If you are a business trying to get noticed on the web, don’t overlook your video presence. Some of us who have a vested interest in this trend believe that the Internet is transitioning into a video medium. It just makes sense. At the time of this writing youtube has posted on their site that over 72 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube every minute. If my math is correct over 96,000 hours every day. So it would take you over a month just to watch the video that has been uploaded today. Okay, no matter how you cut it that’s a load of video.
My feeling is that the video revolution is akin to the Internet revolution itself. A few short years ago everyone was clamoring to get a website and be on the web. Now every one of those websites needs a video because it is much easier to show and tell someone in a minute or less what your website is all about. After viewing your video your visitor can tell quickly and easily what your company has to offer and whether they want to stay and learn more.
Timing is the key. When producing your intro video be sure to respect your visitor’s time. If they see your video is short they are more likely to click on it. Get to the point. The goal of the intro video is to get them interested in you or your product or service. This is not the time to hard sell. This is an opportunity to build a relationship, give your visitors confidence that they are in the right place, and encourage them to want to know more from you. Later when you are explaining a process or feature you can take all the time you need.
This brings us to the value of multiple videos. In spite of the fact that Youtube seems to be encouraging longer videos as a tactic to keep viewers on their site longer and thus serve more advertising; common knowledge suggests that viewers prefer shorter bursts of information. I suggest that in most cases the majority of viewers would rather watch three 2 minute videos rather than one longer 5 minute video. If you have logical segments in your message that have value being consumed separately, consider making multiple shorter videos that can be watched in whatever sequence makes sense to the viewer.
In regard to production get the help you need and make the best intro video you can afford to make. Remember the old adage that you only get on chance to make a good first impression? The same holds true for your intro video. You probably made a reasonable investment in the design of your website, your logo, your business card and other promotional and marketing tools. Well video is the next tool you need.
Why video? Why now? It has only been in the past couple of years that enough people have access to high speed Internet. Also video production costs have fallen substantially creating the perfect storm necessary to make a video an affordable option for virtually every business. Add the value of video on mobile devices and you have enough good reasons to start planning your video presence today.
Reno Lovison is the owner of Reno Lovison Marketing specializing in video for the web and is the producer of “A Peek Inside the Door” and “Authors Showcase” two thirty minute programs seen weekly on Chicago cable Channel 25.
