Maybe you have heard the term “video snacking” in regards to consuming online video content or maybe this is a new one on you. It has nothing to do with wolfing down mini Reese’s peanut butter cups by the handful; not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it may be more similar to this than you may think.

Snackable content on the web refers to how people browse and search for information. Usually it’s somewhat casual poking in to read something, watching a quick animation, reading product reviews, etc. When you market online you don’t have people’s attention for very long. In a blog post I wrote about online video viewing habits - 10% of your audience clicks away after only 10 seconds and more than half click away after a minute.

Think about that for a second.

More than half of your audience leaves after one minute. This is why it is critical to make sure you keep your video content short. Here’s where the snacking comes in.

If you try to cram everything you do into one video it’s going to get longer and less focused. That’s how you loose viewers online. You are better off creating shorter, more focused videos because the end user is more likely to consume more of your content that way. That’s because most video viewers don’t specifically go looking for video – they come across it while browsing a web site and are curious. So they click to watch. If it’s less than a minute, there’s very little time commitment needed. Video snacking feeds that curiosity and keeps people engaged on your site for longer periods of time.

As an example – let’s say you make software. Your lead video should be a very short and focused video of what problem your software solves. Then there should be a call to action either in that video or around it to watch a short video about how the software works. From there you can keep linking through calls to action to short 10-30 second videos throughout your site of customer testimonials, specific functions that the software does to make the user’s life simpler, etc.

You should also sprinkle these video clips throughout your website. Have a technical specs page? Include a few videos showing some in-depth features or “How to” style tutorial animations. Have some case studies? Include video testimonials from some of those customers. Snackable video content on your website allows the consumer to feed their inquisitive nature while at the same time passively pulling them closer to a purchasing decision. One video clip at a time.

To bring those Reese’s peanut butter cups back into the analogy; it’s the difference between a Reese’s King Size and a bag of Reese’s Miniature Cups. If you leave a stack of Reese’s King Size with four full peanut butter cups per package in your lobby area, the casual passer by may think it was left there for someone else or they may possibly pick one up. If they do, they may just eat one or two of those peanut butter cups but by the time they get to that third or fourth full peanut butter cup, unless they are a teenage boy with a cast iron stomach, they’re probably feeling sick and full of regret.

Then try putting a bowl of tiny Reese’s Miniature Cups in the lobby. They were “created” to be a browsing snack. People will grab one without even thinking about it. They will grab a couple for their friends. Before you know it the whole bag will be devoured and people will be looking for more every time they walk by.

Seldom do animation and “live action” video blend as seamlessly as in the 80′s video by A-Ha “Take On Me”. Would it have been as effective with just real actors or all animation? I don’t think so. However in business there are specific instances where one or the other is the best solution to get your message communicated clearly.

Imagine that you were going to create a video for a company that manufactured gear assemblies primarily marketed to engineers. Rather than show the gear assembly in action using slow motion filming or animation, you instead choose to have the CEO fumble through showing how the gear assembly works by moving it around in his hands. Now add that the CEO doesn’t exactly have the most dynamic personality for video. Doesn’t sound like a good fit does it? If you were an engineer considering this gear assembly, would you rather see it in action or watch someone move it by hand completely removed from the environment that it would be operating in?

There is a little truth in the above scenario. We had consulted with the company’s marketing agency who pitched this idea and we adamantly advised both the company and the marketing agency against doing this. Thankfully this didn’t come to fruition as the clumsy result could have been a complete waste of the company’s money and worse yet – unusable. The truth is live action film and animation both have their strengths to convey very diverse messages and achieve different objectives.

Live Action

Film or Live action is great for communicating sentiment. One of it’s greatest strengths is forming a bond between the viewer and the person onscreen. When you have someone onscreen who has a captivating personality whether that be the CEO, a charismatic engineer or a testimonial from one of your brand advocates, that passion can easily be sensed and felt by the viewer. If that personal energy is palpable in the video, that can be a great way to personalize a company. Some great ways to use film include:

• Non-profit organizations: If you have a non-profit organization for children, wouldn’t you want to show how those children are helped by the organization? Live action does a great job of “tugging at the heart and purse strings” for online viewers. Using video with email is also a great way to increase donations for non-profits.
• Testimonials: How many times do you see a “testimonials” link on a website and then you click there and maybe read a few of them. You never read them all though, do you? Now imagine how powerful those testimonials would be if they were videos of real customers sprinkled throughout your site. It’s not only more engaging to the viewer but it puts a face to a testimonial which makes what they are saying more believable to the viewer.
• Company profiles: Putting a face and a personality to a company can help begin building that relationship between the viewer of your video to hopefully get them to become a future customer. Many people immediately think CEO, but that may not be the case. If you have a passionate customer service representative or a product engineer they may “speak” more to your audience than the CEO might. Just make sure whoever you choose has “camera presence” – speaking clearly and coming across honestly.
• Physical products: If you are in an industry where the viewer is buying a physical end product, showing the finished product in action will boost viewer engagement and their comfort level with the product. Products like this include things like  automobiles, showcasing real estate properties or high end decorative ceramics. You can still animate segments, such as how that automobile’s engine is designed to be more fuel efficient, but when someone is researching a product, they want to see the finished product in action.

Animation

One of animations greatest strengths is it’s flexibility. If you wanted to film your CEO screaming from the mountaintop you’d have to hire film crews, helicopter units and loads of sherpas to bring all that film gear up the mountain. With animation you can animate that scene for a fraction of the cost. Your imagination is your only limitation. Animated marketing videos are also a fantastic way to communicate a message that may be difficult to explain other than by using conceptual animation. Some great ways to use animation in a marketing environment include:

• Software Services: Software as a Service (or SaaS) are typically very hard to communicate what they do with live people on camera; it’s almost always animation. This is particularly true because most software solves a problem or makes a task easier. Without illustrating an example of a problem solved by the software, chances are the viewer isn’t going to understand how it works.
• Branding: If your goal is to create a lasting impression while communicating what your company does with visual appeal, then there are few ways that are more effective than animation. With an animation you can get creative with your messaging but still keep all of the brand logo colors, fonts and “look” of the brand completely consistent with all of your other marketing including your email marketing.
• Greater Product Understanding: With animation you can get down to a granular level of explanation of a product that is very difficult to do with live action. People also prefer to learn through audio/visual methods so if they have the choice between reading a PDF document of the product specs or watching a short video that does the same thing. 99% of the time they will choose the video.
• The Fun Factor: Let’s face it…animation can be hilarious. Do you want to make a super hero fighting against banner ad wielding flying monkeys? You can do that with animation. When a viewer is laughing and having fun they are more receptive to retaining that information and possibly sharing it with family or friends. That sharing is the fuel that increases your chances of the video possibly going viral. 

Conclusion

What type of video is best for your business? The answer is  it depends on what you are looking to communicate as both animation and live action video have their own individual strengths. Your first step is to clearly identify your strategy and what the goal of your video is even before getting started. So what’s the goal of your web video – are you looking to build a personal connection between the viewer and the person onscreen or to communicate a complex message or service that may be more difficult to explain? Now go watch the A-Ha video, you know you want to.