You walk into a room – a really big one – filled with 5,000 people. You might know a some of them, but most are strangers. Each introduces themselves to you. How many of them will you remember the next day?
Now, imagine that scenario playing out every single day of your life. According to The New York Times, market research firm Yankelovich estimates we’re bombarded with up to 5,000 advertising and marketing messages a day.
Back to that really big room, with 5,000 people vying for your attention.
Who’s that good-looking person over there? First impressions are made from visual cues. It’s because our brains are visually wired, with 70% of all our sensory receptors located in our eyes. It’s how we prefer to capture information. We’re visual. Which is why we love videos.
How much time do you have to make a first impression? Well, a Microsoft study shows people generally lose concentration after just eight seconds – which is one second less than the attention span of a goldfish. But does this mean you need to successfully insert your memorable value proposition by the count of “nine-Mississippi?”
Jason Miller heads up content and social media marketing for LinkedIn. He argued that while the Microsoft data might be concerning, it also might not be as apocalyptic as we think. Miller argues that our attention span isn’t shrinking as much as it is becoming more intensive and efficient because we’re spending less of it on pointless tasks. We focus like lasers on what we find relevant to problems we want to solve. We’ll spend as much time watching a video or reading an article as necessary. As comedian Jerry Seinfeld says, “This whole idea of attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them.”
So, your inbound marketing is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s convinced a prospect to pay a visit to your website, and now it’s time to introduce yourself. What goes into an awesome intro video?
Recall a famous challenge, likely issued by your mother. “If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?” She had a point. Don’t rush to infuse your online presence with video just because the majority of the unicorns out there have them.
What’s the purpose of your video? Don’t confuse this with the challenge of using a video to communicate the purpose of your company. Fast Company has a useful primer on how companies can communicate what they stand for, only to realize that it doesn’t align with what their customers care about.
Your video is an introduction to your company, so you want to raise awareness. If you offer something new and unknown, you’ll have to educate viewers. Select the purpose and keep it on point. If it is about education and helping a prospect fit your product or service into their worldview, Digital Sherpa has good news for you: research shows that video storytelling can increase understanding by up to 74%.
Leave epic cinematic experiences to Dino De Laurentiis and Ridley Scott. Video software company Wistia ran the numbers on more than 560,000 online videos, concluding that engagement decreases significantly after two minutes spent watching. The research shows that a 30-second video can generate the same attention as a 90-second video.
Yes, there’s an exclamation point in the subhead. Wistia learned about more than the sweet spot for video length by researching videos. Just as our brains crave storytelling to understand things, our brains prefer faces to help us determine our trust.
Get past the default desire to show your product. Transition to the level where you show people who are using your product – and the end result. You don’t need supermodels or a top Instagram influencer for this – but there are facial features that help to deepen trust and engagement.
Isn’t it obvious? That’s what you’re thinking. The intro video ends, and people should know exactly what you want them to do next. Think about those 5,000 people you just met in that really big room. The ones who will stand out are those who ended the interaction by communicating exactly what’s needed to deepen the relationship.
They do this because you might not actually know what to do next – especially if you’ve just been introduced to a concept that’s not yet familiar or comfortable in your worldview. What’s your call to action (CTA)?
Just as certain facial features – not to mention using actual people in your introduction video – can deepen trust and engagement, an acceptable level of quality increases acceptance and positive perception of your brand.
Video is a multisensory experience. You don’t have to possess the innate skills of a Hollywood director to create this experience in ways that make it memorable. Entrepreneur notes that you can kick things up more than just a notch by keeping four things in mind:
An intro video is key to creating first impressions, and then helping prospects move down the path to becoming customers.
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