Here’s how to make sure your videos are a force for good
‘Five in court over South Yorkshire Police helicopter sex films’.
The headline caught my eye. How could it not? I read on.
“Five men have appeared in court accused of misusing the camera on a police helicopter to film people who were naked or having sex.”
The men were a mixture of police officers and pilots and all were charged with misconduct in a public office. The mind boggles. Were these filming sessions that had been planned, or were they just opportunistic recordings of al fresco activity?
The alleged actions of these possibly perverted policemen can serve as a cautionary tale for content marketers everywhere. So what lessons can we learn?
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
If the policemen had opted for watercolour paintings as their medium of choice they wouldn’t be in this trouble. You need to choose your medium carefully too.
Video is undoubtedly powerful but with great power comes great responsibility and you must be sure that video will deliver what you need.
Perhaps you want to establish your expertise with a series of interviews explaining market trends. But the person who knows most about the subject is also one of the most boring men on the planet – at least that’s how he comes across on camera. No amount of coaching or direction can stop him being excruciatingly dull. Internal politics and good manners prevent you from asking someone else to be interviewed. You’re stuck.
The solution could be to avoid video altogether and opt for a text interview or infographic, or perhaps create an animation with a script based on your expert’s thoughts but not voiced by him.
If you do it, do it right
I can’t be sure, but I suspect the videos allegedly produced from the police eye in the sky were not of the highest quality. Their clientele (should they be guilty) may not have noticed but yours will.
The relative ease with which videos can now be made and edited, coupled with increased demand, has led to a proliferation of production companies. And some, to be frank, are not great at what they do.
The problem is that, as viewers, we are becoming increasingly sophisticated. The good video we see is very good. And while we can forgive the shaky cam of a YouTube star, it only takes one clumsy edit or some sub-par lighting to make a video harmful rather than helpful.
Tell a story
I’m willing to be bet there wasn’t much narrative flow to the voyeuristic videos shot from the sky. Don’t make the same mistake. Video really comes into its own when it tells a story and has a personal aspect.
In the same way that journalists make great content creators, so videos should be put together by people who are editorial experts in film. Don’t confuse technical skill with the ability to engage audiences.
One of Content Cloud’s favourite creators is a video production company run by a pair of pros with more than 30 years experience in news and documentary film making for BBC TV and Channel 4. They are loved by B2B content marketers because they can pick out what will work on film from the broadest brief. We’ll run a feature on them soon to share the secrets of their success.
Video is expensive so get it right: ensure it is the correct medium, keep production values high and involve editorial and creative experts. Otherwise you may end up in the dock for content marketing misconduct.
