6 Tips For Breathing Life Into Your Online Presence With Video

The Internet has come a long way since the days of chirping modems and painfully slow download speeds. The modern web is a multimedia marvel filled with audio, video, and interactive content. One of the most exciting trends is the explosive growth of online video. Billions of videos are watched everyday, and the technology to make high quality video content is accessible to anyone.

Since not everyone has the talent of Spielberg, or the budget of Pixar, here are some tips I've picked up while doing video projects for ArcStone:

1) Keep It Short & Sweet

Even if your video is well made and compelling viewers can only handle so much at a time. The sweet spot seams to be two minutes or less. Audience attention starts to wain after one minute, and sharply decrease after two. Keep the pacing quick and your script concise to help viewers make it to the end, and have enough attention left to visit your other videos or website.

YouTube has some great tools for measuring your videos effectiveness and audience attention.

2) Make It Your Own

Adding your company's unique style and branding to your videos will help viewers make a connection between your video content and overall web presence. Also, take advantage of the customizing options many video sharing sites have. YouTube, for instance, offers a custom channel page that can help you brand and promote your videos.

With some tweaking you can make your YouTube page look much like your website.

3) Say Hello & Goodbye

Including intro and exit screens help frame up the video, and will benefit your marketing efforts if you include your logo, website address, phone numbers and other information. Having consistent intro screens will also create continuity between your videos.

4) Capture Every Detail

Now that HD (high definition) video technology has come down in price it's worth filming, editing, and saving all your content in HD format. Many of the most popular video sharing sites are also making HD their preferred format. HD or not, upload the highest quality version of your video to sites like YouTube, as they will handle scaling down the quality for users with slower connections.

If you can produce videos in HD, viewers will enjoy more lifelike images and crisp, easily readable text.

5) Do Your Homework & Planning

Before embarking on your first video production check and see what else is out there. It should be easy to find a wealth of videos pertaining to your industry. Notice what you like and dislike about them, which ones keep your attention, and how well the audience has responded.

Usually the most costly aspect of producing video content is the actual shooting itself. You can minimize this cost, and end up with a better product, if you do the proper planning. Make sure the talent is well prepared, the location ready, and the shoot well thought out.

6) Have Some Fun

Online video is a great way to show your company's personality, culture, and unique way of doing business. The most successful videos not only communicate key marketing messages, they also have a little fun doing it.

If you would like more information about how ArcStone can help you produce high quality web video, contact us! To see some of our work visit ArcStone's YouTube Channel.