Recently, I saw a question online asking whether explainer videos were still effective. Now, I must say I am certainly biased towards this type of content because it explains a topic, service or product in just a minute or two. That quick answer to a reader’s question is invaluable. But to understand how explainer videos work and what makes them go viral, we need to talk about what explainer videos are and how the use of this type of content changes as the marketing plan for a company changes.
What Are Explainer Videos?
Essentially explainer videos are a tool to help explain or educate the reader in a clear and concise way. It is a way for your reader to understand a process or a product in just a few seconds. Basically, an efficient explainer video answers three questions for the viewer:
- What is the product or service?
- Why is it important to your reader?
- What action should the reader take?
From a marketing perspective a good explainer video needs to satisfy clear objectives and show where your reader fits in with your product. In other words it should create awareness, educate and persuade.
But is that really enough to make an explainer video go viral?
Well, not necessarily. To go viral an explainer video doesn’t just have to be good, it has to be great.
O.K., so sit down and think for a minute:
What is it that makes your product or service great?
What makes it special to you?
That’s the passion, the feeling and the motivation you want to share. And you can only do that by telling your story; by doing something completely different from anyone else. Now depending on how good you are at telling your story, that’s how successful you’ll be at making a video that goes viral.
But What Does Viral Mean?
Well, some marketers make explainer videos that are only meant to help people navigate or understand their product. Others make videos that people want to share, even if they are commercial or marketing videos. It’s in this sharing that your video goes viral. Viral is referred to as a video that is shared millions of times on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Reddit on blogs and on many other sites.
The Secret Lies in the Way You Tell your Story
While a video certainly is one of the best types of content out there, the secret to producing an outstanding video that is shared by your readers, lies in capturing your audience’s attention, and you only have a few minutes to do that. That’s why you must have an interesting angle, a creative style. You need the perfect mix of art and technology here.
Is There a Tangible Way of Doing this?
Well, no because each service or business is different. So your story must be compelling to your targeted audience. Get ideas of what you want by analyzing your competition. See what they are doing right or wrong, and think of ways you could tell your story in a better way; sometimes this might be by offering an animated explainer video of your product; or in the telling of a funny story that relates to your product or service. Another great way to create this type of viral video is by offering elements of reality in your video. Take the Dove Real Beauty Sketches video, an explainer video that went viral in 2013. The thing that made this video so interesting was that they used real people with real concerns, issues and doubts. Remember, your targeted audience likes authenticity.
Target a Specific Audience
Before you start to write your script or start filming your story you want to target a particular audience. Think of the gender, age group or ethnicity that you want to approach, then target your story towards them.
Tell Your Story
A good viral explainer video not only explains a process, but also tells a good story. Attract your audience by telling your story.
Think of the Emotional Response You Want
The only way to get an explainer video to go viral, is to draw on an emotion, to move your audience and reach their heart. Videos that provoke a specific emotion whether it’s joy, anger or sadness are more likely to get shared and viewed by others. According to some psychological reports, those that are more likely to include humor and joy are more likely to get shared. The idea is to surprise your audience and make them laugh or make them think.
Make that Emotional Punch in the First 5 Seconds
Videos that create an emotional impact within the first 5 to 10 seconds are most likely to go viral, so be sure to get that emotional punch early on, then add good quality video, good music and great voice over. You’ll also want good editing to make the video really stand out.
Pay Attention to the Length of the Video
There is just too much information out there for you to expect your reader to sit through a 10 to 15 minute video. You want to be short and sweet, somewhere along the lines of 1 to 3 minutes. Use your editing skills to cut down your video to less than 5 minutes.
Optimize Your Description
Once you load your explainer video to the video platform be sure to add effective keywords to your description. This will help audiences find it, and be sure you add ways for viewers to reach you. Add your website URL to the description. There is nothing more frustrating than watching a great viral video only to find you don’t have any way of contacting the creator.
Don’t Forget to Market
The last step to making your explainer video go viral is the marketing process. You want to get it out there as much as you can. So publish it to related blogs, websites, video platforms like Video B2B, YouTube, Vimeo and Daily Motion. Then market it on your social media platform and those of your friends. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others to get your message across.
This post first appeared on Visual Contenting and is republished with permission.
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