In the past five years alone, the concept of what makes a good promotional video has changed wildly. Once, television commercials were the only form of company video other than training media but the world of YouTube and social media has made company videos much less promotional. The new trend is not to convince your audience or announce something to them, but to attempt to chat with them, like a friend. How-to videos and industry behind-the-scenes are increasingly popular. You can also just sit down and talk with your audience, holding an ongoing conversation with them over a series of fairly short videos. This requires an entirely new technique and way of looking at making promotional videos.
Show And Tell
Your audience is made up of prospects, clients, business partners, brand ambassadors and industry contemporaries along with people who are simply curious about your industry. This means your best inbound marketing content is what you do best. Take the camera into the writer's room, your project board, the workshop, or into individual employee offices. Try to keep the action and words approximately equal and continuous. If you're sitting, remember to move your hands or show examples of what you're talking about. For processes and how-to videos, show the procedure and explain what's going on. Keep the audience engaged and your video content-packed. You want to fit a lot of interest into thirty seconds to three minutes per episode.
Wear Your Own Clothes
Whatever you do, don't hire actors or keep it corporate. Film your staff in their own clothes, preferably in their work or team presentation space. Most people have had more than enough of fake promotional filler. What makes modern social video a form of inbound marketing is because it provides useful, engaging information that people seek out for themselves. Your audience will place a higher value on an “Ask the Engineer” segment than they will on celebrity guest stars. Keep it real and speak genuinely to the camera as if you were talking to a friend who wanted to learn about your craft.
Create A Memorable Format
The episode format is now so ingrained in our culture that people find themselves making episodic work without even meaning to. Episodes are convenient and reliable. When you build a memorable episode format, people will tune in for their favorite segment. They will also be able to plan to watch your episodes regularly, in planned amounts of time because they can trust you will always have a certain tone, topic, episode length, and value in their day.
Always Use Subtitles
Subtitles are incredibly inclusive and to more than just the hearing impaired. When deciding whether or not to include subtitles, remember how many people watch social videos at work, on the go, and in other situations where sound is not appropriate. Often times people have the sound off and miss several seconds while turning it on. Subtitles can make it so the viewer doesn't miss a thing. If your video wins the seemingly random selection and goes viral, this early choice could be what makes it possible.
Get Your Audience Involved
Finally, always have something to say to your audience and respond to them when they start asking questions. There are dozens of ways to involve your audience. One of the most effective is reading your favorite recent reviews and personally thanking the writer. This both encourages more reviews and makes it clear you really appreciate those you get. You can also invite your audience to share stories then read your favorites ‘on the air' or use a tool like Be Live and bring them on live with you.
As long as you make your content engaging and genuine, the audience will find you. Once you create a conversation through the show, the community itself will become a welcoming force for anyone who finds your videos through search engines and the original inbound marketing purpose. For more marketing tips and tricks, or for help developing your own video marketing strategy contact us today!
