When done correctly, any type of effective video marketing can help a business to increase its sales and conversions. Placing the right type of video on the right type of platform doubles your chances of success.
At the time of its fruition in 2005, what was once considered a platform with few capabilities, and even less interest to the public, is now the 2nd most profitable and smartest acquisition any business can take advantage of. The platform is YouTube.
Here are a few statistics about the YouTube channel (BusinessofApps):
With these and other astounding statistics, it is no wonder viewers are drawn to YouTube more than any other platform to find information about a product, service or brand. The great thing about this for businesses is, there is an audience already available to you.
It all starts with a great video. So, if you’re new to using the social networking platform or have one already but are not sure why it’s not getting any traction or you haven’t done much on it because, well, you simply don’t know how to make the most of it - we're here to help.
As a video production company, we know the ins and outs of good vs bad video.
We have created numerous types of videos for different industries and continue to do so, and in the process have seen what works for them, as well as us.
For most, the answer to this should be – Yes! Our suggestion? Go with Video. There are, however, a few fundamental elements that you should look into if 2023 is going to be the year you want to make more sales, increase engagement and gain more clients for your business through video content marketing.
Let’s jump right in.
When creating or enhancing a video for YouTube, you have to keep the audience in mind at all times. The first 10 seconds of any video are crucial in keeping them watching.
Stats show that 20% of your audience will stop watching a YouTube video within the first 10 seconds if they don’t find it appealing (Omnicore)
To add to this sad story is that YouTube now has a ‘thumbs down’ function – something you don’t want your audience to press on. So, what’s the best way forward? The intro.
Within the first few seconds explain to the viewer what they are about to watch and more importantly, how it will benefit them.
The idea of your videos should revolve around – solving a problem and answering a question. If you can throw in a personal experience, even better, it will build trust and relatability.
Here are some suggestions to consider on your video script:
Tips on how to write a video script can be found in this article: How to Write a Video Script
Branding has, and always will be one of the most crucial parts of any business. It is not just about the colours you use or your logo.
It is the ‘entire identity of your business’. This Forbes article explains the importance of this concept well, giving you reasons to consider your branding.
In a nutshell, it's great for building trust and loyalty, it can improve your adverts and videos, and it is also great for your employees.
You want people to recognize you immediately and what better way than to brand your video marketing footage?
Many times, it is the branding that sticks in your viewer's minds so they remember to go back to your videos when looking for information.
Think of the Nike ‘Tick’ or the Apple logo or even YouTube's ‘Red play button’ – when we see any of these logos we know to whom they belong.
Remember the 10-second attention span we mentioned above? Keep that in mind. So, things such as the opening credits and the titles of the videos should ideally be kept as short as possible.
If you want to say more, leave that to the description box.
Seeing as you will be regularly uploading your business videos onto YouTube, keeping them short and to the point, which gets rid of boredom and may discourage the viewer to watch all your videos because they’re expecting a long intro to all your videos.
Think about it this way: when you want to binge-watch an interesting series on Netflix or Amazon, what is the likelihood of you skipping the boring intro, to get to the start of all the action? 100%.
No one likes long opening credits, especially if they’re binge-watching (and you want to encourage them to binge-watch your videos).
Sometimes when you watch a YouTube (or any other channel video) you find this irritating aspect where the background music is much louder than the speaker and you can barely hear anything.
Avoid this at all costs before you drive your audience away.
Having a great video and amazing music to accompany it, is great but if the viewer is supposed to listen to someone and they can’t, they will turn it off before you can say ‘hold my beer’!
The goal of your video is to tell (or show) people about your business, service or product.
They need to understand the message as simply and quickly as possible. If no one is talking or they do not need to listen to any speaker then go ahead and have all the visuals and loud music you want.
But if there are words to be heard, make sure you test the video out amongst a few of your colleagues or friends to make sure they can hear it clearly and the music or background noise is not louder than the vocals.
What things are people in your industry talking about? What is your audience looking for? What is newsworthy?
Think about the things that are trending in the current season. If you are a cell phone company, do some research on Google, Twitter trending posts and hashtags or other YouTube channels to see what is a hot topic right now in the cell phone world.
It could be the new Samsung smartphone or a wireless charging pod or some funky music that Spotify has released and can be played on your phone’s app, you get the point.
On YouTube itself, you can search for trending topics in your country and specific industry and see what’s popular on these platforms and on social feeds. These can all add to some great resources to add to your next video content and keep people interested.
The way we see it is; don’t just focus on the top line topics, go deep. There are many angles you can take to creating video content.
Try being more creative and put more thought-provoking content on your channel. It doesn’t necessarily need to be only about your products or services but could also include sub-topics that are indirectly related to your brand.
Break it down into smaller simpler ideas and video series or quick-bites.
As mentioned in the above points, your viewers are very impatient. They are short on time and may not watch the entire video.
There is also the aspect of choice given to them – too much content for them to watch.
They want to go through it, as much as possible and as quickly as they can. Which begs the question – where should you place your call-to-action so they see it before they stop watching?
If they aren’t sticking around for the first minute at the most, that’s where the sweet spot is, they won't stick around for the rest of it.
So, having your CTA at the end of a video may not make sense in this context. Especially if your video is longer, then avoid doing this.
Clickable annotations within the first few seconds of the video is a better solution to deal with CTA placements.
Small things such as designing thumbnails for your video that are clickable can make a difference and enhance your professional appearance.
YouTube indirectly endorses videos and suggests them to the audience on the channel.
Here is a great YouTube video example of not just a well-made video but also has helpful information on how to create great content for yours, as well as design thumbnails.
If you have ever watched a video of a ‘dog doing tricks’, the channel will later on, through the magic of algorithms, suggest other similar dog content for you to watch.
Suggestions are done on almost every social channel if you pay close attention.
When you add well-designed thumbnails to your content, they can drive clicks to the feed of these algorithms, and attract more viewers who will click on them and produce more engagement, rinse and repeat.
More clicks, more viewers and engagement, more likelihood of conversions.
Don’t forget to design your thumbnails the right size, to incorporate smaller screens. The ideal size that YouTube recommends is 1280 x 720 px.
Choose stand-out images that will capture the attention of people even if they are just browsing. If you are not sure which thumbnails will work, try the traditional A/B test on a few of your videos to see which ones get more traction.
Bear in mind to keep it consistent. Having one similar style for all your thumbnails using similar colors, logos, images, faces, shapes etc. will increase brand recognition over time.
Check out how National Geographic does it. Even though they shoot their footage in a variety of locations, during daytime and at night etc., they still try and keep overall similar design aesthetic consistent throughout their thumbnails.
Joining hands with your audience is one of the best ways to build engagement and conversions for your business.
By this we mean - audience participation. Whether you are streaming live or not, enticing your audience to participate in some form of activity or communication has a lot of advantages.
A few ways to do this include - asking them questions directly or adding a poll, to induce responses such as comments, replies, feedback, opinions etc.
This fuels the engagement algorithm on YouTube. More about these algorithms can be found here.
Try and apply these best practices to your YouTube channel and see what happens. Always remember to be patient, and give it time to kick in.
See how we do it: send us an email to hello@shortstories.media if you would like to discuss your next film project.
