Continued…from Last Month’s PILMMA Insiders Journal
The 3 most likely reasons your videos are not being watched:
1. Your Video Title Stinks – covered last month
On to…
2. Your Presentation is Boring
3. Your Thumbnail Image Stinks
Your Presentation is Boring
When you watch your presentation, is it boring? If you can barely find it interesting, what makes you think your viewer will find it interesting?
Your presentation is dull.
You’re not making the topic fascinating for your viewer. Why should they spend a few minutes of their life to watch someone who’s boring? I’m not talking about entertaining them. You don’t have put on a clown suit and juggle balls in the air to keep their attention, although I admit wanting to do that while shooting educational video (no attorneys would do that, right?) I’m talking about making your topic Interesting to your viewer.
If you’re not enthusiastic, you’re going to lose your viewer. If you don’t smile, you’re going to lose your viewer. If you’re not energetic, you’re going to lose your viewer.
Importantly, Raise your voice. Smile when you welcome your viewer. Be Excited that you are talking directly to a potential new client.
Be Excited that you have such useful information to share with your viewer. The more exciting you are, and the more energetic you are, the more your viewer will lean in to learn from you and want to see and watch what you have to say.
Your Thumbnail Images Stink
It’s true.
They’re pathetic.
They’re awful.
What would compel a viewer to click on your video with the thumbnail image you currently have?
If you can’t answer that question, you need to create new thumbnail images. Go on fiverr.com and pay someone $5 to create a few thumbnail images for your videos. Really. It’s that important.
The purpose of your thumbnail image is to get a viewer to stop their search as they’re scrolling down the page. You need it to catch their eye. Your thumbnail image needs to entice a viewer to stop and take notice. That’s the only purpose of your thumbnail image.
It’s not to get them to call you.
It’s not to get them to trust you.
It’s not to get them to hire you.
The only purpose of a compelling thumbnail image is to get them to stop. Your headline is then designed to get them interested enough to want to press PLAY. The first statement or question you ask your viewer is simply designed to get them to continue watching beyond the few seconds they’ve already given to you.
Notice a pattern here?
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There’s real science here. If you want a great reference on creating headlines and advertising in written format (which can and should be applied to any media) it’s “Tested Advertising Methods,” by Caples. Look it up on Amazon, then buy the book and study it. Then apply it to all your advertising and marketing.
Don’t forget to do A/B testing with your thumbnails. Create two versions of your video. One video is let’s say 3:20 minutes.
Then make a copy but chop a few seconds off the next one.
YouTube will recognize this as two different videos. Use two different thumbnail images to see which one gets more watch time. Use two different headlines to see which one generates more watch time.
After a few weeks, look to see which one is pulling in more viewers and watch time. Eliminate the weaker one and use your social media to promote the stronger one. Create an article to supplement your video.
Embed your YouTube video on that page where your article resides. Create a blog post to supplement your video. Then embed your YouTube video on that blog page where it resides.
Then move on the next video and do the same thing again.
Over time, if you follow these instructions, you will notice your video velocity increase. It will be slow and gradual. Do not expect overnight velocity.
If you want to see real velocity, go onto YouTube and type in “Nursery Rhymes.”
There are nursery rhyme channels with billions of views and hundreds of millions of subscribers. It’s insane there’s one nursery rhyme channel that is the #1 YouTube channel in terms of views, watch time and subscribers.
You want video velocity.
To do that effectively, you have to have all the video elements working correctly.
Get a viewer interested in your thumbnail image to stop what they’re doing.
Get them interested in your compelling headline.
Get them interested in your enthusiastic presentation and don’t forget your call to action at the end of your video!
Till next time, see you on video.
