5 Tips to Create Engaging Video Content: The Power of Authenticity

When you talk to your audience, are you sure you’re speaking the right language?

The language, of course, is video. With the rise of ubiquitous high-speed internet, video has become the de facto standard of online communication today. It’s everywhere from landing pages to blogs to social media. According to Cisco, online video consumption will only keep growing into the future. 

And it’s no surprise. Multiple studies have shown that people retain information far better with video and audio than they do with audio, images, or text on their own (in that order). It’s also the primary way we naturally experience the world around us (sight and sound). 

In an age where we’re overwhelmed with information, video easily trumps static images or words when it comes to grabbing and holding attention. 

So if you want to really engage with your audience and have your brand stick in their minds, it’s critical that you have an excellent video content strategy. 

But it’s not enough to throw together a series of videos and call it a day. Grabbing the public’s attention is one thing, but building a sense of trust with your viewer takes more thought. After all, you can’t expect your viewers to invest in your offering, if they can’t feel they can really trust you.

So how do you achieve this? Don’t fret, we’re here to help. 

The Importance of Authenticity in Video Content

Any advertising creative team worth their salt would tell you that it’s one thing to grab people’s attention. It’s a whole other thing to make that gut-level connection with them. 

The key is authenticity. 

There are few things worse than marketing material that comes off as insincere, fake, or pretentious. The reasons are obvious– you can’t trust, let alone like, a business that comes off that way. 

So how do you build trust? How do you create truly authentic video content that really connects with your audience?

To find out, let’s look at some great examples and see what makes them work so well. Not only can we learn a lot from others, it can serve as inspiration for ideas for your own video content!

Let’s dive in.

Tips to Create Engaging Video Content

1. Know Your Audience

Authenticity starts with knowing yourself first before you worry about how to communicate with your audience. 

For example, Chipotle is a restaurant chain that knows what they’re all about: authentic food made from ethically sourced natural ingredients. 

And that’s why their customers love them. They don’t see themselves as another fast-food chain with industrial assembly-line style mass food production.

Now they could have run a campaign where they bragged about this and it probably would have come off as kind of preachy and condescending. Instead, they embraced a more creative and artistic flavor. 

They put out this beautifully animated video, tastefully scored by country music legend Willie Nelson, covering Coldplay’s The Scientist in his own unique raw style. 

There’s a lot of great stuff to unpack here.

One common rule of storytelling is “show, don’t tell,” and this is a great example of that rule in effect.

The video subtly laments the soullessness of factory farming and industrial food production, addressing a concern many loyal patrons have when they see their favorite local food joint grow and become franchised and corporatized. Then the video undoes all this, with a nod to the song’s lyrics, like hitting “rewind” and bringing things back to the authenticity and wholesomeness of how it all started.

It reassures the audience that Chipotle hasn’t forgotten its roots or lost its soul. 

2. Be Yourself and Showcase Your Personality

Once you’ve outlined what your brand is all about– your personality and what makes you unique– you’re ready to communicate that to the world.

But there’s a fine line between communicating this effectively and coming off as pretentious or like you’re bragging. 

Often, the best inspiration comes from seeing how others do it well and learning from how they do it. 

So let’s look at some excellent examples of brands that showcased their unique personality in a way that’s effective, memorable, and even entertaining.

Studio River

https://vimeo.com/459000342 

When it comes to showing off your unique personality and style, it’s hard to top this video by (and for) Studio River. It’s unapologetically loud and proud. It’s dazzling, it’s crazy, it’s funny.

And most importantly, it showcases the studio’s uninhibited creativity and spirit, embracing its own weird and wonderful culture and style and screaming it to the world– in its own unique way. 

We all love the idea of a car with muscle and the intoxicating power of a big engine. But gearheads would point out that good things come in small packages, too. 

There are ardent fans of “hot hatchbacks,” or little cars with small but energetic engines. And arguably, nobody makes them better than the French. 

So rather than emphasize all the benefits of a compact city car, like ease of driving in city traffic, or excellent fuel economy, this video for the Renault Twingo celebrates the hot hatch in style. 

And we do mean style. This feels more like a creative music video than an ad for a car. It’s loud, bright, and colorful, with pumping music that really captures the fun and spirit of what makes a hot hatch a hot hatch. 

And often, an approach like this works far better than a long dry list of tech specs features, and numbers. 

Those speak to the mind, but soulful animation really speaks to the heart, and that makes a far greater impact that lasts a lot longer. 

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3. Focus on Storytelling

The text communicates information. 

While pictures are engaging and attention-grabbing. But when you use storytelling in your videos, you do something magical: you create a connection with your audience. 

And through storytelling, you build a bond of trust that makes a lasting gut-level impact on your viewer. 

That’s why storytelling is so important. Rather than brag about what your brand does, it tells a unique brand story of who you are. 

And you’ll notice that the best brands out there really excel at this kind of storytelling, even if it’s not what we think of as traditional stories. 

Slack is a communication platform for professional teams that helps them work on projects together. 

While that’s all impressive enough, they used the power of storytelling to explain what they do better than, well, an explanation would. 

The video transports us to a fantastical world filled with quirky alien-like creatures going about their day. 

And that’s where the fantasy ends, because we quickly see that they’re stuck in traffic, just like we are. 

But all that changes when one of the characters gets a simple idea. 

And he shares that idea with his companions, and they all set about working on the solution and bringing it to life with the power of teamwork. 

Slack has a subtle presence as a powerful tool that helps them do all this. 

In this story, Slack isn’t the hero, it’s the catalyst, a transformative power that makes it all possible. Think less Thor, and more Mjolnir (Thor’s iconic hammer). 

So rather than talking about Slack’s myriad of features, cross-platform apps, connectivity, networking, sharing, and so on… we get to see Slack in action. 

It’s like the difference between reading that a car has 200 horsepower, and getting behind the wheel and stamping the pedal, and experiencing it for yourself. 

This level of communication is what animated storytelling excels at.

Speaking of cars, take this beautiful video by Lyft. It’s a lovely story about a fictional character that the viewer quickly falls in love with and roots for. 

And by doing this, the story paints a picture of the brand itself, and what it stands for.

Because at the end of the day, all successful businesses are about trust. And stories are all about people and interpersonal connections. 

And you can’t have a relationship without that all-important trust. 

Storytelling is so powerful because it builds a sense of trust and authenticity between the storyteller and the listener. And that’s a power you can leverage as a brand!

4. Embrace Transparency and Honesty

A big part of true authenticity is transparency, a sense of clear honesty with your audience. 

When done right, your audience should be left with a sense of integrity, that they can trust what you say, and that you are what you say you are – directly impacting the overall customer experience.

So let’s look at how some of the world’s leading brands pull this off and make it look effortless.

Some of you might have forgotten the time WhatsApp made the news for all the wrong reasons. 

An updated user agreement gave people the impression that WhatsApp reads people’s private messages and sells them to advertisers, leading to a strong reaction from its loyal user base. 

Rather than ignore the controversy and pretend it wasn’t happening, WhatsApp launched a media blitz reassuring its users that their messaging is private and encrypted end-to-end. 

And as part of its campaign, it used animated storytelling to clear things up with the public. 

In this lovely video, with dynamic colors and slick animation, ordinary users take center stage. 

We see them rely on WhatsApp like a trustworthy friend as they navigate their lives and solve problems. 

With upbeat music and eye-catching gorgeous animation, the audience is hooked from start to finish. 

The end message is clear: your messages are safe with WhatsApp’s platform. 

We said earlier that authenticity starts with knowing yourself first, and then knowing your audience well. 

This bizarre promotional video by the creators of Rick & Morty for the PlayStation might not be typical of the way most brands do things. 

But then Rick & Morty is not your typical animated TV show. It’s a sci-fi franchise with absurd, bizarre, nihilistic themes and plenty of dark and cynical meta (or self-referential or self-aware) humor.

So when they partnered with Sony to promote the PlayStation, they embraced their own style and understood their audience’s expectations. 

In their own unique distinctly subversive style, their video is more like the opposite of an advertisement. 

But it works exactly because it’s what viewers of the show expect.

5. Leverage Customer Experience and Feedback

A great way to underscore a sense of trust in your brand is to highlight how you listen to and value your voice of customers. 

Testimonials are an excellent way to do this because the viewer doesn’t feel like they’re hearing a sales pitch; but rather, that they’re hearing about the experiences of fellow consumers vouching for your offering. 

By the way, a great way to do this is to integrate this into your customer service training as well. 

AirBnB: Cycling Experiences

https://vimeo.com/281962890 

AirBnB is one of those brands that need no introduction. 

They’re the undisputed portal for away-from-home stays, and they’re at the top of their game. So when you’re at this level of success, how do you advertise your offering?

You keep things fresh and real by highlighting that you really listen to your customers, and haven’t stopped striving to make that all-important human connection. 

For example, this gorgeous video for AirBnb, tells the public not about their vast network of homestays in locations all over the world, but about what they can do once they get there. 

And that is, exploring a new city by bicycle. 

Not only does this contribute to Create Engaging Video Content, but it also makes for an interesting and immersive video. but it subtly hints at how AirBnB cares about its customers and hears their feedback. 

And it’s entertaining and heartwarming, too! All in all, this makes for not only a great video, but it leaves a lasting impression. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, all of this has given you the inspiration you need to take the plunge and get started with creating engaging video content! It’s equal parts exciting and rewarding. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment, make mistakes, and try new things. Remember that video is more art than science, and there’s no one perfect formula for everyone to follow. 

And like any art, you only get better with practice. 

So embrace your individuality and your brand’s own unique personality. The world is waiting to hear your stories!