5 Ways to Take Video to the Next Level

Maybe your company has been creating online videos for years, or maybe you're a newcomer. Whichever the case, stop for a minute, look over your video creations, and think about the best bang-for-the-buck methods to improve your efforts.

Need a little inspiration? At this week's Kaltura Connect conference, Wendy Collins, vice president of digital strategy for Infobase Learning, gave a presentation offering 10 tips for taking online business videos to the next level. Here are five of Collins's tips for creating more engaging and effective videos.

1. Produce Quality Video

How can you expect viewers to sit through a video that looks and sounds terrible? Focus on four key ways to improve quality, says Collins: have good lighting, use a microphone to record audio, frame your shots professionally, and invest in a tripod. Audio is especially important, as people will forgive a few stuttering frames, but they'll click away in a heartbeat if they can't hear what's being said.

2. Know Your Audience

Whom are you trying to reach? Decide before you shoot anything. Are your videos for prospects or existing customers? Faculty or students? Employees or investors? Stay focused to make an effective product.

3. Make Sure the Video Matters

Content is still king, emphasized Collins, and you should be able to sum up your video's concept in one sentence. If you can't, you're likely trying to do too much or reach too broad an audience.

4. Keep it Short

What's the best length for an online video? As short as you can go while covering the topic at hand. Three minutes is a good length, says Collins. Go longer and completion rates decline quickly. Put important information in the beginning of the video, to be sure people see it.

5. Provide Additional Resources

Not all information is best presented in a video. Want to provide product specs? Link to a PDF. Want to provide high-quality images? Link to some JPEGs. You might also want to link to PowerPoint presentations or webpages.

That's only five of Collin's tips, but it should get you started improving your video efforts. For the other five tips, you'll have to catch Collins's presentation at some future conference.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net