Corporate Solutions

Content expert Ann Handley—co-author of Content Rules and Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs—shared tips on overcoming video content creation challenges in our latest best practices webinar: How to Fuel Your Video Content Machine (And Keep It Running).

Why did I put this webinar together? Despite the increasing number of companies infusing video into their marketing strategies, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from clients is about how to get started. To many, video is still intimidating—it seems expensive, complicated and difficult to produce (all myths that Handley debunks in the webinar). But the reality is video is more accessible than ever and there are simple ways to start your video machine.

Our webinar was a live, interactive discussion featuring not just Ann (who was joined by Shaun McIver, Global Head of Multimedia Solutions at Thomson Reuters), but also participants on Twitter—including myself, via @twebcasting—who live-tweeted the event.

Here are 13 tweet-sized highlights from the discussion:

On video content creation:

• How to bring your story to life with video: Find a distinct voice; Be human; Think wings & roots (your content is rooted on your website but it needs to be shareable).
• Good content is human. Communicating in a conversational way which shows the personality of your company and people will set your message apart. A best practice is to avoid jargon and ‘Frankenspeak’.
• Find ideas for video content by reimagining existing collateral such as brochures, white papers, case studies and blog posts.
• Go behind the scenes to capture video footage of conferences, commercial shoots, product development, and your service team.
• Animate! Turn data, research and other content that is traditionally delivered as text into fun, engaging videos.
• It’s ok for some content to be less than perfectly polished, especially if it has a shorter shelf life. For example, “man on the street”-style interviews can offer a unique perspective, especially at events.
• Is your management team camera shy? Have someone else in the room interviewing them and use b-roll to complement talking head footage.

On mobile optimization:

• Video must be optimized for mobile devices as more of your audience accesses content on the go.
• Research shows that viewers will watch video for a greater duration on tablets than on desktops.

On social sharing:

• Quality content and sharing have become more important than SEO.
• Make sure your site has social bling—buttons to make it simple to share your content on social networks.

On planning and production:

• Plan ahead to incorporate a video component in all your on- and offline marketing activities. There are opportunities in everything from events and corporate announcements to white paper development and webinars.
• Keep your video content creation on track by creating an editorial calendar.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the content. Also, what other topics would you like to see us explore in our Best Practices Webinar Series?