A video content strategy is the planning, creation and distribution of video content to achieve marketing and business goals. It’s about making strategic decisions on what type of videos to produce, who the digital audience is, what channels to use and what the outcomes will be.
A good video content strategy takes into account the specific audience and what type of videos will resonate with them. It defines what each video will be for, educate, entertain, inspire or promote a product or service.
This article by FOR® covers everything you need to know about video marketing. Dive into expert tips for creating engaging video content and learn how to effectively utilize video content marketing to captivate your audience and boost your brand’s reach.
Tips on How to Make Engaging Videos
Table Of Contents
Whether you are a marketer looking to add an explainer video to your content marketing strategy or a content creator looking to level up your social media game; these 7 tips apply to everyone.
Here’s how you can make the most engaging videos, get more views and connect with your audience.
Create Content for Your Audience
Understanding your audience is key to making engaging videos. To really engage with your audience you need to get into their habits, struggles and preferences.
Metrics are key to this process as they give you the data to create content specifically for your target audience. The more you know about them the better you can create videos that speak to their needs and interests.
Your video script should be so tailored to your audience’s mindset that it feels like you’re reading their thoughts. When viewers see a video that speaks directly to their inner monologue it creates a connection and relevance.
Use Striking Imagery and Visuals
Adding visuals and effects is a big part of making videos that grab attention. Visuals can support the message of the video, add energy, create suspense and set the tone. There are many ways to add visuals and effects from subtle to flashy.
In this age of AI, you can still make videos without even picking up a camera. There are billions of stock images, videos and animations out there and you can try tools like DALL-E 3 to generate images with scary ease.
You can even use a free AI video maker like Synthesia to make training videos, explainer videos, marketing videos or tutorial videos with AI actors and voiceovers.
Think about how you can use imagery to make your script more powerful. Combine animations, motion graphics, dynamic transitions and kinetic typography. And remember you can play with colors, contrasts and color grading to create moods or emotional responses.
Tell a Story with your Video
Storytelling is part of human nature, deeply ingrained in our history and psychology. The earliest recorded story is about 30,000 years old and was found on the walls of the Chauvet cave in France, so storytelling is timeless.
In the context of a marketing strategy especially video marketing, using storytelling can increase engagement. An engaging story in a marketing video resonates more with the audience than facts or instructions.
For example, instead of using a monotone voiceover to walk viewers through a product’s features, putting those steps into a story format makes the content more interesting and memorable.
To increase audience engagement consider using story-based frameworks. Position the viewer as the “hero” of the story or use the “hero’s journey” narrative structure. This makes the content more engaging and ensures the message sticks and stays in the viewer’s memory like a Disney musical soundtrack.
Create Emotion
When viewers are emotionally connected to the video they become invested and want a resolution or a satisfying end.
Using emotive words in your video script is one way to make more engaging video content. But you could also consider other emotional responses your audience will have to the sound, colour palette, actors, environment and overall style of your video.
You can use basic emotions like humour, sadness, excitement, fear, anger, happiness or even playfulness to get viewers on your side. But you can use a few deeper emotional beliefs to lead your audience to a “that’s right” feeling. Use the tone of voice, colour, chill music and visual elements to work together to create emotional connections through your video content.
Hook your Audience from the Start
Getting a viewer’s attention in the first few seconds of a video is key to engagement. A Microsoft study found the average human attention span has decreased to just eight seconds. That’s a big drop! So content creators need to make video content that grabs their audience’s attention almost instantly. Videos that don’t engage in those first few seconds will have high drop-off rates.
On YouTube with 2.2 billion monthly users, the ideal video length is around 10 minutes. But viewer engagement drops off for videos over 60 minutes with only 16% of viewers watching to the end. Videos under 60 minutes retain 62% of viewers.
If you have an audience on the go all the time, break down longer videos into micro-videos for each topic or task. You’ll force yourself to get to the point fast and create video content perfect for social media platforms.
Add Meaningful Interactions
360-degree views, clickable buttons, links, quizzes, checklists and anything that requires viewers to take action will make them feel more invested and committed to your video and using it.
Create interactive video content using quizzes or polls and add annotations or clickable links to related content, additional resources or calls to action. Directly ask viewers to comment, ask questions and share their thoughts to create a sense of community and engagement.
Conclusion
Video Content marketing includes product demonstrations, trailers and promotions, explainer videos, customer testimonials, how-to videos, and tutorial videos. Depending on your goals, you can choose from these types or make a new one to attract your target audience. By following these tips, you can plan well when making engaging content for your marketing videos to grab the target audience’s attention effectively.
If you want to Boost your online presence by video marketing. You can work with a specialist like FOR®’s Branding and Marketing Agency.
