How to make your video content more vibrant and viral

The pandemic has massively accelerated digital communication, which now plays a part in every aspect of our lives. The level of information we are exposed to has also increased massively. However, according to a Microsoft study, as we spend more time online, our attention span has decreased to around 8 seconds – the same level as a goldfish! All this means content, including video, needs to be fresh, useful, short and easily digestible.

That’s why video is increasingly being used to enhance communication and share messages succinctly. They can help attract followers and shares on social media too, with data from Twitter indicating that they are 6x more likely to be retweeted than posts with photos. As with anything in the digital world, it has to look good too.

So what are the factors that make for a successful video? Here are our top tips:

1. Succinct story-telling

Just like printed news and images, it’s important to tell an interesting story. Busy people are short on time, so videos should be no more than around two minutes long. Twitter, for example has a limit of 2 minutes 20 secs for the posting of videos. The optimum length should preferably be a lot less – to grab attention. In fact, Twitter also indicates that a 15 second video ad is just as effective as a 30 second TV ad for stimulating memory response.

2. People power

The presence of people in the first three seconds of a video has a huge impact on the emotional intensity viewers have with the content, according to Twitter data, at +133% versus videos without people. 

That’s why we used a series of ‘talking head’ videos when we launched Cleaning Interactive, the first high-tech virtual event for the professional cleaning industry, to help explain the concept and benefits.

3. Do things differently

• Go green – Filming with green screen lets you drop in whatever background images you want behind the speaker to make your video more visually appealing
• Aim high – Drone footage can help to show size and scale with aerial views and panoramic shots, and give a different perspective inside buildings too, to help to market your business in a more unusual and captivating way.
• Live updates – Live streaming of content is growing in popularity across social channels, with Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Live and most recently LinkedIn embracing these features. According to LiveStream, 80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog.

If you’d like support with video content –  from discussing concepts, to preparing a brief, writing soundbites, storyboards and captions, management of filming, editing of footage and much more, please get in touch.