Videos have become the Internet’s star format. With a growth in consumption, production and advertising investment that has no parallel in the industry, 78% of Internet users watch videos online at least once a week and 55% do so daily, according to the Online Publishers Association. And the trend is expected to increase 20% each year. According to the report Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2013–2018, videos will represent 80% of the traffic in Internet by 2018, compared to the 66% of 2013. This is why more and more companies are opening a direct window to their target audience through videos.
Even for James MacQuivey, expert analyst from Forrester Research, from the point of view of communication and business, online videos are and much more effective than other formats. For this analyst, “a minute of video is worth more than 1.8 million words.”
These are some of the reasons for the success of online videos as a business tool:
– It is a format more attractive than text and allows customers to understand better the strategy of a company, as well as the products and services it offers.
– It generates virality.
– Mobile devices with Internet access have been and are a clear growth driver for video consumption.
– Gratuity is a key element for mass dissemination.
– It offers tight integration with search engines, because it is a findable and indexable format.
– Technology platforms have democratized their production and distribution.
– It has interactivity and tends to generate conversations.
Keep in mind
To create your own corporate video you must take into account certain aspects:
– Opt for a top quality production. Users are increasingly demanding and require quality content also in this type of audiovisual production.
– Any digital strategy must take into account the new consumption pattern being generated by the mobile world and the social networks.
– The length of the video is not a determining factor. Each video must have the narrative required by the content and should not stick to a specific length.
– Rely on platforms like YouTube to reach a greater audience. Moreover, their partnership agreements can generate additional income.
– Opt for modern, attractive and specific Internet formats.
Types and formats of videos
Nowadays there are many alternatives to make a difference with a corporate video. Here we show you a list of the most used and popular formats.
1. Animation Infographics
The raison d'être for this type of video is in the animation of data and a voice in the background. Their creativity allows you to better capture the attention of the audience. It can become a great medium to explain the strategy of your company or a specific idea, such as results or business goals. The style would be similar to the following video: This is Dare. Are you?
2. Infomotions
The style of this type of video is very similar to that we have described above, based on creating a story with illustrations and cartoons. Some of them are training videos, developed by brands and companies to explain their processes or the steps on the creation of their products. An example of this can be seen in the videos created by Google to present a new service on Google Now and another one created by Alitalia.
3. Whiteboard animation
This is a video based on the creation of a story while it is drawn by hand. It is a type of format that makes any information more understandable and attractive, so these videos are perfect to motivate the audience to learn and/or get more information about your company, for example. This style can be seen in the video created by BBVA to explain its innovation process.
4. Kinetic Typography
It’s a video format based on the creation of a story with typography. With a simple style, you can make any information understandable and attractive. The company Karloff used this type of video to delve into the idea of beauty and ugliness.
5. Videos for Instagram or Vine
This is a very current format, where creativity makes the difference against the competition. Besides, Instagram and Vine offer great virality at a lower cost than other formats. In this sense, it is possible to include hashtags and group them under a single theme, making it easy for users of social networks to find the video, which can help the brand generate numerous followers.
However, compared to other formats, these two tools have the disadvantage of the length: Instagram only allows recording videos of 15 seconds and Vine of 6 seconds. Furthermore, in Vine you must take into account that videos are an infinite loop and it does not allow editing after recording. For now, Instagram videos can’t be embedded in any website and you can’t add an audio track to the recording.
Despite these drawbacks, there are companies that have already been using these new formats to promote their brands. Some examples are the videos created by Toyota Spain and Burberry using Vine, and Verve Coffee, which used Instagram to show the quality of their coffees.