Video content can vary from short (<30 second) clips to quickly capture audiences to longer format narratives (15 minutes +) that really dig into the details of a particular topic. There are a variety of factors you want to consider when deciding which length of video is best suited for a particular project. Let’s dive into them!
Video Purpose
When starting to develop the storyboard for your next video project, you really need to consider the purpose of the video.
- What is the narrative you want to share?
- Who would be interested in it?
- Where do they consume video content?
- What level of detail do you need to include to tell the story effectively?
- Do you have additional sources of footage to add into a longer format video?
- Do you have the resources to do a longer, more comprehensive video?
These might sound like daunting things to figure out if you are new to this process but I’m here to help guide you through these during the discovery phase (see this article to learn more). Having a well defined purpose is critical for developing excellent geotechnical engineering videos that hit the mark.
When designing a geotechnical drilling program, you choose borehole locations and depths based on a purpose: The video process is no different.
Who is your target audience?
Think about the profile(s) of people who will want to watch your content. Defining this will help to guide the end content we will work on.
Are you looking to promote your firm to new clients? What is the profile of your typical clients?
Looking to recruit new staff? Who would you like to recruit? What stage of their career would they be in?
Are you trying to drive innovation in the industry? Or share your message with community members who maybe are not in the industry? Who else do you think would be a great target?
Where is your target audience online?
Once you have defined the profile(s), it’s time to figure out where these people engage with video content online. The social media platform of choice is a big determining factor as to the length of the content we should aim for.
LinkedIn: Many professionals in the earth sciences including environmental science and geotechnical engineering consume a lot of their professional social media content on LinkedIn. LinkedIn videos can be short form (<30 sec) to quickly catch someone’s eyes to videos in the 1-3 minute range for more in-depth content.
Youtube: Most of us go to Youtube to learn about new topics these days. Youtube has the most flexibility in video length since you can do long, comprehensive videos on this platform (be cautious that many people don’t have the attention span for longer content anymore), or videos under 5 minutes to capture a story. But they also have Youtube shorts to compete with Instagram and TikTok (<30 sec) and these videos can get a lot of traction on the platform. Regardless of the target platform for your audience, I would post your video to your Youtube page in addition to the social media platform of choice to get more potential eyes on it!
TikTok & Instagram: Both of these platforms are visually heavy and video content does really well here. But stories shared on these platforms need to be short and sweet. Less than 30 seconds is ideal, perhaps 1 minute is acceptable. In my experience, people in the environmental and geotechnical engineering fields don’t use these platforms too frequently for professional purposes. But younger generations do use the platforms heavily, certainly for personal use and if you are looking to engage with them, perhaps for recruitment purposes, having engaging content on these platforms may be your target.
How much detail do you need to share?
Consider the topic of the video you are interested in. A list of video types can be found here. A company or staff profile video may be less comprehensive and suitable for a shorter format while geotechnical engineering case studies may benefit from more time. There is no hard and fast rule for each type of video but it can help to guide you.
As attention spans are limited these days, you do need to be ruthless in terms of figuring out what content is absolutely necessary to tell the story and what is ancillary and could be dropped. Keeping audiences engaged requires compelling narratives, especially for longer form content.
Is it possible to get site footage or other types of B-Roll content?
It is certainly easier to interview staff in a boardroom but getting video content on a project site, with work happening in the background is worth the extra effort and will draw audiences in. I would highly recommend it to engage your audience. View my lights, camera, action article here.
Getting B-Roll footage (supplement content to support the main message) also can help draw people in. Think: video of work happening at the site, pan over a site plan, staff hard at work brainstorming, modeling the site, logging soil, taking measurements, etc.
Without this type of footage, you would want to keep to shorter video lengths.
Could this project benefit from a few videos of varied lengths?
For some more comprehensive stories, you may decide you want a longer format on Youtube but also may want to share a shortened version on other platforms to grow your brand awareness. This is certainly feasible and involves taking the longer form content and making hard decisions to cut back to leave a few clips that still tell a complete (albeit less detailed) story on their own.
What are others saying?
Do you want to hear more about what LinkedIn users are sharing on this topic? Here is what topic experts have to say on LinkedIn!
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