A video is still one of the best marketing tools available, and in current times where more content is becoming virtual, video is becoming even more important than ever. I have been working now for about 6 years as a videographer, mainly in the Chicago area. Over this time, I have learned how to get the best value out of video production for promotion of various businesses, services, and brands.
Know the Platform for Your Video Production
First thing to consider when planing a video production is what platforms you want to promote, where your audience is, and how to effectively engage them. Video renders will vary, depending on the platform. The ideal duration for a video on a main website page is about 2.5 – 3.0 minutes. This video should succinctly explain your product or service. It is very likely that the viewers will watch the video before reading any other material on the website, so the video has to be thorough. It is also assumed that someone on a website is actively researching your type of product or service.
On the other hand, instagram limit is currently 1 minute. However, the ideal video for an Instagram feed should be 45 seconds or less. Therefore, if you plan a video to promote your product or service you have to think of shorter cuts for Instagram. In addition, Instagram stories, Facebook stories, and IGTV are designed for a vertical video crop, given that the audience will be viewing the content on the phone. Another reason for keeping the videos for Instagram 45 seconds or shorter is that the content on that platform is viewed very briefly. Instagram viewers are not researching content like they would if they were browsing the net on a computer. They are looking for little snippets of entertainment. Therefore, when designing a video for instagram, avoid trying to explain your product or service in detail. That information should be left for your website. One good example of a successful Instagram video campaign I produced was for a dental practice in Chicago. 14 dentists were asked a series of questions like the color of their toothbrush or how cool they thought they were. We cut these into a series of 20 second videos. The content of the video had nothing to do with their practice as dentists but it showed their personality as they answered these goofy questions.
https://www.facebook.com/CameoDentalSpecialists/videos/222829796130896
a link to a Facebook 20 second video that was also use in Instagram video campaign
Know your Audience for your Video Production Campaign
Given the multitude of social media platforms that today can host videos, it is often unclear where one’s audience is at. I have been told by business owners before that their particular clientele finds them at a specific platform or that their clientel does not frequent social media platforms. I would warn against such limited foresight. For instance, one of my clients has a medical practice in south Florida focusing on muscle-skeletal injuries. His patient demographic tends to be mainly 50 years or older. However, as we have talked I learned that he was treating a gym owner who became a big fan of his procedures and began referring patients to the clinic. I suggested to him he should reach out to more fitness professionals, like personal trainers, who deal with older clients prone to injuries. Of course, every trainer is currently marketing their services on Instagram. Therefore, the smart course of video marketing would be reaching fitness folks who would then refer their older clients (who by the way might not even know what Instagram is) to the medical clinic.
Think Big, Think Video Campaign
Lastly, as a videographer, I now suggest to plan not just for one or two videos but instead a video campaign with renders for various social media platforms. In the past it was perhaps enough to create one video, upload it to Youtube and embed it on your homepage. However, chances are that your competitors are doing far more. A well planned video production day can cover enough material where many versions of a video can be cut. In case of the medical clinic previously described, we planned a 1 hour interview with the main doctor, during which we talked about him personally, the philosophy of his practice, his procedures, and asked for a few short health tips. The personal and practice philosophy material was mainly used for two brand videos. The procedure content served as a 1 minute video for each procedure landing page. Health tips were used as a series of 7-8 30 second free health tips video used for Instagram and Facebook intermittently throughout the year. Few of the procedure videos were also cut to shorter version targeting conditions personal trainers see and placed on Instagram. We also cut a few fun personal facts that didn’t make the main video cut, and once again used them as short 30 second videos for more instagram content and IGTV. In the end we cut about 20 videos from one 1-hour interview.
For sample of our work go to here