Almost all marketers now agree that video is a powerful marketing tool because of how versatile they are; videos can be engaging, informative, and entertaining all at the same time. But what makes a video truly great? How do you make sure that your videos are interesting and engaging enough to hold people’s attention?

Here are three tips that you should follow as a small business owner to create interesting and engaging videos that people will want to interact with.

1. Start With a Good Story

People are drawn to stories, so start your video by telling one. This doesn’t mean to just tell any story, but to tell a story that can stick and stay with the audience. Tell your audience a story that will make a connection between them and your product and service.

This can be absolutely challenging but don’t overthink it because it can also be really simple. If you don’t have a good story, think about a testimonial you’ve heard about how your product or service has helped someone. Or consider telling the story of how your small business, product, or service came to be.

These are stories that will create a connection.

2. Be creative with your visuals

It’s all right to have a single individual speaking directly to the camera, and it can work. However, the more innovative you are with your visuals, the more successful you’ll be. The goal is to keep people visually interested so that they don’t get bored and lose interest in the video.

Remember, that the most ineffective videos are videos that people turn off.

Switch up your shots and include good B-Roll.

What is B-Roll? B-roll is supplemental footage that can be used to support the main video footage. This can be anything from establishing shots of the location to footage of the product or service in use.

So while there may be a person talking and telling a story in the content, the B-Roll is what the audience would actually see and keeps your audience engaged in your video.

For example, if you’re telling the story about how you started your company in a garage, show them video of that garage. Let them see and feel how hard it may have been to start a company in that garage.

You can also use animations, which have become very popular recently. There are fonts, types, and graphics that also work well and allow videos to be visually appealing and flow well.

3. Keep it short and sweet.

Most people will not watch a long video, especially if they are just looking for one quick thing. No one would watch a 16 minute video on how to turn an oven on so don’t think you need to include a bunch of filler and fluff just because you can.

There’s a reason that TikTok and Instagram are such successful platforms and that is because they have quick videos that people find satisfying. The shorter the video, the better – leave your audience wanting more. Drive them to your website to find out more information about your small business or service.

The longer a video is, the more likely people are to turn it off. Studies have shown this to be true.

There was a study done by Wistia discussing video length and engagement rates. Their findings found that videos under 2 minutes had the best results in engagement. After 2 minutes, engagement dropped off fairly drastically.

This doesn’t mean that all your videos need to be short, but reiterates the fact to keep your videos short. The best way to do this is not to be repetitive and make sure everything you want to say has been said and there’s no filler or fluff.

Take Away

Video marketing can be a great way to connect with your customers and create engaging videos that keep them interested. However, it’s important to remember that not all videos are created equal. You need to be creative with your visuals, tell a good story, and keep it short and sweet. If you follow these three tips, you’ll be well on your way to successful video marketing.