3 Ways To Make Short Videos That Get More Views

 

You might think a half-hour TV program is thirty minutes long. It’s not. TV runs to the second. It could be 28 minutes and 12 seconds or 26 minutes and 39 seconds PRECISELY. Yet in the online world today. There is next to no time discipline at all. It seems as if an attitude exists that the internet is endless, boundless. Maybe it is? We can all add as much as we like, when we like, how often we like. 

The way we consume media has changed.

In our grandparents day, listening to the radio was an intentional activity. The family stopped what they were doing and gathered around the wireless. Now we watch media on our smart devices, in the gaps between other activities, snatching opportunity as it presents. 

TV is evolving to fit into our ever decreasing attention gaps.

Currently, we are taking longer-form content and carving it up into smaller chunks for online consumption. Shorter-form storytelling will be a new skill and those that can do it will be in demand.

HOW LONG SHOULD YOUR VIDEO BE?

Let me defer to the thirty-second President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nearly one hundred years ago he answered this question perfectly.

 

BE BRIEF, BE SINCERE, BE SEATED

Every person making a video should have this tattooed on their index finger, so that every time they extend it to push the record button, they are reminded.

Nobody needs, nobody likes, nobody will watch bloated videos. Say what have you have to say then say goodbye. If you have a lot to say, then you must break it down into shorter segments. Multiple short videos.

Your video should be as long as it needs to be, and no more.

In the 1990s,  documentaries began to be told in thirty minutes instead the traditional one hour. There was a lot of huffing and puffing and foot-stomping but it didn’t stop the shift. Half-hour factual programs are the norm now, and in many cases, better. 

I mention this because you can always tell your story or make your point in a more concise way.  Here are some simple ways to start.

 

CUT WITHIN THE FRAME

You will need to learn to ‘cut within the frame’. When you are in the editing process you must divorce yourself from all the emotions of the video making process. All that matters is what the audience sees and hears, and that is clearly set out by the edges of the screen: the frame. 

Your audience doesn’t care that it took you one hour to get that one shot just right. If it doesn’t serve the story, if it doesn’t serve the audience’s need, that shot goes into the bin. They don’t care that you spent months negotiating for a special guest to appear in your video. If that guest turns out to be a dud, they go into the bin. No one cares about your sweat and tears and how hard you slaved to get this to the screen. No one wants to hear about the labour, they just want to see the baby.

 

TITLES

You can trim ten to fifteen seconds off most online videos by getting rid of those meaningless, glossy titles you were promised would ‘set you apart’. Sorry to shatter the illusion, but those titles have made you like everyone else who bought into the lie. Do you know who benefits from long titles? The people who make your titles. You fund their creative urges. You fund their video-titles-showreel that they will use to engage the next customer. I’m not criticising them for doing that. I just want you to know what’s really happening.

What about TV shows? They have longer titles with catchy tunes, and yes, they help brand the show and introduce the cast to first-time watchers. Yes, they do all that. But they do more.  They save the production thousands of dollars that can be ploughed back into actor’s fees, better locations, bigger and better CGI dragons. Thirty to sixty seconds, every week, over the life of a series is a substantial cost saving. Most of us are not playing in that league.

If you must use titles, then make them just a second or two in length. That’s all you need to brand your video and not annoy your customers. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. It is not only your video they might be watching, but it’s likely to also be a handful of your competitor’s videos. Given that playing follow-the-leader is common within industries, the customer could be yawning through one meaningless title after the next. 

Imagine you used that ten to fifteen seconds to speak directly to your customer’s problem.

Now there’s a video that stands apart from the rest!

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Include one of these Bios

 

Short Speaker Bio 30 words

Julian Mather is a world class videographer turned smartphone video evangelist. His simple message: you win more business with a smartphone and a smile in the 2020’s www.julianmather.com

 

Medium Speaker Bio 95 words

Julian Mather has seen the world through many lenses. Through a telescopic sight as an army sniper. Through the TV lens as a globe-trotting videographer for ABCTV, National Geographic and BBC. Through smoke and mirrors as a professional magician.

He's traveled far but his longest journeys have been from behind the camera to in front of it. From stutterer to professional speaker.

He is now a smartphone video evangelist, speaker, writer and chief agitator of the Business Video Rebellion and loves helping business master the missing business skill of video. www.julianmather.com

 

 

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