Customer Success

11 Ideas for Creating Video Content

September 10, 2010

Serious gear

 

Want a great way to capture attention and propel your content marketing strategy?  Add video to your site.  Not only is video the most visually dynamic piece of a website, it’s also a powerful motivator.  Glenn Pingul of SearchEngineLand argues that video advertisements and product explorations also cut through the clutter and get to the point:

“Video can enable businesses to leverage sight, sound, and motion to create an emotive and more memorable connection with potential customers.  Coupled with the fact that people are bombarded every day with emails, text-laden web sites, and oftentimes annoying banner ads, the early opportunity for small businesses here is that online video ads have the ability to break through the clutter and communicate meaningful information.”

So now that you want to add multimedia to your website, what are you going to post?

Here are some ideas for content creation, and how they’ve proven effective:

  1. Your company’s elevator pitch: TechCrunch has a wonderful series of 30- to 60-second elevator pitches for startup companies.  Keep refreshing the page for more inspiring videos—and maybe upload your own!
  2. A timeline of your company: This collection of Apple ads from 1997 to 2001 showcases the computer giant’s expertise at capturing our attention with humor, sentimentality, and class—a great way to document a company’s brand evolution.
  3. Your aspirations: Companies like Google publish their aspirations online, but why not make a video of it?  Highlighting your aspirations through quick snippets of media can deliver your promises—and help you keep them.
  4. Senior management team introductions: Starting a business relationship?  Let your customers know whom they’ll be interacting with .  Target does an excellent job of putting a human face to an otherwise massive corporation , softening its image.  Expansion stage companies can do the same.
  5. Overview of your product suite: In its video that runs down the multiple components of its iAPPS product, Bridgeline Software at first explains the complications that arise from business software and then offers streamlined solutions via its products.
  6. Exploration of product features: Microsoft had no problem selling Windows 7, but for those who were unfamiliar with the newest features, Microsoft posted several helpful (and short—brevity is key) videos exploring the many different aspects of its latest OS, including parental controls, Windows search, and Windows Media Center.
  7. Tips and tricks for using your software: Adobe Photoshop can be an overwhelmingly complicated piece of software, but in these user-generated videos called “You Suck at Photoshop,” our narrator Donnie deconstructs Photoshop’s esoteric processes in a somewhat fun way (though he’s helpful, the snark gimmick gets old, so if you’re planning a user-friendly approach, make sure it’s not a one-note song).
  8. Video testimonials of success stories: Kampyle has a series of customer success video testimonials that give an up close and personal perspective on the effectiveness of their feedback analytics software.  Be careful of these, though: if your testimonials are rigid, or “over-acted,” they could come off phony.
  9. Act out a funny skit: You’ll have to be careful of these too.  Though a funny skit could lighten the mood of your company and company’s culture, it could also come off ridiculous and hokey, and potentially damaging to your reputation.  Done well, you could have something viral on your hands!
  10. Film your events: Mike Volpe, VP Marketing of HubSpot.com gave a seminar about how to use social networks and media to convert leads into customers.  Videos like these give your current and potential clients a front-row seat at your events—without having to be physically present.  Though a lot of people will find these useful, they tend to be over-long and therefore lose people’s attention.
  11. Turn successful written content (blogs, whitepapers, e-books) into video: Blogs and other written materials can be great for content marketing, but turning them into video presentations can be even more engaging and helpful.  Give it a shot!

There’s no doubt that streaming video is emerging as one of the most popular online activities.  According to comScore, 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of May.  That means only one thing: get behind the camera today!

Content Marketing Director

<strong>Amanda Maksymiw</strong> worked at OpenView from 2008 until 2012, where she focused on developing marketing and PR strategies for both OpenView and its portfolio companies. Today she is the Content Marketing Director at <a href="https://www.fuze.com/">Fuze</a>.