As a video production company we are always sent examples of videos that clients would like to emulate or take inspiration from in some way. These videos are what every marketer dreams about because they are being viewed by multiple audiences, meaning their footprint is going to be much larger than a simpler video. One video that has been sent to us on several occasions is the promotional video for dollarshaveclub.com. It’s a fairly dull subject but the video utilises humour, clever film-making techniques, quirky characters and a well cast front-man so itÛªs appeal reaches further than the shaving community.
In this blog I’m going to take you through a few of our thought processes when thinking about producing social media videos for online sharing like dollarshaveclub.com.
So, where do we start when it comes to social media videos?
The first and most important task is to decide if we want to use humour, a different/new technique or something shocking as the driving mechanism for the video. This will usually become clear during conversations with our client and depending on the product or service that the video will ultimately be about. You must also consider your outlet as if itÛªs only for the internet you can get away with a lot more than if it was to be broadcast on TV.
Research, Research, Research
Once we’ve decided on the main catalyst behind the video we must then research what the intended audience finds funny, shocking or interesting. Someone in their early 20Ûªs is going to have a different sense of humour to someone in their 50Ûªs for example. If you fail to get this right then no matter how great the video production is youÛªll fail to get the quantity of views and traffic you were hoping for.
Can we take a calculated risk?
Once you have your idea and know your audience be prepared to take a risk ÛÒ 9 times out of 10 this video is likely to cost you more money and more time than the conventional route so it’s important to realise this and to not do a half hearted job. Having said this there are ways to do it cheaply but the content has to be extremely powerful and the idea needs to lend itself to the low budget approach.
If a riskåÊisn’tåÊan option
If you’re not one for taking risks then there are ways to still harness a large audience. Let’s take an animated informational video as an example. This video would have to be about a product or service that is revolutionary and the style of the artwork would need to be very unique so that people use it as an example for something new and creative.
Once your well thought out video has been produced and is sitting nicely on your homepage it can start multi-tasking. First and foremost your new video will be selling your service or product when someone watches it, if you have done a good job it can also enhance your SEO because hopefully lots of bloggers and social media users will be linking to it and sharing it around their networks, I mean we all know how important high value backlinks can be. Google will also be able to index it in search results giving you yet another traffic stream.
I hope this has been helpful and has given you a few things to think about when it comes to producing your nextåÊvideo.åÊIf you would like to discuss any social media videos with us then please feel free to call Will or Andy on 01273 911345 or email them here as they will be glad to help.