Top 4 tips to optimize video workflows

While video is fast becoming consumers' favorite aspect of online life, creating, managing, publishing, and analyzing video can be a nightmare for brands. Here are four tips to better optimize video workflows so that consumers are engaged and creative departments aren't overtaxed.

by Kristina Knight

First, don't rely on email for video review and approval.

"One of the most challenging aspects of creating a video is routing it to stakeholders for review and approval. Traditionally this is handled via email, which is suboptimal. Videos are usually too big for email, and stakeholders review the video in a vacuum, unable to see each other's comments. The video editor is stuck monitoring the email thread to ensure that everyone has reviewed the video and given consistent feedback," said Jake Athey, VP of Marketing, Widen.

Athey suggests using a central location - perhaps a Dropbox or Google Drive system - where video content can be reviewed and feedback given first by creatives and managers and lastly by legal department members.

Second, manage which types of video go to which departments and reviewers.

"Your organization creates many kinds of videos that have different uses for different groups of people," said Athey. "Therefore, you need a few controls to ensure that videos are used correctly:
1. Decide which videos should be private or public, and for which groups. Some videos are pertinent to sales, while others are only useful for training and support.
2. Videos are updated often. Use embed links to ensure that if you update the 'master' video, all the places that video appears on the web are updated automatically.
3. Tag your videos with descriptive metadata that enables people to search and retrieve it on a self-serve basis."

Third, make it simple to share, embed, and download video assets.

"Keep one high-resolution copy of the video as a master file," suggests Athey. "Give your users a tool to convert the master video into compressed formats for the web, social media, apps, etc. For B2B videos, offer a way to produce share links that salespeople can copy-paste into email or chat. That way, they can deliver the video to prospects personally."

Fourth, remember that views and completions are good numbers to have but brands also need to know each video's "hot spot".

"How is the audience responding to your videos? [Audience Retention] is perhaps the most useful video metric. It shows where your viewers are dropping off and the 'hot spots' your viewers are rewinding to," said Athey. "Look at a retention graph to determine where your viewers lose interest. Re-edit that part of the video and test again. Did your edits cure the drop-off? For hot spots, identify the key idea or theme, then create more video content on that specific topic."

Tags: branded video ads, branded video tips, video advertising, video content, video content tips, Widen