Quick Tips for Making an Effective How-To Video

 

 

How-To Videos can be a great way to showcase your product/service as well as build authority and show expertise in your respective field.

If you have ever googled “How-To,” you know the power that can be unleashed by using Video content. We understand that not everyone is a video guru and How-To videos can be challenging to produce.

How-To videos

Video has been growing in popularity recently in the digital marketing space. Companies such as Facebook and Instagram have in recent times updated their algorithms to give priority to video content.

“Research shows that video is one of the most popular ways people prefer to consume content.  All of this is to show you how important Video is in today’s market.”

 

As a business person, you stand to lose out to your competition if video isn’t part of your overall marketing strategy.

Not every video has to be an advertisement, one great strategy to leverage this medium, is by using “How-To” content.

Here are some tips to help you make great How-To videos:

Connect with your audience

When making How-To videos, you need to keep your audience engaged for most of the video (more on this later).

Audience engagement can make your video and more so your “offer” more attractive. The best way to connect with an audience is to make the video personal. One way that you can do this is by having an actual person in the video during the presentation.

It could be you or an employee or even a paid actor, whatever works best. Brands that use people in their video content are more likely to convert compared to those that don’t.

This helps connect to your audience on a personal level. It also helps to know who your audience is. By knowing your audience, you can provide content that is tailored to their needs.

Make your How-To videos more personal

When making How-To videos, it’s important to use language and terms that are familiar with your target audience. Don’t assume that everyone understands the lingo in your area of expertise.

It can help to have a script before you start filming. With that said, don’t just read from the script, add a personal touch to it as well.

Your appearance also matters in this respect. You need to dress in a way that meets your audience’s expectations.

For instance, you could be dressed very casually for a tech how-to video, but the same can’t be done when making a video on serious topics such as finance. Your audience is more likely to trust you if your appearance matches the expectation that they have.

 

Consider the length of the video

The adage “Less is More” applies here. Research shows that people online have a short attention span.

They’d rather watch a 10 min video than a 30 minute or one-hour video. As a content creator, you need to keep this in mind when making your How-To videos.

“One way to curb your video length is by making the point short, concise and clear. Again, it helps to have a script. You could also set time parameters for yourself before filming. This can help you adjust the video to a more appropriate length.”

 

What this does is it removes a lot of the fluff and filler and makes the video shorter. We understand that this can be tough, especially when presenting on complex subject matters, but there is a solution.

Break down your videos! Yes, you read that right. Focus on the key points of your topic and add video chaptering to help viewers watch the content relevant to them. Or let each one have its own video.

adding video chaptering to your how-to videos will help your viewers to navigate your content

Instead of having one long video of say 60 minutes, you can break it down to digestible sizes of 10 minutes each. Not only will this give you more content to use, but it will also help your audience digest and understand the subject matter better.

 

Engage your audience

It’s a fact that most people online have very short attention spans. With that in mind, audience engagement becomes key when making videos.

It’s always important to keep your audience engaged throughout the video. There are certain tactics that you can use to achieve this:

Good delivery of video content

As much as we don’t like saying this, but delivery matters. Both your media delivery – which means fast HTLM5 streaming – otherwise you will have a high exit rate even if your content is great. 

Also, your tone delivery is important to keep your viewers engaged. You need to work on how you deliver your content. Throwing in a joke or two in the video can be a great way to keep people engaged.

With that said, be careful when adding jokes as the right joke at the wrong time can have the opposite effect.

Another point to consider during delivery is the inflection of your voice. You don’t want to sound monotone as that can make the content sound boring.

What you need to do is vary the inflection of your voice (even slightly above normal is fine) at different points in the video. You can practice this as you shoot the video.

Body movement and gestures

Don’t stand still as you present, move your body and make appropriate gestures throughout the video. Hand gestures and body movement can help illustrate and reinforce your points.

Your content

You can also add some variations in your videos to help boost audience engagement. You don’t need to do anything drastic.

You can simply change the filming location for your How-To video every from time to time (if possible), add some different video effects or bring in someone else to present with you. Some variation in your videos could bring more interest in the content that you produce.

Consistency is key

In anything you do, consistency is key. Make sure your branding is always on point.

Your videos need some variety from time to time to keep your audience engaged, but variety should not substitute consistency.

You’ll notice that most of the big brands always keep certain elements consistent in their advertisements. This is because of the idea of familiarity. People love that which they are familiar with.

By establishing consistency in your videos, you’re building a brand. It also makes it easier for your target audience to identify your content when they come across it online.

A great way to establish consistency is by using colors to create a certain theme in your videos. It can also be as simple as using a catchphrase in your video. Experiment and see what works best for you.

Now You Know

A How-To video can be a great marketing tool for you and your business.

You need to remember that the goal of these videos is not necessarily to convert customers but to build brand awareness. It helps showcase your authority and expertise in the field in question.

A stellar how-to video always needs to keep the audience engaged, but also be short and concise. You also need to connect with your audience to keep them coming back for more.

Hopefully, by combining the tips we provided, you’ll be on your way to making an awesome How-To video for your audience.

Originally published on May 29th, 2019, updated on September 22nd, 2020
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Quick Tips for Making an Effective How-To Video

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