Whether we like it or not, video is one of the most important content forms in today’s world and will only become more prevalent in the future. Everywhere you look there’s some form of video content, be it a video ad on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, a 360 virtual reality video in VR headsets or even digital billboards that are appearing more often in major highways and cities. Gone are the days where print and static images were the go-to marketing channels. Video has taken the world by storm and it is no surprise that more and more businesses are hiring top corporate video production companies to produce high quality videos.
With that being said, marketers will need to accept video as the new norm in their marketing strategy moving forward. So, before you begin your venture into video marketing, here are a few quick tips to help you along your way.
Always have an interesting or appealing thumbnail image
One big mistake that many people make is not creating a custom thumbnail for their videos. Think of it this way – a thumbnail is like an elevator pitch. You’ve only got a few seconds to sell yourself before the viewer moves on to the next 100 videos on his or her feed. You may have the best video on YouTube or Facebook but if your thumbnail isn’t appealing, the chances of viewers clicking on your video decreases significantly. Keep in mind that on some platforms like YouTube, videos do not autoplay so the only factors that can persuade a viewer to click on your video is the thumbnail and video title.
Sure, having a catchy title can net you some views but is that good enough? In a world where information is everywhere and oftentimes overwhelming, you need the best chance possible of grabbing the attention of your audience. The best way to do this is to have a catchy video title as well as an attention grabbing thumbnail. Many popular YouTubers like using emotions in their thumbnails which is a good place to start when trying to figure out what you should have for your thumbnail. For example, some YouTubers use scary or mysterious thumbnails to pique the interest of curious viewers while some use cuteness (puppies and kittens) to lure viewers who are animal lovers into watching their videos.
Keep it unique, simple and have a CTA
Whenever you produce a video with the intention of attracting viewers and converting them, you should keep 3 factors in mind – uniqueness, simplicity and CTA. If you take a look at viral videos or even non-viral videos that perform well in terms of views and engagement, they all have one thing in common which is uniqueness (Gangnam Style, PPAP, etc). If you own a brand, try adding your brand’s identity and style into the video that you’re producing and make it unique. Whether it’s a flash mob dance, an emotional short story or an animation video from an animation studio in Singapore, the choice is yours. Research and experiment with what works for your video and don’t follow the crowd.
Besides keeping your video unique, ensure that your videos are short, sweet and straight to the point. Usually, the first few seconds of your video will be the period in which a viewer decides if the rest of the video is worth watching. Whatever important messages you want to get across to the viewers, do so in the first few seconds of your video. This is so that even if they do decide to skip your video after the first few seconds, these said viewers would have already been exposed to the main messages you wanted to relay to them.
On top of that, ensure that your video always has a call to action (CTA). Imagine having an amazing video with thousands of views but zero conversions because you didn’t place a CTA in your video or in the video description. Nobody wants to be in that situation so always remember to have a strong CTA especially at the beginning and end of your video.
Video optimization is key
For videos on YouTube, you can actually optimize your videos with SEO content to rank for popular queries that people are searching for on YouTube AND Google. That’s right, Google indexes YouTube videos as well so depending on the query, your video could actually appear on YouTube and Google!
To optimize your videos, the basic steps are to include your targeted keywords or queries in your video title and description. You can also include links to your website or social media profiles to drive traffic to these other channels. Besides this, you can also tag your videos so that it matches the tags of other similar but more popular videos. Doing this could very well make your video appear as a related video and drive free traffic!
Aside from optimizing for YouTube, always check to be sure that your video dimensions are optimized for the platform you are planning to publish your video on. Certain platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok may have their own recommended dimensions and not following them may lead to your video looking weird once published. Best practice would be to keep a list of platforms you’re planning to publish your videos on and write down the recommended dimensions for each of these platforms.
Have subtitles on your video
Nowadays, especially on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, videos can still autoplay albeit without sound. Sometimes, viewers may actually prefer to watch an interesting video without sound depending on the situation. For example, you could be in a crowded restaurant and just browsing through your facebook feed while waiting for your food to arrive. You come across a video that looks extremely interesting and you decide to watch it. However, due to the surrounding noises, it is hard to hear anything and increasing the volume on your phone doesn’t help much. Cue the introduction of subtitles! With subtitles, viewers can still watch your video with or without sound as long as your video content is interesting.
Hope the tips help everyone to create an interesting video!