With the explosion of digital media, there are now nearly 24 hours of video content posted online every hour! That is over 100 million minutes per day that you can access for free online. Plus, studies show that students retain more information and understand concepts better when they use visual aids, that is, videos.
With all this talk about how important videos are, it may feel like a struggle to find the time to make them. Luckily for you, we have some tips here for how to start creating your educational videos!
Video marketing is an effective way to increase engagement with your courses or products. By adding the right amount of visuals and narrations, people will be drawn into watching what you have to say. They’ll also perceive your message as more authoritative and credible.
In this article, you’ll learn about the different types of educational videos, why having a voice-over is integral to making a movie, and how to pick your genre and tone. You’ll then see some easy ways to create a narrative video using Google Docs, YouTube, and other free tools.
Buy videos for your video website
Another way to use YouTube as an educational tool is to create instructional or how-to videos. By creating these, you can make some extra money via advertising or sponsorship deals.
Running a YouTube channel isn’t free, but it is possible to generate revenue from it. You can start with paid accounts where you are given more features and resources, then work up from there.
There are many ways to add advertisements or sponsors to your YouTube page, so don’t feel that you have to offer something major before getting donations.
Create videos
Another way to use video in education is to create teaching-focused videos that help students learn or be inspired by educational concepts or tools.
This can be done by creating instructional videos for courses you teach, for courses your department teaches, or even for general academic topics like leadership, psychology, or sociology.
Your audience will grow when others find what you have to offer worthy of their time. Plus, you’ll get credit for doing something valuable!
Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to market online content and services. It’s also quite inexpensive if you are not too invested in the outcome.
The key is to choose an appropriate length for your videos (generally under a minute except for longer documentaries). A good amount of footage is two minutes as there is an average of 1 minute and 30 seconds it takes people to recognize someone has stopped talking.
After this, they begin listening more intently.
Edit videos
Another way to use video in your marketing strategy is to edit pre-existing videos or create new ones! As mentioned before, content is king, so the better your content the more likely you’ll succeed in drawing attention to yourself or another product.
Editing a current video can help boost its effectiveness. If there are some good examples of a certain technique, make sure to add some details and steps to do it yourself. Creating a new video using free software like YouTube editing makes it very accessible to almost anyone.
There are many ways to get creative with your video advertisements, and they don’t cost a lot. By adding in some interesting gestures or funny jokes, as well as giving an informative hint about the product, you’re helping to promote not just the product, but the brand as a whole.
Publish videos
After you have designed your course, gathered all required materials and resources, and logged into various platforms to start sharing it, what next?
Publishing a video is one of the most important steps in marketing your online business. It does not get much simpler than that!
After all, how can anyone take your content seriously if they do not see you talking about it? With the ever-growing popularity of digital media, people are increasingly aware of the value of producing and consuming content.
And while creating a YouTube channel with lots of videos may be fun, it will also help promote your business. Many students now use educational platforms like Udemy and YouBe to find courses from anywhere around the world. Having a well-designed, interesting video can help attract new users to your course!
Your followers and spectators will enjoy watching your videos, which will motivate them to watch more or even buy products from you.
Distribute videos
Another way to use videos in your educational courses is to distribute them as content or free lessons. There are many ways you can do this, from making an Introduction to Sociology lesson focused on YouTube tutorials to creating a lecture-style video that teaches students how to do something.
Having a social media account makes it easy to distribute a video at no cost, but there are other websites with open-source software that allow you to create and edit your videos easily. These sites include Google Suite (Google Docs, Sheets, etc.), Facebook, YouNow, and even Instagram!
By distributing these educational videos, you will help promote your department, school, or course brand, increase student engagement, and improve academic performance. Students will also get helpful information they can refer to for later studies.
Students like learning through examples and visuals so having a short tutorial-style video can be a good way to teach concepts.
There are many reasons why using educationally valuable videos is important to your marketing strategy. By adding some to your curriculum, students will continue to learn while studying hard to achieve their goals.
Connect with your audience
As we mentioned before, keeping an eye on YouTube is a great way to connect with your audience and promote your courses. You can do this by creating content that people are likely to watch, posting live videos, responding to other users’ posts, hosting giveaways or contests, and speaking about related topics.
By engaging in these activities, you will strengthen your community and help motivate others to join you for your courses.
Your followers may even begin producing their content! This would be perfect if you had some free resources available and they knew what to say about them.
Running a giveaway or contest is another way to get more views for your course. People love discounts and rewards, so offering both is a good way to attract attention.
Interactive lessons are also helpful because students can comment and ask questions while you’re filming them. This gives them additional opportunities to learn and connects them to those learners.
Encourage commenting
One important way to use video in your courses is to incentivize students to leave comments. Students will feel more motivated to comment when you add “points” for doing so.
The addition of points can be done by adding badges or rewards to certain actions, such as leaving an answering comment or creating an interactive discussion.
By offering these rewards, students are encouraged to contribute more content and engage in conversations.
This helps promote engagement and creates an overall positive educational experience.
Your students will also appreciate it because they get some sort of reward for studying hard!
Students enjoy learning about different topics and concepts, and being rewarded for their efforts makes them want to keep going.
Respond to comments
As we mentioned before, leaving comments is one of the most important ways you can use video as part of your course marketing strategy. Not only does this help promote engagement, but it also helps boost traffic to the site where you left the comment.
But how do you respond to the other person’s comments? And what should you say?
Your response must be clear and focused on promoting your product or service. If you get lost in conversation, then people will lose interest and move on to another website!
You don’t need too much content – around the length of a short YouTube clip is enough. You are not expected to talk for hours so keep it natural and brief.
And remember, even if someone makes a claim that could be disputed, don’t argue with them! Simply reply with something like “That is very interesting to hear, let me check out their website…” and move on.
This will prevent anyone else from commenting and engaging in discussion, which is just not fun for anyone involved. So always leave room for more conversations by staying open and active.