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8 Tips for Making Your Corporate Video More Mobile-Friendly
Last year in the U.S. and many other countries around the world, there were just as many users with smartphones and tablets as there were laptop or desktop computers. This means that when you’re creating your next corporate video, if you aren’t keeping the mobile experience first and foremost, you’ll alienate half of your audience.
Unfortunately, it’s not always simple developing content for mobile users. Mobile devices are so varied that it’s challenging to ensure that every single video works perfectly on every single user’s phone or tablet. However, there are still a number of key steps you can take to ensure that the experience is optimal for the vast majority of your audience.
Here are eight tips to make your corporate videos more mobile-friendly:
1. Make Sure Videos Are Responsive
When you’re posting videos on another platform, like Facebook or YouTube, responsiveness will be a given. If you’re hosting videos on your own website, however, like on a landing page, you need to make sure that they’re optimized for mobile. Most importantly, make sure your video player can be adjusted based on the size of each particular screen. View your video on a variety of different devices to make sure the default size and full-screen size looks good no matter how large or small it is. If your video is short enough, upload it directly as an MP4 and add mobile viewing capabilities.
2. Don’t Run Too Long
People have short attention spans, and on social media and mobile devices, this is especially true. If you want your corporate videos to succeed and connect with a mobile audience, you need to keep them as short as possible. Get to the point immediately to grab their attention and cut out anything that isn’t absolutely essential. Your goal is to get them through the entire video and take the next step, whatever it might be. The longer your video is, the higher the chance that they’ll get bored and simply scroll onto something else.
Not everybody will have time to sit down and watch a lengthy video.
3. Consider the Thumbnail Preview
One consideration many companies overlook when thinking about the mobile video experience is which thumbnail they choose as the video’s preview. Since mobile devices tend to be smaller and users are constantly scrolling, you need to select something that’s simple and bold. If there’s too much going on in your chosen thumbnail, it will appear cluttered on a small screen and be easy to overlook.
4. Center the Important Pieces
It’s easy to not think about it, but most of your users are holding their mobile devices right with their hands. If they’re viewing something in landscape mode, they may have a thumb or even an entire hand covering part of the screen. Make sure that your important shots and any pertinent information are kept right in the center of the video where your audience has a clean, unobstructed view.
5. Use Large Text
As we have previously discussed, mobile devices tend to have much smaller screens than traditional devices do. If you’re using text in your videos, you must take steps to ensure it’s easy to read. Use bold, simple fonts and large text. Use colors that stick out from the background it’s being placed on. Avoid being too wordy and stick to short, simple phrases.
6. Keep Non-Audio Users in Mind
Not everybody watching your videos on mobile is in the comfort of their own home. They could be standing in line at a store or sitting in a restaurant waiting for their food. The point is that there’s a good chance they won’t want to or be able to listen to anything. Plan your videos so that they’re appealing to users who are scrolling through their feed with their phone on mute or who aren’t interested in turning their audio on. This goes back to using text strategically.
7. Create an Appropriate Call to Action
On mobile devices, creating a Call to Action is not simple on many platforms. On YouTube, for example, you cannot create a final clickable CTA that works on mobile devices. If you want to create a clickable CTA, you’ll need to use a different platform, or include the CTA on the same page as the video (such as below it on your website or in the video description on YouTube). Best practice is to not rely on the video player to properly display your CTA and leave it in your own control instead.
You’ll also need to think about the action you’re asking them to take. Filling out forms or leaving long messages is arduous on a mobile device. If you want somebody to register for something or leave feedback, make it as simple as possible. With mobile users, less is truly more.
8. Target Videos Appropriately
If you’re creating videos and advertising with them on a platform like Facebook, you have some useful targeting options at your disposal. For example, you can target based on locations or users who have strong enough bandwidth to view your videos. You can even consider only showing your videos during certain times of the day. Tablet users will be less likely to view videos during the day when they’re only on their phone, so it might make sense to target the evening if you have especially visual videos.
Targeting your videos allows you to control exactly which mobile users see your videos, making them easier to optimize.
By following the advice discussed above, your videos will be optimized and ready to play on any mobile device, delighting your audience and keeping them engaged. If you need help actually shooting your next video, simply reach out to us by clicking here and we’ll be happy to send you a free quote.
It got me when you said that the person needs to make sure that the video is adjustable to any kind of screen that the audience is using, or at least, make sure that it looks good no matter the size of the picture in the video. Since I intend to have one made for the business that I am working for, I think I will consider this one. After all, I am after the views, and I know that the video is clear if I want people to take interest in it.