Do Your Videos Stand Out For The Wrong Reasons? 5 Solutions


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Videos are the meat and potatoes of a webpage, regardless of what else is on the page. When presented with visual information such as photographs, infographics, and videos, people are more likely to remember the message.

When you use imagery to tell a story, engagement and interest go way up. Telling a story through video is the fastest way to paint a picture for your visitors.

Your videos should stand out because they’re visible, useful, and clear – not because they’re loud, random, or obnoxious.

Here’s how you can make sure your videos stand out for all the right reasons:

1. Make sure featured images don’t hide your videos

When you have ample content on a webpage, your video content should be presented first, unless it requires the context of a larger story you’re telling. Then it’s okay to place the video in the middle or at the end.

Even when your video is the first element on the page, sometimes the nature of WordPress can make it difficult to see. For example, some theme developers make featured images so big that it’s all you see when you load a post. This makes the post beautiful, but it doesn’t support your video marketing efforts.

Some people bounce when all they see is a featured image because they don’t know if they’re in the right place. If your featured images are taking up too much space, either reduce the size or use a different theme.

2. Don’t allow your theme to override video sizing

Many theme developers hard code video embed sizes so they override your code and resize to a specific set of dimensions. This keeps posts consistent, but it makes displaying a full-size video on sales pages impossible.

Before you commit to a theme, contact the developer and ask them if the theme automatically resizes video embeds. If it does and you’re set on using the theme anyway, ask them to customize it for you. Many developers are happy to tell you what code to remove to change it yourself.

3. Don’t use music unless it furthers your message

Just because you love techno doesn’t mean you should subject your visitors to it as background music in your videos. If your music doesn’t enhance your message, it will only irritate people.

Good example

The oil painting studio 1st Art Gallery uses the beautiful sound of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major as the background music to their introduction video. This music sets a mood appropriate to the content of their entire website, and brings your attention directly to their services.

Bad example

On the other hand, here’s an example of how not to use music. Featuring a loop of loud guitar riffs, random one-liners and people laughing for no apparent reason, this video isn’t going to encourage anyone to contact the real estate agency.

If music won’t add value to your video, you should skip it completely.

4. Use your videos to engage your customers

Most people create videos to share a static message. Brilliant marketing experts create videos to engage their customers. For example, the Content Marketing Institute reminds readers of the YouTube campaign run by Old Spice where the company recorded video responses to community feedback. The extensive shares and embeds by the community led to a 107% increase in sales.

One of the greatest marketing secrets of all time is to engage your customers creatively. Why not do it with video?

5. Don’t jump cut unless you have no other choice

Jump cuts have become fashionable. People no longer use jump cuts to creatively advance a scene, take out extra long pauses, or edit mistakes – they’re recording content specifically to create an entire video full of jump cuts.

This video sums up the absurdity of making a video full of unnecessary jump cuts. Unfortunately, a lot of video tutorials for beginners promote their use excessively. They say you’ll look like an amateur if you don’t use them. They’ll tell you jump cuts are distracting in TV shows and movies, but on YouTube having lots of them decreases distraction. They’ll also tell you to jump cut every single moment of silence. If all you’re trying to do is entertain people, okay. If you’re using video as a marketing tool, don’t do it. Watch the video linked above and you’ll see why.

Video is a powerful marketing tool when used correctly. To get the most out of this tool, make sure your theme accommodates video properly and gives you control over where and how you embed. Then, follow the rest of these tips to produce a video that stands out for all the right reasons.


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