The world of social media is so much about videos these days. Are you creating video content but somehow don’t manage to keep your audience interested until the end? Then stay tuned, because today we’ll be talking about how to create engaging video content. Make sure to stay until the very end, because we’ll be providing lots of actionable tips along the way! And don’t forget to check out our other posts all about video content and marketing.
#1. Hook the user from the beginning
Our first tip is to hook them from the beginning! Now how do you do that? Make your intro clear and straight to the point. Why you’re here, what you’ll learn that you didn’t know before, and why you should stay until the very end. Don’t waste time explaining who you are and what your job title is. The first 10 seconds of the videos are crucial, and they are a matter of life and death for the traffic to your videos! So really make sure that you hook the users from the very beginning. Remember – first 10 seconds!
#2: Do keyword research
The second tip is to research a topic to find the most relevant keywords for your title. The title is fundamental, you have to generate at least a few title ideas and check their search volumes before you even start recording videos.
An example based on today’s content – we may consider the primary keywords “video”, “engaging video” and “video content”.
But by checking them out in a keyword tool, keyword “video” by itself was just too hard to tackle, it’s too generic and too broad, it answers too many questions and queries. If you google it, in fact, in the SERP you’ll find music videos and all sorts of videos that don’t answer the specific question we’re looking for, which is “how to create engaging video content”. That’s why we chose to go for “video content”, but also tapped into the search volume of “engaging videos” by adding “engaging” to our title.
#3: Use time-triggered cards
The third tip is to use time triggered cards. By providing viewers with related video content, it will be extremely helpful in keeping people on your channel and interested in your content! You might just gain a new subscriber and fan.
#4: Add timestamps
Now, the fourth tip is to use timestamps. In fact, user experience is not just important on websites, it’s also extremely crucial on videos! If you provide your audience with timestamps they will be able to see the key points and crucial parts of your videos. This will help users understand and get the general idea about your content faster ,and it will increase your chances to appear in the YouTube search results!
And, yes, some people say that putting timestamps decreases your watch time, which is not what we want. But isn’t the most important thing when you’re making a video or generally making content, to provide people with value? If they like what they see in your video, even if they watch eight minutes out of 13, they will watch another video and your watch time will increase. We say yes timestamps. But we’d love to hear what you think, especially if you’re in team “no timestamps!”
#5: Add captions
Always, always have captions on your videos. According to this survey, 92% of US consumers view videos with the sound off on mobile, and 83% watch videos with sound off in general! 80% of consumers are also more likely to watch an entire video when there are captions. Forgot your headphones at home? Putting your kids to sleep? Or what if the audio is inaudible? Audio is the most important thing in video. Because think about it – you would be willing to listen to someone if you didn’t see them that well, but you wouldn’t be able to stay until the end of the video if you couldn’t hear them. So that’s extremely important to keep in mind, and always put attention to that aspect. Moreover, text captions will also make your video much more visible for the search engines. Because the more written content you give Google, the more Google will index it and rank it!
#6: Always ask users to subscribe
Last but not least, always, always ask people to subscribe! People subscribe three times more often when you do that. It also helps if you’re uploading on a consistent schedule. Knowing when to expect you is a good way to keep subscribers, and having engaging video content is a good way to get subscribers! Do you want us to write a post on how to ask for subscribes? Let us know in the comments!
