How to create a killer Long Form Video   

Video marketing is increasingly at the center of digital marketing, we know. Be careful, though! When we say “video,” we are actually talking about many different things: from the 15-second clip posted as an Instagram Story to the branded video that takes the form of an actual movie.

We must always keep in mind this breadth and diversity that is inherent in video marketing, and, consequently, not to fall into the trap of generalizations. With this very clear awareness in mind, we have chosen to devote this post to the topic of long form video.

Let’s establish a decisive premise right away: in the online ecosystem we are all constantly bombarded with stimuli, from the most diverse channels and devices. We often cite a study conducted by Microsoft that showed how people, on average, end up losing attention after just 8 seconds.

So, it begs the question: if this is the context where marketers must operate, what is the point of producing long videos that demand a large amount of attention from the viewer? Is it useful to do so? Does it work? In the remainder of this post, we will answer these very questions in depth, isolating the 3 main benefits of producing long form videos. 

Next, we will give you 4 practical tips for making the most effective long form videos. Before proceeding, we are left with only one preliminary step to unravel. This: what do we mean by long form video? This question is not easy to answer.

If we take Google Ads as a reference, we can define long form videos as those that exceed 10 minutes in duration. Those of shorter duration, accordingly, can be defined as short form (source: support.google.com). But the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t make too much sense to set such a stark parameter. A video that is 8 or 9 minutes long, for example, will be perceived by the majority of the audience as long form. And between videos of an hour long and those of 20 minutes, there are decisive differences at the level of perception, fruition, and—consequently, upstream—realization.

As promised, here are the 3 main benefits of making long form videos. To this, we add an additional premise: it all depends on your goals, the composition of your audience and the channels you choose to use.

The real key to marketing today is to be able to establish a deep connection with one’s audience, a kind of complicity: it is the first step in creating a lasting and fruitful relationship.

Long form videos are the perfect tool to reinforce this path and feeling. In fact, the viewer does not feel immediately confronted with the very cold choice between “to buy and not to buy.” He enjoys, first and foremost, well-crafted content, enters a narrative, and feels that the brand values his time.

But how to accomplish this? There are many ways, of course. Surely the wrong way is to aim directly at the sale, in too direct, aggressive, and hasty a manner. In fact, we must never forget that the sale must be perceived as the culmination of a journey that has to do with trust.

Pay attention to this data, which is extremely interesting and related to what we have just pointed out:

• according to research conducted by TwentyThree, videos longer than 15 minutes are responsible for as much as 50% of all engagement derived from videos (although they make up only 8% of videos produced) (source: twentythree.com)

In short, it’s all about delivering value. As a natural consequence of this, the engagement rate soars. Thus a sense of belonging is created, which is what enables the emergence of a community around a brand. The final step is to transform this community into the first and most powerful testimonial group. This is what we mean by “advocacy.”

The acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it indicates strategies for optimizing the ranking of a piece of content on search engines, increasing its visibility.

The higher the ranking of a website or an individual page, the more they will be seen by users, with the resulting return in number of clicks (and all that comes with it, for example, in terms of conversion). Let’s be very clear: SEO is not an exact science. It has been calculated that Google’s algorithm changes about 500 times a year, and it’s normal for strategies and best practices to change very quickly. But there are some firm points. And among them is the very important role that video plays.

Let’s look at it with some data:

• Videos record, on average, organic search engine rankings that are as much as 50 times better than links that contain only text (source: seoinc.com). 
• Search results that contain a video have a 41% higher average Click Through Rate (CTR) than results from text pages (source: aimclear.com).
• Blog posts that contain videos see a 157% increase in traffic compared to blog posts that contain only text (source: searchenginepeople.com).

Finally, pay attention to this crucial aspect: a key metric for improving search engine rankings is the average time spent by a user on a page. And, if well constructed, long form videos are the perfect medium to increase this average time.

We will be very brief on this point because, after all, it constitutes the natural consequence of what we have discussed in the previous two points.

Long form videos are the ideal medium for offering added value to your audience, building their loyalty. They convey a sense of belonging. They create community. They improve search engine rankings, thus your visibility amidst the crowd of content that is being produced, at every moment, in the digital world. The result of all of this?

A powerful return in image for the brand, which really emerges from the chorus, not because it “shouts” louder than others, but because it is closer to its customers (both actual and potential ones).

And here we come to the last part of the post. Here, we will be even more concrete and concise and we will collect our tips for making the most memorable and effective long form videos around 4 key points.

Before any video marketing campaign, it is crucial to establish very precise goals.

This is true even if you are making “snackable” content and all the more crucial when we are talking about long form content. To put it another way: it’s about starting with the end goal clearly in mind. So: what idea do we want to give about the brand? What do we want to convey to viewers? What actions do we want these viewers to take at the end of the video? (This is a key point in terms of your call to action.).

The second step, based on the answers to these questions, is script writing. Finally, there is the actual production. One last specification: among your goals, it’s good to precisely define the USP (Unique Selling Proposition); it’s what differentiates you from your competitors.

There is no video marketing without storytelling. And when it comes to long form video all of this is even more delicate and decisive.

To put it very bluntly: it’s about keeping the viewer’s attention for a long period of time; therefore, you cannot improvise. You have to design the very first few seconds of the video very carefully: these seconds are decisive as it’s where the viewer decides to continue watching the video. But that’s not enough, of course. You need to know how to design a coherent narrative arc, including conflicts and solutions. Create a credible context around this main narrative arc. Use hooks and insert them, include elements of suspense. 

It’s a matter of rhythm: avoid being too slow but also too tight and fast paced.

Now we come to a more technical aspect, which is certainly essential. Long form video is also synonymous with quality content. Quality content must be usable on all kinds of devices, from mobile to desktop to tablet.

Not only that: omnichannel optimization also means adapting your video according to the different platforms on which it is distributed: from the company website, to YouTube, to social networks (just to name a few examples). Each platform has its own rules, technical limitations, and best practices.

We close our list of suggestions with a point of utmost importance. The effectiveness of a long form video depends on many different factors, among them, however, one stands out: the target audience.

Knowing your audience, knowing in advance who your message is aimed at, is the real key to success for any form of communication. Video marketing, clearly, is no exception.

But how to do this when your audience is, potentially, made up of thousands of people? The solution comes to us from Big Data analytics: collecting, reconstructing, and interpreting the digital traces that people disseminate online allows companies to get a broad, high-resolution snapshot of their audience.

This knowledge is an invaluable asset and it allows you to direct the strategic choices of your video marketing.

Not only that, by leveraging tools such as the Babelee Video Platform, you can create videos that, from a data set, are adapted to the characteristics of the individual viewer; even with interactive dialog possibilities. The benefits in terms of communication effectiveness, attention capture, and engagement rate are enormous. This is the breakthrough of personalized videos!