By Owen Fay . Posted on October 31, 2022Creating videos is quickly becoming a staple for businesses and creators. This engaging visual format is an effective way to communicate information quickly or resonate on an emotional level. Whether your goal is to connect with an audience or push sales conversions, creating high-quality videos is key.
Here are nine foolproof tricks to get the most out of your video content, so they resonate with your audience.
Use Reliable Equipment
Video creation has become accessible to the masses, thanks to advancements in technology and design. Anyone can pick up their smartphone and make a simple video for social media. However, a certain level of quality and composition is still essential for optimal success.
Fortunately, basic recording and editing equipment are readily available. You can get an affordable tripod and Bluetooth microphone online and access free video editing software with everything you need to get started. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to create high-quality videos, but it’s worth a small investment upfront.
Consider the Purpose
Determine who this video is for. Whether you’re a marketer or a social media influencer, your videos should be crafted with your audience in mind. Take some time to clarify who you want to watch the video, the tone it should convey, and the desired reaction. Craft your video to appeal to the audience.
It’s also helpful to determine the core purpose of the video. Is it educational, transactional, or entertaining? What action do you want someone to take after they view the video? Outlining this information will help you start planning.
Start With a Plan
The planning process is an essential part of video creation. While there’s value in jumping on a flash of creative genius and striking while the iron is hot, you can’t always count on this approach. Instead, it’s best to outline your overall strategy and individual video layouts.
After writing a video script, creating a storyboard would be an effective way to streamline the video creation and editing process. It is a simple sketch of the scenes, timing, action, and words used in the video. Storyboards are a powerful tool for outlining original content and editing for clarity.
Find Good Lighting
Getting a proper lighting setup can be costly. While it’s worth investing in ring light for social media content, it might not be feasible to take it everywhere.
Good lighting is the core of video composition. This crucial component could make or break your video. Consider that the visual quality of your video will be the first impression with viewers. If it’s unappealing, they will lose interest immediately.
If you don’t have a ring light or light studio, find a place with consistent, natural light before recording.
Prioritize Engagement
Keeping viewers engaged is more challenging than it seems. You can use visual engagement with scene cuts and movement. For example, rather than having the camera zoomed out so two speakers are on the screen at all times, close crop on each viewer and move back and forth between them.
Your storytelling capabilities also play a role in engagement. Start with a powerful hook within the first three seconds of the video, this serves as a headline that can grab viewers attention. Then, craft a story that encourages the viewer to stick around until the end.
The key to creating a powerful hook is to lead with a strong visual or verbal cue. For example, travel videos often have the most beautiful clip up-front. Similarly, an educational video could start with the most compelling piece of information before backtracking and proving the claim.
Asking a question that appeals to your audience is another great way to capture their attention. Cues like “Did you know you could X?” or “Ever wonder why Z?” Use a question you know your audience will want to be answered or something that immediately tells them “This video is for me.”
Use Text and Audio Components
Consider what music you want to feature in your video. Musical components set the emotion for the video and contribute to overall engagement. Be sure to balance your audio so that musical components don’t overpower other sounds.
Text is another powerful tool in video marketing. Adding subtitles or closed captioning increases engagement and retention while appealing to a broader audience.
Keep Your Brand Aesthetic
Your business video content should always fit with your overall brand. Use a similar editing style as you would for photos and copywriting. The tone, emotion, and brand voice should also fit.
This is also important for aspiring filmmakers and content creators. Use your videos to showcase your brand signature style, so viewers can recognize your content even when the connection to you isn’t otherwise obvious. Your brand is a vital part of your business, be sure to keep all of your content, messaging, and styles consistent across, ads, article, and videos to engage with your users effectively.
Stay Organized
One of the most overlooked pieces of advice for video creators is to stay organized. Keep backup copies of your original footage. Consider using the 3-2-1 rule: keep three copies of your work in two different places with one place physically separate from the other. When you save your content, use a consistent labeling structure to simplify navigation.
Creating systems and processes will also help you stay organized and work more efficiently. Consider batching different steps in the video creation process. For example, you could have:
- Brainstorming sessions
- Storyboarding sessions
- Scriptwriting sessions
- Shooting days
- Editing days
By breaking the process down into batch sessions, you’re more likely to achieve a consistent workflow. You won’t be interrupted by switching back and forth between tools and can create a productive environment to minimize disruptions.
Test Your Videos with the Target Audience
If your brand focuses on video content, you need them to be optimized for engagement, traffic, or conversions. Video content, like any other type of content, needs to communicate benefits, teach the user something, or help the business achieve their goals. The best way to optimize your videos is to test them before launch.
This is especially true if your video is meant to be cornerstone content, introduce your business, or is going to be used to generate sales and conversions. Poll the People allows businesses or brands of any size to test their content with their target audience. The user panel of over 500,00 dedicated users will give you actionable feedback. You will understand which elements work, what needs to be changed, or if the video needs to be revisited all together.
The best part, testing takes about an hour and can be done without blowing your budget. Anyone can quickly and easily get feedback that helps create and edit videos.
Final Thoughts
Organization, structure, and composition are the core elements of making and editing videos. Start by clarifying your audience and the intention behind your video. Use these elements as your framework to brainstorm ideas and create straightforward storyboards and plans. Investing in the right composition and editing tools will help you create high-quality videos that resonate with your audience. Once you have your completed video, test it with Poll the People to get feedback and optimize content.
Stay organized and use processes and systems to optimize your workflow. By batching similar steps, you can take the stress out of making and editing videos. With these tips, you can bring your vision to life and connect with an audience in a more powerful way. If you are ready to create better video content that helps your brand achieve its goals, sign up for Poll the People and launch your first test in minutes.
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