While it’s true that relying on a teleprompter can sometimes make a video feel overrehearsed, there is a reason why they’re such a commonly used tool in video production. The pros usually outweigh the cons.

In this post, we’ll explore some of the drawbacks of using a teleprompter as well as the many benefits. We’ll present some cases where a teleprompter is absolutely necessary, as well as times when one should be avoided.

How does a teleprompter work?

A teleprompter is a fairly simple device that is installed in front of a camera lens to reflect text back at the speaker. Because of the type of glass used and the angle at which it is installed, the text reflects and is visible to the speaker but does not refract and therefore remains invisible to the camera. This enables the talent to read the script while maintaining a fixed eye-line directly into the lens of the camera.

Modern teleprompters are much more portable than older models, relying on iPads instead of a laptop and secondary monitor. They can typically be controlled by an app on a mobile phone. Some are even voice-activated so the speed can automatically adjust to keep up with the person speaking.

The argument against using a teleprompter

Reading from a teleprompter without appearing like you’re reading from a teleprompter is a bit of an art form. It takes a lot of practice to make it feel like the speaker has internalized the script or for it to feel like it’s being read ‘off the cuff’. The tendency is to want to script only talking points, or to not script at all.

Read more: Tips on How to Read from a Teleprompter

The most popular creators on YouTube likely don’t read from a teleprompter, but they also are the outliers who have honed the skill of improvisation over many years. They aren’t collaborating with multiple stakeholders, nor are they dealing with sensitive messaging. So it’s less a question of whether they’re using a teleprompter and more about to what degree they’re scripting at all.

When it comes to corporate marketing and communications, a detailed script is simply a necessity.

The benefits of a teleprompter

When a person is required to speak directly to the camera, cue cards or other memory aids can’t really be used since the smallest shift in eye-line can be quite noticeable. The problem is that all but the shortest scripts will be too long to be memorized even by a highly trained actor. That’s where a teleprompter comes in.

It allows you to film more complicated scenes

When a video is highly scripted, you’ll be able to incorporate more complicated camera movements or ‘blocking’ in a scene. You could also script more engaging transitions between scenes.

For example, imagine the concept was to do a ‘walk and talk’, with the speaker walking down a hallway as they spoke, stopping on a mark, and then interacting with another person. The timing would have to be perfectly planned out for this shot to work, and for that, the dialogue will need to be scripted as well.

Using a teleprompter allows you to shoot multiple takes without the speaker forgetting their lines, allowing you to focus on the literal ‘moving parts’ instead.

It minimizes the risk of having to re-shoot

Some of our clients are confident that their CEO (or other staff member) who will be speaking on camera is just so comfortable with the material that they’ll be able to deliver their lines without the need for a detailed script, let alone a teleprompter. “She does this all the time,” they’ll often tell us. “She’s got this stuff memorized.”

The reality is that speaking on stage in front of an audience is very different than speaking to a camera. Having 20 minutes to discuss a topic in detail is also different than when you’re trying to concisely deliver the same message in 2 minutes, and while a live audience might be more forgiving of the odd ‘umm’ and ‘uhh’, when watching a video online our expectations tend to be very different.

The risk is that the resulting video is too long and potentially completely unusable. There, unfortunately, have been instances where we’ve had to reschedule another day of filming once the speaker realizes that they in fact will require a script and teleprompter.

Another risk of trying to speak ‘off the cuff’ is that you’ll say the wrong thing. Without a script, there’s no way for the director or script supervisor to keep this from happening. This too can lead to the need for reshoots.

It makes filming more efficient

Reading from a teleprompter is simply faster than trying to memorize and recite a script. When trying to memorize lines, it almost always takes longer to get it right. This means that less can be filmed in a day and that what should be quick and efficient can become a long and frustrating process.

It allows you to film longer takes

Trying to film without a script can quickly lead to having to scribble notes on a piece of paper to act as a make-shift cue card. This almost always results in having to break the scene up into shorter segments as the speaker attempts to memorize smaller pieces of dialogue. That can lead to a lot of additional cuts and the need for more b-roll.

There’s one other difference you’ll notice when watching those vloggers on YouTube we discussed earlier who film without a script. In many cases, they do a lot of cutting – a technique referred to as ‘jump cutting’. If this is the style you’re going for, then great, but it’s typically not the case with more professional presentations.

When not to use a teleprompter

A teleprompter should really be used anytime someone needs to speak directly to camera, unless they have a lot of proven experience doing so without the use of a prompter.

The only time we wouldn’t recommend using a teleprompter is when the dialogue is meant to be truly conversational. This includes any type of interview, whether the interviewee is looking directly at the lens like on a Zoom interview or if they’re looking off-camera at another person.

Something to keep in mind is that just because you have a teleprompter doesn’t mean you can’t also film a take without it. In many case, once we’ve got a good take, we’ll suggest that the talent try one in their own words. In case that doesn’t work out, we’ve got the teleprompter to fall back on.

Contact us to discuss your next project, and whether a teleprompter is appropriate or not.

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You may have already created a video for use in social media ads, and only later decided that you’d like to also use it for broadcast. It’s certainly possible, but it may be more costly than you’d anticipated.

In this post, we’ll review these additional requirements and costs so that you can better prepare – whether you’re faced with adapting an existing video for broadcast, or are planning a new project from scratch.

Stock Music & Footage Licensing

You’ll want to ensure that any royalty-free stock music, photos, or video footage used in the project is properly licensed for broadcast. This is typically a much higher fee than a license for publishing only to the web, so it’s likely that you will not be covered if the decision was made only later to use the commercial for broadcast.

A typical broadcast licensing fee for a music track can be anywhere from $500 – $1,500 USD, and will need to be negotiated on a track-by-track basis.

Talent Fees

Additional payments may need to be paid to any on-screen or voice-over talent appearing in the commercial. This ideally will have been negotiated in advance, but may not have been if the intended use of the commercial has changed.

Telecaster Approval

Clearance will need to be received from thinkTV to ensure that a video is in compliance with broadcast ethics. This service is free of charge but can take up to 5 business days upon submitting a low-resolution file of the commercial or storyboard and/or script for review. (Rush service is available with as fast as 1-4 hour turn-around, for additional fees.)

Special clearances will be required for approval of content relating to alcohol, food, consumer drugs, natural health, and cosmetics, or when advertising to children.

There may be additional requirements, depending on the type of content. For example, public service announcements (PSA’s) require that the organization’s logo appear at the end of the commercial for a specific length of time at a specific size. Charities and non-profit organizations will need to complete a Letter of Indemnity.

If the spot is making a specific claim, then the advertiser will need to complete an Attestation Letter.

ISCI / Commercial Identifier

An Industry Standardized Commercial Identifier (ISCI) code is a standard used to identify commercials aired on television worldwide. This allows TV stations, ad agencies, radio stations, and other related entities to track and identify commercials.

Closed Captioning

In Canada, Closed Captioning is required on English and French commercials, as mandated by the CRTC. These closed captions will need to be wrapped into a single MXF file with the video. The broadcast will not accept separate closed caption files.

The broadcaster may have recommendations for how the captions are formatted on-screen, such as the number of lines visible on-screen at any one time.

Video File Formats

Each broadcaster will have their own document detailing the technical specifications required for the video file. This will include frame rate, video resolution, audio levels, time code, and closed captioning data, as well as any requirements for bars & tone, pre/post-roll, and a slate. There may also be specific file naming requirements. (Watch the video below for an example of a slate.)

Broadcasters will have different instructions for sending them your files. There will be some additional ‘metadata’ that will need to be embedded in the MXF file, along with the video and closed captions. This may include the advertiser name, campaign title, commercial title, video length, language, telecaster approval information, and the ISCI/commercial code.

Revisions to Your Commercial

If any revisions are required to your commercial, you’ll need to re-submit your files along with a new ISCI / Commercial ID. You may also require a new telecaster approval from thinkTV. Ensure that the video has received final approval from all stakeholders before beginning this process to avoid delays.

Our team has handled the preparation and delivery of commercials and PSA’s for broadcast on CBC, Global/Corus, Rogers, APTN, and others. We can handle the creation of closed caption files and other deliverables, as well as help to secure Telecaster Approval. Contact us to discuss your project.

Read and comment on the original post: Requirements for Broadcast Commercials

The Government of Canada and many provinces have been working on legislation in order to make this a more inclusive and barrier-free country. Ensuring that your videos are as accessible as possible by following existing guidelines is easier than you might think.

Is Accessibility a Legal Obligation?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in cooperation with organizations from around the world, with the goal of providing a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.

The WCAG provides guidance on how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. This can include text, images, sounds, and video content. There are three levels of compliance within the guidelines: A, AA, and AAA (with AAA being the most accessible a website can be).

But is it legally required that organizations conform to the WCAG? The answer varies between jurisdictions and based on the type of organization.

For example, in the US, federal agencies and their contractors in the United States are required to conform with WCAG. Private businesses in the US are not required by law to comply with any specific standard like WCAG, but their websites do have to be “accessible”.

Here in Canada, the Accessible Canada Act (Bill C-81) became law in 2019 which aims to prevent accessibility barriers in information and communication technologies, including digital content and the technologies used to access it. Organizations under federal jurisdiction are required to comply or face a fine of up to $250,000.

Now that the Accessible Canada Act is in place, many provinces are planning in turn to enact their own accessibility legislation. Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec already have accessibility laws, and both British Columbia and Nova Scotia are working towards versions of their own.

Whether it’s required under law or not, by implementing a number of best practices you can ensure that you’re providing the best experience for your viewers which can just make good business sense.

How to Make Your Videos More Accessible

Closed Captions

When it comes to accessibility, most of us think of closed captions, and with good reason.

Captions are an easy way to increase accessibility for all viewers. This includes not only those who need captions because they are deaf or hard-of-hearing, but also for anyone who simply prefers to watch videos without sound.

It’s for this reason that we provide closed caption files with every video we make for our clients.

There are many cases where a viewer might be in an environment which is too loud or where it would be inappropriate to play a video with the volume turned up. Studies have shown that on Facebook, more than 80% of users who use captions are not hearing impaired, so clearly many of us prefer to watch videos without sound for a number of reasons when given the option.

Search engines like Google or even YouTube’s search algorithm, can’t understand the contents of your video, so they’re forced to rely on the video’s title and description. But closed captions allow a search engine to essentially read and better understand what your video is about. While the mere presence of caption files won’t necessarily make your videos rank higher, the added context ensures that a search engine can better serve your video to the right audience, based potentially on keywords mentioned within the video that you might not otherwise rank for.

Most video platforms allow you to upload closed captions in a number of languages, making it possible for you to reach a much wider audience. Providing English-language captions can also be helpful for those who might speak English as a second language.

Learn more: Open Captions vs Closed Captions

Audio Descriptions

An audio description (sometimes referred to as a ‘video description’ or ‘descriptive video’) is a voice-over that describes key visual elements of a video.

When it comes to accessibility for video, audio descriptions can be as important as closed captions, as they help people with no or low vision to imagine what’s happening in a scene when there isn’t already audio available to describe it.

So far, Wistia is the only widely-used video hosting solution that we know of that allows you to upload a separate audio description as part of its commitment to aligning with WCAG AA guidelines.

High-Contrast Colours

There are many people with visual disabilities making it difficult to perceive differences in colour content on a webpage or within a video. This is why contrast and color choices are vital to accessibility.

In WCAG 2, contrast is a measure of the difference in perceived brightness (or ‘luminance’) between two colours. Excluded from this are ‘incidental’ uses of text or images, such as those used purely as decoration. Something that is included in the requirements is any ‘user interface components’ which are controls for specific functions. In the case of video, this would include the ‘play’ button, as well as controls for things like volume and closed captions.

Both the Vimeo and Wistia video players now maintain a default colour contrast ratio which is in compliance with WCAG AA 2.1 guidelines.

Support for Screen Readers

Screen readers convert digital text into synthesized speech, empowering users to hear content that might have otherwise been presented visually, and navigate with the use of a keyboard instead of a mouse.

When it comes to video, it’s important that a video player support screen readers by providing ‘alt-text’ for the video’s thumbnail image, along with keyboard compatibility. Vimeo, Wistia, and YouTube all provide keyboard accessibility, although Wistia appears to be the only video hosting solution to provide customizable thumbnail alt-text.

Which Video Hosting Solution is Best for Accessibility?

As we’ve seen above, while most video hosting solutions support closed captions, consideration for the other accessibility elements varies considerably.

For organizations serious about accessibility, we’d recommend the Wistia video player. Their default player aligns with WCAG AA guidelines, and their in-app checklist makes video accessibility a seamless part of your workflow.

If you have any questions about accessibility and to learn more about how we help organizations to produce effective and accessible videos, contact us for a consultation.

Read and comment on the original post: How to Make Your Videos Accessible for Everyone

The fact is that we’re addicted to the video platform. A whopping 80% of North American adults reportedly watch at least 1 video on YouTube each month. In the US, YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network.

As marketers, we feel pressure to ‘get on YouTube’ for all of these reasons and more. But most businesses struggle to achieve measurable results.

Why Businesses Struggle to Get Results on YouTube

Sure, there are many potential benefits to publishing video content on YouTube. But there are also many challenges. Consider the following:

• Viewers have very short attention spans. In fact, more than 20% of videos are switched ‘off’ within the first 10-seconds of playback.
• There is a ton of competition. The average video length on YouTube is 4 minutes 20 seconds, and there are approximately 7 billion videos on the website in total. That equates to 57,000 years of video content!
• It’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out. YouTube sees 72 hours of newly uploaded video content every minute – that’s a decade worth of new videos every day.

It’s no wonder that businesses who are new to the platform struggle to make a dent.

The biggest mistake though that businesses make on YouTube is to approach the creation of their video content with only their own goals in mind. We need to instead consider the goals of both the viewer and the platform.

How Do Your Viewers End Up on YouTube in the First Place?

Viewers can end up watching a video on YouTube in one of several ways.

Many of us end up on the platform by clicking a link from another website or social media platform where a video was posted. We might stick around to watch a suggested video, but likely will go back to whatever we were doing once the video is done.

There are also times when we’ll head straight to YouTube to look for help in solving a problem. I know that I personally tend to start my search on YouTube.com when looking for something that might lend itself more to a visual demonstration than a written explanation. For example, if I’m trying to figure out how to set up and use my fancy new drone for the first time, YouTube would be my first stop. I’m also partial to YouTube for product reviews, such as a comparison of a GoPro action camera to one of the older models.

Of course, the majority of searches are still done on Google’s homepage. We’ll often find ourselves on YouTube after clicking on a ‘video snippet’ from a Google search while looking for answers in any format – video or otherwise. Google’s algorithms have become adept at knowing when to serve up video results along with regular text results or images, based on the likelihood that you’ll click on them.

It’s important to ask yourself, how do you expect viewers to discover your video content on YouTube? Is it the kind of content someone might search for, or will you be relying on YouTube to recommend it to viewers who are already on the platform?

Your Goals & YouTube’s Goals May Not Be Aligned

Businesses often approach content with only their own goals in mind. But you need to consider not only the goals of the viewer (the problem they’re trying to solve) but the goals of YouTube as a platform

YouTube’s goals likely include:

• Attracting as many visitors as possible to the platform
• Keeping viewers engaged for as long as possible on the platform
• Keeping viewers coming back as often as possible to the platform

Ultimately, YouTube is trying to generate revenue from ads. It’s estimated that the platform serves an average of one ad every 7 minutes of viewing time.

It stands to reason that the more visitors you can help YouTube to attract in the first place, and the longer you can help keep them there, the more ad revenue you can help the platform to generate. If you can keep those visitors coming back for more through subscriptions and promotion on other social media channels, even better.

What’s not included in the list above are things like helping your business to generate leads by converting traffic off the platform to your own website. While that might be your primary goal in using YouTube in the first place, it actually works against YouTube’s own goals by limiting the number of ads it can serve.

Consider How ‘YouTubers’ Make Money on YouTube

YouTube has become a launchpad for an entire generation of celebrities and personalities. The Top ‘YouTubers’ have generated millions of subscribers by regularly posting videos to YouTube and forming what can feel like a personal relationship with their fans. This includes everything from comedians and musicians, to video game streamers and product reviewers.

So just how do these YouTubers make money from the platform?

The most obvious source of revenue might be from ads on YouTube itself. But this generates less revenue than you would think. The amount can vary based on a number of factors, but YouTube publishers receive an average of $18 per 1,000 ad views, which equates to $3-$6 per 1,000 video views. This means that a publisher would likely need to generate well over a million monetized views per month to make a living.

Many publishers have begun to ask their viewers directly for support. Platforms like Patreon allow creators to offer extra incentives in exchange for a monthly membership fee, and YouTube itself has recently begun rolling out its own membership program for eligible channels.

Some creators have taken their businesses to the next level in selling content ‘upgrades’ such as eBook downloads or other educational content, as well as merchandise and branded products. Paid partnership and sponsored content can also be much more lucrative than simply running ads through YouTube’s standard advertising model. For example, if your channel features tutorial videos on how to build your own furniture, then it might make sense to partner with a home supply retailer or tool manufacturer.

In fact, why not license and sell your own line of tools? Celebrities do this all the time by attaching their name and brand to a clothing line, perfume, or vodka.

The trick to the success of any popular YouTube creator (or celebrity, for that matter) is that fortune follows fame. Many creators have generated large followings almost by accident in some cases through a combination of luck, creativity and hard work – that is to say, fame (and the riches that followed) wasn’t necessarily part of some master plan. It’s only once their audience has grown to a certain size that monetization strategies even become an option. But it always starts with great content.

Reverse Engineer Success

There’s no reason that your business couldn’t follow a similar strategy to some of the most successful YouTube creators. But similarly, it needs to start with content that your audience will find valuable. Generating amazing content is not a step that you can skip and simply throwing money at the problem won’t help.

The trick may be to start with the end in mind and to reverse engineer the success of some of the top YouTube creators.

Viewers on YouTube don’t necessarily subscribe to brands, they subscribe to creators. There are cases where brands are themselves known as content creators, but this tends to be rare outside of specific industries such as apparel and sports (think ski manufacturers).

Remember the example above of the YouTube channel that teaches you how to build your own furniture? Success for this creator may have meant a partnership with a major tool brand. If you happen to be a tool brand, you have two options: Either try to create a channel from scratch with your brand as the sponsor or; partner with an up-and-coming YouTube creator to sponsor their existing channel.

Or Take the Shortcut to Lead Generation

What if you just want to generate leads now? Well, YouTube does offer one great shortcut – paid advertising!

Paid ads can be placed on YouTube in a variety of formats. You can even target past visitors to your own website with ads while they’re on YouTube as part of a re-targeting strategy.

This is perhaps the quickest path to generating impressions and leads on YouTube. But it’s far from what would be considered a YouTube channel strategy. Think of this more like running a commercial during the Super Bowl, as opposed to trying to start your own football league.

A YouTube channel strategy requires a significant investment in the production and promotion of content that is helpful, funny, entertaining, or inspirational. Whether you create that content from scratch is up to you, but the value of that content to the viewer is, ultimately, what will determine your success.

Learn more about How Your Business Can Succeed on YouTube by watching this webinar recording.

Read and comment on the original post: What Can Businesses Learn from Successful Creators on YouTube?

In this post, we’ll explore the difference between open captions and closed captions, with some tips on when to use each.

What are Closed Captions and when should you use them?

Closed captions are the subtitles that you’re likely the most familiar with. They give the viewer the option of switching them on or off, most commonly identified by the [CC] symbol in the bottom right-hand corner of the video player.

Now, these captions aren’t technically part of the video at all, but instead are being loaded from a separate file by the video hosting platform (whether it’s YouTube, Vimeo, or something else). This is similar to captions used on television, including streaming services like Netflix.

In addition to allowing the viewer to turn them off, closed captions have a few other benefits.

Benefits of Closed Captions

Many platforms support closed captions in multiple languages. This allows you to translate and then upload your captions in virtually any language.

When it comes to search engine optimization, there may be benefits here as well. Search engines like Google or even YouTube’s search algorithm, can’t understand the contents of your video, so they’re forced to rely strictly on the ‘metadata’ that you provide, like a title and description. But closed captions allow a search engine to read and better understand what your video is about.

While the mere presence of caption files won’t necessarily make your videos rank higher, the added context ensures that a search engine can better serve your video to the right audience, based potentially on keywords mentioned within the video that you might not otherwise rank for.

There are, however, some limitations to closed captions.

First of all, not all platforms support closed captions. Now more and more social media platforms are adding support for closed captions, so this is becoming less of an issue. But as of right now, there’s no option for closed captions on videos posted to Twitter, for example, unless you’re posted them as a paid ad.

But, it’s still up to the viewer to enable closed captions on some platforms. Fortunately, platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn are smart enough to enable captions by default when a video is playing without sound, which is about 98% of the time. But on YouTube, it’s possible for viewers to disable captions from turning on by default.

This is where open captions come in, which can sometimes be a better option for certain types of content and platforms.

Read More: 5 Reasons to Use Facebook Captions

What are Open Captions and when should you use them?

Open captions are what are often referred to as being hard-coded or burned-in to the video itself. Like with any other graphics created right in the video editing software, these become a permanent feature of the video and therefore cannot be turned off and on by the viewer.

Since there are still benefits to using open captions on platforms that do support them, this means creating a separate version of a video with the captions baked right in.

If you’re in need of an alternate foreign-language version using open captions then – you guessed it – you’ll need to create additional versions of your videos, each with a different translation burned-in to the video.

While open captions may be slightly more difficult to create, they do have some additional benefits of their own.

Benefits of Open Captions

Since you’ll be creating these right in the video, and not relying on the video player to render them on the fly, you can get much more creative with the font, colour, and size of your text.

You’ll also have more control of the placement of the captions on the screen. This avoids the risk of captions covering up any other important information, like a lower-third title card.

Ultimately, you can rest assured that all viewers will see your captions consistently, no matter the platform or their specific settings.

Just keep in mind that your captions will grow and shrink in proportion to the video size, and the quality of the text will also be tied to the quality of the video, meaning they may be difficult to read under some circumstances. This is different from closed captions which may be automatically scaled by the video player to compensate for a smaller screen, and their quality won’t be limited by the quality of the video itself.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how to make the most of your next video project using both kinds of captions.

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Video brochures are an emerging trend that sort of marries the old with the new. It’s digital media applied to direct response mailers. They’re perfect for B2B sales or for luxury items like high-end real estate, automotive, and tourism.

You can order these from suppliers around the world, including from printers right here in Canada. They’re essentially a really cheap, somewhat disposable LCD screen manufactured in China that has been wrapped in a custom printed box. The screens inside are all self-contained, and rechargeable using a micro-USB cable. Most have a battery life of a couple of hours with capacity for around 10 minutes of video content.

The screens themselves come in a variety of sizes from the and can be put in brochures of a variety of shapes and sizes as well, so there are a ton of possible combinations from something resembling a business card to a full letter-size, multi-page brochure.

What’s really cool is that you can load up a series of videos and can even include buttons so that the viewer can skip between them.

Ways to Use Video Brochures

There are no wrong or right ways to use video brochures, but I could see using these in a very targeted direct mailing campaign to support other touch points.

Let’s say I was sending out 100 of these, I’d probably try to record a short personalized video as an opener for each one where I actually mention the prospects name along with a customized message. If you’re going through the trouble and costs of producing and shipping these, recording a short message to supplement the other video content you might include seems like a great way to boost results.

Businesses who exhibit at trade shows might also want to produce a batch of more generic ones that can be handed out to qualified prospects. I wouldn’t just have these sitting out on a table for anyone to grab as they’re not cheap which we’ll talk about in a minute, but maybe having them as an option for your reps to give as a handout only to those highly qualified prospects they might have spoken to as a way to stay top of mind before following up with them again at a later time. They could also be used as a leave-behind when doing presentations and sales meetings.

How Much Video Brochures Cost

You can get video brochures produced for as little as around $20 US for orders of 1,000 units or more, depending on the screen size, plus the cost of shipping from the printer. That includes the screen and the custom printed brochure. But if you’re only getting, say 100 units, that cost will be closer to around $50. The minimum order seems to be 50 units for most suppliers.

If you’re mailing these to prospects, you’re then going to have to factor in those costs which could be equal to the cost of printing. That of course doesn’t include the cost of producing the video content in the first place – you’re going to need a much larger budget for that, but most businesses have plenty of great content that could be repurposed for something like this already.

Drawbacks to Video Brochures

There’s an obvious downside to video brochures, and that’s the waste that they’re likely to generate.

I think if done properly, you’re going to use this tactic somewhat sparingly and will only give these to qualified prospects who are likely to watch and ideally to hang on to it for quite some time. For the foreseeable future, there’s going to be a certain ‘wow’ factor when receiving a video brochure, so I could see people really passing one around to their colleagues in the office in the case of a B2B product or service, or maybe giving their copy to a friend if it’s something more consumer related.

But at some point, they are going to end up in a landfill. Yes, the screens can be recycled like most electronics, along with the built-in lithium batteries. The paper as well. You could technically even request that the recipient somehow send the thing back to you so that it can be re-used but of course that’s not a viable option for a numbest of reasons. Even if they’re being properly recycled, it’s still generating a lot of material that a similar digital campaign wouldn’t. So for some companies with very strict environmental policies, this might be a non-starter. It’s something that businesses will have to evaluate for themselves on a case by case basis.

So that’s the Video Brochure in a nutshell. If you are doing printed, direct mailing campaigns, or exhibiting at trade shows, it may be something worth experimenting with. It’s something we’ve helped a few clients with and are beginning to see some excellent results.

If you’d like to explore whether video brochures might be right for your business, get in touch for a consultation.

Read and comment on the original post: Video Brochures are like Brochures on Steroids

As Phil Nottingham, Marketing Strategist at Wistia would explain, “What’s the ROI on a football team? Goals and matches that you’ve won, right? But you don’t measure every player based on the goals that they’ve scored, or indeed how they’ve assisted with the goals. You wouldn’t measure a defender or goalkeeper on their assists, in terms of a goal. You’d probably measure a goalkeeper based on saves, maybe a defender based on how many times they do a tackle. Maybe a midfielder on how many times they pass something into the box.”

Instead of trying to ‘always be closing’ with our videos, we should instead create video content that aims to achieve smaller wins throughout the customer journey. For example, we might create video content to help generate traffic by improving a page’s ranking in search or to answer frequently asked questions on a website. We might use a different video to promote registration for a webinar or to generate leads for a sales demo, and so on.

Like a football team, we need to look at the bigger picture to see how all of our players (in this case our videos and other content) are working together. This is where Google Analytics can come in.

Google Analytics can be setup to provide many of the same metrics that are available in video hosting platforms, such as the number of video plays, the amount played, etc. But while the analytics that you already have access to in YouTube or from dedicated video hosting platforms such as Wistia might be more useful in helping you to understand things like the retention rate of your videos, GA can provide a more comprehensive picture of how your videos are contributing to your larger marketing goals.

One way to measure the way your videos are contributing to your website’s goals is by segmenting your audience by those who have watched videos compared to those who have not.

Segmenting Your Audience in Google Analytics

Google Analytics can help you to measure the impact of the videos on your website against common metrics like page views, bounce rate, and average session duration.

An example of how video viewers can be segmented for comparison to non-video viewers in Google Analytics.

By creating a segment for ‘Video Viewers’ (those visitors to your website who watch any videos during a given session), you can use this segment in virtually any report.

You can also use it as a measure to report on how your videos are impacting any goals that you’ve set up in Google Analytics such as conversions to a contact form, or even product sales and revenue reports for e-commerce websites.

An example of how Wistia.com was able to report on how video has impacted conversion rates.

In the example above from Wistia.com, they’re able to say that users who watch videos on the website are around ~70% more likely to convert than those who do not watch a video. Provided that they are able to put a monetary figure on the value of a conversion, it would then be a simple calculation to determine whether or not their investment in video content has provided a positive ROI.

How to Setup Google Analytics to Measure Video Performance

Setting up Google Analytics to measure video performance can be very simple or somewhat complicated, depending on the video hosting platform that you’re using to host your embedded videos.

The two most common that we see are Wistia and YouTube, so we’ve included instructions for both below.

Integrating Wistia with Google Analytics

We recommend using a professional video hosting platform like Wistia for a number of reasons, including how easy it is to integrate with Google Analytics.

Once enabled, Wistia will automatically send the appropriate ‘triggers’ right to your Google Analytics account, provided that a Google Analytics tracking code has been properly set up on the pages where your videos are being hosted.

To enable the Google Analytics integration in your Wistia account, visit the integrations page of your Wistia account settings and select the Google Analytics Integration: Account > Settings > Integrations. (Note: only the Wistia Account Owner can get into Account Settings.)

Enabling the integration is as easy as clicking the Connect button, with no additional login to Google Analytics required.

You should then be able to see the following events being logged in Google Analytics:

• Play
• 25% watched
• 50% watched
• 75% watched
• 100% watched
• Conversion (currently defined as a Turnstile email completion)

Events can be found within the “Behavior” section of your Google Analytics dashboard.

If you decided that you want to stop tracking your videos in the future, you can turn it off for your entire account in your Account Settings (and can even disable  Google Analytics for a specific video).

Integrating YouTube with Google Analytics

If you’re using YouTube to host your embedded videos this, unfortunately, gets a little more complicated since YouTube doesn’t send the required ‘triggers’ to Google Analytics automatically in the same way that Wistia does.

Check out this step-by-step explanation of how to track YouTube videos with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics., all of which is summarized in the great video below.

Integrating Vimeo with Google Analytics

Using Vimeo? As long as you have a Premium or Business subscription, there’s a solution for you.

You’ll just need to add an extra bit of code to the pages where your videos are embedded (this can be done using Google Tag Manager). Check out this post on Vimeo’s Help Center for detailed instructions.

Creating Custom Segments for Video Viewers in Google Analytics

Setting up custom segments in Google Analytics will allow you to break down your web analytics performance based on users who engaged with your video content compared to those who did not.

It can be a little complicated to set up for those new to Google Analytics, but here too the team at Wistia has made it a breeze by providing templates that can easily be added to your Google Analytics account. Just click on the links below:

Video viewers segment

Non-video viewers segment

Wistia also has provided a template for a custom Dashboard that you can add to your Google Analytics account in order to see all of your most important video data in one convenient place. Just click on the link below to add this to your account:

Video dashboard for Google Analytics

I hope both the examples and the tools included above will help you better measure the return on the investment you’re making in your video marketing. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like some help in setting this up, or to get started on your next video project.

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More recently, we have begun to humanize the science of demographics – to think of market segments in more personal terms, and recognize that these groups are made up of individuals – people with unique roles, identities, and priorities.

Even in B2B marketing, 48% of buyers reported they they are more likely to consider solution providers that personalize their marketing to address their specific business issues. And yet, less than half of B2B marketers use buyer personas (or customer avatars) today.

Well-crafted buyer personas not only allow for alignment across an organization, but can help you determine where to focus your limited resources – including when making a marketing video. That’s why it will be one of the first things we ask for when researching the target audience for a video.

What is a Buyer Persona?

The term buyer persona describes this semi-fictional portraits of your ideal customer. It includes demographic information, but it is more focused on their motivations and goals. Buyer personas attempt to describe what prospective customers are thinking and doing as they make their way through the buyer’s journey.

This can include everything from their daily job functions, challenges, and pain points, to a list of their preferred sources of information, their hobbies, and where they tend to spend their time online.

How To Create a Buyer Persona

How you develop your buyer personas depends on the type of information you have available. Here are a few ways to gather information:

• Look at the Data – If you have any data that pertains to your customer’s demographics, look for any significant trends that might be able to help you formulate generalizations about your customer’s behavior. If you happen to use marketing automation software, email marketing or video marketing platforms that integrate with your customer CRM database, then try to uncover any behavioral trends in how leads or customers typically find and consume your other content.
• Talk To Your Sales Team – They interact directly with your customers on a regular basis, so they have valuable firsthand knowledge. Ask your sales team to describe some of the more qualitative aspects of your customers. What motivates them? What kind of people are they? What problem are they trying to solve? What are their common objections?
• Interview Customers And Prospects – Going straight to the source will help you to paint a much more intimate picture of your ideal customer. Ask what they like about your product or service – ask them what they don’t like. This direct contact provides invaluable insight for your marketing efforts.

Hubspot has some excellent tips as well as a free template, and there is certainly no shortage of other resources online to help you as you develop your buyer personas. Whatever questions you ask or data fields you use, you should customize them based on your industry, whether you’re targeting B2B or B2C customers, and any other factors that might help in segmentation.

It’s a good idea to review and refresh your buyer personas every few months, as well as anytime you’re introducing a new product or are targeting a new market.

Using a Buyer Persona to Better Target Your Videos

Many businesses can have as many as 4-5 buyer personas, especially in a complex buying process. When considering the audience of your video, we’ll try to focus on 2-3 of these personas at the most, but we’d prefer to narrow it down to just one. Speaking to a single persona will result in a video that is that much more focused and, therefore, more effective.

So how exactly can a buyer persona be used to make a more targeted and effective video?

1. To Tell a More Relevant Story

Marketing videos like ‘explainer videos’ are an excellent way to demonstrate the value of your product or service in a clear and engaging way, but the power of video really lies in its ability to tell a story. Storytelling can help you to cut through all of the noise, and most importantly it can help you to make a human connection with your prospects.

Characters are what help establish the connection between you and your audience. When it comes to an explainer video, the goal should be to present a character that your ideal buyer can relate to, and to make them the hero of the story.

The conflict will be the lesson you’re trying to teach your audience by showing how this character transforms through the challenge they face, and it’s how you’ll create an emotional connection between your audience and your character. This should relate to your viewer’s own needs and problems, as well as which stage your prospective buyer is at in the Buyer’s Journey.

Only once you have a clear picture of your ideal buyer and their goals can you establish a character for your story that will represent them and the challenges they might face.

Further reading: Why Storytelling Matters

2. To Help Set the Tone

Many important considerations will be made throughout the production of a video, from choosing a style for cinematography or animation, to choosing background music.

Music in particular is an extremely personal thing. What one person loves, the next person can’t stand – it’s the reason there’s a nearly endless supply of music being created. When selecting music for video, we need to set aside those personal preferences and prejudices, and think instead about our buyer persona. What types of music would resonate best with them?

3. To Choose a Voice

Many videos (especially animated ones) will rely on a voice-over to help tell the story. There are many subtleties in the human voice, so it’s important to make sure it’s appropriate for the message of the video, and that it will be relatable to your audience.

Fortunately, gender isn’t as crucial as you might guess. Audiences generally have no preference, unless the subject matter of the video is gender-specific (which is comparatively rare). Unless there’s a good reason for choosing a particular point on the gender spectrum, we recommend being open to all kinds of voices.

What tends to matter more is the voice-over artist’s perceived age, as people tend to relate more to their peers and may, therefore, be more receptive to your message.

4. To Determine the Language

A good scriptwriter is always thinking about the nuances of speech and knows how to produce a script that is not only easy to read, but easy to read out loud.

Voice-over scripts that are more conversational and with shorter sentences tend to sound much better, but the language should be tailored to your audience. How familiar are they with technical jargon? Are we speaking to a layman, or trying to establish expertise with a person with specialized industry knowledge?

The buyer persona document is the best place for a scriptwriter to start when researching the target audience for a video in order to make some of these important decisions.

In Conclusion

Not to worry if your team has yet to create your own detailed buyer personas – it’s certainly still possible to create a successful video without one. But there’s no time like the present to start personalizing your marketing. It will help you in the long run and is sure to help to make more targeted and effective videos as well.

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Even if you hadn’t been following Armstrong’s impressive career, you would have heard about how it ended:

• 1995: Finishes 36th in the Tour de France.
• 1996: Diagnosed with testicular cancer.
• 1999: Wins the Tour de France.
• 2000: Wins the Tour de France. Two months later wins the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympic Games.
• 2001: Wins the Tour de France.
• 2002: Wins the Tour de France.
• 2003: Wins the Tour de France.
• 2004: Wins the Tour de France.
• 2005: Wins the Tour de France for the seventh time.
• US Anti-Doping Agency accuses him of leading “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”.

The thing is that drugs like EPO and other steroids that Armstrong admitted to taking can only provide a boost in performance for an athlete who is already at the top of their game. There’s no way that an amateur cyclist like me, for example, could just take a bunch of steroids and expect to win the Tour de France.

What Can Lance Armstrong Teach Us About Marketing?

Say what you will about him, but Lance Armstrong proved to be a gifted athlete from a very young age, had an extremely high tolerance for suffering, and an extremely high work ethic and dedication. The drugs he took no doubt contributed to his ultimate success, but they only served to boost the performance of an athlete who had already managed to make it to the world’s biggest annual sporting event. A grueling race where nearly 200 competitors race over 2,000 miles in just 23 days.

Now a dirty little secret about professional cycling is that all of the top athletes are rumored to be doping. It’s, of course, no excuse to say that “everyone was doing it”, but you no doubt come under a certain level of scrutiny when you win an event like the Tour de France 7 years in a row.

But the digital marketing landscape can sometimes feel the same way, can’t it? It’s crowded, noisy, and competitive. We’re always looking for that competitive edge, something that can help our message stand out.

Many of us have found an answer. Video marketing is both legal and ethical. In fact, video isn’t just helpful for us but it’s something that our audience and customers actually enjoy. But like with doping, it can only give a boost to a tactic and a channel that’s already working. I’m never going to win the Tour de France no matter what I try, nor is video a magical solution that’s going to help us as marketers to cheat our way to world-class results.

So let’s take a look at some of the ways that video can give your marketing a boost.

Giving a Boost to Email Marketing

Are you already sending out emails to customers? Give them a boost by including video!

Emails with video can receive an increased click-through rate of 96%, and simply including the word ‘Video’ in an email’s subject line can boost open rates by 19% while reducing unsubscribe instances by 26%.

This is something that’s really easy to experiment with and test by running an ‘A/B split’ campaign, where you would compare the results of an email with the video sent to a portion of your subscribers to that of an email without the video. This is a feature that’s readily available in most email marketing platforms like MailChimp and Hubspot.

The key here is to make sure that the video is prominently displayed in the email using an image placed ‘above the fold‘, ideally as the primary call-to-action in the email, and never simply as a text-link.

Here’s a great example of how to include video in email from video marketing platform Wistia.com

Giving a Boost to Landing Pages

You’re likely already sending traffic to a dedicated landing page (or perhaps just the homepage of your website). Using video here is a great way to improve the ROI of any paid campaigns by helping to convert more of that hard-earned traffic.

Using video on landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%, and having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the search engine results.

Start by looking at your website analytics to see which pages are getting the most traffic. There’s no point in making a video for a page that’s getting little traffic, as it likely won’t get enough views to justify its cost. Landing page videos should be created with the context in mind, echoing the benefits of the offer and calling for the visitor to take the same action as the rest of the page (eg. filling out a form).

Like with email, you could try running an ‘A/B split’ campaign in order to measure any difference in conversion rates between a version of the page with and without the video.

Video used on one of our own landing pages.

Giving a Boost to Blogging

YouTube is like blogging on steroids when done correctly. But forget uploading commercials or corporate videos – like a blog, content here should be helpful and optimized for search. This requires an entirely separate channel strategy, one where you’ll likely be calling for subscribers in order to build an audience over time. Remember that YouTube is interested in keeping viewers on the site so that they will watch more videos, not in converting to your own website, so try to create content that engages viewers and seeks to build a relationship.

Then again, why give YouTube all of that ‘link juice’ when you could be giving your own blog a boost in search results?

Consider instead adding video directly to blog posts on your website to help them get found in search. By making these posts more valuable and content-rich, visitors are likely to spend more time on the page and to share the link on social media – both of which are indicators that Google looks for when deciding how to rank a given page in search results. In fact, blog posts incorporating video attract 3x as many inbound links as blog posts without video, and video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines.

The hugely popular ‘Whiteboard Friday’ series on Moz.com’s blog.

When adding content to a blog post, don’t try to replace or summarize an entire blog post. Try instead to supplement it with additional content that might serve to further explain or even just entertain.

There are times when it makes sense to target search traffic on YouTube, with it being the second largest search engine in the world. I know that I would be more likely to head directly to YouTube to search for a tutorial on something like ‘how to change the oil in a car‘, knowing that I was hoping for a video result and not a blog post. But only once you’ve proven that you can create written content consistently for your blog should you consider developing a YouTube channel strategy. It’s hard enough to create content on a regular basis for a blog without adding in the production challenges of creating regular video content.

Giving a Boost to Social Media

Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter now all support videos in both organic and paid posts, allowing businesses to engage their audiences in new ways. Most platforms use ‘autoplay’ video, meaning videos will automatically begin playing when a viewer scrolls down their feed, and these ‘native’ videos can have 10 times higher reach on Facebook compared to YouTube links.

With recent changes to Facebook’s algorithms seemingly being designed to keep viewers on the platform for longer, displaying more videos and content users can view directly from within their news feeds (as opposed to links that direct people away from Facebook, like to a post on your company blog) should provide a boost in engagement. Video can also help you to tell better stories that leave a lasting brand impression.

Paid ads are a perfect way to experiment in order to test video content against other types of posts. But don’t expect results from video alone – you’ll need to have already built an audience or have a proven strategy in place for targeting viewers through paid campaigns.

Giving a Boost to Sales

Case studies, like testimonials, are a great way to boost credibility and to provide the ‘social proof’ that may be required to close a sale. But in going beyond a simple testimonial, video case studies allow you to do even more.

Watch one of our own case study videos below.

For me, one of the newest and most exciting ways to use videos in sales is with personalized videos in email. These are videos which are made for an ‘audience of one’, and can be recorded using your computer’s webcam or on a mobile device. They should be simple and distraction free. Being clear and friendly is what’s important, not the quality of production.

These videos could be included in practically any kind of email, such as:

• In a cold outreach email
• Along with a proposal for a potential client
• As a pre-recorded software demonstration
• Introducing yourself to a new client to demonstrate how excited you are to be working with them
• To personally invite a client to attend a webinar or event
• As a personal ‘thank you’ message to a client for a review on Google or Yelp

There is a growing list of free tools available to help quickly and easily record, send, and track the results of personalized emails. Like any video marketing tactic, it may require a bit of experimentation to figure out what works best for you.

Speak with your sales teams about which points in the sales process they could use the most help with. This is where you’ll see the most immediate gains from using video, as even a small improvement this far along in the customer journey can provide a provide a huge boost to your bottom line.

Giving a Boost to Trade Shows

If your business attends trade shows, then you know how difficult it can be to stand out. Trade show floors are a noisy, crowded place, with businesses competing for the attention of passers-by. Video is a great way to do just that.

There is, however, an added challenge when playing a video at a trade show: All of that noise can drown out any music, dialogue, or narration in your video. Even if you could hear your video over the background noise of the trade show floor, your team is going to go crazy hearing it on repeat all day. An option may be to provide headphones for viewers to wear, but this won’t help attract visitors to your booth in the same way that a video would that doesn’t rely on sound or music to be compelling (and it’s a cumbersome solution).

Trade show videos need to be produced with this context in mind, avoiding the use of sound, music, or voice-over narration. You should also avoid talking heads if possible since subtitles can be difficult to read in this environment. Animation works particularly well in most cases.

Read more: 3 Tips For A Winning Trade Show Video

It’s highly unlikely that a person will just happen to start watching your video at or near the beginning, so avoid any long animated logos and design it instead as a short loop to increase the chance that viewers watch from beginning to end, and possibly more than once.

Remember, the goal of playing a video at your booth is only to help pique someone’s interest in order to attract them to approach or stop at your booth. Once there, you may like to use the video as a tool for your sales reps to speak to in order to answer any questions you might have, but the video shouldn’t be relied upon to tell much of a story on its own in this environment.

Need help giving your marketing a boost? Contact us for a consultation today.

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These are videos which are made for an ‘audience of one’, and can be recorded using your computer’s webcam or on a mobile device. They should be simple and distraction free. Being clear and friendly is what’s important, not the quality of production.

Uses for Personalized Videos

There are many ways you can use personalized video to improve and humanize emails, from sales to customers service, and even for internal communications. Here are several examples where a personalized video could be included in an email:

• In a cold outreach email
• Along with a proposal for a potential client
• As a pre-recorded software demonstration
• Introducing yourself to a new client to demonstrate how excited you are to be working with them
• To personally invite a client to attent a webinar
• As a personal ‘thank you’ message to a client for a review on Google or Yelp
• Welcoming a new member to your team (or other internal, personal message)

These videos should serve only to supplement the information in an email but not to replace it. Some readers of your emails may not be in an environment suitable for watching a video with sound, preferring to read an email instead.

The videos themselves are not attached directly to an email, but instead, an image would be included which takes viewers to the recorded video when clicked.

Software for Recording Personalized Videos

There are several tools that can handle both the recording and embedding in email for you, each with their own benefits and features.

Bonjoro

Bonjoro is a mobile phone application that integrates with your contact list to help you to send short, personalized video messages by email. It relies just on your device’s built-in camera but doesn’t offer any screen recording or editing.

Free to use, with a premium version offering more advanced features like custom branding and a call-to-action, it’s by far the quickest and easiest way for you to start sending personalized videos today using just your mobile device.

Learn more about Bonjoro: https://bonjoro.com

GoVideo by Vidyard

GoVideo (formerly ViewedIt) by video marketing and hosting platform Vidyard requires users to install a Chrome browser plugin, enabling you to record videos using your computer’s webcam right from your browser. You can then easily embed these videos into a new email using Gmail or other application.

It’s a little more advanced, allowing you to choose between a full-screen view of your desktop, your webcam, or a combination where your webcam image is shown in the bottom corner like a ‘pop-up video’. You’ll need to choose one format for the duration of the video and there is no editing functionality.

GoVideo is free to use, including analytics and notifications when the recipient has viewed your video. It’s a little more complicated than Bonjoro but much more powerful.

Download GoVideo from: https://vidyard.com/govideo

Soapbox by Wistia

Soapbox is a stand-alone product from video marketing and hosting platform Wistia. Like GoVideo, it relies on a Chrome browser plugin for you to record videos using your webcam.

It too offers users the ability to choose between a capture of your screen or a feed from your webcam, but this can be done after recording your video using the built-in editing interface.

It’s a little more difficult to learn how to use the editing features in Soapbox but it is a much more powerful tool, since you can not only trim the beginning and end of your video, but can choose to cut back and forth between your webcam, your screen, or a combination of the two in a ‘split screen’, which can result in a very engaging presentation.

Soapbox is free to use, with a paid option that provides analytics and advanced integrations.

Download it at: https://wistia.com/soapbox

Getting Started with Personalized Video

Download one (or all) of the trial versions of software recommended above and give personalized video a try. It’s best to send a few videos as a test to your colleagues or friends first, before rolling it out on your customers.

Once you’re comfortable with using these tools, try sending a few personal videos to your customers to see how effective they might be. In addition to measuring quantifiable data like email click-through rates and video retention, try to gather some anecdotal feedback from recipients as well. Some may reply and comment directly about them, but others may need to be asked.

Personalized video, like all video marketing tactics, is an iterative process and may require a bit of experimentation to figure out what approach works best for you and your customers.

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Facebook cover videos look and function very much the same as cover photos, and will begin playing as soon as a user visits your page. It’s another step in Facebook’s move to becoming a “video first” platform.

Here’s why and how to best take advantage of Facebook’s newest video marketing tool.

Why use a cover video on your business Facebook Page?

Using video in your marketing has many potential benefits over static images and text, and most of these still apply when it comes to a Facebook cover video.

• Catch the attention of a visitor with ‘auto-play’ video.
• Quickly introduce people to your products and/or services.
• Demonstrate your culture and ‘humanize’ your brand.
• Engage viewers on an emotional level.

Here’s an example of a cover video from our Facebook page, which is our ‘Meet the Team’ video that gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the team at Basetwo Media.

What works best will vary significantly depending on your organization and audience. You could try telling a story, such as a customer success story. But it’s likely best to keep your cover video short, simple, and with content that works well in a loop.

It might be best to think of your Facebook cover video like a trade show video. Your goal is to get visitors to stop, pay attention, and want to learn more.

What’s the ideal size for a Facebook cover video?

Facebook will display your page’s cover photo or video differently depending on whether a user is on desktop or mobile. It should be a minimum of 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall.

The ideal size for your Facebook cover video is 820 pixels wide by 456 pixels tall, according to Facebook’s recommendations. This will allow you to take advantage of the maximum amount of real estate available across all devices.

Here’s what our Facebook cover video looks like when viewed on an iPhone.

You don’t have to worry about the dimensions of the video before you upload it! In fact, you can choose an existing video from your library as your Facebook cover video, and then will be able to ‘reposition’ it to best fit the frame.

How long should a Facebook cover video be?

Facebook cover videos can be anywhere from 20 to 90 seconds long. So how long should your cover video be? Like with most videos, it depends..

Consider your goals for using a cover video – are you trying to telling a story, or simply to provide an eye-catching way to engage visitors to your page? In the latter case, it may be best to keep the video quite short and fairly simple, and to set the video to loop automatically.

Should a Facebook cover video have sound?

Facebook cover videos will play muted by default, like with other autoplay videos on Facebook. What this means is that while your video can have sound, music and narration, it should be engaging with the sound turned off.

This can be done by relying more on graphics and on-screen text than on dialogue, or by using a Captions file. Captions appear to play automatically when viewing Facebook cover videos on mobile (like with other silent videos), but not on desktop. In both cases, viewers will have to click on the sound icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the player to enable sound.

Read more: 5 Reasons to Use Facebook Captions

How to Create a Facebook Cover Video

The easiest way to create a Facebook cover video is to simply choose from one of your existing videos. This is best done from your Desktop computer:

1. Click on the icon in the top-left corner which should now be changing between a photo and video camera, and choose ‘Change Cover’ (if you don’t see a video camera, you may not have access to Facebook cover videos yet).
2. Click on ‘Choose From Videos’, or ‘Upload Photo/Video’.
3. Drag to reposition the video to best fit the frame, keeping in mind that a larger version will be shown on mobile, then hit ‘Next’.
4. Choose an appropriate Thumbnail, select whether to ‘Automatically replay video in a loop’, and click ‘Publish’.

The video will be published to a new playlist in your Page’s video library called ‘Cover Videos’, and also published to your Page’s newsfeed as a Post. If you decide later to remove your cover video, the video will still be available in the video library.

If you’ve uploaded this video from scratch, you’ll need to now edit your video’s settings in order to add a caption file and a custom thumbnail. This is why it’s a little easier to use an existing video from your page’s video library – the existing caption file will be applied for use on mobile, along with the existing thumbnail.

Facebook is a great platform to leverage video in your marketing. Contact us for a free consultation if you need help getting started.

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As a result, more businesses are looking to do more videos in-house. This will likely mean setting up a DIY video production studio and building an in-house team. Sound daunting? It doesn’t have to be!

We’ve got some tips to help you set up an in-house DIY video production studio for your business.

Choosing an Appropriate Location

You don’t necessarily need a dedicated room and in fact, it might be nice to have your office or facilities in the background, provided it’s somewhere relatively quiet. If you’re able to film outside of office hours, your options are likely much greater.

No matter where you film, it’s best if you’re able to leave the equipment permanently setup to make it as quick and easy as possible to begin filming. The key to producing videos in-house consistently is to remove as many barriers as possible.

Learn more: How to Prepare for Filming at Your Office

Get the Right Equipment

Camera

The first thing you’ll need is a camera, and the best camera is often the one you already own. You can use an iPhone, but consider at a minimum a DSLR like a Canon 5D. There’s a good chance that a member of your team already owns one!

If you are going to buy a new camera, we’d typically recommend an HD camcorder which will be easier to use and can record for longer periods of time than a DSLR, making it great for events and longer presentations.

Audio

When it comes to audio, no matter what kind of camera you use, you should always use an external microphone. While your camera might be 10 feet or so away from your subject, using any on-camera microphone will pick up too much ambient sound and will make your videos sound really echoey.

We usually recommend a shotgun mic on a stand, with a cable that you’ll run back to your camera.

Now, if you did try to save money by using your DSRL or iPhone, this is where you’ll now have to buy some additional equipment. You’ll need an external audio recording device since you can’t plug a professional microphone into those smaller consumer devices. This separate audio file is then going to have to be synced up with the video during editing, which again is why a camcorder is usually the easier way to go.

Lighting

Lighting is something you can build on over time, but it’s a good idea to at least get a small LED light. You can work with existing lighting from windows, but overhead lights tend to create uneven lighting and racoon eyes.

Backdrop

Unless you are planning on showcasing your office in the background, you should invest in a paper backdrop to be used in place of filming against a wall These come in different colours as well in case you’d like to mix it up a little, for about $100 each.

Editing Equipment

Start by doing an assessment of what computer equipment you already have at your disposal, whether it be a Mac or a PC. Software like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere are available for both, starting at around $300.

When you start getting into something like motion graphics, we recommend working with pre-built templates whenever possible – software that can help you generate these from scratch like Adobe After Effects can get pretty complicated and expensive.

Depending on whether you already have a camera but assuming you have a suitable computer, you’re likely looking at an investment of between $3,000 – $8,000 for equipment. Here’s an example of the kind of equipment you might consider buying:

Camera Equipment:

• Sony HXRNX100 Video Camera (~$2,200.00) or Canon 7D Mk II DSLR (~$2,500.00)
• 2x SD Memory Cards ($30.00 each)
• Tripod ($400.00)

Audio Equipment:

• Rode NTG2 Kit ($400.00)
• XLR Cable ($30.00)
• Microphone Stand ($250.00)
• Headphones ($130.00)
• Additional equipment needed if using DSLR: Audio Recorder & SD Card ($215.00)

Lighting Equipment & Backdrop:

• LED Lighting Kit ($2,250.00)
• 2x AC Cables ($50.00 each)
• Paper Backdrop & Supports $400.00

Total Cost: ~$6,200.00 – 6,700.00, depending on camera used

Building an In-House Video Team

Now consider who will be filming. Will you be hiring a staff member for this specific purpose, or is there someone with an interest in getting training who perhaps already has some technical skills?

The person who edits your videos may not be the same person who does the filming, as these are very different skill-sets. Consider whether someone on your team might already have some experience or has a willingness to learn some of the editing software, perhaps with the help of a Lynda.com tutorial series.

Don’t Forget the Script

The script is the starting point for any video. It’s not just the source material or the words that will be spoken, but should dictate the pace, the tone, and even how and what is being filmed or animated. If the script isn’t right to begin with, you’re setting yourself up for even more work and problems down the line.

It’s also useful to do a ‘table read’ before filming your video, to ensure that the words written on the page feel natural and still make sense when read aloud. This will ensure that re-writes aren’t being done during filming where time may be more critical, and approvals from stakeholders are harder to get. Remember, it takes longer to read a script out loud than it does in your head, so be sure to time your table read in case your script needs to be shortened.

Learn more: Scriptwriting 101 Webinar

When to Bring in Outside Help

There are times when you may still want to bring in outside help from a professional videographer, editor, or video production agency like ourselves. For example, you may choose to film the videos in-house but outsource the editing.

Where many of our clients find value is in having us review scripts and provide ongoing strategic consultations. This process typically revolves around a quarterly strategy session with our clients where we can evaluate upcoming priorities to find opportunities to best use video, and then help plan an approach to either be executed by your team internally or produced with the help of our team.

This is then followed-up by monthly reviews where we’ll help evaluate the performance of your videos, as well as recommend best practices when it comes to distributing and optimizing your videos.

We can also help you get your studio setup, making specific recommendations on equipment purchases. We’ll help you evaluate where best to film, and can provide initial staff training as well as documenting of these processes so you can easily train new staff in the future. Motion graphics templates can be created, allowing your staff to bring these into their editing software to make minor changes to the text.

Case Study: Kintec Footlabs + Orthotics

When Kintec originally approached us to discuss an on-going video marketing strategy, we discovered an opportunity to help them invest in a longer-term approach involving their own in-house video studio. Their goal was to film shoe reviews and other tips as part of their content marketing strategy, producing 2-3 videos per month for distribution on social media and in their newsletter.

We found several suitable locations for them to film in one of their stores, which they planned on doing outside of business hours every two weeks. We then helped with the purchase of equipment and trained their staff on how to set up and operate their DIY video setup – all of which we documented on video of course for the onboarding of new staff in the future.

What Kintec’s marketing team told us they benefited most from was the on-going consulting and support, including measurement and reporting. We’ve been able to not only provide consultation on their scripts, but also on best practices around optimization and distribution.

Read and comment on the original post: Setting Up a DIY Video Production Studio in Your Office

While there is no secret recipe for a viral video hit, there are a few ingredients that can increase the chances of your videos being shared.

7 Ways to Make Your Videos More Shareable

1. Don’t just Tell – Tell a Story

From cave paintings to religious parables, from Mt. Olympus to Hollywood, many of the most enduring ideas in human culture have been presented in the form of a story. Of course, some things have changed over the past few thousand years. Today we have all kinds of new technology for communicating ideas. Yet, for all these changes, our instincts are still very much the same – we still connect with those that engage our curiosity, and rouse our emotion.

In order to understand why we all share this deep affinity for stories, it’s important to understand how storytelling affects us on a fundamental level.

Research in brain science has recently shed some light on this. As it turns out, when we take in information – say, in a power-point presentation or a lecture – our brains decode the language into meaning, but most of our brain is actually inactive. Simply put, information is just plain old boring.

However, if we’re given that same information in the form of a story, our minds are much more engaged. Our brains don’t like to simply process information; we respond much better to ideas if we can connect with them intellectually and emotionally.

That’s why storytelling is so much more powerful than just telling. It’s certainly possible to persuade an audience with facts and figures, but if you want to inspire your audience, you must speak to them on a deeper level.

Read more: Why Storytelling Matters

2. Make it Funny (But Keep it Relevant)

It’s no secret why cat videos get so much traction – when we find something funny, we want others to share in that experience, and it feels good to help brighten someone’s day. Humour clearly resonates.

One of the most viewed and shared campaigns of all time is Dumb Ways to Die by the Australian Metro which has over 150M views on its official Youtube channel alone. While it manages to include an important safety message right at the end of the video, there are questions about how successful the campaign has actually been in reducing metro accidents in Melbourne, its ultimate objective.

There are many other examples of successful ‘viral’ business hits, from Old Spice to Dollar Shave Club (which led to a huge increase in sales and ultimately a $1B acquisition of the brand by Unilever). But there is no shortage of epic failures as well. These video marketing failures aren’t limited to small businesses but are often the result of agencies and their clients going perhaps a little too far out on a limb or not considering their audience more carefully.

Success in using humour effectively tends to be equal parts ideation and execution, but most importantly the video needs to relate to your target audience and to be strategic in nature by including some kind of message or call-to-action.

3. Make it Emotional

Another recent success story is Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches campaign, said to be the most viral video ad of all time. According to Business Insider, “In spite of some criticism, the video’s self-esteem boosting message clearly resonated with a massive audience. It was uploaded in 25 different languages to 33 of Dove’s YouTube channels and has been viewed in more than 110 countries.”

What really sets this campaign apart from others is how quickly these shares began to accumulate from the moment of its launch. The campaign reportedly received 3.17 million shares just in its first two weeks – more than any other ad has in history within the same period of time.

4. Keep it Short

Shorter is typically better, especially when it comes to videos on Youtube and other social media platforms. The main reason for this is the huge number of videos competing for viewers’ attention.

On infinitely scrolling platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you have less than 3 seconds to grab a viewers attention, and you can lose it just as quickly. Keeping your videos short and concise is especially important when attempting to drive viewers towards a specific action. Consider building a call-to-action earlier into your video, or starting with a ‘hook’ that may cause viewers to want to stay until the end.

Read more: 3 Indications Your Youtube Video is Too Long

5. Or Make it Long

Sometimes, longer works best. According to ReelSeo.com “statistics point to videos that are longer than 2-3 minutes are shared more often, possibly because there is more time for your audience to have a more emotional connection resulting in them forwarding the link to other people.” The Kony 2012 documentary is a good example of this.

Longer videos are usually also more appropriate when you have a captive audience like during a presentation, and an effective staff training video can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours in length.

Read more: How Long Should a Video Be? 5 Things to Consider

6. Make them Look Smart or Interesting

The reason that videos get shared tends to be not just in how they make a viewer feel, but in how it will make them appear when they share it with their friends and colleagues. Does your video help a person to express a strongly held belief or opinion, or perhaps to show how smart they are with a clever explanation of something complicated?

7. Don’t Make it About You

There is a time and a place to talk about your business, but it’s not when we’re creating content intended to be shared. That’s not to say that your organization’s story or that of its founder might not make for an interesting narrative, but the video should still serve to demonstrate a benefit to the viewer. Customer success stories can work much better as they tend to be more relatable.

This is especially true when writing a title and description for your video on social platforms. Try to answer the question, “what’s in it for me?” that the viewer will ask when they consider watching your video.

Shares & Views Aren’t Everything

Views, likes, shares, and tweets are all important metrics when it comes to campaigns intended for virality, but hopefully, you’ve tied this video back to some type of strategic goal. It’s important to measure what matters.

Before beginning any new campaign, picture a successful outcome for the project – perhaps you were successful in increasing awareness. What behaviour has changed as a result which can be measured? Now try to attach a date and number, and to write this as a statement. This is the benchmark we’ll compare to once we measure the final results.

Read and comment on the original post: 7 Ways to Make Your Videos More Shareable

With this challenge there is also opportunity, because unlike other fields such as finance or real-estate, health is rife with compelling stories to help engage your audience. Health touches all of us, sometimes in very profound ways. It’s only natural that the preferred tool for storytelling in health communications today is video.

Here are a 4 ways that video can be used to increase engagement in health communications.

1. Humanize Your Message With A Patient’s Story

One quick and easy way to come up with a story is to find a person whose life has been affected in some way by your particular subject. If, for example, your objective is to raise money for a new piece of hospital equipment, you might want to find a patient whose life was affected by that piece of equipment. The patient, and his or her story, can be the subject of your story.

We did exactly this for the VGH + UBC Hospital foundation for their campaign to raise money for an MRI, in the example below.

This is a time-tested and straightforward approach, but remember to keep the focus on the patient. Let their story speak for itself, and give your audience an opportunity to develop that personal connection. By implication, they will develop a connection with your message.

2. Touch People’s Emotions With a PSA

Health encompasses a range of issues that go far beyond the walls of medical facilities. Broader social issues fall under the health umbrella too – things like wellness, community, public awareness, etc.

These types of messages might call for a different kind of storytelling – perhaps something that involves a number of voices rather than just one individual’s story. This is where something like a PSA has often proven useful. Some of the most emotionally engaging and meaningful video work in health is a simple collection of people speaking to camera.

The PSA we produced for the Canadian Cancer Society’s ‘Tanning is Out’ campaign is a great example of how powerful this type of storytelling can be.

3. Build Understanding With an Animated Explainer

A large sector of the health field that deals specifically with things like regulation, policy, administration, etc. In these cases, the communications objective might be less about feeling, and more about understanding. This is where a short animated explainer video can be very useful.

As you would expect, these videos are a popular format for communicators who want to explain an idea in a concise, simple, and engaging way. Is there a new regulatory initiative being rolled out? Or maybe a new policy that needs clarification? Animation is uniquely suited to this type of communications objective because it can show… well, anything really. If you can imagine it, you can animate it.

Here’s an example of how we helped the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC to explain a complex subject.

4. Think Beyond The Interview

A talking-head on its own rarely makes for a very compelling story, but recorded interviews can nonetheless be valuable assets for communicators, depending on their strategy. We’ve seen interviews used in everything from 15-second Instagram posts to massive grant applications. Interviews have utility as your needs dictate, but don’t assume that an interview is the same as a story.

A talking-head might technically be a video – and sure, the speaker might be really interesting – but without supporting footage and some kind of coherent narrative, they tend to be far less engaging.

In Conclusion

This is just a sampler of how you might want to approach video in health communications, but there’s really no limit to how you can use it. The most important thing is that you remember that the true power of video lies, above all, in its ability to tell engaging stories.

Read and comment on the original post: 4 Ways to Use Video in Health Communications

You might be quoted a per-minute rate of somewhere between $1,000-$1,500, or told that a completed video can cost anywhere from $3,000-$50,000 – if you’re given a number at all! We know this can be frustrating for marketers in the early stages of trying to budget for a video.

While it’s true that every video can be a little different, there are some key factors that tend to affect cost more than others.

A Quick Note about Pricing Models

Before discussing how prices themselves can vary, we need to first understand how different contractors, producers, and agencies price their services.

Many don’t follow a formalized process, approaching every video project instead like a brand new challenge. Whether quoting and charging by the project or not, most will at least base their estimates on hourly or daily rates, adding a small mark-up on external costs.

Read more: How Video Production is Priced

It’s important therefore to try to compare apples to apples whenever possible. If a company does have a fairly standardized process that they follow, while it may not allow for as much flexibility or customization, it likely will provide better value and greater efficiency. For example, we rely exclusively on stock music for the production of animated explainer videos and work with a specific list of agencies to source and license it from.

When a standard process is not being followed, be sure to keep an eye out for the circumstances listed below.

Here are key 5 factors that can affect costs

1. Length of the video

One of the more obvious variables is the length of the video – but likely not the way you think. Counterintuitively, it can actually be more challenging and more expensive to make a shorter video than a longer one. Let me explain..

More often than not, the length of a video will be dictated by the platform and context where the video will be seen – in other words, this is determined during the strategy stage, not during creative development.

A pre-roll ad for YouTube needs to be 30 seconds long to conform to the ad unit requirements, while a ‘how-to’ video on YouTube may need to be 8 minutes in length just based on the content it aims to demonstrate. Since the pre-roll commercial is interrupting the viewer’s experience, it likely will need to be much higher in production value – using professional actors, a very ‘tight’ script, and all sorts of fancy shots. The ‘how to’ video on the other hand, assuming it delivers on its promise, may be filmed pretty much off-the-cuff using a webcam.

When it comes to editing, it too can often take more time to reduce a large quantity of footage than to simply leave it longer and looser. But this distillation process, whether left to the editing process or when done during the scripting phase, is arguably the most important factor in telling a good story, maximizing viewer engagement, and ultimately in getting results. This is why we tend to shy away from estimating costs on a ‘per minute’ basis.

2. Filming on-location vs in-studio

We tend to do most of our filming for clients in our in-house green-screen production studio, as it provides for a controlled environment, free from distraction and background noise. But there are times when filming on-location is more appropriate.

Your office or facilities may be somewhat of a character of the story itself, when showcasing the capacity of your operations, or when needing to demonstrate your team hard at work. We may also choose to film on-location to lend authenticity to the video, or of course when needing an exterior location.

While most film crews are fine to film on-location, there will be time lost in traveling to the location, unloading and setting up, and then doing it all again in reverse at the end of the day – all of which will typically need to be included in a standard 10 hour day, before overtime kicks in. Any direct travel costs will need to be considered as well.

There may also be costs for permits when filming in public spaces, and possibly even the requirement for supplemental insurance. Not to mention the cost of rescheduling if the shoot gets cancelled last minute because of rain!

3. Using on-screen talent vs interviews

When filming a live-action video, the first question that typically needs to be answered is, “who will be in the video?”

For videos where the goal is to establish a member of your team as the expert, the answer to this question is typically easier. But that still may necessitate doing some internal casting to find the most suitable spokesperson from within your organization.

Other times, a script may require hiring a professional spokesperson or actor. This means not only additional costs for the casting process but fees for the talent themselves. Be careful when hiring professional talent to avoid ‘union’ actors, as this can not only cost much more but complicates the contracting process.

Non-speaking roles are of course much easier to fill but don’t underestimate the amount of ‘acting’ that can be required even for the subtlest performance of a gesture or on-camera reaction.

Read more: Volunteer vs Professional Talent – Which is best?

Interviews are often the best way to tell a story using non-professional talent, as it can not only keep costs to a minimum but using interviews instead of a spokesperson can make the video feel much more authentic and less scripted.

4. B-roll or stock footage

You may find that your script calls for additional ‘b-roll’ footage to be filmed. Even if you are planning on filming on-location at your offices, there may not be enough time left in the day once your interviews or other key scenes are filmed to capture this additional footage. Don’t be surprised if an additional day is needed for b-roll, especially when exterior shots are required that may be weather dependant.

It’s possible to supplement a video by licensing existing stock footage – but expect to get what you pay for. High-quality, authentic-looking footage can cost between $200-$800 or more for up to a 10-second shot. When relying heavily on stock footage, these costs can really add up.

5. Motion graphics and animation

From basic on-screen text elements, to complex 3D animation, what we show on-screen is just as important as what we say. Motion graphics can be especially powerful when using video to teach.

Motion graphics and animation can sometimes be much cheaper than filming an equivalent scene with actors, locations, and props. Entire worlds can be created (and destroyed) at will, and the laws of physics need not apply. But it’s important to be realistic about the level of realism – you shouldn’t be trying to produce something to rival a Pixar film.

Try to keep your script fairly simple, focusing on the concept you’re attempting to explain with the use of animation and with the story you’re trying to tell. A professional script writer will have a better sense of what can and can’t be produced within a given budget, and some of the ways to cut corners without sacrificing clarity.

But this is the wrong question to ask..

Video production should be seen as an investment, not as an expense. This means that focusing on costs is almost always the wrong approach.

Your video should help generate leads, to convert visitors, or to close more deals, in the case of a marketing video. It should help to increase awareness, to improve retention rates, or to create some other lasting change in the case of an educational video or communications initiative. If it can’t help to minimize costs or to generate a direct and measurable return on investment, then why produce it in the first place?

Start instead by asking yourself what success would look like. Can you put a monetary value on that success?

Instead of asking for a quotation, now consider finding an experienced producer or agency that you trust. Let them know what the rough budget is that you’re considering allocating to the project. They will welcome the chance to discuss your options openly and honestly, evaluating the various approaches which could be taken and how this may affect both costs and outcomes for your video.

If you’d like to discuss your video project with us, feel free to contact us for a consultation.

Read and comment on the original post: How Much Does Video Production Cost?

A video script is different from most other communications documents – it’s a blueprint for a video, and that means it has unique challenges. As a professional scriptwriter and producer, I have six tips to consider when tackling this surprisingly nuanced writing challenge.

1. Separate the Audio from the Visual

It’s helpful to remember that a video communicates information in two streams: audio and visual. Of course, the viewer experiences both streams simultaneously, so it’s important for these streams to work together. If you’ve ever created a PowerPoint presentation, then you are familiar with this principle. But video takes it to a whole new level.

Scriptwriters use a format called the “Audio/Visual Script”. The idea is simple: you separate the audio and visual narratives into two columns. On the left side, you describe what the viewer is seeing, and on the right side you write the dialogue.

It also makes sense to separate the columns into discrete rows. This helps to pace out the script, and ensure that the images align with the dialogue.

This format isn’t necessary, but it is certainly advisable. Even if you’re the only person who ever sees the script, it’s useful to outline the content for pace and flow – elements that are more important in scriptwriting than in most other forms of writing.

2. Script For The Edit

You might be wondering how scripting relates to editing. For example, will the editor look to the script when determining when and where to cut the footage? There is no general rule for how this is done, but it’s helpful to think of editing as a tool in your scriptwriter’s tool belt.

Here’s a short video that demonstrates how different kinds of editing can actually be consciously scripted in a simple video.

3. Beware Abstract Language

Language ranges in abstraction. Some words describe ideas that are highly abstract like “efficiency”, “gratitude”, or “growth”. Other words describe ideas that are much more concrete – things like “truck”, “dog” or “windmill”. You can always tell which ideas are more concrete because you can easily picture them. If you were playing Pictionary, you’d have an easier time drawing a “dog” than you would drawing “gratitude”.

This is important, because language in the “visual” column of a script cannot be abstract; it must describe images in literal detail. If your “audio” column reads “This year we improved efficiency by 15%”, your visual column should not read something like “image of efficiency”. It must read “bar graph of last year’s increase in efficiency” – or maybe “green arrow grows and trends upward along a horizontal axis”. In both of these examples, you can close your eyes and see the image clearly. Writing with concrete language will reduce ambiguity among the various people involved in the project. Don’t leave your script up to interpretation.

4. Read Your Dialogue Out Loud

As an experiment, try reading this sentence out loud:

This year was one of our best (it was very profitable) because we improved our processes.

Using parentheses in this way is tolerable in writing, but can be problematic if written as dialogue. The problem is that nobody hears parentheses. If you read this sentence aloud, that small parenthetical remark confuses the grammar of the sentence, and thus confuses the listener.

That is why you must be very precise with punctuation when writing dialogue. Try to avoid complex clause structures, and use periods more than you use commas. Often, you won’t see the problem in the punctuation until you’ve actually uttered the words.

And while you’re at it, look for natural emphases in your dialogue. If a word is important, SHOW IT to your reader in capital letters. This not only helps your speaker’s voice to be more dynamic; it can also affect the meaning of the words in subtle ways. Consider the difference between: “We’re eating dinner at HOME at seven o’clock,” and “We’re eating dinner at home at SEVEN o’clock”. In each case, the speaker’s dialogue has two distinct meanings whose effect derives from the intonation of one word. If you read your dialogue out loud, you will likely discover that you naturally emphasize certain words and phrases. If you do, re-write them in caps-lock; otherwise, your speaker might intone incorrectly, and change the meaning of your script.

5. Use Storytelling, Even If “There’s No Story”

One important point about videos is that they all strive for engagement. Simply put, if you have a boring video, nobody will watch it, and then it won’t matter how ‘on message’ it is. That message simply won’t be heard. So how can you win the battle against boredom?

As you can imagine, there are many different creative ways to make a video interesting, but the tried-tested-and-true principle that underlies all good scriptwriting is storytelling. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need characters, a plot, and a moral; it only means you need to write with narrative logic.

The primary distinction here is that the writing flows – each new piece of information builds on the last, and all of the information is bound together, link by link, in a sequential chain of cause and effect. This way of presenting information is easier for our brains to process. It helps people to understand and remember. And best of all, it keeps people asking “what’s next?”

Further Reading: Why Storytelling Matters

6. Consider Your Objective

Before you even sit down to write a script, you should imagine what the video will look like. But you should also imagine how, where, and why your viewer is watching. Are they scrolling through Facebook? Are they sitting in a conference? Are they considering buying the product? Have they even heard of the product?

Even basic questions like How long is the video? and What is the call to action? are important strategic questions. As a scriptwriter, you are not necessarily responsible for developing that strategy, but you certainly need to know it in order to write an effective script. Your job, after all, is not only to engage, but also to produce results. If you’re not perfectly clear on what that result is, get clarification from your collaborators before you write a single line of dialogue.

In Conclusion

Ironically, there is no script for how to write a script. Each video is different, and your writing will have to adapt to meet the unique demands of each video project. But the principles outlined here are excellent standards by which to proceed. Just remember this wise scriptwriter’s aphorism: “Scripts are not meant to be read; they are meant to be watched.”

Read and comment on the original post: 6 Tips for Writing More Effective Video Scripts

Here are the 3 types of data that you can use in order to improve the performance of your videos.

1. Quantitative Data

This is the type of numerical data that we typically think of in order to track actions and behaviours. For a website, you might measure and report on visits, bounce rate, and conversions using tools like Google Analytics. When it comes to online video, the metrics available can vary depending on your video hosting service.

YouTube offers plenty of this type of data, including Views, Average view duration, Watch time, Audience retention, Demographics, Traffic sources, Devices, and reports. This can be synced with your website’s Google Analytics account, in order to offer even more powerful insights into audience behaviour.

Quantitative Data can help you look for trends and to find opportunities for improvement. For example, you could split A/B test a version of a landing page both with and without a video, to measure the effect of the video on conversions. The quality of this data tends to increase over time and with the number of views, before a statistically significant result can be achieved which can make it a challenge to rely on in some cases.

2. Observational Data

While Quantitative Data can tell you what your viewers are doing before and after watching a video, Observational Data can help to understand how viewers are engaging with your content.

Professional video hosting platforms like Wistia allow you to take your analysis to another level by observing how viewers interact with your videos in the ‘wild’. Heat maps, like the example shown below allow you to track engagement both in aggregate and for individual viewers.

You might notice that viewers tend to drop off at a certain point in the video, which could suggest that your video is too long or that there’s something that viewers find boring or simply irrelevant. Perhaps there’s a section of the video that viewers tend to re-watch several times, which could tell you it needs to be made more clear or a graphic held on screen for longer. In fact, if the video is being used to explain how to use a product and a specific section tends to be watched over and over again, you could take this into consideration in future product re-designs to make the product itself more intuitive to use.

You can even collect Observational Data more literally by observing in-person how viewers interact with your content. Do they appear to be paying attention to the video or are they easily distracted? Did they have any follow-up questions for you? Observing these types of behaviours directly may help to explain some of the trends you may have seen in your Quantitative Data.

Further Reading: Video Metrics That Count

Combine this with more advanced integrations with marketing automation platforms such as Hubspot and Marketo, or email platforms like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor, for even deeper insights into the behaviour of individual viewers.

3. Qualitative Data

This type of data allows you to dig deeper to find out why viewers act and feel the way they do. Since this is direct feedback from the viewer’s perspective and not your own, you’ll need to actually ask them directly with a survey or an interview.

You might have noticed a trend in your Quantitative Data, which corresponds to the behaviour observed in several or your specific viewers in your Observational Data collection process. Why did they choose to click on that thumbnail, and not the other? Why did they stop watching half-way through the video? What were their key take-aways from the video, and what questions were they left with?

Qualitative Data is especially useful after first launching a video, when the amount of Quantitative Data available is relatively small, or when your audience is more targeted.

Data Informed vs. Data Driven

The goal of any measurement and reporting should be to act on it in order to improve results. While it may be tempting to act on Quantitative Data alone, it’s only by combining this with both Observational and Qualitative Data that you can start to truly understand how your videos are performing.

Data allow us to ask questions, to perform experiments, and ultimately to make decisions in an informed way, but it’s important that not all creative decisions are driven by this data. At the end of the day, making great videos is as much of an art as it is a science.

Download our Guide to Getting Started with Video Hosting and Optimization to learn more about how you can begin measuring the performance of your videos.

Read and comment on the original post: Qualitative, Observational, and Quantitative: The 3 Types of Data to Improve Your Videos

With so much riding on a website’s home page, it’s no wonder that it’s the first place businesses will put a video, and an increasing trend is to have these videos automatically play in the background of the header or even full-screen. But there’s a chance that autoplaying home page video of yours could being doing more harm than good.

An image is worth 1,000 words, and people seem to want to read less and less. So how could including a flashy video right on your home page be bad, and are there times when including an autoplay video might be okay?

Here are a few considerations to help you rethink the autoplay home page video.

It slows down what is probably the most important page on your website.

The homepage is typically not only the most visited landing page, but also the entry point for most visitors to your website.

As Wistia’s Phil Nottingham points out “first impressions matter. In a world where 57% of online shoppers supposedly abandon a page after 3 seconds of load time, and slow pages tend to rank worse in google search (particularly on mobile searches), you really can’t afford to have a sluggish homepage.

“An autoplaying video, at full bleed, is very bandwidth-intensive. A 30-second video will probably add about 10 megabytes to the size of a simple image and text-based HTML page, which can potentially quadruple the amount of data that needs to be loaded for the page to render correctly. If a user is on a weak connection (e.g. using mobile data or accessing public wifi), this can add several seconds of delay.”

There are ways to ensure that your video begins loading only once the page itself has loaded, using what’s called an ‘asynchronous embed’. But this still can result in a large, blank background on your header or, worse yet, the entire screen if your video is attempting to load fullscreen. Take a look at the example below for the Hollywood film Life of Pi to see what I mean.

The question you need to ask yourself, is whether any positive impacts of an autoplaying video on your home page outweigh the potential loss of visitors who can’t load your page in a reasonable amount of time. Consider as well what percentage of your visitors are on mobile, where the problem is even worse than for desktop visitors.

It can distract from your main call-to-action.

Making your home page more content-rich can not only help it rank higher in Google to drive more traffic to your home page, but focussing the viewer’s attention on a specific call-to-action might help to drive more conversions as well. This may be to sign up for a demo, or simply visit another page on the website.

Ask yourself, what’s the next action that you want viewers to take now that they’re on your home page? Is it for them to sit and watch your video all the way to the end before doing anything else, or was the video really just meant as window dressing?

Unless watching your video is your main call-to-action.

Using a video on your homepage or in a header elsewhere on your website may be appropriate when the action you’d like a viewer to take is in fact to click on a button in order to watch a video. In this case, you might consider the silent, autoplaying version of your video as a ‘trailer’ for the main video.

We use this technique throughout our websites in the header, like in the example below where we try to entice viewers to watch our demo reel.

What we feel works well about the example above is the minimal amount of movement in the video. This means that when the video pops-up, the background video won’t be too distracting as it continues to play.

Compare this to the second example below from our Meet the Team page. Although the background video still has very little movement or cuts, it may still be a little distracting to viewers once the video pops-up over top. Just imagine how distracting it could be with the more ‘action packed’ videos you typically see.

So what’s the verdict?

Many templates for popular website platforms like WordPress come setup with video background elements and headers, making it very tempting to use silent autoplaying video as window dressing all over your website. But it’s a good idea to think twice about this tactic, especially when it comes to your home page.

If the video is simple and ‘slow moving’ enough to not be overly distracting from your calls-to-action or other elements on a webpage, then great. If that autoplaying video is also trying to call attention to a button so that viewers can view the full video (without the background video then becoming a distraction), even better. Context is important above all.

In either case, be sure to test your website loading speeds and to A/B split test the results whenever possible.

Be sure to download our Guide to Getting Started with Video Hosting & Optimization to learn more.

Read and comment on the original post: Rethinking the Autoplay Home Page Video

Savvy video marketers have been creating these ‘end screens’ for years as it was the only way to ensure that viewers might keep watching other videos on your channel instead of being distracted by all of the other suggested videos in the sidebar.

Until now, to accomplish this required a bit of a ‘hack’. You would first ensure there was enough space at the end of a video for them to be onscreen for a period of time, and then would actually include minimized versions of the other videos you were going to link to on top of your video, right in your editing software. Annotations were then used in YouTube once the video had been uploaded in order to link to those other videos, subscribe button, or link to an ‘approved’ website.

This of course meant planning in advance which videos you were going to feature, and there was no way to change your mind once a video had been published. Worse yet, annotations didn’t work on mobile devices and many desktop viewers have annotations turned off, meaning they’d have to sit through a potentially lengthy ‘end screen’ filled with calls-to-action without being able to click on any of them.

Fortunately, YouTube recently launched native End Screens, “a new mobile-friendly tool that lets you engage viewers right as your video finishes and encourages them to watch more on their devices”. It allows you to choose thumbnails from your other videos as overlays in the last 5-20 seconds, along with calls for viewers to subscribe to your channel, and more.

How to Use YouTube’s New End Screens

End Screens are now integrated right into YouTube’s Video Manager and are actually quite intuitive to use. You no longer need to cheat by having these video previews edited right into the video you’re linking from, but can have YouTube automatically generate a thumbnail image with a title for any video on YouTube. Best yet, you can change the video it’s linking to at any time.

What your End Screen can show:

• Video or playlist: You can choose to always feature your most recently uploaded video, to allow YouTube to automatically select a video from your channel to best suit the viewer; or for you to choose a video yourself (whether it’s on your channel or not).
• Subcribe: Encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel.
• Approved websites: Link to an associated website or approved merchandise link.
• Channel: Promote another channel.

Note that this can only be done from a desktop computer on YouTube.com (not in YouTube’s Studio app). Check out YouTube’s documentation on End Screens in their support library to learn more.

Best Practices for Creating End Screens

There are several things to consider when creating your End Screens:

• The action(s) you’re calling a viewer to take should be relevant to the video they’ve just watched.
• Experiment with different numbers of calls to action and with different elements. You can check their performance in your Audience retention report or End screens report.
• Make sure there’s enough time at the end of the video and enough room on screen. Try bringing your CTA’s in a little earlier though too, right before the video has finished and your viewers have potentially already left.
• Try having different elements appear at different times on screen.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can’t use YouTube’s new End Screens at the same time as annotations for a given video. I suspect that YouTube is trying to phase out annotations altogether in favour of the mobile-friendly Cards tool it introduced last year, so it might be best to avoid using annotations moving forward anyway.

In trying to update some of our videos where we’d created End Screens using annotations, we noticed that in some cases there wasn’t enough space between elements on screen. Don’t be surprised if this happens to you as well, when several video thumbnails were featured close together.

Another limitation is that videos are only shown as thumbnails, whereas the older method allowed you to loop sections of the videos you’d planned to link to which may make for a more compelling call-to-action. Overall though, this is a great new feature that we’re excited to use on all of our YouTube videos moving forward.

Have you seen any creative uses of YouTube end screens, or experiemented with them yourself? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Read and comment on the original post: YouTube Mobile-Friendly End Screens Keep Viewers Watching

Think back to English class, and you will recall one of the most important lessons in language: everything is written in one of three perspectives – first person, second person, or third person. When an author chooses to write a story, the question of “grammatical person” is one of the first they must answer because it has deep implications for how the story is told.

Though you might not realize it, this question of “person” is important for video producers as well. In the case of video, the question of perspective is determined by the placement of the camera relative to its subject. Watch this video below for a demonstration..

There is an enormous difference between a narrator who says “she did” and one who says “I did”. In the former, the narrator is an objective witness to events; in the latter, she is the one doing the action. Each style of narration sets up a fundamentally different relationship with the reader, and that naturally determines how the story is presented.

Consider a video in which a person is speaking directly to camera – like a spokesperson. You, the viewer, have the sensation of being addressed personally. This is very much like a story told in the second person; you are engaged in direct dialogue with that character.

Now consider a video in which a person is looking off camera while speaking – a standard for interviews. You, the viewer, understand that there is a third person in the relationship – even if they are offscreen. You are watching the conversation from a more objective position.

The comparison is not meant to suggest that one is better than the other, only to point out that a story is profoundly influenced by the audience’s perspective on the subject.

So if you’re making a video that features a person in some way, think about how you want your audience to relate, and then you’ll be in a better position to develop an effective script, and plan for your shoot.

Read and comment on the original post: Using Multiple Cameras for Your Video

Too often, videos will get produced but never see the light of day for any number of reasons. Other times, projects get started but never even make it to the finish line before getting scrapped or put on hold indefinitely. Sometimes, a video will get finished that meets or exceeds everyone’s expectations in terms of quality and production value, but it simply fails to generate any measurable results.

We’ve got the top 5 video production pitfalls, and some ways that you can try to avoid them on your next video project.

1. There’s No Clear Objective

Many businesses will produce a video simply because they think they need to “be on YouTube” or have video content on their website. While there may be some truth in those statements, having a lack of clarity around the objectives, audience, and messaging is a surefire way for your video project to fail.

Follow these steps instead:

• Start by defining the problem or opportunity. What does success look like?
• Who is our primary audience? Think about personas in the case of marketing, demographics and psychographics for other projects. Are there secondary or tertiary audiences?
• What is our key message? Answer the question “what’s in it for me”. One key message per audience.

Now let’s factor in our budget to consider the best approach for communicating the message to that particular audience. All of our creative decisions need to keep the audience in mind (eg. it doesn’t matter if you like the music being used or not, as long as it will resonate with the audience).

Read more: Getting Strategic with Video: 4 Questions to Ask Yourself First

2. Making Decisions by Committee

We’ve all heard the expression, “too many cooks spoil the broth”. This is even more true in video production, with often too many people providing too many different opinions not just on what needs to be included in the video, but on more subjective decisions like music and style.

The result is a very watered-down version of what may have started as a clear creative vision. Videos designed by committee tend to be longer and packed with extraneous features and information. Dialogue or narration written around a boardroom table can sound more like legal mumbo-jumbo or corporate messaging, than authentic communication. People will naturally want to provide constructive criticism when asked, and the more people you ask for feedback from, the more opinions you’re going to get.

Focus on collaboration but recognize that you won’t always have consensus. Does Bob from accounting need to weigh in on the music used in your new customer on-boarding video? (sorry Bob!) Remember that someone needs to be in charge of making the final decision, and it’s usually best to leave some creative discretion to the person or agency you’ve hired for the job of producing your video.

Read more: Death by Design by Committee

3. Stakeholders Entering Too Late in the Process

In large organizations, it’s not uncommon for there to be multiple levels of approval required on a customer-facing video project. The more large-scale and far-reaching the campaign, the higher up the chain that decisions on a video project will likely have to go.

Where the problem comes in is when stakeholders with veto power come in too late in the process and begin reversing decisions made much earlier on. This can cause serious delays and cost overruns, as additional revisions may be needed, possibly even including script re-writes or re-shoots. Worse yet, we’ve seen projects get put on-hold or scrapped altogether, when our clients are told by management that the video is way off message.

It’s okay for management to be involved in key decisions, as their input is likely not only valid but vital to the success of the project as it relates to underlying business objectives. But it’s important that these decision makers be brought in much earlier in the process to provide feedback during scripting, and potentially on rough cuts and other stages along the way.

Having said all of that, we’ve heard from a few clients over the years that they’d prefer to have something more polished to show their leadership team, instead of getting them involved too early on. This is a decision that ultimately you’re going to have to make, but it’s important to inform the video producer about who will be involved and when so that they can help you to manage expectations and to create a contingency plan for if and when the project needs to pivot.

4. No Plan for Distribution & Promotion

Something that often gets overlooked during the creative development and production phases of a video is how the video will be distributed and promoted. In the early days, you could safely assume a video would be distributed by broadcast television, on DVD, or maybe screened at an event. But of course, the internet has changed all of that.

Instagram currently limits videos to 1 minute. Youtube pre-rolls are modeled after the traditional ’30 second spot’. Vine forces you to tell a story in just 6.5 seconds. When publishing a video to these various platforms, it’s not enough to simply edit a shorter version after-the-fact. The type of story you tell could be very different in 30 seconds than in 2 minutes.

Increasingly, we’re also seeing a need to create videos with different aspect ratios for different platforms. An obvious example would be a square video for publishing on Instagram. On Facebook, we’re typically still seeing the standard 16×9 aspect ratio used, but it may be time to rethink this as well as content is consumed more and more on mobile devices, since most people hold their phone vertically when scrolling through their feed – assuming that’s going to be your primary distribution platform.

You’ll also want to think about the thumbnail in advance since this should be created during production, along with closed caption files for platforms like Facebook and Twitter where silent autoplay is used.

Last but certainly not least, the call-to-action should be relevant and contexual. You might want to create different versions of the video with slightly different CTA’s, like one for youTube calling for viewers to visit the website, and another for those already on the website to enter their email address. This may need to be incorporated into the script itself before filming or recording a voice-over.

Read more: 5 Reasons Why Videos Should be Platform Specific

5. Trying to Do Too Much with One Video

There’s no such thing as a silver-bullet video, and by trying to do too much with a single video you can end up accomplishing very little. Where this can derail a project is when multiple stakeholders try to cram too much into a single video, making it too long and too unfocused to be engaging for any one audience.

As Phil Nottingham once explained, think of your videos like a soccer team – you wouldn’t judge your goalie based on the number of goals they scored. If your objective is to convert a viewer from a landing page to a contact form but not neccessarily to make an immediate sale, then you’ll want to remind your sales team that they’ll have plenty of time to discuss the features of your product or service further in the sales funnel.

In Conclusion

Assuming that there is a business case for making a video in the first place, and that you’ve put strategy before tactics in planning your video project, you should be able to avoid these common pitfalls and improve your chances of not only seeing a project through to the finish, but in generating a measureable return on your investment.

Read and comment on the original post: 5 Video Production Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

In order to really make use of the teaching power of video, there are a few considerations you should keep in mind.

1. Will a Video Actually Improve Instruction?

Though it may surprise you, the answer to this question is sometimes NO. For example, if the material you want to teach is so dense that it requires the viewer to pause or rewind the video, then your audience may prefer to read it.

Video may have a reputation for being “easier than reading”, but there are cases where the reverse is true. Sometimes, it’s better to give your audience the power to revisit or re-read at their discretion without making them scrub through a video.

2. How You Can Use Visuals to Your Advantage

Every classroom has a chalkboard, and a good teacher knows how and when to use it. Simply put, visual elements should supplement or support the narration. If done properly, this can have enormous instructional benefits. In this case of video, this is achieved with skillful scriptwriting.

To demonstrate this, we created our own instructional video.

3. How Invested Your Audience Is

If your target audience is already invested in learning about your content, then you’re in good shape – if you deliver the instructional goods, you should have no problem retaining your audience and giving them value. However, if you’re thinking about using an educational or instructional video to create awareness, then you might want to re-think your video strategy and ask yourself a few important questions first.

The main takeaway is that, like all good videos, educational or instructional videos must be rooted in some sense of purpose. Think carefully about the specific value you are hoping to offer your audience, and then give due respect to the creative process needed to get you there.

Read and comment on the original post: 3 Considerations When Using Video to Teach

Here are 4 ways that staff bio videos can humanize your brand, along with some examples from our own staff.

1. They Put A Face To Your Name

This is quite literally true. If your website contains no images or information about its staff, then it may come across as ‘faceless’ – just another bland organization whose only apparent motivation is business. Those cheesy stock images won’t fool anyone!

Putting your staff on video and showing off a bit of their personality will show that your organization has a real culture – ideally one that appeals to your clients.

We hope that’s the case in this first example below featuring Megan, our project coordinator.

2. They Help To Build Trust

Trust is a big part of doing business, and personal relationships are necessary in establishing that trust. If somebody is new to your business, and they haven’t yet had a chance to meet your team, then video is a great way to reach out to them and start building that relationship. If a prospective client is considering your business, a staff video with a personal touch might give them extra incentive to contact you.

My co-founder and our COO Jonathan discusses his personal life in a way that can only inspire trust in this second example below.

3. Video Has A Vibe

Video is different from photos and text. It’s more vivid, capable of conveying much more about a person – subtle things like how they speak or smile. Written bios, on the other hand, are sometimes a bit formal (“With years of experience in the industry, so-and-so oversees operations”). This information is certainly relevant, but it is utterly devoid of personality. With video, there is no formal language to hide behind; your personality will come across.

We now introduce you to Andrew, our staff writer in this third example.

4. They’re Fun!

Being on camera is usually pretty fun, and in addition to being good video practice, producing a staff video can be a productive team-building exercise. Look at it as an opportunity for your team members to not only reflect on their role in the company but also to cut loose and talk about their personal interests. The added benefit here is that this authenticity and personality will come across in the video, showing your potential clients that your team is a pleasure to work with.

That brings us to our last example where you can meet Luke who produced the videos here.

We strongly believe that, at the end of the day, people want to do business with real people. Video is simply unrivaled in its ability to communicate personality, which is why we invite you to consider using video to show off your winning team.

Meet the rest of our team, including me, our CEO here.

Read and comment on the original post: Humanizing Your Brand With Staff Bio Videos

When it comes to video marketing, a call-to-action can be verbally stated in a video’s narration, or included as a button for viewers to click (or both). You might be asking a viewer to visit your website, to download an offer like an ebook, to sign-up for an event, or to contact you for a consultation. Whatever the action you’re calling for, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel.

Here are 4 lessons from email marketing to optimize your video’s call-to-action.

1. Use Action-Oriented Language

Put the “action” back in “call-to-action” by using compelling verbs like get and learn instead of boring words like submit or click here, and follow them up with a clear benefit statement (eg. “learn more about how you can increase conversions”).

Email marketing platform Campaign Monitor has a great list of 75 Calls to Action that might help you generate some ideas for your own action-oriented CTA’s. They also warn us against using “friction words”, such as Download, Buy, Order or Submit, as these can imply that the viewer has to do something requiring a certain amount of effort.

2. Consider Speaking in the First Person

Studies have shown that changing button text from the second person (eg. “Get a free ebook”) to the first person (eg. “Get my free ebook”) can result in up to a 90% increase in clicks.

Human beings tend to be driven more by avoiding loss than by achieving gain. Using first person possessive determiners such as “my” can give the viewer a sense of ownership, triggering that drive for loss aversion.

3. Create a Sense of Urgency

Emails that create a sense of urgency are more likely to convert, and videos are no different. When the human brain feels a sense of urgency, we tend to respond more impulsively, which is a great thing for us as video marketers.

You can create a sense of urgency in your video’s CTA in several ways:

• Set a deadline for a discount. Reward viewers for taking advantage of your offer within an alloted time period (eg. “Save $50 when you register by 11:59pm”).
• Create a sense of scarcity. Offer something in limited supply by including text like “Limited Edition”, “These won’t last long”, or “RSVP now: Only 8 Spots Left”.
• Pair an active word with an ugent one. Pair that action-oriented word we discussed above with an urgent one, for phrasing like “Book today”, “Start saving instantly”, or Get your free ebook now”.

4. Test and Iterate

Your calls-to-action are arguably one of the most important components of your videos in generating measurable results, so it’s important to continually test and iterate. Use A/B Split Testing within a single video, or simply try different calls-to-action on several similar videos in a series to see what works best.

The language you use should be specifically tailored to the tone and personality of your brand, so keep testing to see what resonates with your audience.

Read and comment on the original post: Lessons from Email Marketing for Your Video’s Call to Action

Facebook videos automatically play as you scroll past them in your feed, resulting in this extraordinarily high number of views. But since most play without sound, your brilliant script, music and sound effects in those first few seconds – if not the entire video – will be lost on most viewers. Fear not, as Facebook gives you tools to help fill that silence and further engage your audience.

In this post, we’ll take a look at 5 reasons to use Facebook captions.

1. Improved Accessibility

Captions (or subtitles) add an overlay of text to your video that plays in time with the video’s narration or voiceover, similar to closed captioning for the hearing impaired on television, or the subtitles we’ve all seen on foreign-language DVD’s. But recent studies have shown that more than 80% of users who use captions are not hearing impaired.

Captions can be a great tool for the everyday viewer, whether they’re on transit and don’t want to pull out their earphones, or checking Facebook in the office (on their lunch break, of course).

2. Higher Rank

Facebook’s algorithms for ranking content in a user’s News Feeds is complex, but user engagement data is a major factor in determining these rankings. Engagement data includes things like watch time and user interactions (such as clicking on an autoplaying, silent video to listen to the audio). Having captions on your video greatly increases the chances of users engaging with your content in the first few seconds, thereby increasing the chances of them watching more of the video, raising your ranking in the process. Win-win-win.

3. Improved User Experience

Any way you look at it, making your content more attractive to your audience is never a bad thing. In one study of Facebook video ads, 41% were meaningless without sound. As a content creator, you need to focus energy on removing as many barriers as possible to users accessing your videos. Additionally, a study from PLYMedia shows that viewers are 80% more likely to watch a video to completion when closed captions are available. Whether the end user is hearing impaired, or speaks a different language, captions give all users an improved experience when accessing your content.

Read more: What Facebook and Twitter Autoplay Silent Video Means for Marketers

4. Increased Engagement

Once users find your video, you want them to keep watching. The numbers don’t lie – Facebook found that captions increased viewership for video ads by more than 12%. As video is increasingly consumed via mobile devices, closed captions are a critical tool in keeping the viewer engaged, whether they can hear the video or not. Facebook themselves recommend that you “make sure to express your message visually since most video ads in mobile feed are viewed without sound.”

5. Look Professional

As a marketer, it’s important that you represent your product or service in the best light possible. Just as good lighting and sound, and a concise and clever script are important elements in a polished, professional marketing video, so are the little details such as captions.

In short, adding captions to your videos, no matter where they appear, should become part of your standard deliverable, because while silence is golden, it could also be the reason for your poor engagement.

Read and comment on the original post: Facebook Captions: 5 Reasons You Need To Use Them

We’ve got a list of 16 ways to use video within each step of the Inbound Sales and Marketing Methodology to turn strangers into customers and ultimately promoters of your brand.

Using Video to ‘Attract’

1. Videos to Supplement Blog Posts: Increase the quality and comprehensiveness of your posts with video, and the engagement and search rankings will follow. Use video to provide examples or demonstrations of any concepts discussed in your posts, as a supplement but not a replacement for the other text and images.

2. Videos for Social Media: Only videos that are entertaining, informative, or emotional get shared, and you can’t go wrong with telling a good story. Be sure to produce videos that are platform specific, with the content, length, and call-to-action being tailored for each social media channel.

3. Videos for YouTube Optimized for Search: If targeting search engine traffic is your goal, then a well-planned and long-term YouTube strategy may be worth the investment. As with other social media channels, consider best practices for the platform and don’t be promotional. People search for videos that help with specific problems, that are informative, or entertaining.

Learn more: The Pros and Cons of Hosting on YouTube

4. Trade Show Videos: Attract potential leads to your booth with an engaging trade show video presentation. Shorter, looping videos work best which don’t rely heavily on sound or narration, since you’ll likely need to play it on mute.

Using Video to ‘Convert’

5. Landing Page Explainer Videos: Video can explain the benefits of your product, service, or other offering like an ebook or webinar, in ways that text and images simply can’t, helping you increase conversion rates from the existing traffic to your home page or landing page. Use A/B testing to optimize for things like the video thumbnail, calls-to-action, and even its placement on the page, in order to maximize results.

Learn more: 3.5 Ways to Increase Views to Your Landing Page Video

6. Email Newsletter Videos: Including videos in an email newsletter is a proven way to increase both open rates and click-through rates, and using the word “video” in your subject line can increase email open rates as well. Use a large thumbnail from your video, above-the-fold, and this should to your website where the video then plays automatically, since you can’t yet reliably embed video directly in an email.

7. Video Webinars: Live webinars can be recorded and posted to your website to be re-used in the future. Using email gating at the beginning or part-way, requiring viewers to submit their email address before they can watch the rest of the video is a great way to capture leads.

Using Video to ‘Close’

8. Cusomer Testimonials & Case Study Videos: Let prospects hear first-hand from your past customers with testimonial videos. Take it a step further with detailed case studies that tell an engaging story that resonates and helps you close the deal.

9. Product Demonstration Videos: Automate those repetitive software demos with screen capture videos, or show the results of your product or service first hand with a live action demonstration.

10. Video Voicemails: Add a personal touch with short, simple, but effective messages that your prospects will actually enjoy and will respond to. Video helps to build trust and rapport.

11. Company Overview or Staff Profile Videos: At this stage in the funnel, it’s finally time to turn the focus on you and your company. Demonstrate your culture, tell your story, and introduce some of the members of your team.

12. Sales Presentation Videos: Spice up that boring old slide deck with a video that will bring everyone in the boardroom to the edge of their seat. Unlike on the web, when you’ve got a captive audience you can afford to make it a little longer, but keep it relevant and engaging.

Using Video to ‘Delight’

13. Customer On-Boarding Videos: Surprise and delight your new customers with a series of on-boarding videos that help set them up for success. Bonus points if you can automate this as part of a drip email campaign.

14. Personalized Video Messages from Staff: Take your new customer on-boarding to another level with a personalized video from your staff. This doesn’t have to be fancy or high-budget, and sometimes just being authentic can go a long way.

15. FAQ Videos: If you find yourself answering the same questions over and over, there’s no better way to explain it once and for all but in a series of FAQ videos to supplment a new FAQ section on your website.

16. Holiday E-Card Videos: Show your customers, staff, and partners that you care with authentic, fun, and entertaining holiday video e-cards. Like with personalized video messages, these don’t have to be Hollywood productions. In fact, a simple but authentic and fun message will stand-out much better than one created using those online templates that we’ve all received one too many times.

Read and comment on the original post: Using Video for Inbound Marketing and Sales

In aggregate, it essentially reflects your video’s ability to hold-on to its audience, but it can actually tell you a whole lot more. Retention data can also sometimes be a little misleading though, as we’ll learn more about in this post.

Understanding Average Audience Retention

Audience retention data is represented as an average of all viewer activity over a period of time. As with most statistical analysis, the accuracy of this data will improve as the the data set grows – it can be difficult to get much insight after just a few views.

Viewers have the ability to pause, re-watch, and skip entire sections of a video, leading to funny looking graphs like the one above. The orange in this case represents sections that have been re-watched by viewers, and the spikes in the graph show that some are actually skipping ahead in the video.

This data can help you learn about which parts of the video might interest your viewers more or less. It may suggest that certain sections of your video are a little confusing and may necessitate a re-edit.

For videos which are heavy in information, like a product demonstration video, spikes in re-watches could actually tell you something about the product itself. Perhaps it’s not intuitive enough, and an entirely separate video is needed to flesh out this one section. You could even use this data to inform future product re-designs.

When to Focus on Conversions Instead

More often than not, your goal will be to get viewers to watch your video almost the entire way through in order to hear your entire message. This is where storytelling matters, because your audience will only get a chance to see your carefully crafted call-to-action if they stick around to the end.

Then again, early abandonment could be a sign of viewers having ‘seen enough’ and clicking through to a call-to-action sooner than later if one is provided on the page below or near the video.

If conversions are the goal, don’t stress if viewers aren’t watching your video all the way through, provided your conversion rate is satisfactory.

Read More: Video Metrics That Count

When to Focus on Engagement Instead

The reality is that viewers can still get a brand impression by watching just part of a video, and often people will share content on social media channels without necessarily reading or watching it in its entirety.

When videos begin to reach a much broader and less targeted audience and view rates go up, average retention rates may actually start to go down as a direct result. It’s for this reason that we’ll typically recommend segmenting viewer data by hosting separate versions of your video wherever possible. For example, you could host a version on your website to be sent out in a customer newsletter, separate from a version you’ve posted to YouTube for a broader demographic.

It’s impossible to quantify exactly how your viewers feel about your video, but if branding is the goal then overall impressions and engagement as measured by views, shares, and likes might be even more important to you than retention.

In Conclusion

One of the biggest factors in retaining your audience is in giving them only what they want in the first place – no more, no less. Consider where the viewer is in the customer lifecycle and try to solve the problem that matters most to them at that particular time.

There’s an increasing amount of data available to us as video marketers, but it’s important to remember that not every performance indicator is a key performance indicator. Video production is still very much a creative endeavour, and data like audience retention should be used to inform our decisions, not drive them.

Read and comment on the original post: What Audience Retention Can Tell You About Your Video’s Performance

If you stop and think about it, marketers have understood and respected the relationships between platform and content for decades. It’s why no marketer would ever suggest writing a long paragraph of text for a billboard. Yet, many have been slow to catch on to this same principle when it comes to video.

This is likely because platform is a relatively new consideration in the world of video. In the early days, you could safely assume a video would be distributed by broadcast television, on DVD, or maybe screened at an event. But of course, the internet has changed all of that. Today, video is ubiquitous.

Platform is now one of the many important things that need to be considered in your video marketing strategy, and we’ve got 5 reasons why videos should be platform specific that will help you see why.

1. There are Different Limits in Length

Twitter has recently increased the limit for videos hosted directly on the platform from 30 to 140 seconds. Instagram currently limits it to 1 minute. Youtube pre-rolls are modeled after the traditional ’30 second spot’. Vine forces you to tell a story in just 6.5 seconds.

When publishing a video to these various platforms, it’s not enough to simply edit a shorter version after-the-fact. The type of story you tell could be very different in 30 seconds than in 2 minutes.

This brings up larger strategic questions around audience expectations on different platforms and in what your objective in creating content there might be. You could, for example, make a shorter ‘trailer’ for Instagram which calls for the viewer to watch the full video on YouTube, or perhaps have a completely different content strategy for each.

Read more: How Long Should a Video Be? 5 Things to Consider

2. Aspect Ratios Can Vary

In the early days of video production, most videos were filmed in a 4×3 aspect ratio, meaning that the height of the image was only slightly less than the width making it very close to square. Since our two eyes are set slightly apart, the combined image is much more rectangular like you would see in a theatre.

After the advent of digital video, and the subsequent proliferation of high definition cameras and televisions, it didn’t take long for a 16×9 aspect ratio to become the norm. This is now the width to height ratio of most laptop screens, as well as smart phones when turned on their side. The way we consume content has continued to evolve over the years, however, and our approach to video marketing needs to keep up.

Increasingly, we’re seeing a need to create videos with different aspect ratios for different platforms. An obvious example would be a square video for publishing on Instagram. On Facebook, we’re typically still seeing the standard 16×9 aspect ratio used, but it may be time to rethink this as well as content is consumed more and more on mobile devices, since most people hold their phone vertically when scrolling through their feed – assuming that’s going to be your primary distribution platform.

3. Silent Auto-Play is Increasingly Prevalent

Another trend on platforms like Facebook and Twitter is the use of auto-play videos, where videos now automatically start playing in a user’s feed as they scroll. This is great news for video marketers hoping to maximize the number of views of their content, but these videos play silently by default until the viewer clicks on the video, presenting a whole different kind of challenge.

One solution is to include a caption file, allowing viewers to read on-screen any dialogue they would otherwise be hearing. This is a bit of a band-aid though, and captions can sometimes block other on-screen text and doesn’t help if you’ve relying heavily on music for pacing or engagement.

Instead, consider this while scripting your video to either rely exclusively on graphics to tell the story instead of dialogue or a voice-over, similar to when producing a video for use a trade show.

It may be enough to delay the start of any critical audio by using a visual hook in those crucial first 5 seconds to entice the viewer to turn up the volume before the voice-over starts. But you’ll need to make sure that you’re still telling a relevant and compelling story visually which can be difficult to do.

Read more: What Facebook and Twitter Autoplay Silent Video Means for Marketers

4. Other Content Can Provide Context

It’s been said that “strategy is what you choose not to do”, and sometimes it’s not what you include in a video but how much you exclude from it that makes it effective. This is why context is so important, including not only where your video is located but what other content exists along-side it.

The less heavy lifting that you make your video do in conveying large amounts of extranuous information, the most you can focus on using video for what it’s best for: explaining things clearly, communicating authentically, and telling engaging stories – all to support the rest of your marketing efforts.

5. The Call-to-Action Should be Relevant

If viewers are on YouTube, you may ask them to subscribe to your channel or to visit a specific URL. If they’ve already landed on your website, you may want them to fill out a form. Not only can calls-to-action be integrated directly into a video with professional video hosting solutions like Wistia, but you may want to incorporate these right into your video by having the voice-over say it aloud.

Scripting several slight variations of the same video with different calls-to-action for each intended platform can be a very cost effective way to maximize the results of your video.

Speaking of calls-to-action, to discuss your next video project contact us for a consultation.

Read and comment on the original post: 5 Reasons Why Videos Should be Platform Specific

Instead, consider making a separate version of the video designed specifically around this context. This is something we’ll typically include as a standard deliverable when producing a video for any businesses that regularly attends trade shows or job fairs.

Get more strategic with your trade show marketing by following these 3 tips for a winning trade show video.

1. Consider Your Goals

Picture the last time you went to a trade show. You would have walked down the isle of booths until something caught your attention and forced you to stop. It likely didn’t take long for a salesperson to approach you to strike up a conversation.

Now consider what the goals of playing a video at your booth might be. It’s likely first to help pique someone’s interest in order to attract them to approach or stop at your booth. Once there, you may like to use the video as a tool for your sales reps to speak to in order to answer any questions you might have.

You probably don’t need to hard sell with a big call-to-action in your video, but instead would want the video to loop seamlessly without a specific beginning, middle, and end. In this way, your video will be just one more visual element in your booth, but one that is much more engaging and can explain your service or demonstrate your product in ways that posters and brochures simply cannot.

2. Keep it Short

It’s highly unlikely that a person will just happen to start watching your video at or near the beginning, making storytelling a difficult tool to use effectively. Also, the longer that the video is, the less likely it is that they’ll watch the entire presentation.

We’d typically recommend keeping the video nice and short, say around 30-45 seconds, and to avoid any unnecessary intro or closing logo animations. Designing it as a seemless loop will increase the chance that viewers watch from beginning to end, and possibly more than once.

3. Give it the Silent Treatment

Even if you could hear your video over the background noise of the trade show floor, your team is going to go crazy hearing your video on repeat all day. An option may be to provide head phones for viewers to wear, but this won’t help attract visitors to your booth in the same way that a video would that doesn’t rely on sound or music to be compelling, can be cumbersome, and make the job of your reps more difficult.

Your video needs to be produced with this in mind, avoiding the use of sound, music, or voice-over narration. You should also avoid talking heads if possible, since subtitles can be difficult to read in this environment. We’ve found instead that animation works particularly well in most cases.

To get started on your own trade show video, contact us for a consultation today.

Read and comment on the original post: 3 Tips for a Winning Trade Show Video

If you’ve been pondering this question, we’ve got a few tips.

Use Animation

Software exists in a virtual world, and we interact with it through computers. This means that ‘live action’ isn’t always the best way to feature software in video (unless you want lots of footage of computer screens). Animation gives you the ability to go inside the software – to portray abstract concepts and processes in a way that live action simply cannot.

Tell A Story

Every video can benefit from some kind of story to keep people engaged. In the case of software, this might be a ‘day-in-the-life’ of a user – something that your customer can relate to. Putting the viewer in a user’s shoes is a great way to quickly and clearly demonstrate the benefits of your software without getting too technical.

Read more: Why Storytelling Matters

Show How You Can Make Life Easier for Your Customer

By showing your audience that you understand their unique pain points, you can better position your software as the solution. Show them how difficult their life is without your solution, and they’ll be primed to hear about your software’s benefits. By the way, this is also a great storytelling format.

Consider Mock-Ups or Screencaps

One of the great things about using video is that you can show your software’s interface in action, either with a screen-capture or with an animated mock-up (graphics that represent the look of your interface). However, we only advise doing this if the interface is actually one of the benefits of the software. And that leads to the next point…

Don’t Get Carried Away with Features

If your solution is packed with awesome features that you want to show off, try to keep in mind that a short explainer video might not be the best place to do that. The length of a video is an important consideration, so you will need to prioritize your messaging.

Focus on the benefits of the solution, and resist the temptation to stuff all your features into one ‘silver-bullet’ video. It may only have the effect of making the video unwatchable and therefore useless.

Be Strategic: Consider Making Multiple Videos

The 90-second explainer video is a great way to increase conversions from a landing page. Just don’t try to squeeze all of your solution’s functionality into a 90-second top-of-funnel explainer video.

A better strategy is to make multiple videos, each with a different purpose depending on where the audience is in the sales funnel. For example, if your audience is already interested in your solution, you might want to create a more informative product demo video, so that your audience get a deeper understanding of how the solution works.

The overall message here is that video is an effective way to market software, but with a healthy respect for video strategy, you can really maximize the power of your videos to get a better return on your investment.

Read and comment on the original post: Using Video for Software Marketing