If you are thinking of advertising on any social media platform, videos are the first thing that comes to your mind. Statistics say that a human mind can process visuals 60,000+ times faster than texts. As per Google analytics, videos are shared by viewers 1200% more than images and texts put together. This shows the power of video over other communication mediums in the digital marketing industry today.
Whether one is a start-up entrepreneur, an established brand, or a corporate executive, video promotion is the preferred communication medium. Previously, videos were meant for entertainment purposes only, but slowly it has diversified into other areas of interest. With the exponential growth of eCommerce and people preferring to be more digital than physical, videos are the new content medium.
Video content is essential for marketing, educational and training purposes — explainer videos enhance content and can help audiences learn, while also keeping them engaged throughout the duration of the video.
These types of videos are now being used in corporate presentations liberally nowadays in addition to the usual PowerPoint stuff. But making video content is only half the job done. One must make sure that they are equally engaging with the audience. So, how does one ensure and optimize a video that grabs a viewer’s attention and keeps them hooked till the end of the video?
In this article, we will look at some of the tips for increasing engagement of videos with the audience.
Know your audience
Before creating a video, the first thing one must understand is who the target audience is. It is meaningless to make video content that is not relevant to the audience. So, one needs to ask some basic questions such as
- Who is the target audience?
- What information are they looking for?
- Why would they watch the video?
- Will this video help them?
Have a strong title for the video
Though the title is not the main factor for SEO of a video, nevertheless, a strong and relevant title helps a viewer to find the video from the search engine. In addition, an appropriate title will ensure that viewers will get prior information of what the video is about and drive them to click on the title.
Personalize the content
Statistics say that a human face in a video content pop-up increased the conversions to views by nearly 48%. Videos with a human face tend to connect better with the audience and make the brand more trustworthy.
Keep the audience hooked
The video should be catchy and exciting so that the audience’s attention does not waiver. As the attention span is extremely low, averaging only about 8 seconds, it is crucial to build up the video and keep the audience engaged. Nearly one-third of the audience stops viewing after 30 seconds, and more than 45 % stop after one minute. Once the target audience is decided, the next question is to ensure that the content keeps the audience hooked by first starting with a rhetorical question and providing the solution.
Subtitles are important
People use their mobiles while on the move, which means switching off the audio in public spaces. Nearly 75 % of all the video content on social media is played on mobile. Therefore, without audio, the impact will be lost. Optimizing the video content with subtitles ensures that the viewer continues watching as the text replaces the audio and keeps the visuals meaningful. Adding subtitles in the video is made easy by the artificial intelligence captioning options, allowing real-time editable transcription.
CTA is a must
The call to action button makes it easier for viewers to view, like, and subscribe. This option has made conversions better as it communicates directly and explicitly with the audience. This button tells whether one should subscribe to the video or check out the brand’s website. The message inspires confidence in the video channel and prompts viewers to take a proactive decision.
Add Soundtrack
Music impacts human emotion. It is a powerful tool that helps a video connect with the viewers. One should look for a soundtrack that matches the video content. Having music complimentary to the video content behind the visuals or dialogues can keep the audience lingering around longer.
Keep the video short
As already mentioned above, the online audience has a fickle attention span. Therefore, no matter how attractive the video is, there are high chances of the audience leaving them in the middle, especially if the video is long. So, it is best to keep the videos short and engaging. However, this principle is not applicable for educational or technical videos of a longer duration, as more detailing is required here.
Video optimization
To ensure that one’s video content reaches out to the target audience and keeps them engaged until the end, one should follow SEO principles. The keyword is, therefore, highly crucial to the success of the video. Having the right keywords in the description, tags, and title of the video ensures they throw up right at the top of any search action of a user.
Thumbnails help
Beautiful and attractive thumbnails increase viewer’s engagement. Posting videos on the YouTube platform with attractive thumbnails will ensure that it stands out; otherwise, it may get lost among the millions of videos uploaded on the platform every day.
Final Takeaway
So how does one ensure these techniques are applied while making video content. The easiest way would be to engage a professional video maker who will deliver the product based on the inputs provided by the customer. The other option is to take advantage of some of the best video maker solutions on the internet today.
A perfect example of one such solution is simpleshow.com, a web-based platform that allows anyone to create professional videos easily. The role of artificial intelligence ensures converting scripts into the visual story-saying that keeps the user engaged.
For any explainer video, one can take advantage of the powerful explainer engine, which transforms texts into videos using the original illustrations available. The AI algorithms make sure that one can personalize the content, automate and streamline the production process. The good thing about AI is that it guides and predicts what content will work and get higher user engagement. This encourages the creator to make more videos that cater to the target audience and avoid the bad ones.
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