Tag Archives: corporate communication

One of the most frequent questions I get from clients is… how long should my video be?

There are all sorts of theories behind the answers. Yes, that’s answers with an “s” at the end. I don’t think there’s a single magic formula that’s always right, but I do think there’s some guidelines you can go by depending on where you’re showing the video.

• Social media campaigns… try to keep the video to 60-seconds or less. Social media equals super short attention spans. Give this audience something sweet and to the point to share.
• Your website… 2-3 minutes tops. Ideally, 1-minute 30-seconds. In this case, the viewer has sought you out and wants to learn about your organization. This means you get a little more time to communicate your message. Not too much time though. They’re still web surfing, so they’re just a point-and-click away from leaving your site if they lose interest.
• Live events… 5-minutes or less. Here I usually shoot for something in the 3-minute range. This is a captive audience, so you can flush out your story more than you can with a web video.

–Tony Gnau

Think about the last corporate web video you saw. Now give me the first few statistics you remember about that business.

If you’re struggling to remember, you’re not alone. We might remember the occasional fact and figure after seeing a web video, but those aren’t the things we typically retain.

Now… think of that same corporate web video. How did it make you feel? Happy? Interested? Confident in that company?

I sure hope so because that should be the goal for most corporate videos. While we don’t retain many facts and figures, our feelings stick with us.

That’s why organizations that produce their own videos need to focus on hearts first, minds second.

–Tony Gnau

Every corporate culture is different, but if yours is… shall we say on the tight side… you might want to loosen things up a bit when you start producing company videos.

The advantage of a tight, perfected corporate message is that it allows you complete control over the image you’re putting in front of the public. The disadvantage of a tight, perfected corporate message is that it sounds like you’re trying to keep complete control over the image you’re putting in front of the public.

Viewers these days are sophisticated. If you trot out a company video that sounds like the marketing department has crafted it and managers have polished it, your audience will likely pick up on that.

Maybe that’s no big deal to you, but it is for that audience. What it says to them is that this has been sanitized for their viewing.

Why should we watch something like that?

Ditch your pre-written script and let your team members speak their minds. What you give up in message control you get back in authenticity.

–Tony Gnau

Is your company or organizations setting goals for 2012? If one of them is to communicate better, video might be your answer.

Whether you’re attempting to position yourself in front of customers or trying to send an important message to employees… video can do the job and do it in a way that’s better than words alone.

Video delivers information, but it also does it in a way that makes an impact on the audience. It’s not some simple message that gets thrown in the trash. A video makes people sit up and pay attention.

How’s that for satisfying your communication goals?

–Tony Gnau