Two Simple Ways to Improve Your How-To and Instructional Videos

When done correctly, how-to and instructional videos are some of the most effective kinds of video you can produce. If you have a product or service, there are most likely people out there who are searching for videos about how to use it. But, if you create and publish poorly executed how-to videos, you may actually deter people from purchasing your product. To create effective how-to videos, be sure your message is simple and concise, your audio is crisp, and your visuals are clear. Once you make sure these basic matters are attended to, level-up your videos with these two powerful tips.

1. Don’t discount the power of gestures.

If you are the presenter in the instructional video, your camera angle should be such that your viewers are “close enough” to see the whites of your eyes. If they can’t see you, they are more likely to get bored and close the tab or click away to another video. Viewers stay engaged longer when the your face is easy to see. In fact, emotion conveyed by gestures play a big part in keeping viewers hooked, so make sure you are standing close enough to the camera that the viewer can see your facial expressions while you speak. If possible, you should ask the cameraman to shoot from a medium distance away from you but with the camera focused on you. If the camera is recording video from a distance that is too far away, your eyes and other features won’t be visible in the video.

2. Record from different angles.

Keeping the camera still throughout the video session is not always a good idea. Some studies suggest the camera angle should change every 5-10 seconds. Viewers are easily distracted; changing camera angles is one way to draw your viewer’s attention back to the screen. That being said, don’t just cut for the sake of cutting. Cut to a different angle when there is a reason to, whether it be to show a different perspective, new idea, speaker reaction or some other relevant image. Bonus Tip: Define your purpose and create a high-quality experience. Do you need to improve or increase customer interaction? Are you trying to scale your experts across several geographic locations? A specific goal will help you to create simple, high-quality videos that align with your needs. Remember, there is no singular road to amazing instructional videos & how-to videos. But if you plan ahead and determine how your video can best support your business strategy, you will increase your chance of success.   See more How To Videos at demoflick.com/portfolio