YouTube alone contains upwards of 819,417,600 hours of footage.
This is why making your video stand out is so vital for a successful video marketing campaign.
Working in the video production industry puts us in a position where we see a lot of different work. We do this for inspiration, to stay up-to-date with trends, and to see how other people approach video marketing. But doing this means we make a lot of mistakes, and the worst part is that they’re easy to avoid.
In this post, I’ve put together the seven most common mistakes that I see, so you can avoid making them!
Nobody sees it
As simple as it may sound, the number 1 problem I see is videos that aren’t being watched. So what are people doing wrong? The main issue occurs after the video has been made. Parking your video on YouTube or Vimeo and then walking away isn’t enough to get it seen. People won’t necessarily come looking for your video, and if they do, how will they find it amongst the millions of other videos already on the internet? You need a strategy to get it in front of them. A plan might involve paying to have your video promoted, but there are also many things you can do that won’t cost you money. For some tips on improving your video SEO, take a look at this post. The bottom line is that being active in getting your video in front of people is the only way to ensure it’s being seen.
It wasn’t engaging.
The internet is full of distractions, and your video is competing against them all. The best way to rise above the competition is to make something engaging. This is easier said than done, but there’s a simple rule that will give you a head start: “show, don’t tell.” Boiled down, this means that you should give your audience something, and you certainly shouldn’t patronise them. Show them a feeling, a result or a concept and let them work out the message themselves. Take the ‘1984’ Super Bowl commercial from Apple as an example. At no point does it explicitly tell the viewer to buy or take any action. It gets its point across by showing a pretty blatant but impactful message: ’think differently’. I’m not saying your video needs Ridley Scott to direct it, but think about how you can show people instead of telling them, and you’ll be rewarded with more views.
It’s not telling a story.
Just like showing your audience instead of telling them, using a story to convey your message will help create engaging content. This is because a story creates intrigue by presenting a problem or a question that we curious human beings want an answer to. An easy and effective way to tell a story using video is to create a corporate documentary. We’ve written a more in-depth post about these here. You can also take a look at this one we made for the Nursing and Midwifery health program.
It wasn’t written for the target audience.
Thinking about your target audience before you put pen to paper will help ensure that your content is relevant and valuable. With so many sources of information at their fingertips, viewers will only stick with you if you’re giving them what they want. It’s tempting to write something for a broader audience to reach more people, and this brings me to the next point:
It’s too broad
The issue here is simple: you can’t appropriately target your audience when you try to cover everything. If your information or your message is too broad, then it becomes less and less valuable. Worse still, the video tends to get longer and longer to accommodate all the information. Seeing a video that requires a significant investment of time (usually longer than 5 minutes) is an easy way to lose viewers.
It doesn’t drive the viewer to action.
If the goal of your video is to make people do something, then make that clear. Without doing this, you could be defeating the purpose of the project. It could be anything from asking viewers to ‘like’ your video if they enjoyed watching it to providing their email address or directing them to your website. The goal is to make sure you get something out of what you’ve created, and it’s fine to be direct about it, too.
It’s not consistent
Consistency is key to creating a large audience. By scheduling regular new content, you’ll build a relationship with your audience and, in the process, establish your credibility. As your work piles up, you’ll give your SEO a boost and help new viewers find you.
To create an effective video marketing campaign, contact Dream Engine today.
Ryan Spanger is one of Melbourne’s most respected and sought-after video production professionals. Ryan founded Dream Engine in 2002, and specialises in helping medium to large corporates, government departments, and the non-profit sector to connect with their audience more effectively by using video.
