How to Use Video in Your WordPress Background
In our digital world, video is the most popular form of content. Whether you’re making a commercial for your business, recording a YouTube video to explain something, or using an online video service like Vidyard to engage with your audience, video is everywhere. And as you’ll see below, it’s not just a fad – video is growing in popularity because it offers so many benefits to businesses and individuals alike.
Why Use Video In Your Corporate Communications?
In the past, videos weren’t as popular as they are today, and mainly existed as a form of entertainment. However, video is growing in popularity because it offers many benefits to businesses and corporations. Here are just a few reasons why video is beneficial for your business or organization:
Education
The information conveyed in a video can’t be communicated in as many words, which means it’s a great resource for those who are learning. For example, if you’re teaching your children how to read, you can use videos to show them how words are formed and used in real life situations. This can encourage literacy skills and vocabulary growth in your kids – not to mention that it can be a lot of fun for the whole family! Similarly, if you’re teaching your employees about a new product or process, a video can be a great way to show them how it works and allow them to ask questions before they start using it themselves.
Brand Awareness
The video below explains how HubSpot used video in their branding efforts:
Branding is all about connecting with potential customers on a deeper level and creating lasting impressions that will make them think of your product or service when faced with a marketing need. Videos can be used to show your brand personality and create a sense of connection with your audience – whether you’re trying to persuade them to purchase your product or just want them to view your website regularly to learn more about your company.
Product Demonstration
Product demonstration videos offer a unique way to showcase a product in use. Whether you’re demonstrating a kitchen appliance, a new computer system, or a tool for self-learning, videos can help potential customers visualize and understand how the product or service works.
The below video provides a product demonstration of Howdpot’s DocuSign integration:
Sales Pitch
Videos are often used in sales pitches to convince potential customers to purchase a product or service. Whether you’re pitching a salesperson or a brand, using video adds that extra touch of authenticity that can make a difference in terms of convincing your audience to make a purchase decision. Video isn’t a replacement for a face-to-face conversation, but it can certainly help establish credibility through online videos and showcase your expertise.
Public Relations
Video is useful in public relations because it can be both an informative and a persuasive tool. If you want to respond to allegations about your company or brand, you can use videos to provide irrefutable evidence that the claims are false. PR professionals can use video to explain the importance of a particular story to a particular group of people – whether it’s an important cause or social movement that the group supports or a product that they want to see exist.
Distribution Channels
While videos can be shared and viewed on many different platforms, their greatest potential is in terms of content distribution. If you want to reach a larger audience, you can use video distribution platforms like Hootsuite or BuzzStream to reach your own audience first and then invite others to join the conversation. Video can also be used to establish yourself as an expert in your industry – whether you’re a consultant, an engineer, an entrepreneur, or a solopreneur.
Cross-Platform
The video below explains how HubSpot incorporated video into their cross-platform strategy:
Since video can be accessed and consumed on a mobile device, it’s ideal for those who want to engage with customers on the move. Even better, Google recently announced that they will start ranking websites based on the quality of their mobile content – which means that your video content can potentially reach more people than ever before!
Cost-Effective
With video, you don’t necessarily need an expensive television set to watch – since it can be accessed on mobile devices, it’s an affordable way to provide entertainment for your employees or family members. Furthermore, a video camera does not require any other expensive equipment to produce quality footage, and the editing software is now also available on most desktop computers – making it easy enough for anyone to produce a video.
Leveraging Video In Your WordPress Background
If you’re using WordPress to create your website or blog, you can take advantage of video’s abundance of benefits to improve your content. Here are some tips for using video in your WordPress background:
Add Video From Scratch
If you’re completely new to video, the first thing you should do is to add a video element to your site. To do this, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on the “Media” icon. From here, you’ll see all the different media elements – including video – that you can use to add more content to your site. For now, we’re going to focus on videos.
To add a video from your phone or tablet, click on the “+” sign in the top right corner to bring up your phone’s native camera search dialog. From here, you can choose any video you want to upload and add it to your site. Make sure that the video is at least 300 pixels wide and doesn’t exceed four minutes in length.
If you want to add a video from your computer, click on the “Upload Video” button. A file selection dialog will pop up. Navigate to the folder on your computer where you want to store the video file and then click the “Choose File” button. If the file is about three minutes long, you can click the “+” sign to add it to your site.
When a user visits your site, they’ll see a button that reads “Watch Video.” When clicked, the camera icon will appear in the corner of the screen. This is so that visitors can instantly access your video content without having to leave the site (or blog post).
Use Short Overview Videos
Shorter videos tend to do much better than longer ones when it comes to gaining views and being shared. It’s always better to keep your videos to three to four minutes. Anything shorter and you might lose a potential audience. Having said that, you should go for a short video to start with and add more if you want to go longer. This is because people usually leave before the end of a short video. A short video also allows you to add more videos to your playlist so that you can engage with your audience more effectively.
Incorporate Video Into Your Blog Posts
We already discussed how videos can appear as part of your corporate communications strategy – but you can also use video to engage with your audience in the form of blog posts. To do this, find a video that illustrates your point in an engaging way and then write a blog post around it. The more you can add in the form of videos, the more your readers will value and enjoy your content.
Create Playlists Of Related Videos
Playlists are great for making quick references to related content – whether it’s videos, podcasts, or online articles – so that you can easily find the content you want to read or watch when you need it. To create a playlist, click on the “Playlists” icon in the top right corner of your WordPress dashboard. You’ll then see all the different playlists available to you. Click on the plus sign next to the playlist you want to create and then type in a name for your playlist.
While playlists allow you to find content easily, they are not meant to be a complete archive of all your videos. This is where smart sorting and tagging come in. For example, if you see that a lot of your videos deal with the subject of nutrition, you can use a nutrition playlist to find the information you want. Playlists allow you to find exactly what you’re looking for quickly and easily – if you need help creating or editing your playlists, take a look at the numerous WordPress playlist plugins available on the market. These can make creating, editing, and sharing playlists much simpler.