Using video to reach your audience and boost engagement is one of the most efficient ways to communicate your message to your audience. Whether you’re a marketer, business owner, or content creator, using video can significantly impact your reach and help you connect with your target audience on a deeper level.
Video is quickly becoming the most popular form of content and, with the ability to reach a wide range of people across different channels, video is the perfect way to demonstrate your product or service while connecting with potential customers on a personal level.
When deciding whether video is the right choice for your business, and what the right kind of video is, there are a few decisions you need to make. Here is a helpful checklist to help you create videos that are powerful and effective advocates for your brand.
1. The Platform
Before diving into video content creation, it’s crucial to identify where your target audience spends their time online. Different platforms cater to various demographics and content types. For instance, YouTube is ideal for longer, informative videos, while TikTok is perfect for short, snappy content and caters to Gen Z. Knowing where your audience is most active will help you tailor your video content to the right platform.
2. Define Your Objectives
Clearly outline your goals for using video. Are you looking to educate your audience, build brand awareness, or increase sales? Understanding your objectives will guide your video content strategy, ensuring that your videos align with your goals.
3. Create High-Quality Content
Quality is huge when it comes to video content. Invest in good equipment, proper lighting, and high-quality audio to ensure that your videos are visually and audibly appealing.
High-quality content not only captures your audience’s attention but also keeps them engaged. If you are creating a short video or reel then your phone camera will be fine, but it is still important to have good lighting, decide on your background and avoid a shaky hand.
4. Tell a Story
Video is ideal for telling a story. It’s an immersive format that can really capture your audience’s attention. Whether it’s a brand story, customer testimonial, or a journey through your product’s development, stories create a connection and evoke emotion. Workshop it – run it past different people in your company or friends to see if the story you’re trying to tell resonates with them.
5. Keep It Short
Shorter videos often perform better – for better or worse, our attention spans are lower than they’ve ever been and there’s incredibly high competition for that attention. People want something short, snappy and to the point. They don’t want to watch a 5-minute video to find out the information. Aim to convey your message concisely.
6. Video Thumbnails
When uploading your video, instead of just going with the suggested thumbnail from the platform where you have uploaded your video, choose an image from the video that will look well as the cover photo, or even design your own thumbnail and upload. Your thumbnail, or cover image, is the first thing your audience sees and sometimes your last chance to get their attention!
7. Engage With Your Audience
Encourage engagement and interaction on your videos by asking questions and responding to comments.
8. Subtitles
It is important to make your video accessible to your entire audience. Some people may be watching your video in a crowded area, a quiet room with no earphones to listen, have hearing difficulties etc., so it is important to have subtitles on your video if you are speaking about your product or service so the message is delivered clearly and to everyone. There are many easy, free services that allow you to add captions.
9. Optimise for Search
Just like written content, videos can be optimised for search engines. Use relevant keywords in your video title, description, and tags. This makes it easier for your target audience to discover your content.
10. Promote Your Videos
Don’t rely solely on organic reach. Share your videos across various social media platforms, embed them in your website and ezines to widen your exposure and audience reach.
We hope this checklist will help your videos succeed online! We are experts in digital marketing – if you need assistance with your digital marketing strategy or executing your campaign, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
