5 Secrets to Effective Videos (on the cheap)
Videos are the most effective online tool we have, earning far more attention and actions than pictures. But producing consistent campaigns has always been onerous and expensive. Until now:
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell.”
– Seth Godin
How many videos are on your Facebook feed? When I turn mine on, I’m swimming in them. They’re the most engaged-with media online, and the most effective in generating conversions, by far.
Planning a video campaign can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Instead it’s one of those things we only need to jot down some ideas, brush our hair, roll up our sleeves and just do it. Here’s my 5 tips on how:
1) Be Useful:
The same rules apply with videos as with blogs: the more useful you are, the more successful you’ll be. Don’t make a video to talk about yourself. Instead, make a list of what your most common customer questions are and make videos that anticipate and answer them. Ideally, you’d answer these questions in a way that amuses or inspires.
If you have blog, look back on your most popular titles. Plan to produce your video so you can publish it just before that subject fully surfaces (e.g. if it’s about mosquitoes, plan to release right before the historical peak mosquito season).
2) Forget the Fancy Equipment
Shooting a video used to mean renting expensive equipment and hiring the experts to use it. Now we carry most of what we need in our pockets.
Smartphone cameras shoot exceptional videos. If you want a stable shot, or if you’re shooting solo, a smartphone tripod and remote can be bought for about $40.
Audio is smartphone’s achilles heel. Grab a wireless mic; you can get a decent clip-on one for $50. That will improve or eliminate the distant, echoey quality of smartphone audio.
You don’t need lights or a diffuser because you work in a greenhouse! You have all the natural light you need and your diffuser is the poly over your head. Photography groups come to my Garden Center all the time to shoot because of the optimal conditions.
3) Make it Snappy:
Facebook counts a video view as someone who gives you 3 seconds of their time before scrolling on. A third of your viewers will be gone after 10 seconds, and the rest shortly after unless you keep earning their attention, one second at a time.
Forget the long, animated intros that you’re proud of, and the slow build of tension leading into your key points. These videos need to catch viewers quickly and hold them fast. Make the first few seconds a hook, perhaps a question or gorgeous visual, and keep it fast paced, driven, and snappy from there.
4) Don’t Forget the Text:
The way we engage with media has changed forever. The days of “my show is on at 8 I need to get home and give it my undivided attention” are gone. We watch our videos on the bus, at work, in the street, and yes, in the bathroom. You do not have your audience’s full attention; roll with it.
Subtitles are essential. 85% of Facebook video views happen on mute. Your customers are probably watching you in a place, like work, where they can’t have sound. They’ll bounce without subtitles.
Google doesn’t crawl your videos for content like it does a blog, so if you want the SEO benefits (and you do want the SEO benefits), have the audio transcribed onto your webpage.
This isn’t nearly as hard as it sounds. Search online for companies or people to subtitle and transcribe and work them into your production process. These services tend to be cheap and reap massive rewards.
5) Lighten Up:
Nothing will lose your audience faster than a boring video of a guy standing there talking about plants in a monotone voice. It doesn’t’ cost any extra to be interesting.
We work in a gorgeous industry. Instead of pointing at the boss’s face for 45 seconds, throw in some “flower porn” to keep people’s attention. Take some panning shots of your displays, production benches, or some hands getting dirty planting something.
Instead of yawning on about your business history, tell a story. Get personal, crack and joke and stop taking yourself too seriously. Think of yourself on a first date with your viewers: if you spend it telling your life story in a monotone voice, you’re not even going to get a second try.
