What Makes For Good Branded Video Content Online?

Good content is one of the central keys to online brand development and marketing nowadays. Beyond written content and images, however, you should consider looking into branded video content, especially as social media platforms are prioritising video more and more over other types of posts, and audiences consume more visual content online. 

However, it’s not enough to simply slap together a video with your brand on it and send it out there. You want to make sure that it’s actually doing the job of grabbing your audience, getting your message across, and leading them to take the next step, whether it’s securing a sale or simply getting them to look more closely at your brand. As such, here, we’re going to look at the elements that make good branded video content online.

Clear And Consistent Messaging

First and foremost, you should make sure that your viewers are able to come away from your video with a clear idea of what its message was. They should be able to immediately understand the brand that’s communicating with them, what the video is about, and why it’s important. Given that online users tend to decide whether or not they’re going to keep watching a video within seconds, you should make sure that you lead with value first and make clarity an immediate priority. Avoid trying to make too many messages at once or using complex messages that require a lot of time to get across.

Strong Storytelling

We are emotional creatures and, as such, a good emotional hook can often grab us even more than the most concise and economic of messages. Rather than relying purely on sales-forward messaging, you should try to make your video feel relatable, entertaining, insightful, or inspiring. A strong narrative gives viewers a reason to continue watching and helps make the content more memorable. Even short videos benefit from having a beginning, middle, and end that guide the audience through a clear idea or experience. The story can still be related to the unique selling proposition of your product or service, or what makes your brand stand apart, but you should focus on how they can affect the audience subjectively, rather than an objective look at their benefits. 

Know Your Target Audience

All content should be made with a specific audience in mind. Trying to go too broad often means that you’re not going to be specific enough in your messaging to really reach anyone. Different demographics respond to different styles, tones, platforms, and formats, which means understanding viewer preferences is essential before creating content. If you’re trying to reach college-aged TikTok users, for instance, you’re al ot more likely to opt for more energetic short-form content, whereas professional B2B clients might respond better to the corporate promotional style of video on LinkedIn. Audience research helps you find out not only who you should be targeting and how, but can also help you identify the kind of content that’s currently resonating with them.

Accessibility Is Key

Whatever your message is and whoever your target audience is, you want to make sure that they’re able to fully engage with the video. Making your content accessible through additions like closed captioning is important for a variety of reasons. Not only does it ensure that you’re able to speak to all audiences, including hearing-impaired viewers, but it also makes sure that your videos don’t lose all value with the increasing portion of your audience who tends to watch videos on mute. In addition to captions, accessible videos may include clear visuals, readable text overlays, strong contrast, and simple formatting that makes content easier to understand across different devices and viewing conditions.

High-Quality Visuals And Audio

Even if it’s a relatively short video, you should make sure that your brand carries the aesthetic of quality wherever it goes. You don’t necessarily need a large budget or a big cinematic setup, but working with professional video producers can make sure that you’re not likely to have issues with poor visuals, unclear audio, or obvious mistakes that are going to make you look like an amateur in front of your audience. High-quality production doesn’t just reflect well on the brand; it makes sure that the message of the video can get through to the audience unobstructed. Even simple videos require the kind of care and attention a professional can offer.

Optimisation For Different Platforms

We’ve already mentioned how different audiences may tend to prefer different types of videos on different platforms, but it’s also important to know that those platforms themselves also tend to favor different styles of video content. For instance, a horizontal long-form YouTube video may not perform as effectively on Instagram Reels or TikTok, where shorter vertical formats are more popular. Not only does it mean that your audience is less likely to engage with the video content in general, but it might also mean that it gets less help from the algorithm, meaning it might not have much more potential to spread beyond whatever your video advertising budget is. If you plan to release the same video content to different platforms, it’s wise to repurpose it to the strengths and format of that platform first. 

Value Beyond Promotion

Audiences are becoming increasingly picky about which content they spend their time with online, meaning that if your video does nothing beyond trying to sell your products or services to your audiences, you might find it having less success than it ought to. Valuable content can educate, entertain, inspire, or solve problems while still supporting brand visibility naturally. Tutorials, behind-the-scenes footage, customer stories, expert advice, and informative demonstrations often perform well because they give audiences a reason to watch and engage. This can make them just as valuable a part of your marketing campaign as direct video advertisements. It also helps you subtly build the trust and knowledge base that maintains your long-term credibility amongst your audience. 

Video is the future (as well as the present) of online marketing. Follow the tips above to make sure that you’re not falling behind.