It’s true. Online video content is highly watchable and highly shareable.
You know it. You’ve done it. The number of mobile videos we’re watching is doubling every year.
And, indeed, online video content is valuable in terms of SEO. (Since Google upranks video since it enhances the user experience and, just perhaps, because they also own Youtube.)
Indeed, the switch from desktop towards mobile makes the use of online video content all the more imperative. The fact is, it’s easier to watch a film on a smartphone than thumb through screeds of text. So, most business decision-makers would rather play a video than read a blog post.
Since Bulova Watches aired the first TV commercial back in 1941, it’s been well known that the emotional engagement of moving image and sound also shifts product.
Yet, we also understand that not all online video is created equal.
Those viral hits where a Japanese cat jumps in a box or a baby bites his brother are virtually impossible to create, except by chance. Equally, unless you’re stunningly youthful, a career as a star vlogger may not beckon either.
So, how do you go about creating online video content that works for your customers?
As we may have mentioned before, the key is to work out ‘what matters most to customers’. And to be quite precise about it.
Especially if your category is fairly generic.
The more difficult you find it to make a compelling case for your product, the more important it is for your online video content to be highly distinctive: to have an angle and point of view; to be charming and fascinating.
That’s the lesson from over 60 years of TV advertising. You can make people watch your films but you can’t force them to pay attention.
So, get to the point if you have one.
But, if you haven’t got a knock-out promise in your online video, make sure there’s ‘just a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down’.
