How to Amplify Your Content by Combining Video & Text
Even when it’s done well, B2B and B2C text has a tendency toward being cold or tedious to digest.
Video is fast becoming a virtually essential method for connecting with your audience and nudging them along your sales funnel. However, text still has an important role to play in that process, particularly as a counterpart to engaging video.
Here are some of the ways video and text work together to make your collective content more than the sum of its parts.
This page is part 3 of a 3-part series on the power and benefits of combining written copy with video. Read the entire series.
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Reinforcing the Message
What’s better than encouraging a customer to do something? Encouraging them twice.
The “free fuel sample” message appears at the end of the video and is reinforced in close proximity in text
The "free fuel sample" message appears at the end of the video and is reinforced in close proximity in text
Video and content can relay the same message to reinforce it. But each format can also work best in different venues. Videos are great for sharing around social media sites or embedding in emails, but text can go on business cards, headers and footers, brochures, and countless other places where your message is being broadcast.
By supplementing text with video, you’re also moving closer to guaranteeing you’re meeting user preferencesas to whether a viewer can absorb your message given their surroundings, viewing hardware, and likes and dislikes.
In some cases, only one format will work, so it’s important that each is able to work independently of the other.
Building on Each Other
In addition to reinforcing the same message, text + video can reference each other and build on that messaging. There’s a world of possibilities here:
Video that dives deeper into a complex subject set up by the text
Video that sets up a new topic and pushes viewers to read more
Video that advertises a product or service to solve a pain point covered by accompanying text…
...and on and on.
Telling Different Parts of the Story
It’s often easier to just show someone what you mean, rather than try to explain it in words.
For example, we had a client with a product involving nitric oxide, an important molecule for healthy skin that many people are deficient in. It was a lot more impactful for us to show nitric oxide breaking down than to write it out.
On the other hand, it was more memorable to list out in words the many benefits of nitric oxide.
That’s the case with many modern products: when people see them in action, they are much likelier to be impressed and to gain an understanding of how they work.
Video and text being used to accomplish different goals.
Connecting Emotionally in Different Ways
It’s a rare book that has the ability to move you like a film can. Studies have shown a direct correlation between video properties such as intensity, brightness, and saturation with emotions such as joy, sadness, fear, and serenity. When you add sound effects, music, and other types of audio to the equation, it becomes easy to see why video is the preferred choice of many content marketers when they wish to appeal to viewers’ humanity.
Text, on the other hand, may be better reserved for purposes like conveying expertise or professionalism...qualities that appeal more to the brain than the heart.
When planned strategically, you can balance the use of video and text to appeal to the exact emotions you are looking to connect with.
Painting a Better Picture of User Engagement through Analytics
User data from a site with both text and video gives you more insight into your audience’s engagement levels than you get from one format alone.
Not only do you get more insight, you can then use that data to tweak your messaging.
For example, if only a fraction are watching your video, you know you need to tell more of the story with text. But if the analytics reveal that a lot of users start the video but only watch the first half, you can adjust the copy to fill them in on what they’re missing.
Breakdown of video views by percentage of video watched. In this instance, 27% of pageviews involve playing the video. From there, 87% of video views reach 25% or more of the video, 75% reach the half-way point and the entire video is viewed 41% of the time.
Where they stop watching and where they navigate afterward may help you understand what’s turning them off, especially if they head for an unrelated page.
Helping You Prioritize
One of the beauties of having both text and video lies on the content creation side of the equation--making a video takes a lot of thought.
Frame by frame, line by line, you the creator have to carefully plot out audio and video so that everything is synced up, conveying the key points, and cutting the chaff. You have to know your product or service inside and out and recognize what are the most compelling aspects to highlight.
This slow process also gives you time to craft the perfect accompanying text. With a page that’s text only, you could write it and publish it in a day. But with video + text, you’re afforded the time and clarity to make a killer page.
Covering Both Short- & Long-Term
Video is typically a big investment and not one you want becoming irrelevant or incorrect in a few months. Videos also often need time to gain momentum and be shared around for maximum return on your investment. Text, on the other hand, is easily edited, so it can be used for up-to-the-minute details and changed as needed.
So when you’re trying to decide where to put info on frequently changing industry regulations, for example, go with text. Same for statistics that lose their impact with time, or pricing information for your products or services. Reserve video for ideas and concepts, like your business’ core principles, or the amazing features of a new product.
This way your messaging is positioned well for both the immediate future and the long haul.
Where to Next?
This page is part 3 of a 3-part series on the power and benefits of combining written copy with video.
Did you read the other parts?
Part 1: Matching User Preference
Physical surroundings, social situations, time of day, device type, demographics, and preferences can all influence whether a user watches a video or reads text. Offering your viewers two content formats–text and video–helps you cast a wider net.
Part 2: Boosting SEO Performance
Using both written text and video can help boost your search engine rankings both directly and indirectly.