Video content encompasses any content format that involves elements such as live videos, vlogs, webinars, etc., which companies create for marketing or advertising. Companies are using these visual storytelling mediums as part of their marketing strategy today to engage modern-day customers, who now prefer meaningful engagement with brands over pushy sales messages.
People watch 1 billion hours of YouTube alone daily, showing how popular and easy it is to consume video content. Also, 93% of marketers say video content has helped them land a new customer, making it a potent marketing tool. Quality video content is typically produced with proper video editing software to be entertaining, informative, and trustworthy to customers.
1. Know Your Audience
Imagine you are at a party, and someone comes up to you making small talk about their life, childhood stories, favorite movies, etc. Initially, you may be engaged, but as time goes on, you are likely to become bored, especially if this "conversation" persists as a monologue; the person appears to be only interested in talking about themselves.
This analogy perfectly illustrates how important it is to create video content that your audience cares about - appropriate video content isn't about you: it's about your audience.
Knowing your audience, whether through a questionnaire or by some other means is essential to making your video content. Without it you can't create meaningful content that resonates with any audience without this knowledge. You must understand what your audience is interested in and what their dreams, desires, and problems are to create tailor-made content that directly addresses these concerns.
Knowing your audience starts with standard research and identification of who you're talking to. Several experts recommend using marketing personas or ideal buyers as a great starting point. These concepts create a fictional "average person" in your audience, guiding you to craft compelling and custom content based on this average person's characteristics.
Demographic data is essential here - gender, marital status, age, job, education level, etc. One way to get this information is to use an online survey maker or conduct personal surveys with your users. Next, you would have to enrich your research by talking to your audience and recording responses about their concerns, problems, and desires.
Another way to get demographic data is to consult a data-sharing service like StuDocu. This service lets people share educational material like courses, books, and studies. You may be able to do some research on demographics there to supplement the interviews you're conducting.
Armed with demographic data and information gathered from engaging your audience, you can now gain valuable insights into what drives them. This understanding is what guides you through creating video content with topics and ideas that are engaging because they hit close to home.
2. Be Creative
In a typical YouTube ad, you have about 5 seconds to captivate your audiences' attention and make them interested in your story. Also, data indicates that you can lose 50%-70% of your target audience between five and seven seconds if your content isn't engaging enough. Consequently, creativity in video content-making is essential to sustain audiences who have notoriously short attention spans.
Making creative video content means crafting original videos that stand out from the crowd, captivating your audience quickly. You rely on trends, concepts, color, movement, and visually engaging storytelling to put your message across in a unique way. Using humor, inspiring shock, and other emotions, and creating curiosity are common elements of a creative video that work well to differentiate it from the rest.
Making creative video content also means developing content that viewers will readily share and interact with. Viewers typically like and share videos they find creative and engaging, making them go viral. A video that has millions of online views but generates little conversation or with few comments indicates successful media buying efforts at best. Lacking enough creativity is often a partial contributing factor to inadequate organic sharing for videos. One of the best examples of companies creating viral videos is Purple. Their videos are not only memorable but also bring them millions in sales revenue.
To keep your content creative, some experts recommend harnessing music's creative power. It is no secret that music is vital to a captivating video, and you can use it to create emotional relationships with viewers. Carlos Perez, the director of the most-watched YouTube video "Despacito” attributes some of the video's viral success to the video "directly supporting the song's vibe.” As such, you can also use a catchy song to support your video's vibe and make it more creative.
Additionally, leave your content open-ended. For example, instead of creating a full storyline for your concept, leave its ending open to interpretation to spark curiosity. Lastly, constant brainstorming is also vital in generating creative content ideas. For example, by keeping a notebook on you at all times, you can record random thoughts for new and old concepts alike, which you can use to make creative content.
3. Have A Solid Video-Editor Handy or Find A Good Video Production Agency
Your video's quality is crucial to its chances of standing out; the quality of the video's production and editing should be top-notch to achieve this effect. One way to accomplish this is by using an in-house video editor.
In-house editing is customizable and allows for more experimentation, as you can comfortably adjust schedules to suit your needs. Also, since you work directly with the in-house editor, you can tap into their creative expertise first-hand for ideas that will keep your next videos fresh.
Outsourcing your video to a great production agency is also worth considering. You have broader access to highly skilled professionals who can bring fresh concepts to the table.
Outsourced editing is even more likely to be of superior quality because these production agencies go beyond merely trimming and arranging videos by enhancing your sound and adding visual effects that make your video more captivating.
Working with outside professionals is also faster and cost-effective because these experts have the necessary equipment, skills, and knowledge needed for the job, reducing your recruitment and operational cost.
If you are doing your video content personally, selecting the right software is crucial. Consider the cost of your high-end software against free video editing software and weigh the pros and cons of each to find the best option for your project.
Many experts recommend software categorized as "prosumer,” so keep this in mind. Also, consider the software's learning curve or ease of use. How fast can you learn and become proficient with it?
Choosing easier to use software will save you from buying software only to spend time learning how to edit your first video. It would help if you also considered special effects, illustration software, music, advanced editing tools, video support formats, and the software company's customer support when picking the best software for your video editing.
4. Keep It Consistent
Creating consistent video content means producing content that repeatedly lives up to your style and reputation. Once your audience connects to a particular video style from you, it is best to keep it that way.
For example, stick to being an informational video content producer if an audience was drawn to you because of your information. Adding more informational videos over time builds a brand for yourself where people recognize you as a reliable information outlet.
Keeping videos consistent requires doing the same things you've always done. If you create videos with people in them, maintain the same cast for every video for viewers to deepen their familiarity with these faces.
If you use any elements of color, voice-overs, design, tone, language, music and sound, etc., repeat the same details in all subsequent videos. Consistency also means sticking to your video contents' release schedules.
Random releases make your videos spontaneous and difficult to anticipate, making them transient in your audience's eyes. As such, establish, announce, and continually remind your audience and new viewers about your content posting schedule to give them something to anticipate regularly.
Consistency in your video content establishes you as a trusted source of regular information suitable for branding. Also, you remain trendy by staying on the radar because consistency boosts your brand awareness. Again, consistency helps you share more to an audience who will return the favor by sharing you more, increasing your popularity.
5. Make It Memorable
Audiences globally are bombarded with many video messages which are all competing for their attention. As such, it is crucial to create unique content that your audience will remember and refer to.
Memorable videos are informative and easy to understand, even when they discuss complex issues. The Royal Society's collaboration with the US National Academy of Science to explain climate change in under two minutes is an excellent example of memorable video content. Unique videos are also engaging and relatable, as shown by PETA's widely acclaimed emoji-focused video campaign that creatively delivered a powerful message. The Snickers brand's "you're not you when you're hungry" campaign video series is another excellent example of entertaining and funny memorable video content.
To create memorable video content, experts recommend telling a compelling story. Humans are drawn to storytelling because it is entertaining and informative. Also, stories imprint on people's minds better. Therefore, craft a fantastic story around the impression you want to convey.
Optimizing your video will also make it leave a good first impression on viewers. Keep the title short and sweet and try some wordplay or humor to imprint in people's minds. Adding background music, clear narration, and appropriate volume, creating an eye-catching thumbnail, and keeping things concise are strategies to create unique video content.
Also, try and connect and be relatable with your audience when delivering your message. An added tip from some experts is ending your video with a powerful call to action, making your content more memorable in viewers' minds.
6. Work with User-Generated Content
User-generated content is any content, written or otherwise, that your audience creates concerning your brand. Hashtags, comments, photos, videos, branded contests, and other calls for submissions are great examples of user-generated content that many businesses are using today to engage their audiences.
User-generated content is popular because it lends authenticity to your brand. A customer uploading a video or picture with your products is tangible proof of your brand's value, and people who share these posts reinforce your brand and draw more people to be a part of the "community.”
Oreo, perhaps the world's most famous cookie brand, uploaded a YouTube video called the “OREO CHALLENGE!”, featuring two kids in blindfolds trying to guess the flavor of different Oreo cookies.
This user-generated content has gained over 36 million views, giving Oreo free advertising to an enormous audience and beyond. Also, user-generated content helps you understand your audience better, builds trust because it is peer-generated, and gives your audience a voice.
To include user-generated content in your videos, you can ask your audience to generate social media hashtags when talking about your brand, which you will collect with comments to include in your video content for interaction. You can also download apps to save user-generated video content from sites like Instagram and Twitter, which you can edit into your videos.
7. Don't Focus on Perfection
As the famous aphorism goes, "Perfect is the enemy of good." As such, although perfection sounds like a great yardstick to measure your work against, several experts advise against obsessing over it when creating video content.
The reality is that perfection exists as an ideal; there isn't anything like a "perfect work" or "perfect video". Therefore, trying to be perfect can cause you to fixate on minor details of secondary importance, distracting you from creating content that genuinely engages.
The fear of making mistakes can hold you back from trying out concepts that may breathe new life into your video concepts, holding you back from your true potential. Also, perfectionism leads to procrastination as you try to find the most flawless ideas and approaches to create your content, which is terrible for productivity.
Furthermore, striving too hard for perfection can rob your finished work of authenticity because it may come across as 'too forced', defeating your purpose altogether.
8. Focus on Authenticity
Authenticity matters when trying to connect with people, so you must remain genuine even through your video content. It isn't surprising that low budget, homemade videos go viral more often than massive advertising campaigns because these videos have a genuine touch that connects better with audiences.
If you’re interested in working with YouTube influencers, it’s definitely a worthy pursuit since influencers have large followings. This might be a great way to both increase exposure to your brand and product and have it sound more or less natural.
Therefore, authenticity is essential to gain critical acceptance from your audience that will make your video content efforts successful.
Authentic videos come across as natural, both in acting and in speech. People communicating in these videos seem to be speaking from the heart instead of reciting rehearsed speeches or reading from scripts.
Additionally, people in such videos seem to be familiar enough with the content's essential messages, and enthusiastic about it as well by showing genuine emotion when appropriate. These videos are also more conversational and interactive, with a strong focus on engaging viewers rather than merely dropping cold facts.
Authenticity bridges the gap between you and your viewers by creating brand trust. For example, if you are creating video content as part of your overall marketing strategy, telling your brand's story, explaining concepts, and factoring in customer testimonials shift your narrative from aggressive sales to establishing a connection with customers.
With 94% of customers willing to be loyal to transparent brands, you can rely on this tactic to build trust. That’s because customers increasingly identify with your video content and brand, creating a loyal following over time.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it - 8 ways to create video content that is exciting, fresh, and authentic. It’s not always about expensive equipment and good looking people on the screen. Your viewers actually care what you have to say and you have to care about what they want out of your content. This creates a balanced relationship that has a higher chance of long term success and lets you create videos that speak to your audience in the right way.
