Video Creation Tips and Hacks
Everyone wants to create awesome video content. In this day and age, it’s no longer a question of “if” you should be devoting time to video marketing. The question now is “how much time.” With this newfound emphasis on video, getting started can be a bit of a challenge. Let’s face it, we’re not all videographers. And creating video ads that convert, well, that’s a tall order.
However, the path to creating truly great video content isn’t as long or hard as you might think. There’s both a science and an art to creating awesome video content for your business. In the following article, we’ll try to mix in a little of both to give you some great ideas.
Whether you’re stuck on how to get started, stalling in the middle, or not sure how to kick your video content up a notch, we’ve got you covered.
Check out these video creations tips and hacks for success and you’ll be creating awesome, professional, effective video content in no time. So, sit back, relax, and take notes.
1. Perfect Your Call To Action
The “Call to Action” or “CTA” might be the most important part of your video. This is the part at the end of your video which tells the viewer what to do next. You’ve no doubt seen it before. “Click here to subscribe,” “Sign up now,” “Visit our store,” etc.
Don’t get bogged down in traditional CTAs. Try taking it to the next level with a more compelling call. “Get involved” is a more direct call then “learn more.” “Save money now!” is more enticing than “Buy now,” etc.
If your campaigns are stalling, try a different CTA. You’d be amazed at how much a little change can make a difference.
2. Keep It Short and Sweet
You may have a lot of information to share, but your video content isn’t always the best place to do it. The ideal length for a video will vary, depending on the aim of the video and the distribution channel.
However, if you’re running a video ad and not a long-form video, then you want to keep it short and sweet. The best length in this situation is more than 10-15 seconds yet less than a minute. The ideal video duration is kind of a Goldilocks game. Too long and most people won’t stick around for the CTA. Too short and you don’t have enough time to get the point across.
Great video ads start off strong with a compelling fact, quote, or question that piques interest and grabs attention. Follow it up with some brief yet important information, then a CTA to tell people where to go next.
Short, sweet, to the point. If you think your video might be too long, it probably is.
3. ABC – Always Be Creating
The businesses doing video the right way are consistently cranking out new content. This content runs the gamut from traditional video marketing ads, to helpful ‘how-to’ content, to simple holiday greetings and wishes.
The more you can connect with your audience, the more you set yourself up for success. Video marketing is about more than a single video. Successful campaigns and strategies include a consistent effort to create awesome content on a regular basis.
4. Create A Clean Video
Effective video content is not busy. For the most part, your imagery should be able to speak for itself. Of course, you’ll have written copy as well. These words should enhance your video, not speak for it.
Keep captions short and sweet and do not place them in such a way that it obscures the visuals. Think of a regular image: the caption is almost always at the top, bottom, or off to the side. Captions should be big, bold, and to the point.
If you’re worried that the copy in your video is too wordy, it probably is.
5. Choose the Right Imagery
Think of the emotions you’re trying to invoke in your audience. Consider how the imagery you’re selecting will best suit them.
A video advertising a beach vacation should be bright and sunny, and elicit a happy or relaxing vibe. Bright colors, vibrant music, and beautiful imagery will make the video pop.
In this case, you’ll want to steer clear of cold, dark themes or images. The same would not be the case for, say, a Halloween advertisement. In that situation, creepy font, foreboding music, and shadowy images will serve the same purpose of enhancing the content.
Make these decisions based on the focus and theme of your video content.
6. Be Mindful of Time
We already mentioned how videos should be neither too long or too short. This is not just about ideal composition – it’s a critical factor in holding your audience’s attention. If your video runs for 30-seconds, make sure there’s enough time for your audience to absorb the information you’re presenting to them.
This is another reason why your copy should be short and sweet. With only a few seconds on the screen, you want the audience to internalize your entire message, including the images, words, and music. All three should come together in a way that is clean, clear and doesn’t require the audience to concentrate and read 100 lines of text in four seconds.
7. Be Consistent With Your Fonts and Cases
It’s Difficult To READ a Message That IS written Out Like THIS. At best, it’s distracting. At worst, it looks unprofessional. Remember, your copy should be short and sweet. It should also be consistent throughout.
You don’t want your audience to spend the bulk of their time reading. You also don’t want them to spend the bulk of their time being distracted by inconsistent, unprofessional looking copy. Keep It Clean And Consistent Throughout.
8. Use The Power of Sound… Or Don’t
Strong, powerful music helps set the stage and enhance your video content. Think of any action-packed or dramatic scene you’ve witnessed in a movie. They are always accompanied by top-notch music, which brings the scene to life.
Your video marketing content can likewise benefit by accompanying music that reflects the tone or emotion you’re going for. In keeping with the recent Halloween festivities, consider the video below:
Would this video be as effective if it was soundtracked with a hard rock? Hip-hop? Classical? Probably not. At the same time, you don’t want the audio portion of your video ad to be crucial to people understanding your message.
Why? Because 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. You may think that having your video narrated will help enhance the content. While this may be true, it isn’t necessarily the right move. Your written copy needs to stand on its ow, if potentially only 15% of people are going to have the volume on.
Videos with captioning perform better than those without sound and captions and maybe watched up to 12% longer.
9. Select The Right Format
This may be obvious, but not all videos are created equally. In fact, depending upon where you plan on posting your video, the format of the video (specifically the aspect ratio) can have a huge impact.
Instagram, for example, does not have a desktop site. It is almost 100% a mobile application. As such, any video played on Instagram, ad or otherwise, will need to conform to the correct mobile aspect ratio.
Most social media sites won’t have a hard requirement on aspect ratio. For instance, you’ve no doubt seen cellphone videos posted on Facebook or Twitter. However, you’ve also most likely seen the formatting problems that come with it.
In short, in many cases, you will be able to post videos in multiple formats, but it isn’t necessarily the format that is most optimal.
10. Ask Questions
Strong videos start off with a hook; something to grab attention. This can be a powerful image, a moving quote, and in many cases, a question. Do you want to make more money? Do you want to change the world? Do you love great food at affordable prices? Etc.
Silently, we’re all answering those questions when we hear them. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do want to learn how to make more money, change the world, or discover a place that offers amazing food at affordable prices. Where are these magic places?
A question prompts an answer. And it’s enough to make your audience want to see what you have to say next.
You only have a few short seconds to grab your viewer’s attention before they scroll past your video and on to the next. Stop them in their tracks with a question.
11. Don’t Skimp On Quality
Every now and then you’ll see a low-quality video go viral. Don’t bet on it though. While it’s true that you can record a video with just about any cell phone these days, branded video content is a different animal.
There should be an emphasis on high-quality, professional-grade videos when it comes to putting out content under your name. And you can’t exactly achieve this result with a flip phone. Plus, it’s hard to make video ads that way!
Thankfully, video creation doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. You can create engaging, professional quality content in just a few minutes and present a clean, consistent brand image throughout your video marketing campaigns.
12. Measure, Test, Improve
Video creation is as much a science as it is an art. And vice versa. You may create an awesome video that you think will conquer the world!…. And it falls flat. The key here is not to get discouraged.
Sometimes minor changes can have a huge impact on a video’s effectiveness. Thankfully, if you’re running video ads on platforms such as Facebook or Outbrain, you’ll have access to a whole host of information on your ad’s performance, including views, impressions, clicks, completion rates, and more.
Consider your call to action. Is it powerful enough? Is your ad copy too wordy? Are you targeting the right audience? There are a number of reasons why a video may not be achieving the results you’re looking for. Making a small change can sometimes yield big results.
Many companies will A/B split test their ads. That is, creating two similar versions of the same ad and running campaigns side by side. Generally, the overall content will remain the same but with one minor difference. This may be a different call to action, different headline, or some other aspect of the visual design or copy.
The idea behind split testing ads is to measure two similar pieces of content against one another. One will perform better. Once you know which version works better, try to improve on that version again.
Video marketing is a process of measuring, testing, and improving your content over time. Creating an awesome video? That’s the art process. Creating an awesome ad that converts? That’s the science part. It may take a few tries, but it’s a crucial part of an effective overall video marketing strategy.
Keep On Creating
Whatever the focus of your video marketing campaign, keep creating and improving your content over time. The tips above are a great way to get started or to help pick you up if you find your campaigns struggling.
