When it comes to organic distribution, engagement matters with your videos. The more viewers respond to your footage, the more social media platforms, like Facebook, boost your organic reach. Videos that don’t captivate a crowd get buried beneath other content that does.
So how can you make sure your videos are highly engaging?
Much of marketing success depends on accurately predicting human behavior and preferences. Therefore, to captivate as many viewers as possible, integrate tactics backed by psychology into your videos.
Establish Credibility
If you want your videos to get watched by more people or to pack any kind of persuasive punch, viewers need to trust you. And one of the best ways to build trust is to establish credibility.
For example, say you were to watch two videos about a complex topic, such as the US healthcare system. Which video would you be more likely to watch and find the content believable: a video featuring interviews with university professors who’ve studied the topic for decades and cite peer-reviewed research? Or a video created by a vlogger who has a nominal amount of followers and provides exercise and wellness tips?
Even if the content of the vlogger’s video were accurate and well-reasoned, the former video would still come across as more trustworthy since the information is substantiated.
So include quotes, mention specific studies, and interview noteworthy people in your videos to boost their credibility and foster a sense of trustworthiness.
Inspire Viewers Or Surprise Them
Emotions play a huge rule when it comes to deciding whether or not to make a purchase. Emotions also factor into deciding to buy from one particular brand over another. The reason for this is because consumers associate certain personality traits with brands the same way they do with people.
“And just like with people, they are attracted more to some personality types than others—attractions which are emotion based, not rational,” says Peter Noel Murray, Ph.D.
Positive emotions towards a brand lead to greater brand loyalty and trust. Moreover, positive emotions like optimism, amazement, anticipation, and astonishment are the among most common emotions to fuel viral video content. According to Fractl, the top ten emotions for driving viral content are…
- Amusement
- Interest
- Surprise
- Happiness
- Delight
- Pleasure
- Joy
- Hope
- Affection
- Excitement
With your videos, “the goal is to find the link to an issue that plagues your consumers and relates directly or even tangentially to your brand or product,” says Kelsey Libert and Kristin Tynksi. “At the same time, you must make sure that the topic you choose also positively reflects the position of your brand.”
Keep It Visual
Duh, it’s a video! Well, yes. But videos can still be too narration- or text-heavy and feel more like PowerPoint presentations. So be sure to balance your video’s narration and text with plenty of vibrant photos, graphics, animation, footage of actual people, interviews, et cetera.
Visual storytelling is powerful stuff. We’ve relied on it to help us learn about and navigate the world since we were babies. And it continues to be an effective and highly persuasive means of helping us build associations, form opinions, and understand concepts and data more easily throughout our lives.
Tell A Story And Evoke Empathy
When you tell a story (as opposed to giving a clinical account of facts, data, and features), you transplant ideas and experiences to your audience, evoking empathy and nurturing a connection.
Storytelling recounts sensory details that help tap into your audience’s own memory, making your video’s message resonate more strongly.
What do you think about these tips for making your videos more engaging? Are your videos getting enough likes, share, and comments? Drop us a line and share your insights!