Video Marketing Tips – How Long is Too Long?

If video marketing gets any bigger, I might go out and get a haircut and give up writing articles. Okay, only kidding. Truth is, video marketing is HUGE and it’s going to get even HUGER. However, some people don’t seem to have a clue as to how long to make their videos. Well, this article is going to tackle this issue. I think you will find this interesting reading.

Here is a fact. Take it for what it’s worth to you. The attention span of the average person is about as long as a New York minute. If you don’t know what that is, go to New York and see how long it takes people to start honking at you once the light turns green and you still haven’t moved. We live in a fast paced world and it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. But that still doesn’t answer the question of how long is too long for a video. Well, here’s the answer.

A video is too long when it loses the attention of the one viewing it.

Okay, if that sounds like a copout answer, it’s not. Why? Let me ask you a question. Have you ever watched a video that was a good 20 to 30 minutes and hung on every word? I know I have. Some long videos have literally had me glued to my seat. Conversely, have you ever watched a video that was under two minutes and by the first 20 seconds you just had to turn it off because you were bored stiff? I know I have…more times than I care to admit.

Now obviously these are extremes, but I have used these extremes to make a point. It isn’t the length of the video that’s the problem. It’s the content. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, people are going to get bored really fast. If you DO have something interesting to say and can keep people hanging on by using techniques such as the one I’m going to illustrate shortly, you can keep people glued for a very long time.

A great technique is to promise the viewer something that is going to be revealed but don’t do it right away. For example, let’s say I started off a video with the following line…

“I’m Steven Wagenheim. In about one minute, I am going to show you how you can take a simple 400 word article and turn it into a full blown motion picture. But first, why is this something you would even want to do?”

See what I’ve done? I’ve hooked them into the presentation by telling them right up front what they are going to learn. This keeps them hanging on until I actually get to that part.

Now, you don’t want to keep people hanging too long, BUT…if you keep introducing this tactic throughout the video, you can keep people glued to it for a very long time.

And of course, there are other tactics as well, such as changing the scenes, angles of recording and so on.

Creating videos is an art. By learning this art effectively, you can literally stop worrying about the length of your videos.

That is of course unless you plan to do the Internet marketing version of War and Peace.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

By: Steven Wagenheim

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