Top 10 Mistakes In
Video
That Influence Engagement And Impact
An Interactive White Paper
On Video
This publication is divided into three main topic areas: and statistics which support adoption of video ✓ Benefits at corporate level top mistakes found in marketing and ✓ 10 communications videos, that can influence engagement and impact ideas for incorporating video into your existing ✓ Some internal communications strategy ✓ Why companies invest in internal videos ✓ What is trending now in video ✓ Future trends
M Lange Media M Lange Media is based in Los Angeles, California and works with experts, companies, coaches, and creative professionals to elevate their power and presence on video so they can captivate their audience, magnetize their ideal client, and dramatically increase their profits, consistently. Phone: 310-876-1362 Email: michelle@mlangemedia.com
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Video
How carefully selected video can enhance key messages which improve both external user experience and internal communications.
Videos have become an integral part of company’s marketing and communications platforms as companies are coming to realize that videos have an impact that one can’t always have from text and images. In marketing, videos can build brand awareness, generate audience and engagement, create the “know, like, and trust factor” with the company, and be instrumental in converting prospects to clients. In employee communications, videos can promote a company’s important initiatives, increase employee engagement, generate conversations around important issues, provide training, and inspire a change in awareness or attitude, and inspire action. Video are also as close to face-to-face contact as you can get, allowing you to build a greater emotional connection with your audience than just plain text. We are also able to take in information through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic means, rather than just words on a page. The audience can also experience the tone and non-verbal communication of the speaker, which text can’t always convey.
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Top 10 Mistakes Found In Video
Prospects are 72% likelier to buy your products and services when video is used. – Wharton School of Business Video decreases the time it takes a viewer to reach a buying decision by 70%. – Wharton School of Business Videos are 53 times more likely than text to get a first page Google ranking. – Forrester 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. – 3M Corporation, Zabisco Of the 80% of viewers that have watched a video online, 52% have taken some sort of action.– Wharton School of Business Video used in email blasts increases click-through rates by over 96% – Implix 75% executives surveyed watch workrelated videos on business websites at least once a week. – Forbes 59% of senior executives surveyed would rather watch a video than read text. – Forbes Insight
Some Compelling Statistics
Mistakes
Top 10 Mistakes Found In Marketing And Communications Videos That Influence Engagement And Impact
Many companies have realized that an effective video platform can be instrumental to achieving their business goals. Yet, as use of video in internal and external communications is still new, marketing and communications professionals can find themselves with a big learning curve. There are 10 top mistakes that companies make in their marketing and communications videos. This video will identify the mistakes to avoid and outline the steps to take, to create videos that have impact and engagement. Companies will know that their video is influential and engaging if: • • • • • •
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Your videos are shared within the company and on social media Customers or employees comment on your videos Employees discuss the videos in the hallways and offices Viewers exhibit a change in awareness, behavior or attitude Clients show a greater interest and trust in your company Employees show a greater level of trust, loyalty and morale
M Lange Media
Top 10 Mistakes Found In Video
Mistake #1 – Content That Has No Clear Structure As they say, “Content is King.” If you can’t hold your audience’s attention, they’ll click away from your video. Often companies do not craft their videos with a beginning, middle and end. An influential video will have a strong beginning or “set up” that draws us in within the first 10-30 seconds. Marketing research performed by Visible Measures showed that 20% of your audience will click away in the first 10 seconds of playback, 33% will click away within the first 10 seconds of playback, 33% will click away within the first 30 seconds, and 44% will click away within the first minute. After opening with a compelling set-up, the video should have a middle section that moves the story forward, evolving the issue raised at the beginning of the video. You want to keep the audience interested in how the question is answered or the problem is solved. Last, the audience discovers the resolution to the question or problem. Here’s a video our company produced for Angelique Rewers, ABC, APR that illustrates this problem/resolution story structure.
Click Here To Play This Video
Mistake #2 – Videos that Lack Compelling Story Telling It’s essential to tell a strong story in your video and not just deliver facts and opinions. In Angelique Rewers’s video, there are several story telling elements at play. The viewers learn that she is concerned that micro-business owners are under-earning and feels called to help them. Her clients share their struggles in their businesses and how they found solutions by working with Angelique. This makes the story more human, authentic and relatable. Story is what brings the dry facts to life. Stories reach us cognitively and emotionally. We are able to learn from another’s experience and empathize with their situation. Story takes the facts of “what happened” and gives us an experience of it. An audience may not remember the facts they heard a year from now, but they will remember a well-told story. When you craft your video content, ask yourself if there is a story that can be used to illustrate the point. Then decide how that story will be told through interviews, testimonials, and supporting images or b-roll.
We are wired for story at a very early age, beginning with fairy tales, then graduating to children’s shows and movies, and on to movies and TV for adults.
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Mistake #3 – Videos that are created with No Clear Business Objective It’s essential to be clear on what your strategic objectives are and who your audience is when you create a video. Identify your overall goal for the video and then reverse-engineer the content. This will ensure that your content is targeted, succinct and doesn't stray from the most essential points. Before you write the content, ask yourself: 1) What is the goal for creating the video? What do you want to achieve? Do you want your audience to buy a product or service, reach a greater understanding of a challenging or complex situation, get behind a movement or initiative, take a particular action? 2) What effect do you want to have on the viewer’s thoughts and emotions? Do you want to inspire them, excite them, generate concern, or move them? 3) What actions do you want your audience to take after watching the video? Do you want them to enroll in a special program, meet a specific deadline, support a particular person, cause, change or initiative? 4) Who is your target audience and how can you best reach them? What is their age range? What type of material do they respond to? For example, a twenty-something audience might prefer a fast-paced video with quickly moving images and upbeat music, whereas a middle-age audience might find this over-stimulating. Once you know what your goals for your video are and the impact you want to have on your target audience, you can begin crafting the content. By beginning with the end in mind, you are likely to have a tighter, more effective script.
Mistake #4 – Videos that are Not Visually Compelling The talking head video where a senior level executive or CEO delivers a message to the employees straight into the camera is becoming antiquated as companies adopt more innovated styles of story telling. Many companies are using videos that use a “move trailer” approach. These videos tell the story of a business or cause in a highly cinematic way with interviews, testimonials, b-roll, images, titles, graphics, and music. With the “movie trailer” style video, the voice of the interviews and testimonials in the narrative of the piece, while the b-roll (the live action footage) and images support the narrative. The addition of broll, images, titles, graphics and music can elevate a talking head video, making it more dynamic and engaging to watch. Here is a video that we produced for the Savor the Success’s launch of the 7Figure Club, which takes a highly visual and cinematic “movie trailer” approach.
Click Here To Play This Video 7
M Lange Media
Top 10 Mistakes Found In Video
Mistake #5 – Videos That Run Too Long A safe range for a standard online video is one to two minutes. The average video in Forrester Research’s study was 1:42 minutes in length. Marketing experts claim you are in the safe zone with two minutes or less, as there will be significant drop off after one minute (a 44% drop off according to Visual Measure). The length will vary according to the purpose of the video, the platform, and the target audience. 2 minutes is idea for a corporate video that contains an announcement about an important deadline or policy or a video for the company blog. A video can go up to 5 minutes for a deeper dive into a complex issue, as long as it is highly engaging and cinematic. A suggested length for training videos is no more than 10 minutes. If you have training content that goes byond 10 minutes, consider breaking it into shorter sections so it’s easier for your audience to digest. Below is a video we produced for Patty Lennon, founder of the Mom Gets A Business Conference. This video explores an issue with a fully developed narrative and with depth in just over 2 minutes.
Click Here To Play This Video
Mistake #6 – Speakers who Lack On-Camera Presence and Need Media Training No matter how well-written the content is, if the speaker has no oncamera presence, your content will fall on deaf ears. The speaker must be engaging on camera in their energy, presence, and non-verbal communication to keep the audience watching. Media training can be one of the best ways to learn on-camera presence. It teaches how to convey confidence on camera, speak in sound bites, and interview effectively. It can also include teleprompter training, which can be helpful to those who are worried bout freezing up and forgetting their content. It is also important to do a physical and vocal warm up before going on camera. Put on music, stretch, and dance around - this will put you in a more relaxed state and you will perform better. Here is a video our company produced for Sybil Henry, who exemplifies confidence and charisma on camera:
Click Here To Play This Video
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Top 10 Mistakes Found In Video
Mistake #7 – Lack Of Interview Know-How Behind The Camera In an effective interview, it’s essential to make the subject feel at ease and keep the conversation going in an easy “back and forth” manner. The first step to a successful interview is preparation. You need to know your subject matter and the sound bites you want from the interviewee in advance of the shoot day. The first step to a successful interview is preparation. You need to know your subject matter in advance of the shoot day. A telephone interview with the people you plan to interview on camera so you can take notes on the sound bites you want to get when the camera rolls. When preparing your interview questions, be sure to ask open-ended questions as opposed to yes and no questions. Be sure to keep an open body posture. Listen attentively, nod to show you understand, and giving affirming responses. Below is a video we produced for The 3% Conference. This video shows how a skilled interviewer can get his/her subjects to open up, creating powerful content about an important issue.
Click Here To Play This Video
Mistake #8 – Videos that Lack a Clear Call to Action Be sure to have a clear goal for of the effect you want to have on the audience and the action you want them to take after watching your video. For example, if you were to create a video about the annual UNICEF drive, the call to action might be to send your donation to the HR department by Friday at 5 pm. Or with a talk show-style interview with the CEO of your company, the call to action might be to leave a comment below the video expressing your thoughts and share the video on social media. You can also provide incentives for the viewer to take action. This can be a great tool to get your employees engaged. For example, you can announce a contest where one person will be picked from the comments section to receive a prize, such as a Q&A lunch with the CEO or a key player at the company. Another way to maximize engagement is to invite employees to create their own videos about relevant topics. This gives your employees a voice so they can express their thoughts, opinions and concerns. For example, a company could invite the employees to create videos featuring their big idea of where the company should invest its charitable dollars, and the charitable donation would go to the cause with the most convincing video. The call to action can be delivered either verbally by the speaker on video or with an end title card that contains the call to action.
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Inviting your audience to take action at the end of the video encourages engagement
Mistake #9 – Failure To Leverage Videos Across Multiple Platforms Often companies create a brilliant video and it’s distributed internally on the company blog and Intranet and that’s where it stays. While some corporate videos that are meant for internal use only, there are other videos that can be leveraged across multiple public platforms. This is particularly beneficial for videos that can establish the brand presence and customer experience. For example, if your company created a talk show style interview series with the CEO about a relevant topic, this video could be leveraged in multiple places. It could be sent out via email blast to employees and clients. It can be featured on the company blog, Intranet, and monthly e-newsletter. The video could be turned into a vlog article and posted on reputable online publications. It could be shared on social media such as Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, Tweeter and Google Plus. Smaller clips could be posted on Vine and Instagram. These are 12 different ways you can leverage one video.
If you developed this interview into a seven part video interview series, leveraging the videos in these 12 different ways, you would have 84 points of visibility and probable engagement from just 7 videos. A great bang for your investment!
Mistake #10 – Videos that are Do-It-Yourself when they Should be Professional Often companies fail to discern when it’s best to create do-ityourself videos and when to hire a professional production team. Here are some guidelines for when it is best to go professional: 1)
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High-visibility video to be shared with the public, such as on the company website, in a reputable online publication, at a trade show, on a big screen at a company event (i.e. a national sales team meeting), in a marketing or product launch video. Videos about a complex subject that requires in-depth research, content development, and multiple interviews. This can require several hours of work, and hiring a team to handle it for you will free up valuable time. Videos with complex visuals that are challenging to shoot well, such as highly cinematic pieces. For example, if you were a company that wanted to show a high action military operation, or a real estate company who wanted a fly-by aerial view of the property, or a professional quality “movie trailer” video about your company or a hot topic, it’s best to hire a professional team. Videos on topics that are evergreen and will be used every year for an annual initiative. For example, a “movie trailer” style video on crisis management, company policies, health and safety sexual harassment, performance reviews, open enrollment for insurance, and the UNICEF drive. Training videos that will be used company-wide and possibly for quite a few years to come. Press Release video that will go out to the media and the public. M Lange Media
Top 10 Mistakes Found In Video
It’s best to create do-it-yourself video when the video does not need to be as polished and it will be used for internal use only. The level of investment put into the video is often determined by the importance and magnitude of the message and the person giving it. For example, a company might always hire a professional videographer to film a message from the CEO so he or she can maintain a polished image. Whereas a quick video from HR reminding you to get the flu shot could be a do-it-yourself video. Short announcements that are going out via email or newsletter internally, videos for the company blog, FAQ videos for internal use, management bulletins, and testimonial videos for internal use can al be done do it yourself. Keep in mind, creating video hours of time -- particularly for complex “movie trailer” style videos with several interviews, cinematic b-roll shots, music and graphics. A two to three minute video with these elements can take 10-15 hours of content development, 25-30 hours to edit, a 8 to 12 full day (or sometimes more) to shoot, and 20-25 hours in post-production, depending on the complexity of the video. It’s often best to hire a team for complex videos so you can focus on the most important aspects of your role at the company.
ABOUT MICHELLE LANGE OF MICHELLE LANGE MEDIA Michelle Lange is a Producer and Video Marketing Strategist who works with companies and entrepreneurs, using video to tell the story of their businesses while creating brand buzz and increasing audience engagement, visibility, and profits. Michelle’s specialties include producing professional videos, consulting in video marketing strategy and content development, doit-yourself video training, and on-camera/media training. Her signature offering is the business “movie trailer” that tells a company’s brand story and unique value proposition in a highly cinematic style. Michelle also creates video content for internal communications that increases employee engagement and promotes targeted initiatives.
Michelle’s other video productions include online commercials, sales and marketing videos, live event videos, and employee communications videos. Michelle’s client base is across the country, with several clients in Los Angeles, New York, and the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. Michelle draws upon ten years’ experience performing as a professional actor in New York City and several years of experience working as a development associate at The Gersh Talent & Literary Agency and at production companies at Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and MGM. Michelle worked closely with Hollywood screenwriters to develop their screenplays and in-person pitches to production companies and studio executives, coaching them on their writing and pitch delivery. Michelle’s greatest reward is seeing her clients’ businesses transform when they have an effective video platform. She also enjoys seeing the boost in her clients’ audience engagement, email list size, social media following, and profits. You can learn more about Michelle’s company M Lange Media and see samples of her work at www.mlangemedia.com.
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