Video marketing is an ever-changing industry. As shorter videos made their way into advertising on social media platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, the search for creative content that immediately catches the attention of viewers and keeps them engaged is essential.
Current Youtuber and video production agency owner Christopher Frankiln Jr. graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi with plans to build an audience online. Throughout his efforts, Franklin Jr. learned the “ins and outs” of how a video is marketed. The key for him is starting from the end, essentially understanding the end goal or purpose of the video.
“One of the main things when it comes to creating a story is that I always create story-driven videos,” he said. “But before I do that, I have to know where the end result is. I would say for beginners who are creating, definitely define the purpose and understand what you’re creating before you just go out there and create anything.”
While this mentality is said mainly for content creators such as Franklin Jr., it applies to video marketers as well. Finding the call to action and the why is the first step when creating a resonating video, even if the video is 60 seconds or less.
According to The State of Video Marketing, a survey conducted by Wyzowl, the use of shorter video as an advertising tool increased from 61% to 86% since 2016, further increasing immediate implementation in business marketing strategies.
With the rise of social media, Franklin Jr. believes that being able to create shorter-form content is “one of the greatest skills one can have in this generation because you can reach the most amount of people and have the quickest amount of impact.” He says that shorter form content is the most effective way to engage your audience, as it respects a viewer’s time effectively.
Franklin listed three tips on how to maximize sharing and cultivate purposeful video content:
1. Create with your audience in mind and understand what platform you’re creating for.
2. Be human and relate to people.
3. Know your gear.
As 84% of people are convinced to buy a brand’s product after watching a video, Franklin Jr.’s advice is simple. Understand your audience, show empathy, and research specific gear in order to tell the story effectively through the lenses.
“I don’t want to sell people things,” he said. “I don’t want to sway people’s emotions to go suddenly towards favoritism or something like that. But being able to impact and relate to individual people has really been changing for me.”
