Making Engaging Videos

Videos perform better and have more viral potential than a text or a photo. They are paramount when it comes to promoting your business, marketing your products and engaging your audience.

Professional marketing videos aren’t cheap. However, there are tools you can use to achieve satisfying results without breaking the bank.

Let’s first take a look at why incorporating videos into your marketing strategy is so important.

You can publish them in several places and platforms in order to give them more visibility.
Publish your videos on: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, your website or your blog.

They are eye-catching, enabling you to educate your audience in a more engaging format.

Marketing videos are easy to repurpose by trimming, expanding, or converting to GIFs for easy sharing or Infographics.

The first step to making a video

You don’t need expensive equipment to make a great video. Start with an interesting idea then try storyboarding your plan and writing a script. Find or create the footage you need. Edit it using an online app. Upload for viewing!

The most important thing is the content of your video so make sure your material is competitive.

 

How to proceed

There are so many great places to find stock footage. You can repurpose existing photography, find material on stock footage sites, and shoot your own footage with your phone. It gives it a great feel that appeals to today’s audiences.

Sites you can check out for stock videos include Videvo, Pexels, Distil, and Pixabay. They contain photos from around the world, high-quality graphics, and vibrant animations. Public domain sites like Pond5, Archive.org, and NASA contain historic footage and vintage videos. You can also find free audio on Freesound.org, Looperman, and Converse Sample Library.

Sometimes free just doesn’t cut it. But you don’t have to spend a fortune either. Audio Jungle and Video Hive have sounds, music, and video effects for you to sample. It may be worth the monthly subscription if you plan to continue making marketing videos.

Some details to remember…

Often, people watch videos on social media with no sound, so use captions to garner more attention.

Many social media platforms even autoplay videos with no sound at first, so with captions, your audience can pause to watch your video without extra clicking.

Use thumbnails to entice people to watch your videos.

They provide a headline, or a snapshot of what your video is about, so use Canva to create something that grabs users attention.

More importantly, make sure your marketing videos are responsive to mobile, since that’s most likely where people will watch them.

Other Free Tools

You can use the live streaming feature on most social media platforms to create video.

For producing quick, high-quality videos, there are a lot of free apps online. Some even come with their own library of stock images.

Try Quik by Go Pro, Lumen 5, or Teleprompter Video Creator.

GIFs are gaining in popularity, and there’s one for every situation.

Most social media platforms allow users to search for GIFs using keywords and respond easily to any comment. You can use Giphy to turn your marketing videos into GIFs.

For editing, try Resolve for your desktop editing or Power Director for editing on your phone. They include professional features allowing for color corrections, stitching, object removal, and much more. If you use Power Director, you can shoot video, edit, and share directly from your phone.

Don’t let the cost of professional video creation and editing stop you. It’s well worth the extra effort.

Remember video marketing techniques are essentials to promote your business, to create brand awareness, educate your audience and increase your popularity in your niche market.