4 tips for creating effective educational videos

To attract new leads, promote a product, explain the nature of your services, or educate your prospects, video is an excellent medium — in fact, it is the most popular one among internet users. But how do you create a video that captures attention, engages the viewer, makes an impression, and stays in the memory? Here are 4 tips for maximising the impact of your videos!

1. Opt for an animated video

The attention of internet users tends to focus more easily on an animated video than on a live speaker.

One might suppose that a live speaker is too static to hold attention, or that camera cuts and added illustrations — used to animate the video — represent additional stimuli that distract viewers.

Where possible, therefore, opt for an animated video to embed your message more effectively in viewers' minds.

2. Use drawings that appear progressively

To take the animated video idea further, favour illustrations that appear on screen gradually, rather than all at once.

The eye will be prepared for the appearance of your elements. The viewer will be curious to see the finished result and will engage more with what they are watching.

3. Think carefully about subtitles

To add subtitles or not — that is the question. And the answer is not straightforward.

On one hand: subtitles allow viewers to understand your message without sound (for those who cannot or do not want to turn the sound on). On Facebook, adding subtitles is increasingly common, particularly since Facebook videos play automatically whilst the sound must be manually activated.

If your videos are intended for Facebook, the presence of subtitles could therefore be essential.
Another emerging tactic is the addition of a "Watch with sound" prompt at the bottom of the screen, to encourage users to turn it on. That said, this practice is still too recent to assess its effectiveness.

On the other hand: subtitles draw attention away from the images in the video. The more elements the brain has to process simultaneously, the more it divides its attention between them. In that sense, subtitles could distract from your message.

Being aware of both aspects is important when deciding whether or not to include subtitles in your videos. Depending on whether they are going on Facebook or YouTube, the audience you are targeting, and the message you want to convey — add subtitles accordingly or leave them out.

For YouTube videos, you can also add subtitles that only appear on the viewer's request. A good compromise for ensuring a clear, distraction-free video whilst still giving viewers who have no sound access to your message.

4. Evoke positive emotions

Emotional memory is among the most powerful kinds there is. Generating positive emotions will help to plant your message in viewers' minds.

An animated video tends to evoke more positive emotions than live footage. Animated drawings no doubt remind our subconscious of the cartoons that surrounded us in childhood, and therefore carry a sense of calm and reassurance.

It is worth noting that while a positive emotion aids memory retention, a negative emotion can block the learning process. Working on the emotional dimension of your videos is therefore doubly important!

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We hope these few tips will help you see things more clearly and reach as many viewers as possible with your videos! To go further, read our article on 8 tips for a successful video marketing strategy.

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