But just because it’s easy to record your own video doesn’t mean that you should whip out the cell phone and start recording your new ‘life in the office’ series. Like anything in your marketing mix, your video content must align with your brand’s core values. Often, that inherently raises the standard of quality for your video content.

Before you create your video, review these points to ensure you have the elements in place to develop successful, engaging and sharable video content.

Is a video the appropriate channel?
After all this buildup, we first need to clarify that video isn’t appropriate for every type of message. Video is the best choice for demonstrations and tutorials, and image-driven content. Video is a great choice if you’d like to connect a personality to your brand.

Determine the optimal length
Video works best in bite-sized increments. If your content requires lengthy explanation, look for ways to break up the material in separate videos. Online video is not like television, viewers are not settling in for a lengthy stay. Online engagement needs to be concise and to the point, so make it easy for them to watch in discrete increments.

A 2013 Jun Group report noted, 30-second videos are the most desired by brands, followed by 90-second videos. This may seem short if you have a lot of information to share. Multiple videos offer additional opportunities to draw traffic to your site when you focus on our next topic.

Quality first
Consumers who watch product videos are 85% more likely to make a purchase compared with those who do not watch.

Just as you wouldn’t compromise quality in other marketing channels, your web video must be created to the standards that fit your brand. Social media and technology hardware have made it possible for almost anyone to become a creator. But not everyone will be successful. “I Quit” girl’s video feels organic and natural, but obviously was benefited by quality technology, scripting, practice and rehearsal.

On-camera talent should be comfortable and poised. Script, personality and tone should fit your brand — even the CEO of your company, who knows the business best, can benefit from some camera coaching. The fastest way to lose your viewers is to put someone in front of a camera who is not comfortable being there.

Extensive eye tracking research shows that viewers become distracted from a “talking head.” Links, logos, and even other video teasers compete for your viewers attention while they’re watching, which is why your marketing partner can help you script and storyboard a video segment that maximizes viewer engagement.

Set a budget that aligns with the production quality you are looking to achieve.
The length, complexity and thus budgets of video project vary greatly. 30-second animated explainer videos can run from 7k up to 45k and beyond. What you can accomplish in that 30 seconds depends greatly on your budget. Some of the budget components that you will need to consider include:

• Scripting
• Story boarding
• Talent (on screen and/or voice over)
• Shooting (photography)
  • Equipment – cameras, lighting
  • Crew to manage any required equipment and lighting
  • Photography & art direction
• Illustration and animation
• Editing
• Stock imagery, footage and music

Optimize video for SEO
Search engines are utilizing video as high value content in search results. Before sharing your video with the world, you’ll want to put some strategic thought into your descriptions to optimize your video content for web searches. Incorporate search-friendly keyword phrases into the title, description, categories and tags. Since you’ve already followed our earlier instructions and created a visually engaging, right-sized video, SEO will help viewers find it.

Make it easy for your friends, fans and followers to share your video. Many viewers will grab the URL from the browser, but you should also create and share a tiny URL on your main hosting page and when you share on all social media channels so you can track distribution.

Then why am I reading about creating video content, instead of watching it?
Not all content is video worthy. People are more likely to recall statistics and bullet points when read via text. A post this long would simply be distracting if read by one of our Lyquix marketing experts, and we hope that you’ll click through some of our resources to learn more.

Some experts predict that online video could account for almost 50% of all Internet traffic by 2014. Video is a marketing channel that you can’t afford to ignore, and one that you can use to achieve great success just by working with a marketing partner that can help you translate your message in a visually engaging way. We’re excited about the future of video content and you should be too. Gangnam style!

Technical Considerations
For more about how to incorporate video into your website, read part 2 of this series - the technical considerations.