How to Write Engaging and Informative Video Content

Video is becoming the content of the future. Due to this, there’s a whole bunch of videos out there. You need your company’s video to stand out in the crowd. Even if you’re hosting videos on your own website (with no competition on that platform) you want viewers to be interested, engaged, and informed. In this article, we’ll go over how to write engaging and informative video content.

How to Write Engaging and Informative Video Content

Decide on the target audience, goal, topic, takeaways of the video

To begin your writing process, you need to start by figuring out your target audience, the video’s topic, and takeaways from the video. Knowing your audience is key in all writing and speaking endeavors. This is similar to regular life as well: we adjust how you talk depending on who we’re talking to. Like, we’ll talk more like this, maybe, when we’re talking to like a friend. However, we might speak in this polished manner when we’re contacting a potential employer. The topics we’d discuss with each of these people is also understandably different. In the same way, knowing your audience for a video will affect your tone and subject matter.

Determining the goal and takeaways of your video will allow you to plan your script.

Write a script your audience will want to follow

When writing your script, place yourself in your audience’s shoes. Ask yourself—is this information interesting? Useful? Something that’s easy to follow? Keep these questions in mind as you draft your script.

It’s important to know that your script will be pretty short. Using a script calculator like this one helps with matching the length of your script to the length of a video. Around 400 words will transfer to around a 2 to 3 minute long video, if spoken at an average speed. Depending on your video’s goal, a 1-5 minute long video will be able to keep a viewer interested and engaged.

Make sure the introduction stands out

Writing your introduction well hooks your viewer. Engaging the viewer in the first few seconds means that they will keep watching the video. You can do this by introducing yourself and the topic right away. An effective hook engages the viewers and introduces the video’s core message. If you make the viewer sit around waiting for what the video is going to be about . . . they probably won’t stay.

Focus on storytelling

To write an engaging script, focus on storytelling. Storytelling can seem tricky for business videos like marketing videos. However, including a narrative style, examples, or relevant situations can increase the storytelling draw of the video. You of course don’t want to ramble on and on about what happened to you at the grocery store yesterday but including relevant experiences of your own (or your company) can connect with the audience.

Using metaphorical language can also add to the storytelling pull of the story. Using an extended metaphor throughout the video can infuse a little imagery for the viewer to connect with.

Use a conversational tone

For videos, it’s especially important to use a conversational tone. A conversational tone consists of short, concise sentences. Long sentences don’t transfer over to video well, as the viewer will get lost in the middle of your sentence and forget what you were talking about. A conversational tone also avoids jargon and large words. Long or jargon-y words turn the viewer off from your video, as they might not understand them.

To create a conversational tone, write like you’d talk to a colleague. You usually want to keep your video’s tone professional but understandable and personable. In some situations, you can infuse a little bit of humor into the video to catch the viewer’s attention and entertain them.

Read it out loud before recording

Words sound different out loud than on paper, so read your script out loud before sitting down to record. Hearing your script will allow you to catch clunky sentences, weird word choices, and long phrases. After you’ve read it out loud, edit the sections that sounded off. Read it aloud again, this time in front of others. Then use their tips and criticisms to polish off the script.

Include a clear call to action

At the end of the video, you want to include a clear call to action. To do this, list out a clear call to action in your script. This call to action depends on the video’s goal—it could be a visit to your website, a product to buy, or a question to answer. It could also be links to other content that relates to your topic, like this blog post about B2B marketing videos or this blog post with 7 tips on how to improve your company’s video marketing. Whatever it might be, make sure it is clear and given with easy to follow instructions.

Give options for contact information

Also, at the end of the video, give contact information options. While you don’t want to overwhelm your viewer, you want to give them options for how to contact you. Some people feel more comfortable over the phone and some (myself included) would much rather not talk on the phone. An online contact form or an email is a more comfortable option for those not inclined to chat on the phone. Including these on your script will keep the video flowing and allows for further engagement after the video ends.

Say thank you at the end of the video

To be a polite member of the video community, say thanks to your viewer at the end of the video. This’ll leave your viewers with a pleasant taste of your company and video.

So . . . thank you for following along with this blog post! Feel free to contact us here at RedMoxy by filling out this form, emailing us at [email protected] or calling us at (262) 303-4238.