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Why Optimize Your Videos For Mobile

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It’s no secret that mobile devices have become one of the most popular and widely used video-playing devices today. It would be best if you understood why this is the case and why your video content needs to be optimized for mobile viewing.

The mobile experience is more crucial than ever in today’s world.

Most video creators optimize their videos for desktops and large screens, but mobile-optimized videos can considerably impact your success. With mobile optimization, you can reach a broader audience and make your content more relevant and engaging.

The good news is that you don’t need to be a skilled web developer to optimize your videos for mobile users. So instead, follow these tips to optimize for mobile.

The importance of mobile video optimization

So why is mobile video optimization so important? Here are a few things to consider if you’re a marketer or video creator:

Boosts engagement – Videos are innately more engaging than static images and text, so they strengthen your brand’s relationship with your audience.

The mobile viewer of today is more likely to watch longer videos and absorb the content, including any calls to action. The higher the viewer engagement on mobile devices, the higher the clickthrough rates on calls to action.

Improved SEO – Using mobile-optimized videos increases your site’s search engine rankings.

Since mobile traffic has overtaken desktop traffic, search engines have focused on displaying mobile-optimized content to find the most relevant and user-friendly results.

Mobile-first indexing by Google affects your search ranking across the board if you fail to optimize your videos for mobile.

Mobile video traffic is rapidly and steadily increasing – mobile video traffic is overtaking desktop video traffic, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down.

Over 50% of US mobile users report watching more video content this year than last year. People are also increasingly choosing smartphones over computers if their budget allows only one device. 

As a result, you may lose out on a large segment of your potential audience if they consume content primarily through mobile devices.

Are you facing a wall n thinking of content ideas for your next mobile video? Check out our blog on ideas in creating your next great mobile video content.

Video Optimization for Mobile Devices

Choosing an appropriate video length is crucial based on your video’s goal and where you plan to share it. Generally, marketing videos should be kept under two minutes.

It would be best if you aimed to keep your first outreach sales video under 60 seconds. Then, ensure your content fits into the marketing and sales funnel by considering your channel, industry, and use case. It’s best to keep videos short and sweet when they’re early in the funnel. The longer, more detailed videos should be reserved for qualified leads and prospects.

Stay focused- You should focus your videos on one point and get to it quickly, so consider trimming clips that aren’t essential. As your audience won’t wait around or skip to the best parts, you only have one chance to deliver your message, boosting your brand visibility, attracting more leads or customers, and improving your KPIs. Your mobile-optimized videos should be easily synthesized, compelling, and concise.

Make better video thumbnails – People often judge a book by its cover, even though it is ill-advised. No one will bother to open your video if your thumbnail is unappealing, uninformative, or generic. Don’t trust algorithms to create your thumbnail; look through your video for an eye-catching frame that effectively depicts your video’s message, or hire a designer to do it for you.

Think about your call to action – Include your call to action (CTA) in your mobile-optimized videos as early as possible. In addition, consider optimizing your lead capture forms for mobile users if you want to encourage consumers to engage with your brand even further. Mobile-optimized calls to action and lead capture tools can often be found on many video hosting platforms.

Add text and establish a visual hierarchy – The visual hierarchy of your video plays a vital role in making it effective since it guides viewers’ eyes and makes it easier for them to absorb information. To convey the most critical points, use colors with high contrast and larger text rather than just audio. Regardless of whether mobile users choose to listen or read your message, if they can listen and read, they’ll be able to process it much faster.

Grab (hook) your audience’s attention quickly – When you’re on mobile, you don’t have much time to capture their attention, so skip splash screens and get right to the content. Generally, you have four to five seconds to catch the attention of mobile viewers, but we recommend aiming for three seconds.

Ensure that your audio is accessible – Consider the possibility that some viewers may not be able to hear your video, or they may use headphones to watch. If you want your videos to reach a broad audience, they should include lots of visual elements like infographics and closed captions.

Aspect ratio is vital – You should also format your videos for mobile in the ideal aspect ratio when streamlining your user experience. When choosing the best dimensions, think about the platform or channel where you’ll share your mobile video. Choose video dimensions that look good on a vertical screen, as most mobile users hold their phones vertically and won’t bother with full-screen video.

You’re going to love this crazy statistic:

5.2 billion people worldwide own and use mobile phones – more than two-thirds of the world’s population!

Okay, so. What is your strategy for optimizing your video content for mobile devices? Remember, videos and animated content not optimized for mobile cannot be effectively viewed on these devices, reducing your business opportunities and the loss of potential leads and customers.

Would you be able to do better?

Of course, you can. Here are some clever tips to make it work.

  1. Keep clips under 30 seconds

Videos on the web that are short have been found to perform better. Leading video production and animation companies suggest that social media content, in particular, be kept to less than 30 seconds, if not less.

In recent years, visual media has dominated the landscape with short, sharp, and concise audio-visual experiences that are helping to shorten the attention span of the average person.

A short-form video can also give marketers the most excellent opportunity to communicate an idea concisely, hard-hitting, and purely relatable before the viewer becomes distracted.

By 2023, 2.72 billion people will watch videos using their mobile phones, up from 2.16 billion in 2019.

How are people using their phones? Definitely more than just viewing content. Therefore, it would be better if it is kept short.

  1. Narrative to match with mobile-optimized videos

You only have one shot at hooking your audience before they choose to scroll on by in a mobile-optimized web video.

Whatever you do, be sure to begin, develop, and end all your web and animated video content with a hook – and keep the storyline focused and narrow.

What can I do to grab the audience’s attention at the beginning of my presentation? Is it emotion? Is it visually stunning? Is it something unique and innovative? Is it something uniquely creative?

What solutions are presented to the problem or concern you first addressed in the video?

What is your product’s role in solving these problems?

It would be best if you concluded with a call to action (CTA) to encourage the audience to take the next step.

Figure out and determine your desired outcomes (what do you want the audience to do after engaging with your content?) and then decide how you will get there, preferably with a storyline.

  1. Remember the “four-second hook” 

Research consistently shows that we have just four seconds to capture our audience’s attention, whether providing web videos, animations, corporate content, or animation.

Animated content or web videos require preparation. How will you get ready?

Formulating multiple mentions/paraphrases of the most crucial message in your content/script is recommended, which can be a great way to introduce it.

In this way, the key message will be retained even if your viewer does not spend additional time developing it.

  1. Design content to optimize for mobile

Editing is a crucial step in the video production process. The aim is to keep web and animated content short, sharp and focused – especially in the context of mobile content optimization.

The quality of video content matters a lot. However, suppose you are not skilled in applying professional finishing touches to your content. In that case, it is worth investing in a professional video editing service like Vidpros to get it right.

The bottom line? Boredom results in bounces, so keep it fresh and clean!

  1. Use closed captions and subtitles

Surprisingly, only 12% of those viewing videos turn on the sound. The same study found that statistics closely related to Facebook’s “85% of video is watched without sound” report.

Based on the survey, the most plausible reason is that many people view mobile content on the move – whether it’s a train ride, waiting at the bus stop, riding the elevator, etc.

There’s no question about it: close captions are great for accessibility, but they also give your viewers flexibility in how and when they consume content… and that’s got to be a good thing.

The final step is ensuring that your videos are compatible with mobile devices. Check out your website on a mobile device and see how it looks. It’s easier than you think.

It is possible to resolve any problems with the text in the video or any other issues that may arise by changing your strategy in the future so that future videos will appeal to your viewers regardless of where they are watching them.

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 Do you want to see your videos perform better and reach more people? We can help. Call us today.

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