The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” originated long before YouTube. Today, videos are worth a million words. Videos can do everything pictures can't – they allow for movement and sound, which often creates a better story than a picture ever could. For businesses, a video can be a great tool to engage potential customers and hires.
Check out these 10 tips on how to create a successful video:
- Choose a goal: What are you looking to accomplish with this video? Determine this before diving into it.
- Plan out the shooting method: Is it easier for you to shoot the video in its entirety or shoot it in sections? Create a plan before you start shooting.
- Pick software: Choose user-friendly software. If you live and breathe all things Mac, iMovie is a good choice with a simple interface. For PC lovers, check out MovieMaker.
- Focus, focus, focus: Choose between one and three messages to share. If you go beyond that, you'll lose your viewers. For example, Justine's Fun Fact videos entertain the audience with a single fact.
- Get off to a good start: If you don't draw viewers in during the first few seconds, they'll make a quick exit. Grab their attention early on.
- Keep it short: Once you've got your viewers hooked, you have about 30 seconds before their attention will start to break. Say what you want to say before they don't care.
- Pick the right soundtrack: Music that matches the tone of your message will keep the video flowing and enhance its overall success.
- Watch volume levels: When you upload multiple video files into the player, they often don't have the same volume level. Tweak your clips until the sound is consistent.
- Ensure high visibility: You want your video to attract a large audience, but how can you make that happen? The answer is to optimize your SEO.
- Make it easy to share: Include social sharing buttons to sites like Facebook and Twitter to make it easy for people to spread your video.
Want some inspiration? Check out Metis' videos here.