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An introduction to video creation How to get started The components of great videos Making your videos available How to make successful videos for social How to write a winning video script How to use video in your content strategy Video in social media adverstising Measure and analyze video performance
Videos are a huge part of our life today, and it’s continuously becoming a greater part of our media consumption. Today Facebook has over 8 billion video views every day and users on YouTube watch 1 billion hours of video daily. Also, mobile video consumption rises by over 100% each year. These are huge numbers, and symbolizes the greatness of video. Therefore, it’s just as important for businesses and organizations to embrace video and start creating their own!
For more interesting numbers, we collected 24 video facts you should know in 2021.
Let’s look at some numbers from the Wyzowl Video marketing report:
• 95% of marketers say video has helped increase users understanding of their product or service.
• 88% of marketers say that video gives a positive ROI.
• 80% of marketers say it helped them increase sales.
• 87% say it helped them increase website traffic.
• 86% of users say they would like to watch more videos from brands.
• 84% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
If you need to be more convinced (or convince your boss), we’ve gathered 11 reasons to use video for you!
Video production is no longer reserved for professionals with extensive training and pricey equipment. Today, it’s neither expensive nor difficult to create videos for social media or digital platforms, and video formats can be very simplistic. To make your own videos, start by thinking about how your organization or business will use video with the help of the following questions:
When you know how you will use video, you need to think about what your business or organization needs to create these videos. For example:
These are some examples to think about, and knowing the video creation needs helps you choose the right tools and work process.
One decision you need to make is the choice of video editor or video maker to create and edit your videos. When looking for the right video tool, these are some factors and features to consider:
Storykit offers an online video maker and editor with a modular video creation tool. This is a very easy and efficient non-linear way of making videos. By using building blocks that can be copied, inserted and arranged in an infinite number of ways, it’s a bit like playing with Legos. You can read more about Storykit’s features here.
Since most videos on social are being watched with the sound off, the most important thing when creating a video is the script. (Especially if you are a Storykit user, since your video is pretty much done when you’ve written your script. Read more about our video AI here.) What do you want to say? And how can the story be told the best way? To become an expert on writing video manuscript, you can read our 10 tips on how to make better scripts for video. Or why not download our crammed guide on writing amazing scripts for social video!
The visual material in a video can make a huge difference, especially if you are trying to sell something with your videos. Facebook has seen that 56% of a brand’s sales boost can be attributed to the look of their ads!
You can use your own video footage or images, or stock-images/video clips. If you’re using stock-images/videos, try to think outside the box. Be associative and think symbolically rather than literal. Also, try to edit the content to make it feel more like your brand or more creative. You can also play around with other visual elements like graphic effects, filters, colors, etc.
It can sometimes be challenging to find great images and footage for your videos (if it’s not included in your video tool, in Storykit you will always have a huge library of images and videos to choose from). To help you out, we’ve gathered some tips on where you can find pictures and video footage for your video creation.
Always remember to create your video so the audience can watch it without turning the sound on, but you should also delight your viewers with something if they turn the sound on. You can use the original audio from the video footage, do a voice-over, use audio effects or play music. Audio can really enhance the story and make the content more understandable and inspiring. In Storykit, we have a full music library ready for you!
When you don’t use your own material in your video, both visuals and audio, you need to be aware of copyright licenses and rules. It’s always something to respect, regardless of whether you are paying for the license with money or not. Content that is completely free and does not require attribution is the easiest type of material to use when you make a video. It means that you can use the images and the videos however you want, without even mentioning the name of the creator. We discuss this further in our article about photos and video content.
Which platform should my company use for our video marketing? Well, that depends. Where would you find your target group? Which platform suits your brand, tonality and business goals best?
There are loads of different social media platforms and features that allow and focus on video, for example:
Video is great for both brand storytelling and social media advertising campaigns. For example, you can distribute short advertising videos on Facebook, publish longer explainer videos on YouTube, or share more personal stories on Instagram. So, using video in your organization’s social media marketing offers huge possibilities!
Depending on where you will publish your videos, you should of course consider which aspect ratios that are most suitable for the aimed platform or devices. Here is a list of the most common aspect ratios out there :
1×1: Works for all newsfeed placements, Stories and in-stream.
9×16: The best format for Stories. Can work in the newsfeed.
16×9: The best ratio for in-stream and Youtube. Is not recommended for newsfeeds or Stories.
Also, you might need to consider adjusting your videos for different geographies, using different languages or subtitles.
Want to see how you can use video in marketing? Get some inspiration from our clients’ videos!
Video on social media doesn’t follow the same rules as “films in general”. You only have a few seconds to get the user’s attention and you often need to keep the video short to keep their attention. Therefore, the script is very important in social video, rather than classic film qualities like editing, tempo, or colors. Of course, the quality of your video can improve by choosing better images or styling, but the script will represent 90% of the effect. So, if you’re a good writer and can tell great stories, your competence will decide whether your video will take off or not. If you’re a Storykit user, read our article with some specific tricks to sharpen your storytelling.
• Put the main effort in the manuscript and try it out before continuing with your video creation.
• Create many short videos that can be published over time, stop focusing on one long video. Split content into relevant parts!
• Make sure to have several hit videos in stock.
• Publish high quantity and high quality.
• Use video in different ways. On social media, a video can be a quote, a slideshow, or a short video sequence.
• Use your stories and try to find new angles to create new relevant video content.
• Dare to fail. (That’s the only way to learn what works for you!)
How do you capture – and keep – your viewers with your video story? It can sound impossible, but it’s not. When writing your manuscript, you have to keep it simple, more so than with any other type of writing. Social media users have a limited amount of attention and time. There’s simply no room for too complex stories. Don’t overthink it.
It’s often tempting to communicate several things in a video or address several target groups at once, but that’s rarely a good idea. Here’s one quote to remember:
“Stick with the rule: 1 video – 1 thing – 1 target group”
To start writing an effective video script, ask yourself these questions:
Then, make a list of what you want to include in the video and make sure it follows a dramaturgy – that it has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Also, keep the story focused. After that, you can start writing your script and copy.
1. Kill your darlings!
2. Get a second opinion from a colleague.
3. Don’t write too much text in each frame.
4. Write simply and avoid complex words.
5. Avoid being too formal.
6. Don’t use rhetorical questions.
7. End sentences.
8. Experiment!
When you’re done writing the script you might need to think about a headline for the video. Most often, headlines pop up directly in a video, giving the viewer an indication of what the video is about. A headline can create value and clarity. However, it doesn’t fit all stories. To know when to use headlines, we talked to an expert about how to think.
Video can be used in various ways in your business or organization’s communication and marketing. You shouldn’t think about video as fancy productions, think about it as telling stories, helping customers, or an effective way of communicating with your target groups. In other words – a natural part of your content strategy.
Businesses and organizations can use video for press releases, product launches, interviews, product descriptions or important information. The list can go on and on. As mentioned before, the key to video success is not only quality but also quantity. So try to see outside the box and let your creativity flow to find new video stories. The most basic information can be told as an interesting story using video.
Using brand storytelling in videos is a great way to communicate your brand and connect with your audience. Storytelling is the core of video content and makes your communication more consistent, relevant and valuable, and therefore – more effective. Everything has a story, and your brand is not an exception.
Find your brand’s tone of voice and make your identity shine through in your videos. Here are 5 stories your brand can communicate in videos:
Video is an effective way of reaching your target groups in social media marketing and advertising. To catch the attention of social media users you need to deliver value and do it fast. Therefore, video is exceptional. By giving the viewer moving content, and present something exciting at the beginning of the video, you have a high chance of getting their full engagement to watch. Storykit offers specific video templates for ads, optimized for social media advertising. You can find them here.
When using video in social media advertising and marketing, you should make it clear who the sender is (your brand) and what you want the viewer to do (a clear CTA). Also, as with all types of social video, remember you should create videos following the rule: “1 video – 1 thing – 1 target group”. Keep it simple and don’t try to say too much in one video. Read more about making a kickass video strategy in our article where we interview a marketing expert.
Today, it’s harder to get organic reach, and even though social video increases the odds, you might need to pay to reach your goals. However, the most important in video marketing on social media is that your content is of high quality and that you create a high quantity of videos to succeed.
Learn how to create converting video ads in our free e-book!
Measuring and analyzing video performance can be the key to your video success. By learning from data and optimizing your video creation based on results, your business or organization can become better and start seeing more successful results. Today, most marketers use some kind of video analytics, so make sure that your brand don’t fall behind.
One of the most important measurement used when analyzing video performance, is retention. Retention basically means ”Average time spent in video”, or: ”How many viewers keep watching your video through it’s entire length?” This measurement – the retention curve – is often provided by the social media platforms.
In Storykit, you can analyze your videos in different ways. For example, you can use so-called “Slide intentions” to see when users stop viewing your video based on the retention curve. This gives you an understanding of why people stop watching and the effect of dramaturgical choices. Read more about this here.
Want to know how to increase video retention? Download our free e-book where you learn all about retention.