Laura ColeTake a quick glance online and you will be amazed by the number of video marketing statistics in 2015.
Apparently, the audio-visual medium increases the typical consumers understanding of a product by up to 74%. YouTube also emerged as the world’s second largest search engine behind Google, while approximately one-third of all online activity is spent watching videos.
These are impressive statistics, and they certainly underline why video marketing has emerged as such a key business tool in 2015. Similarly, it also reasserts the importance of video blogging, through which brands, businesses and thought leaders can engage viewers and develop long-term relationships.
The Importance of Video Blogging and how to do it Right
Whether you are a personal or professional blogger, the incorporation of video content can help to more effectively engage viewers and build a larger, more motivated audience. It is also crucial if you are to instantly capture the attention of unique website visitors and casual browsers, as dry, stark text alone tends to blend into the background when there are so many accessible web pages .
While understanding this is one thing, however, it is quite another to translate this into actionable steps that create a purposeful video blog. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the following tips for creating a relevant, engaging and cost-effective video blog: –
Focus on Content first and then Production Techniques
Ultimately, the success and appeal of your video blog relies on the quality and relevance of its content. This means creating an engaging and narrative that is relevant to your blog while also guaranteeing a high standard of audio and visual effects. While the former will generally depend on the nature of your blog and the purpose of creating a video, as a general rule you should zany or inconsequential material that has little more than novelty value. These types of video are less effective now than they were a year ago, as viewers are more familiar with the format and likely to seek out informative content with depth and meaning.
When it comes to producing your video, you only need basic equipment and a fundamental understanding of the most commonly used video production terms and techniques. Lighting is probably the most important aspect to capture correctly, as this can optimise visuals and also hide any elements of production that you are unhappy with. The use of backlight is particularly important, as this can give depth to your video and illuminate the hair and shoulders of speakers in educational pieces.
Make Minimal and Simplistic Edits where Possible
In most instances, editing is a more challenging and time consuming process than creating an original video. The main issue with this is that unless you have considerable expertise and an advanced editing suite (which most bloggers don’t), it is almost impossible to change and restructure a pre-recorded video without making it appear disjointed and completely unnatural. So the more that you can simplify your video with a view to capturing everything you need within a single take, the better chance you have of staying true to your original narrative and effectively engaging viewers.
If minimal edits are required, however, YouTube offers a diverse and much-improved suite of tools that can help you. Previously, basic features allowed you to trim the beginning and end of the piece, although this is only effective if you wanted to shorten the video and had content that could be cut from these areas. Since YouTube was purchased by Google, however, the site has been able to create a ‘sandbox’ interface which offers a powerful editing infrastructure and more advanced features. From here, you can format your video and create split screens, while lighting can also be edited to enhance the visual quality of your outlet. This ensures that only the best audio visual content is published on your blog and offers your readers the best possible experience.
Explore Multiple Distribution Channels
With a purposeful and well-edited video blog in place, the next step is to distribute this to a targeted audience of viewers. To ensure that you reach out to an audience that is as large and as motivated as possible, you must create an integrated network of distribution channels that extends beyond YouTube. While this is an outstanding resource for editing and initially uploading your video, you must share this across multiple and specifically targeted sites if your output is to achieve its full potential.
The most popular VOD (video on demand) channels include Vimeo, which as of 2010 had more than 3 million members and an average of 16,000 new uploads each day. This is not a commercial site and is only suitable for personal bloggers, however, so this with professional aspirations may instead want to share their content on Viddler. This is an essentially free service with impressive subscribed-user options, so as you share multiple videos you can also access detailed analytics and even control associated advertising. Regardless of the platforms that you use as part of your integrated strategy, however, be sure to include text descriptions with each video that entice the viewer and engage their immediate interest.
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