How to Create Engaging Video Content

One of the best ways to encourage conversion and interaction on your website is by supplementing written content with relevant video content, such as customer case studies or explainer videos. There are a few reasons why this works, such as:

1. People naturally have short attention spans, but have been proven to focus on video content over written content that would take the same amount of time to process.

2. There’s a natural association between refined video content and a business that’s well run.

3. The video medium is well-suited for sharing on social media and other platforms.

However, as video marketing becomes more popular, so does the demand from your customer base for quality content. As a result, it’s not just enough to have a few videos on a company YouTube channel. Your videos need to be high quality in terms of visuals and content. Here’s what to focus on to if you want to create high quality video content that engages with your website visitors:

1. A strong narrative

All marketing has a sort of persuasive element to it. By the time your customers have watched a company video, they should either:

• Be convinced that your product/service is the right match for their needs (traditional marketing)
• Be convinced that your company is a knowledge leader in your area (content/thought leadership marketing)

Effective video content can help in this regard. 

2. A solid introduction

Veterans of email marketing know that if you don’t capture attention with a headline, you’re not likely to get people interested in the rest of your content. The same logic applies to customer videos. If you can’t convince your viewer that your content is valuable and interesting within the first 10 seconds, they’re likely to skip it. As a result, your introduction should lead with a brief explanation of the value and format of your video, before you get into concrete details.

3. Audience targeting

From the tone your video takes to the topics you decide to cover, you need to focus on the issues that your audience needs addressing when putting your script together. 

For example, say you’re putting together an introductory video for your ecommerce site. The first things you want to focus on are showcasing your product selection and your prices. From there, you can focus on specific items or customer testimonials. A priority system is a good way to make sure you hit all the notes your video needs without it becoming too long.

4. Data

There’s a fine line to walk when it comes to implementing hard data/numbers into your video content. If done effectively, it can help add a layer of credibility to your statements. However, if overdone, it can make your video difficult to understand. 

One great benefit of video content, though, is if there’s a statistic you really want to use, you can enhance it with visuals. A mock chart to showcase your statistic can make it easier to process, along with a voice over explanation.

However, the same standards to any stats in marketing apply. Make sure you do your due diligence to double check that your sources are credible. 

5. SEO

SEO and user experience are two things that are tightly tied together, and an effective customer video should attend to both. YouTube has become the second largest search engine after Google, so you want to make sure your content is effectively optimized if you are creating it for a company YouTube channel. This means implementing tags, a description, and a title that all reflect keywords that fit into your general SEO strategy. 

6. Brevity

Focus on a strong introduction, some key central points that provide value, and a CTA. In some cases, it may make sense for you to make multiple smaller videos on a topic than one larger one. However, it depends on your audience as well. B2B audiences are a bit more receptive to longer content if it’s valuable enough.  

7. Social proof

This psychological term refers to the idea that people are naturally more likely to respond to something that they see other people approving of. There are a few ways that you can go about adding more social proof to your video content. For example, as an introductory video, you can add a brief testimonial section of past customers and clients talking about their experience. Or, one option that’s growing in popularity is video testimonials. Video testimonials add a visual flair that helps make them more effective than conventional text.

If you want some examples of how to supplement your website content with videos, take a look at Fleximize's customer case studies, which feature testimonials from clients across a range of industries. 

About the Author

Sam Shepler has 10 years of experience producing video testimonials for B2B marketing teams. As both a video producer and a brand marketer, he brings a strategic perspective as well as hands-on tactical production expertise. After selling his last agency, Skyscope, in 2016, Sam is building a new company called Testimonial Hero, specifically focused on providing professional video testimonials to busy SME owners.