media platforms. Make sure your video has enough visual impact that it looks just as impressive on a mobile screen.
Most platforms display videos horizontally and have a certain aspect ratio that your videos need to fit. If you shoot a video vertically on your phone, the viewer will see black bars on the sides of it to make it fit and that looks unappealing. However, there are certain high usage features on social sites that require vertical videos. Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, IGTV, TikTok, and Snapchat all display videos vertically. Over there, you cannot post a horizontal video and hope that viewers get what it’s about watching it through that awkwardly cropped window. Do your research and make sure your video looks like it belongs on the screen where your customer is watching it.
Those are all the video marketing tips for success we had to offer (for now). Let us know what you think and add any of your own tips in the comments below!