You've gone through the hard work of getting someone to land on your video.
They've clicked it. They're ready to watch.
But your job isn't done yet.
That's because if you want your video marketing strategy to be successful, you need to be able to retain your viewers – not just attract them.
Furthermore, you need to be able to retain them in two distinctive ways. Ideally, you'll be able to retain viewers in a single video, compelling them to watch the video in full, rather than bouncing away after a few seconds or a few minutes. You should also be able to retain your viewers in the long term, facilitating their loyalty and encouraging them to watch more of your videos in the future.
Maximizing video viewer retention isn't exactly easy, but there are some straightforward strategies that can help you perfect this art.
Video viewer retention is one of the most important aspects to consider as you optimize your video strategy. There are several reasons for this.
At the video level, a higher video retention rate is associated with wider, more frequent recommendations. In other words, if people watch your video all the way through, that video will be much more likely to be recommended to people who haven't seen it. This greatly increases your reach, your visibility, and ultimately, your video effectiveness.
At the channel level, retaining viewers allows you to snowball your viewer figures, ultimately multiplying the number of people you can reach and the perceived authority of your channel simultaneously. Each new permanent or semi-permanent member of your audience increases the total value of your channel.
Retaining viewers also gives you more opportunities to persuade them. A viewer may not be ready to buy your product or subscribe to your feed after a minute of viewing or even after a few videos, but the longer they watch and the more videos they watch, the more likely they'll be to take action.
On top of that, retention is typically cheaper than acquisition. It's much less expensive and more effective to retain existing viewers than to try and find new ones. If you're trying to make your marketing dollars go as far as possible, retention should be your top priority.
These are some of the best strategies for retaining video viewers in a single video:
1. Know your audience. Before you write the first word of your video script, you should take the time to get intimately acquainted with your audience. If you're running a business, you should already know who your audience is. Otherwise, you may need to do some market research to more thoroughly understand who your target demographics are and how to reach them. Some video producers are tempted to make videos that appeal to the broadest spectrum of people, hoping to pump up their viewer numbers. But it's typically much more effective to focus on a narrow, strategically relevant group of people; this way, you can feed them more “red meat” – giving them exactly what they need and want so they're motivated to keep watching. If you don't know who your target audience is, you won't be able to make video content specifically relevant to them.
2. Create a stellar video script (or at least an outline). Unless you're doing something with improv or natural conversation, your video should have a script. At the very least, it should have an outline. The scripting process is important not just to clarify your messaging but also to work through some of the challenges and problems that might preclude your video from retaining viewers in the first place. This is your opportunity to present, hone, and meticulously critique your own ideas, so only the best ideas make it to the final video.
3. Start with an amazing hook. Let's face it. We're all busy, and we all have limited attention span. Accordingly, it's hard to blame anyone for clicking away from a video after being bored by the first few seconds. If you want to overcome this hump and get your viewers to stay with you, you need to start your video with a compelling hook. That hook could be a tease of things to come, a promise of information to be conveyed in this video, a wildly entertaining joke, or anything else that gives viewers a reason to stick around. Make sure to nail this hook within the first few seconds, or you'll immediately start to lose viewer attention.
4. Give people a good reason to keep watching. Even relatively dedicated viewers will only watch your video for a few minutes before leaving – unless they have a reason to stay. Your hook is merely the first opportunity to convince your viewers to stay; even the most powerful hook won't make people continue watching something boring or uninteresting. Every minute, and potentially every second of your video should have something interesting, informative, relevant and story-worthy to boost audience retention. If you don't have something interesting, consider cutting that section of video.
5. Remind them why they’re here. There are many ways to provide value to viewers in your video, such as giving them information, entertainment, or even a free giveaway. Whatever this value is, remind your viewers of it throughout your video. Remind them about the big climax that you've been teasing since the beginning. Remind them to stick around and subscribe to your YouTube channel so they can be entered in the giveaway. Give them a variety of jokes or pieces of useful information to convince them that it's good for them to stick around.
6. Institute interrupts. One useful trick is to institute interrupts throughout your video, using quick cuts to reset viewer attention and maintain engagement. You can find examples of this almost anywhere, in any successful YouTube videos online, as it has become quite widespread as a technique. There are several reasons why this works. For starters, it helps to cut out some of the dead space in your video. It also helps viewers focus, as it gives them a subtle point of stimulation periodically throughout the video. It's also a great opportunity to incorporate different takes and make sure your best foot is always forward. Additionally, adding interactive elements during these cuts can further boost engagement. By keeping the video length in mind and ensuring it’s not too long without these engaging moments, you can easily keep your viewers engaged throughout the experience.
7. Incorporate more stills and graphics. You can make your video more engaging by incorporating more stills and graphics as well. There's nothing wrong with having a video with a talking head giving a monologue about a given topic. But after a while, this gets boring. You can maximize viewer retention by grabbing their attention with photos, graphics, data visuals, and similar pieces of visual media. Use them to illustrate or supplement your biggest points.
8. Use B-roll footage. Similarly, consider grabbing B-roll footage and using it sparingly throughout your video. Even relatively uninteresting footage, like a stream flowing over rocks or people walking through a mall, can help give more substance to your video and make it seem more active and professional.
9. Inject more humor and personality. Even if people are watching your video for informational purposes, they're going to want it to be interesting. You can make your video more interesting instantly by injecting more humor and personality into your work. Depending on your brand and the context of your video, humor may not be appropriate – but even if it isn't, you can use your natural personality and charisma to make a much more compelling, authentic presentation. Keeping your viewers engaged throughout the entire video is key, and looking at YouTube analytics can help you identify where viewers tend to drop off. By ensuring that the content is both entertaining and valuable, you’ll see that more viewers watch your video until the end, improving your video engagement metrics.
10. Learn from your metrics. Finally, pay close attention to your video metrics. How often do people leave your video before it's finished? At what point in the video do they leave? What could be causing them to leave and how can you prevent their departure? Which of your videos seem to be the best at retaining viewers, and what makes them so effective?
If you're more interested in retaining viewers on your video channel overall, these are the best strategies to do it:
11. Be consistent. If each of your videos seems to have a different tone or vibe, it's only a matter of time before your hard-won subscribers leave. There's nothing wrong with tinkering with your formula or experimenting with novel ideas, but the foundational aspects of your brand need to be consistent over time if you want to retain your channel subscribers. They subscribed to you for a specific reason; if that reason is no longer relevant, they're going to leave.
12. Keep delivering what people love. Figure out what your subscribers like best about your channel and keep giving it to them. Is it your humorous approach to the subject matter? Is it your unrelenting deep dive into topics no one else is covering? Is it your unique blend of avant-garde music and creepy visuals? Discover what made people fall in love with your brand via comments, surveys, and other forms of audience engagement, then incorporate those elements into all your future videos.
13. Include opportunities for interaction/engagement. Speaking of engagement, always include opportunities for your audience to interact and engage with you directly. For example, you can ask people what they think about a topic and encourage them to share their responses in the comments section. You can also give them practical instructions to use in their daily life or challenge them to achieve specific goals. Subscribers will be much more loyal to your brand if they're taking action as a result of watching your videos.
14. Get involved in the comments section. The comments section is one of your best opportunities for directly engaging with your audience, so take advantage of it. Answer some of the questions you get. Respond to some of the counterpoints that viewers are making. Say “thank you” when people compliment you. Even a single minor interaction could be sufficient to keep a viewer subscribing to your channel – and when new viewers see you actively engaging with your commenters, they'll be more likely to comment.
15. Bring people to different channels. You can also encourage more loyalty from your viewers by introducing them to different channels associated with your brand. For example, you can encourage them to follow you on different social media platforms or get involved in your website. Even better, get them to sign up to an email newsletter list so you can notify them about new developments on your channel and in your business.
16. Promote your new stuff. When you make a new video, make sure your subscribers all know about it. Not everyone pays attention to notifications or new video announcements, so try to reach them in alternative ways. Send out an email, post on social media, and use other channels to get the word out that you have new stuff for your viewers to watch.
17. Nurture a community. Eventually, you may be in a position to nurture a full community around your brand. Forums, social media groups, and other platforms can bring your people together, allow them to form bonds with each other, and ultimately make them more loyal to your channel.
18. Conduct surveys (and act on them!) Finally, make sure you conduct surveys with your audience and pay close attention to your results. Figure out what people like best and least about your channel and use that information to make your channel better. Not only will this improve your quality and appeal, but it will also show people how dedicated you are to your fans.
Creating videos and marketing those videos in ways that compel viewers to stay can be inordinately challenging.
This is especially true if you don't already have video script writers, video producers, editors, marketing pros, and other professionals on standby to help you succeed.
Thankfully, there are organizations like ours – Vid.co. We have all the resources and expertise you need to craft the best possible videos and retain the greatest percentage of your target viewers. From brainstorming to execution to distribution, we can help you achieve your video marketing goals.
Contact us today if you’re ready to get started!
Producing high-quality videos is a lot of work – but it's often worth it.
When people see your awesome videos, they'll think more highly of your brand, they'll be more likely to buy from you, and they'll be more likely to be loyal to your brand well into the future.
But what if nobody sees your awesome work?
If you're just starting out with video marketing, or if you're just interested in growing your existing audience, generating more visibility for your videos is likely your biggest obstacle to success.
You have the great videos necessary to accomplish your goals, but you can only accomplish those goals if people can find, discover, and watch them.
Amusingly, video ads are one of the best ways to promote your brand videos. But why is this the case? And how do you properly harness video ads to promote longer videos on your website or social media channel?
Video ads to promote videos sound like an Inception-themed gimmick, but there are several reasons why video ads are so powerful when used this way:
· Audience targeting. Market research and audience targeting are perhaps your best tools for sculpting an ideal video ad. By using the right platform and the right strategy, you can make sure your video ads reach the perfect demographics to watch your longer videos. You can find people in a specific geographic region, of a specific age, with certain specific interests, and you can make sure those people see the most persuasive sneak previews of your core video content. Crafting engaging content in your video ads ensures these sneak previews effectively grab attention, capture interest, and drive conversions.
· The perfect medium. Perhaps unsurprisingly, video ads are the perfect way to advertise videos because they utilize the same medium. This is the same principle behind movie trailers being played in a movie theater before movies; in addition to targeting the same demographics, the environment and presentation style is perfectly aligned with the core product. If you want to appeal to people potentially interested in your best videos, the best way to reach them is with a bite-sized video.
· Ample available channels. Video ads are also powerful because there are many available channels through which you can syndicate them. You can pay to have your video ads featured on dedicated video channels like YouTube. You can organically promote video ads on social media. You can even pay to have your video ads placed on TV or other more traditional advertising channels.
· Multiple means of persuasion. Video ads give you lots of messaging wiggle room, and plenty of different ways to persuade your audiences. You can use visuals, audio, on-screen messaging, and secondary calls to action (CTAs), or any combination of these to engage viewers and motivate them to watch your videos, buy your products, or visit your website.
However, there are a few key challenges in promoting your videos with video ads. You'll need to overcome them if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your advertising.
· Placing effectively. Placement matters. If you put your video advertisement on the wrong channel or appeal to the wrong demographics, the ad isn't going to be effective in any way. Conversely, if you choose the right channel and the right target audience, you can instantly multiply your effectiveness. So, what constitutes the right channel or platform? And how do you choose the right target audience? Hopefully, as a business, you already know who your ideal video consumers are. If you don't, you can figure this out with a thorough round of market research. After that, you'll need to review all the options available to your business and choose the channel or platform that seems to be the best fit, both in terms of demographics and in terms of tools and resources available to advertisers. Consider whether your video ads will be in stream, or whether they should appear as standalone content. When in doubt, go with the channel or platform with the broadest reach and the most robust controls for audience targeting. This will help blend seamlessly with your audience's browsing habits, providing a memorable experience and improving click-through rates for your campaign.
· Capturing initial attention. Most people tune out ads after a few seconds of disinterest or apathy. Once you recognize that something is an ad and that it's not relevant to you, you're not going to engage with it any further. Video ads are often very short, so you only have a few seconds to capture initial attention. Doing this can be quite challenging, even if you have something interesting or compelling for your target audience. Figure out a way to pique interest immediately, such as by revealing something surprising, teasing a big reveal in the future, or promising some kind of valuable offer that your demographics are going to love.
· Appealing to chronic skippers. Most people skip most video ads, if able. The moment they get the opportunity, they'll click a button to stop watching your ad. How do you prevent this? The simple answer is that, in many cases, you can't. If a person is so annoyed by ads that they can't stand watching one, there isn't much you can do to persuade them to act differently. However, you can be cognizant of the skipping options available on a certain platform and tailor your video ad around them. For example, if you know that users will be able to skip your ad after 5 seconds of it playing, you need to make sure those first 5 seconds are so interesting and powerful that users will be compelled to keep watching. You can even bring attention to the fact that the ad is skippable, directly appealing to viewers and giving them a reason to stay.
· Nailing the hook. Good video ads have a hook, or some compelling reason for a viewer to keep watching or be persuaded. The hook can be the promise of a compelling offer, some uniquely appealing piece of content, or almost anything else that your target demographics would find valuable. If you're not sure what your viewers might find valuable, consider asking them in the form of surveys. Once you figure it out, present it concisely and directly for best effect.
· Breaking from the norm. People are forced to watch video ads on a nearly constant basis. We've all been bombarded with video ads throughout our lives, and we've seen many of the persuasive ploys that brands use to appeal to us. It's all old news. If you want to stand out and persuade your target audience effectively, you need to find ways to break from the norm. Conduct competitive research, figure out what your rival brands are doing, and come up with a way to do things differently.
· Incentivizing action. Finally, make sure your video ads have some way to incentivize action. Is there a specific video you want them to watch? Is there a specific website or landing page you want them to visit? Do you want them to subscribe to your YouTube channel? Whatever it is, you need to convert it to a compelling call to action (CTA) and give people a legitimate reason for taking that action. What are they going to learn? What are they going to get for free? How is this going to benefit them? If you can directly call your viewers to action and give them a concrete, believable value statement, your ad is going to be much more effective.
These tips can help you make better video ads for your video content.
· Start with the goal. Before you write a script for your video ad, come up with a specific goal. What do you want people to do after viewing this ad? What are the main messages you want to convey in the ad? How do you define success for this video ad and what is the path to get there? The more specific you are with this concept, the more focused and complete your video ad is going to be.
· Pin down a specific niche. You also need to cater to a specific niche. Hopefully, you already have target demographics in mind and you already know them well because of your previous market research. If you don't have that nailed down already, now is the time to do it. This is going to help you determine the best platforms and audience controls to use in your advertising efforts.
· Review your placement options. Don't assume that one channel is better than another just because it's more popular or more accessible. Thoroughly review your video ad placement options and consider multiple channels as part of your comprehensive video marketing strategy. This includes platforms like mobile apps that may offer unique targeting and engagement opportunities. Consider conducting a cost-benefit analysis for each of your options – and compare them apples to apples so you can make a smarter determination.
· Pull your best clips. Remember, one of the strengths of using video ads to promote your videos is the similarity in medium. Accordingly, you'll likely benefit from pulling some of the best clips from your best videos and integrating them into your video ads. Giving people a sneak preview, even if it's only a few seconds, may give them a powerful reason to watch your video in full.
· Tease your audience. That said, you don't want to give everything away. If you give your viewers the final punch line or the most important piece of information in your video ad, they won't have any reason to watch your video. You need to tease your audience, making them aware of information and benefits that they'll receive by watching your videos, without actually giving them the substance of them. Hint and allude to the value without giving it all away upfront.
· Perfect the first few seconds. The average human attention span is a mere eight seconds. For some people, it's even shorter. And even if you have a longer than average attention span, you might have little patience for ads, skipping them every chance you get. Accordingly, you need to make sure your video ad is attention grabbing, compelling, and persuasive in the first few seconds. This can be challenging, but it's necessary if you want your video ad to land. Give people an immediate hook that they can't say no to.
· Keep it short. Even if you have the opportunity to make a longer video ad, you should strive for conciseness. Attention spans are limited, even for a convenient, highly engaging medium like video, so you shouldn't include more information than necessary and you definitely shouldn't spend more time than necessary articulating your most important points. You'll win more respect from your viewers and be much more likely to persuade them if you keep things relatively short.
· Experiment. Finally, be willing to experiment. Even if you have a nearly perfect understanding of your target demographics and a prodigious ability to create high-quality videos, there are hidden, complex variables that can influence your results. It’s hard to know exactly which types of video ads are going to be most effective until you put them into practice. Try a wide variety of different messages and approaches to see what resonates most with your target audience – and use the resulting data to shape your subsequent efforts. You can't force a video to viral, but you can certainly coax it toward something close!
Making good videos is hard. Making those videos visible and popular is potentially even harder.
We can help you with both.
Our team of video production and marketing experts have the knowledge, experience, and resources you need to launch the best video marketing strategy possible. If you’re ready to get started, contact us today!
The origin point of most marketing videos is a written script.
With a script, you'll have a functional outline of what the video is trying to accomplish, lines of dialogue for people to exchange, and instructions for actors who might be involved.
Of course, there are many types of videos out there, some of which don't require a script at all. But for most video marketing operations, a good script is quintessential to accomplishing your visibility and engagement goals.
This demands the central question: what makes a marketing video script effective?
A video script has a handful of main purposes:
· High-level direction and outlining. First, your marketing video script is going to provide you with high-level direction and outlining. This is your opportunity to generally detail what you want to include in the video and how you want it to flow. It's imperative for both better understanding your goals and figuring out how you want to execute them.
· Actor and creative guidance. Scripts also play a role in guiding actors and other creatives in how to produce the video. This is your chance to instruct them on how to build or interact with the set, where to move, and even how they should emote.
· Messaging and details. Perhaps the most obvious purpose of a video script is to provide details related to messaging. Depending on the nature of your video, your script may include lines of dialogue, messages to be shown on screen, or direction for how to implement visual messaging.
Is it necessary to have a script for your marketing video?
The short answer is no. In fact, there are a few types of videos where a script could actually be a detriment. For example, if you're hosting an interview and you want it to seem authentic, a script could actually interfere with your presentation. If you're trying your hand at improv comedy, a script would defeat the purpose.
Outside the scope of these fringe cases, however, it's a good idea to have a video script in place. Even if you don't follow it exactly, and even if it isn't perfect, a video script gives you a road map for the video you want to produce. Even the writing process is valuable, helping you narrow the focus of your goals and verify the best ways to achieve them through this medium. Whether you're working on explainer videos, tutorial videos, or general video content, having a plan in place ensures your message is clear and engaging.
So how exactly do you write a video script in a way to maximize its effectiveness?
Everything begins with pre-writing. Before you put pen to paper or start clacking on a keyboard, you should thoroughly review your motivations for this marketing video, the basis for your messaging, and the possible directions the video could take.
· Goal setting. Strong marketing pieces are goal-oriented. That's why the first step of the process needs to be considering and setting specific goals. Why are you making this video? What do you hope it will achieve? Who are you trying to reach, and what are the best ways to reach those people? What action do you want to motivate them to take? Crafting clear goals is one of the most important video scriptwriting tips to ensure your project stays focused.
· Market research. Next, do a deep dive into your target audience. You probably already know who your business's target demographics are, but think about those people in a video marketing context. What types of videos are they most likely to consume and engage with? What types of video messages are going to be most appealing to them? How can you distinguish your video in a way that's going to resonate with this audience? Understanding these preferences will also help you refine your video script outline.
· Competitive research. After that, you should do some competitive research. Are there videos similar to this already in the market? Are any of your closest rivals and competitors producing videos like this? If so, watch those videos to learn what they've done well, what they've done poorly, and how you can distinguish your own videos. The better you understand the other video clips out there, the better you'll be able to make your own.
· Creative brainstorming and concepting. When you're done with all this preliminary work, you can start creative brainstorming and concepting. What visual or audio motifs do you want to include in this video? Who is going to be included and how are they going to interact? You don't need to decide specific lines of dialogue or even a framework for the video at this point, but you should nail down some key concepts before you start the drafting process. This phase is essential for writing video scripts that align with your creative vision and goals.
Once all the prewriting is done, you can begin writing your marketing video script in earnest. There are no hard rules for how you do this, but there are some fundamentals that you'll need to keep in mind.
Good scripts typically follow a handful of structural rules. They're usually organized in a way that makes it clear to readers and producers how the video is going to flow. They also usually include a variety of information, including:
· Sluglines. Sluglines are short, informative sentences that lay out the time and place where a scene occurs. This is especially helpful if you're filming a live-action video.
· Action lines. Action lines describe what’s happening in the scene. Think of it as a placeholder for the visuals of your video.
· Dialogue. Lines of dialogue indicate who's going to say what and when. This category can also apply to verbal messages shown on the screen.
When writing your script, pay especially close attention to:
· Timing/volume. How long do you want this video to be? Sometimes, you need a video that can fit in a tight, 10-second space. Sometimes, you need a video that's hours long. The length of your script obviously determines, at least in part, how long your video is, but because delivery of lines can vary so much, it's very hard to determine an appropriate length from the beginning. Still, you can compare your script to others and do some exploratory readings to make sure you're in the right ballpark.
· Conciseness. No matter how long your video is, you should focus on making your content as concise as possible. Conciseness is effectively a measure of how much information you're conveying compared to how many words you're using. A concise script is very dense, making sure that every line is useful to the video in some way. Some lines can be informative. Some can be entertaining. Some can merely set the stage for the rest of the video. But at the end of the day, every line in your video script should serve a specific purpose. If it doesn't, you should probably cut it.
· Authenticity. These days, effective marketing demands authenticity. People have a tendency to tune out messages from brands that seem insincere or manipulative, and they pay little attention to advertising without a soul. If you want your video to resonate with people, it needs to be authentic to your brand. Eliminate cliches and platitudes, and instead focus on sincere messaging. This can be very difficult to do, especially if you're writing on behalf of an organization and for actors you may never meet, but you need to do your best with it.
· Originality. A good video script is also original. Remember, there are lots of brands like yours producing and syndicating videos as part of their marketing and advertising efforts. Chances are, your audience has seen many of these videos already. Don't simply rehash or copy something that's already out there; instead, come up with something novel, even if that means pushing the boundaries a bit.
· Persuasiveness. Persuasiveness is the heart of good marketing. Accordingly, you need to make sure your video script is persuasive. What action are you trying to get people to take? What concepts are you trying to convince them of? How does your target audience think and feel, and what are the best ways to move them? Sometimes, you can persuade people via logic. Other times, you'll need to persuade them via emotions. In nearly all cases, you'll have an easier time persuading people if you can convince them that you're an authority on the matter. Just keep in mind that every video script should have a clear call to action (CTA) to motivate your viewers to do something.
Unfortunately, even the best video script writers can't perfectly predict how their words are going to be acted or presented in an actual video. In fact, you might be surprised at how quickly or slowly some lines go, or how terrible certain lines sound when said aloud by an actor.
That's why it's important to rehearse and tinker with this script after it's written. Whether you're working on a brand video or a different type of video project, getting the script right is crucial to keeping your audience's attention throughout.
Get a group of people together to do a dry run of the script and see how it sounds and feels. This is also a good opportunity to time it to make sure you're well within your time parameters.
After the rehearsal, get some feedback and see if there's anything you can improve. In some cases, you'll have to make a few small tweaks for the script to be more effective. In other cases, you may need to fully rewrite the script. But no matter what, there will likely be opportunities for improvement.
At this point, you should be ready to start filming or producing. Your script will likely be treated as final, but don't be afraid if you have to make a few changes as you figure things out in the production studio. After more rehearsal and consideration, you may need to change some lines, edit the overall structure of the video, or revisit some concepts that don't seem to be working as well as you imagined. This is a natural part of the process, and it's only going to make your video better.
After you finalize your video and start utilizing it in your marketing efforts, you can measure its effectiveness and use that data to improve your video script writing approach. For example, did people leave your video after just a few minutes in large numbers? If so, it could be a clue that your video script wasn't compelling or interesting enough at the beginning. Was your call to action especially successful? If so, consider incorporating it and similar calls to action into your marketing video script templates in the future. The more scripts you write, and the more data you gather, the easier it's going to be to put together a compelling marketing video script template for your brand.
Are you interested in putting together a spectacular marketing video script?
Are you ready to present your brand in a visual medium the way it deserves to be presented?
We’re here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our video production process!
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