Creating Compelling Video Content for YouTube
As the world’s second largest search engine, YouTube is a great source of awareness for businesses, charities and non-profit organizations; increasing an organization’s ability to share their expertise and knowledge, and to connect with viewers.
Video is radically more effective in imparting messages to your audience than simple text. Text has a limited ability to convey a sense of the character of the company, its core values and aims, whereas video gives you an opportunity to show viewers exactly who your client is and to build trust in the brand.
As an extension of a clients’ website, a well-designed YouTube channel can reflect the personality of the organization it has been designed for. Continuing the theme of the website, it needs to be in line with your clients branding and values, and contain compelling video content that informs and adds value.
A well-designed YouTube Channel with good video content will entice the viewer to become a subscriber. They will then receive updates from YouTube via email highlighting any new content, and your clients’ videos will appear on their YouTube homepage.
Create Compelling Video Content
So, you have taken the time to create a sleek and professional YouTube Channel for your client. But what about the video content that will inhabit that channel? Here are a few tips on creating compelling video content that will help bring awareness to your page, charity or clients brand:
Tell The Story
Video is a highly effective way to impart the story of your client. The channel trailer is a fantastic way to engage the viewer: introducing the organization, their aims and their core values. The trailer will hopefully encourage the viewer to explore the channel and the website further. Once you have a trailer and video content for your viewer do not forget to design a video that says a simple “thank you viewing;” this goes a long way to gaining visitors back by showing your human emotion. Take design inspiration from the YouTube video below, a bright and visual video with a clear message.
Video Length
We are told that online video content needs to be short and to the point because, in the digital age, viewers have a reduced attention span. This is not entirely accurate. The length of your video will depend wholly on your target audience and the purpose of the video. For example, sales videos intended to be watched by teenagers on their mobiles should be short and sweet. However a video tutorial for adults could be anything up to half an hour without losing the viewer, provided that it is full of useful information that will benefit the viewer in one way or another.
Enabling Search Engine Optimization
Think about how you design the text which surrounds your video. You should consider the description of each video, using it to its full advantage, also fill in the Meta tags with relevant keywords, and perhaps even provide a transcription of the video.
Production Tools
Although having a large budget will enable great production values, videos do not have to be expensive to be effective and high quality. Most smart phones are now equipped with high definition cameras, and most computers have built-in video editing software. Just make sure the subject matter is well lit, no one likes dark footage, and make sure the editing is done well, a badly edited video will be obvious to the viewer and will look unprofessional!
Content
Make sure that the purpose of your video is obvious. What is the video for? What are you trying to impart to the viewer? How do you want the viewer to respond?
Ensure the branding (the ident) on the video itself is clear and precise. You would normally have this at the beginning and/ or end of the video. The ident or still image shown on the video before it is played should be something that represents the brand, the purpose of the video or even the company contact details, rather than any old image that happens to be on the video.
The advantages of incorporating YouTube videos into your web design, and investing in the design of a YouTube channel, are abundantly clear: You enhance your clients’ ability to connect with their customers; you increase their visibility and presence on internet searches; and you have an invaluable marketing tool to which their viewers subscribe. All of which is easily embedded into the web pages you have designed.
