How To Use Video to Attract and Engage New Users and Clients

Video marketing is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal to engage and connect with new customers. When done correctly, videos can engage and connect with your audience in a way that no other medium can.

In order to get the most out of your video marketing efforts, you need to focus on engagement. Here are 15 ways to boost engagement with your marketing videos!

1. Understand Your Audience

Before you even begin creating your marketing video, you need to take the time to understand your audience. This means answering questions like:

- Who are your ideal customers?
- What do they need?
- What kinds of videos are they most likely to engage with?
- What platforms do they engage with?

Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can start creating content that appeals directly to them.

2. Shoot High-Quality Videos

No one wants to watch a low-quality, shaky video. In order to engage your audience, you need to produce high-quality videos that are shot in HD and edited professionally.

In addition to making sure your videos are high-quality, you also need to make sure they're interesting. This means coming up with creative concepts and storylines that will capture your audience's attention and hold it until the very end.

3. Put a Human Face in Your Video

People engage with other people, not with brands. In order to create videos that engage your audience, you need to put a human face on your brand. The best way to do this is by featuring real people in your videos.

Whether it's customers talking about their experience with your product or employees giving a behind-the-scenes look at your company, humanizing your brand will go a long way in boosting engagement.

4. Begin with a Powerful Hook

Ten seconds is all it takes for a viewer to decide whether or not to watch the rest of your video. You need to start your video with a strong hook if you want people to stick around and watch the whole thing.

Whether it's an interesting statistic, an emotional story, or a question that piques curiosity, make sure your opening is attention-grabbing and sets the stage for the rest of your video.

5. Build Your Story Around Emotions

The most successful videos are the ones that evoke some sort of emotion in the viewer. When people feel something, they're more likely to remember it and share it with others.

Some emotions you could try to evoke in your viewers are happiness, sadness, anger, fear, or even just a sense of humor. No matter what emotions you decide to target, just make sure they're aligned with your brand identity.

6. Include Visual Cues

In addition to emotions, people are also more likely to engage with a video that includes visual cues. This could be anything from on-screen text and graphics to animation and special effects. Anything that makes your video more visually engaging will help boost engagement levels.

7. Use Music and Sound Effects

Music and sound effects are a great way to engage viewers and set the tone for your video. The right music can make your video more exciting, emotional, or even funny.

Just make sure you use royalty-free music so you don't get in trouble for copyright infringement. There are a lot of great resources for finding royalty-free music online, like YouTube Audio Library and Free Music Archive.

8. Include Subtitles and Closed Captions

Not everyone speaks the same language, which is why it's important to include subtitles or closed captions in your videos. This way, people from all over the world can engage with your content.

If you're catering to an international audience, you might even want to consider creating videos in multiple languages. This will definitely help boost engagement levels.

You can either create subtitles or closed captions yourself using a tool like Subtitle Edit or Aegisub, or you can hire someone to do it for you.

9. Add a Call to Action (CTA)

If you want people to do something after watching your video, you need to include a call to action. Your CTA needs to be clear and direct. This could be anything from signing up for your email list to downloading a piece of content or following you on social media.

Add CTAs at strategic points throughout the video, not just at the end. That way, you won't miss viewers that were engaged but didn't watch the whole video.

10. Make It Short and Sweet

No one wants to watch a long, drawn-out video. The shorter your video is, the more likely people are to watch it until the end.

Aim for videos that are around two minutes or less. If you can't say what you need to in five minutes or less, make sure you break it up into smaller sections so people can digest it more easily.

11. Cater Your Video Content to Each Platform

Not all videos are going to perform equally well on every platform. You need to cater your video content to each individual platform in order to get the most engagement.

What works on YouTube might not work on Facebook, and vice versa. For example, shorter, snackable videos perform well on Instagram and Snapchat, while longer, in-depth videos are better suited for YouTube.

You should also consider the size, aspect ratio, and file type when creating videos for different platforms.

12. Create Eye-catching Thumbnails

Your video thumbnail is the first thing people see when they come across your video, so it's important to make sure it's eye-catching and representative of the content in your video.

Think of your thumbnail as a mini-poster for your video. It should be visually appealing and make people want to click on it.
You can create custom thumbnails or use software like Canva to design them. Just make sure they're high quality and look good on all devices.

13. Promote Your Video Everywhere

Just because you posted your video on YouTube or Facebook doesn't mean people are going to see it. You need to promote your video across all of your channels, from social media to email marketing to paid advertising.

In addition to promoting your video on your website and social media channels, you should also consider submitting it to directories and forums. You can even reach out to bloggers and influencers in your industry and ask them to share your video.

14. Engage With Your Viewers

If you want people to engage with your videos, you need to engage with them first. Respond to comments, answer questions, and start conversations. This will not only make your viewers feel appreciated, it will also encourage them to keep watching your videos.

15. Test, Test, Test

Finally, don't forget to test, test, test. Try different types of videos, different lengths, different platforms, different CTAs, and different thumbnail images. By testing different aspects of your videos, you'll be able to figure out what works best for your audience and your business.

Track your engagement levels and analyze the data to see what's working and what isn't. Once you find a formula that works well, stick with it and keep producing great content.

Conclusion

There you have it--15 ways to boost engagement with your marketing videos. By following these steps, you can ensure that your videos are reaching as many people as possible and driving the results you want.