If a picture tells a thousand words, then what is the video’s magical number? Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research believes that the value of a one-minute video is actually 1.8 million words! That makes videos semantically richer than even static visual components.
If a picture tells a thousand words, then what is the video’s magical number? Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research believes that the value of a one-minute video is actually 1.8 million words! That makes videos semantically richer than even static visual components.
Turning verbal into visual content is definitely an art, and will require creativity and ingenuity as you ransack things like blogs, whitepapers and even emails to find ways to translate words into images. Utilize tools like Google Analytics and other metrics to look back and see what has captured people’s attention and piqued their interest, then pep up the final product with these simple tips:
- Humanize Content – Nothing is worse than inert, dry content that comes off as robotic. Instead, put a human face on your products and services. People really do enjoy seeing other people: it’s an innate pleasure. For example, have one of your physician’s discuss how an MRI machine works. Showing trumps telling every time. And remember, your objective is transmission; you want your video to go viral, so make it something people will naturally want to share.
- Make a Beeline to Content’s Core – Within the realm of the videographic, attention spans are minimal, and consumers easily move on to the next video the second they’re bored with the current one. Get to the point quickly without becoming mired in an overwhelming barrage of details: after all, you want a beeline, not a conga line. Identify a guiding idea and follow it closely, architecting a direct path to your point that will captivate viewership.
- Sculpt a Series – Once you dig into your verbal content and start strategizing about how to turn it into the visual, you’ll be surprised to learn just how much raw material you have at hand. The act of translating words into pictures always produces certain excess, which gives you the perfect opportunity to create a series of videos rather than just a single disconnected offering. On YouTube, you can use the annotation feature to inscribe a storyline onto clustered videos, making your content a serial adventure.
You know you have stellar content — now’s the time to make it come alive in a fresh new way through the inherent appeal of the video form. Turn words into images, and static images into moving ones: your fan base will definitely notice, and your reputation as industry icon will only increase.