How long do you think your attention span is?  Exactly!  You are already thinking of something else, and your video audience is no different.  The key to successful videos is to have shorter videos that capture the viewers’ attention right away and are highly informative throughout.

Having a short, but sweet video is key to keeping your views and engagement up.

In fact, according to a study conducted by Microsoft, human attention span is at its lowest ever (thanks to technology!).  The average human being now has an attention span of eight seconds. This is a sharp decrease from the average attention span of 12 seconds in the year 2000. More shocking, perhaps, is the fact that research from Jampp found that human attention span decreases by a whopping 88 percent every year.

Take a minute to soak that in. Now, think carefully about the implications of this for your video marketing strategy:

In a nutshell, this reveals a few quick facts:

• People do not have enough patience to read c
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Behind the scenes footage is footage of the inner dynamics of a company, brand or service. It gives a glimpse into how a product or service is made, who's involved in it, how a company works and the overall environment that it's brought up in.

Going behind the scenes allows your audience to see you from a more human perspective. This allows them to connect with you in a more personable way than scripted videos because your audience gets to see that you, too, are human. They get to see that you are more than just a business, that you are people who care about your customers and value their trust.

Here are some tips when shooting behind the scenes footage:

Tell a Story

Every video has a story! It's a great way to lure the audience in and take them for a ride through what working with you or you client would be like.

Be Personable

Showcasing behind the scenes of how you work to ensure customer satisfaction work is a great way to build trust between you and your potential clients. By...

Ever worked on a project for a long time, thought you perfected it only to realize that the final product has a few tiny errors in it? Believe it or not, it's pretty common for people to miss fine details like these.

Here are some tips on avoiding common video editing mistakes:

Send To Friends

Once you’ve edited your video, send it over to a friend or co-worker for a second look. After spending so much time on one project, it is common that you might have missed something that needs to be fixed. Having a second pair of eyes helps keep you clear of any possible mistakes.

Come Back To It

After spending a couple hours or even a day on a video editing project, your eyes are bound to be tired. Take a break for a few hours and come back to it. You’re more likely to catch mistakes if you’re working with a fresh and rested pair of eyes. 

Why do advertisements work so well in encouraging people to buy products? Well, it’s because they tell captivating stories. What makes them even more powerful is ability to tell a story within a short amount of time, but we’ll cover that another day.

The power of great storytelling evokes emotion and takes you on somewhat of an emotional journey. Although text can be a powerful way to tell a story, videos are the best way to visually tell a story. By telling a story, you’re more likely to reel the viewer in for the entirety of the video. It is the best way to connect with your audience on a more personable level.

What goes into planning a visual story are some things we’ve covered in our previous newsletters, such as creating a plan and working the plan. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when planning your visual story:

Set a Goal

Think about what you want your audience to take away from your video. Do you want to leave them with valuable information? Do you want them to buy a pr...

How many times have you gone to watch a video and couldn’t stay focused on what was being said because the background was too “noisy”? Or because there was something in the background that made it look like something was sticking out of the person’s head so you were fixated on that? These are common things to miss when setting up to record your videos or even editing in post production. 

When you’re setting up to record videos, there are three important things that you need to pay attention to - audio, lighting and background. It’s important to remember that when it comes to the background, less is more. The less clutter you have in the background, the more your audience will be able to retain and engage with your content. Here are a few tips for keeping your background simple:

Find a Clean Background

Find a plain wall that isn’t covered in pictures or decor as that would be too distracting to your viewers. Maybe you have an accent table against it for depth. The biggest thing to re...

Imagine your favorite television show or movie without background music. How different would the tone or mood of specific scenes be if they didn’t have any? Whether it’s a romantic, comedic, action or horror film, music helps to create the overall tone of motion pictures.

Music is a powerful tool that can influence the way people feel when they’re watching a video. Using music in your videos is a great way to evoke emotion and send a specific message to your audience. It also helps keep the audience engaged throughout your entire video, it makes it more exciting to the viewer!

Here are some tips for adding background music to your videos:

Match the Mood

Make sure the music you pick matches the mood of the video. Music can help create the energy of a moment, so you want to make sure you pick something that matches the initial tone of your video. For example, say that you are creating a video as a Veteran’s Day tribute. You don’t want the music to be super upbeat and happy since the ...

This is one of the biggest tips we recommend to our clients. Say you’re recording and you make it about half way through the script and you mess up. Instead of going back and starting at the beginning of the script, go back to where you made the mistake. There's no need to start all the way from the beginning, as that would not be an efficient use of your time. 

If you mess up, remember to pause, look at the camera and then start again. The pauses help when it comes to editing. Not only does this help in the post-production process, this also saves you a lot of time and stress! You don’t have to worry about spending too much time on one video because you're having trouble pronouncing that one word and have to start from the beginning again.  

That’s the magic of editing, you can edit those two takes together, throw some B-roll on top of it to hide the jump cut and boom you have your final video.

Another reason we recommend shooting multiple takes is so you have a few different shots...

SEO isn’t only relevant for your website and blog posts. In fact, YouTube, also owned by Google, has become the second largest search engine online. 

People search YouTube for information, like “How Do I Buy A House”, “How Can I Cancel MI”, “What Is A Mortgage”, just as they would on Google.

There are some simple steps you can take to help make your videos easier to find on YouTube.

First, use a good title when you post your video onto YouTube.  Titles are the best way to catch someone’s attention. You want to keep your title short, interesting and informative.  Not always easy.  Think about a top ten list.  Something like, “Three Things You Need to Know About Buying Your First Home” or “How to Beat a Cash Offer” will capture their attention and let them know what your video is about.  If it resonates with them and what they are searching for, then good chance they will click on your video.

The next thing you want to do is to have a good description of your video.  Tell viewers wha...

Sure, you love to send out email marketing.  We’ve been doing it for centuries!  But, if you want to get people to actually look at your emails you should add video.    

According to Animoto, adding the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19%, click-through rates by 65% and reduces unsubscribers by 26%.

Adding a video thumbnail into your email also boosts engagement.  In fact, just adding a video thumbnail over a plain image can increase your click through rate.

Our two favorite email platforms that easily incorporate video are TotalExpert and BombBomb.   In fact, BombBomb is so easy to use you can record a video directly from your phone and upload it directly into the platform, so if you want to capture the attention of a real estate agent, why not go stand in front of their listing, record a video and send it to them.  It will probably get their attention.

Find ways to incorporate video into your email marketing and watch your open rates grow!

During most of our video planning sessions with our clients, this question will pop up at least a few times: How long should the video be? And while there is no right or wrong video length, there are many important factors to consider when timing your video. Things to consider include:

• Who is the target audience?
• What are the messages you are trying to convey?
• How will it be used?
• Is it for a live event?
• Are you looking to gain SEO strength in online searches?

To better determine the length of your video, let's break down some of the factors that will guide your decision.

What’s the Content of Your Video?

If you're watching another cat video, a 6-second video on Instagram is perfectly fine. If you’re discussing a complicated issue – like steps to getting a mortgage – it should be MUCH longer. Your video should be as long as your content will support – to tell your story and achieve your goals. Not a second longer, but not a second shorter, either.

Who is Your Audience and ...