You’re not alone – most business owners neglect educational content in their video marketing strategies. However, that doesn’t make it right. In fact, that’s all wrong!

When done correctly, however, educational videos can bring new visitors, increase your visibility and maximize the effectiveness of your marketing. If you’re skeptical, you should try making one. Before you jump in, though, here are some considerations to make to ensure your final video is as close to a perfect educational video as it can be.

Fit Educational Videos Into a Larger Content Strategy

Just like any other marketing material out there, educational videos alone won’t bring you astonishing results. They are just a small part of a bigger strategy you’ll need to put in place to get what you want (more leads, more views, more engagement, or whatever goal you’re pursuing). So, you’ll need to learn what an educational video can and cannot give you.

The first thing an educational video can bring to the table is value for your audience. Since these videos aim to teach a certain topic, anyone watching them should learn something after they are done. Educational videos are all about providing information related to what you’re ultimately trying to sell, of course.

That doesn’t mean that educational videos are actually selling something. Instead, these videos are about sharing information that can subtly nudge the viewers into researching more about your brand and what it has to offer. You’ll have time for selling your brand with other types of content (like product videos, testimonial videos, company videos, recruiting videos, etc.). Try to make a sales pitch in an educational video and you’re doomed to fail – people aren’t watching these videos for that.

That’s why educational videos are great for the awareness stage of your buyer’s journey. They work when people don’t truly grasp the problem they are facing, let alone the solution they can use to solve it. Ideally, your educational videos will help people who have just found out about a particular pain point and are looking for more information to deal with it.

Your video will then provide them with said information and point them in the right direction. In the meantime, you’ll generate trust in your brand and make people curious about how you can further help them. Following up an educational video with other marketing content is key, because that’ll be the time to introduce your solution and turn to a more advertising tone. That’s the importance of a bigger marketing strategy.

Pick the Right Topic For Your Audience

Understanding the role of your educational video in your overall marketing strategy is just the start. Next, you’ll need to decide what to talk about. It might seem like a no-brainer at first – just talk about something essential to your industry and that’s that… Right? Wrong.

You’ll need to go deeper if your videos are to have any impact at all. Let’s say that you own a travel agency. A good educational video might be about tips on how to get around when visiting an unknown city. It addresses a pain point, it gets your brand out there, it’s valuable… Yet it is still too broad! 

Google says (and I strongly agree) that you shouldn’t be afraid to go niche when creating educational videos. Talk about specifics. Shoot a video about the challenges of traveling to a tiny Asian island or focused on avoiding being scammed when booking rides in a far away country or, like the video above, share the considerations someone should make when planning their gorilla trekking adventure. Niche? Yes, but interesting and helpful. People love concrete answers, not vague broad-stroked suggestions.

Now, of course that sounds a bit more challenging but it doesn’t have to be as long as you pay attention to your target audience. Research your competition, check the questions your intended audience posts in your competition’s social channels, and ask questions in your own profiles. In short, learn what’s troubling your audience and address those issues, no matter how small it feels.

Brand Your Videos Consistently

Again, educational videos aren’t the right place to go all ‘salesy’ on your audience. They are about providing valuable information while dropping enough hints for your audience to start making a subconscious connection of the information they are receiving with the people providing it (AKA your brand).

This is truly an art you’ll have to master. If you can’t balance your brand’s presence on your educational videos, you’ll end up with one of two possible outcomes. Either you make it so subtle that people fail to identify your company after watching the video, or you focus on your brand too much that it scares your audience away.

There isn’t a recipe for branding an educational video but there are some pointers for you. For instance, be sure you include your company’s colors and logo somewhere in there. Don’t make it too flashy, though – just make it look as if they were casually there while you were filming. Volvo does an excellent job of this in the above video.

You can also develop unique visual and audio elements to include. An animated character, a distinctive narrator, a set of exclusive icons or sounds, and any other thing you can come up with are perfect ways to stand out from the crowd.

Finally, don’t neglect the power of finding your own voice. That’s the main thing that people will pick up on. A funny presenter that explains things simply and with humor, a series of strangely accurate metaphors to illustrate an issue, a real-case scenario explanation… You get it. Find how you want to be perceived by your audience (funny, serious, helpful, creative) and be sure that the way you explain the problems in your educational videos always carries that tone.

Invest In the Best Possible Video

And I mean that in more ways than just money. Ok, sure, things will look a lot better if you have a high-quality camera, the right lighting, good mics, and the structure to mount it all. However, all of that can be rented or you can hire a production company to do that for you. What money can’t buy is what you should be focusing on as well.

First and foremost, there’s the necessary preparation for everything to go smoothly. On the production side, ensure you have all the materials you’ll need, the time to shoot and reshoot, the locations scouted and checked, and the necessary people available. Secondly, be prepared (yourself and everyone involved). If you’re going to be in front of the camera, then you have to be confident, humorous and natural. Funnily enough, all of those things come with practice.

There’s also the matter of the storyboard and script. You can understand the topic you’re about to talk about front and back, yet once the camera is on, you’ll find how quickly you can forget about everything. To prevent that from happening, relying on a storyboard and script is a must. You’ll have all the video mapped out, which will make it easier to edit and insert everything you need. You’ll also know what to say, when to say it and how to say it. 

Finally, invest in time. This also has a lot of aspects to remember. The most important one is that you have to take as much time as you need to get your video right (especially if you’re shooting your first one). You’ll also have to invest time in every phase of the video, from conceiving it to putting the final touches on it. The last one is a tricky one – Be sure to keep your audience’s time in mind. Don’t go for a long video if you don’t have to. People love short videos. Be concise and simple. Don’t overstay your welcome.

Promote Your Video As Much As You Can

That is, as long as you do so in the right channels. There are lots of ways in which you can use your educational videos to your benefit. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to use them all. In other words, devise a distribution plan that works for your brand and that ensures your videos find their audience. With that in mind, there are several things to consider.

For instance, educational videos work amazingly in YouTube, so having a channel to upload them there is a must. The most popular networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) also love these videos but they have specific languages and different audiences. That means that you should use only the social network that fits your marketing strategy and the one (or ones) in which you know you’ll find your audience. For instance, teens won’t be on Linkedin and professionals will rarely look for serious videos on Twitter.

Your email marketing, blogs with guest bloggers, and online forums and communities within your industry are also great places to distribute your educational videos. Knowing that all of those places already have the audience you look for is something of a guarantee, so you can bet that your videos will perform well there.

Of course, you can get creative with your promotion. You can use your educational videos in your booth at any event you attend, use them on television, put them on your website or whatever you can think of. A video (any video) is a powerful marketing tool that can work for you for a long time in the most varied contexts. Take advantage of that.

With all these things in mind, you’ll be closer to the perfect educational video for your brand. It won’t be an easy task and the whole process will require a lot from you but the results will be very rewarding, so much so that it will make you question why you’d never thought of educational videos for your video marketing strategy before. 

The post Four Steps Towards the Perfect Educational Video appeared first on SproutVideo.

This is exactly where video learning centers come in. When done well, video learning centers can fit a variety of learning styles, overcome information fatigue, and improve the efficiency of information communication to boot.

Read on for ten best practices for building, growing, and evaluating the impact of a video learning center.

What is a Video Learning Center?

Images of stuffy libraries may come to mind, but today’s video learning centers are anything but. Accessed online, educational video portals exist to train and inform audiences about specific tasks, concepts, or processes.

These portals can have a variety of uses depending on their intended audience. Here are just some of the ways you could leverage a video learning center for your organization:

• Educate your customers about product features, or ways of using your products
• Onboard new employees
• Retrain existing staff
• Community outreach for specific initiatives
• FAQs for a website
• How-to videos on a given topic or process
• Additional resources for students

Why You Need One

Video, the most engaging content format, can cure information fatigue by presenting it in an energizing and compelling format. Even better, it’s been shown to improve retention, and transmits information more efficiently than other mediums.

1. Topic Selection

To be successful, your collection of videos needs to have an overarching theme. What is the ultimate goal of creating this video portal?

You can be as general or granular as you’d like. For example, “Improve employee on-boarding,” or “Provide customers with better resources to drive utilization of our services” would be excellent goals to aim for.

The purpose of setting a larger goal is to avoid getting too far into the weeds when it comes to individual video topics. Align the rest of your content with this larger goal, and you’ll end up with a cohesive collection of content.

Picking Individual Video Topics

For individual video topics, look to the audience you are seeking to address for inspiration. What are their common questions? Where do they get stuck? What do they need to know in order to take certain actions?

You can cull this information from a variety of sources:

• Talk to your sales team, or customer support staff, for insights into clients and users.
• Look for trends in visitor behavior on your website with a tool like FullStory, or look to your design team for insights.
• Survey managers to pinpoint resources needed by existing staff.
• Ask recent hires what they wish they had known when they started.
• Analyze exams or recent homework to understand where students need extra support.
• Check website traffic to see which help articles or blog posts are the most popularly sought out.

Doing research upfront will ensure you’re providing content people really need. This process should result in a list of needs that can be addressed with specific videos.

2. Production Value

Whether these videos are internal, or publicly facing, the production quality counts for a lot. That doesn’t mean you can’t DIY these videos. It just means you can’t skip the basics when it comes to filming or editing.

Educational videos can take a variety of forms. Many feature talking heads, screencasts, news clips, stock footage or images, and text overlays. Each component needs to look and sound good, or it can negatively impact the finished product.

To achieve a polished result with video, pay close attention to the quality of the inputs you’re using. Here are some high-level basics you should keep in mind:

• Make sure your shots are framed correctly, and are filmed in HD.
• Use appropriate audio equipment to capture clear dialogue.
• Take precautions to prevent unwanted background noises.
• Check your lighting to avoid glares or harsh shadows.
• Make sure stock footage or images are HD quality and the same aspect ratio as your video.
• Check licensing for any music or media used in the video (yes, even for internal videos).

Well-made videos will help engage viewers and keep them watching.

3. Short and Sweet

It’s tempting to run through an entire process end-to-end in one massive two hour long video. We’re here to tell you that’s not very viewer-friendly.

An effective educational video resource contains clips of discreet information that can be assembled into a greater whole. One viewer might need to know just one specific thing, and will skip to that section. Another viewer might need to cover the basics before advancing that far ahead.

Design your content to accommodate different learning styles and a range of needs. Each subsection of a topic could be a standalone video, for instance.

By restricting the scope of each video, it will be easier to remain concise. In turn, this enables viewers to quickly get answers to their questions, or to explore related videos as needed.

4. Organization

There are several different ways you could potentially organize your video library. The natural choice is by topic, although there could be better ways depending on your aims.

For instance, think about who might need to access each resource. It might make sense to organize your video learning center by persona, instead of just by subject matter.

Beginners should likely start with a different series of videos than experts, for example. Within each track, you could then organize videos alphabetically, by topic, or in a sequential manner that fits a specific process.

This type of hierarchical organization will help viewers find the materials they need easily. It will also ensure the content is presented in an order that helps viewers build on their knowledge as they explore your learning center.

If you’re using one of our video websites as your learning center, you can take advantage of tags and categories to organize your videos.

5. Mobile Matters

When designing your content and your video learning center, consider the fact that many of your viewers will be on mobile devices, if not the majority.

Ensuring your videos are mobile-friendly will drive engagement and video completion rates. It’ll also provide added convenience for your viewers since they’ll have a great experience no matter when or how they access your videos.

Mobile-friendly video content loads quickly, plays smoothly, and adjusts to the size of the screen correctly. SproutVideo takes care of all of those factors for you automatically when you’re using our video websites. If you’re embedding your videos, we also offer responsive video embed codes to ensure your videos resize correctly according to the screen on which they’re played.

Beyond that, you might add some additional tools to help viewers absorb the information. For instance, you can add subtitles, or animated text overlays, to ensure those listening with the video muted can still understand it. Make sure the text, and any graphics used, won’t be too small to comprehend on a phone screen.

6. Access Permissions

Is your video learning center a public resource for all to share? Or is it intended only for very select audiences?

If it’s public, you don’t need to worry about who might be accessing your content. If it’s not, then video security needs to be a priority.

Depending on how you share your videos, you have several options to keep your educational videos secure:

Embedding:

• If you are embedding your videos on a company website, place them within a secure section of the website.
• Then, leave your videos set to Private on the SproutVideo platform. Private videos only appear and are playable where they are embedded.
• If you require additional security, you can use allowed domains to ensure your video embed codes will only work on the website(s) you specify.

Sharing on SproutVideo Landing Pages or Websites:

• Use Password Protection, Login Protection, SSO, or IP Address restriction. Refer to this overview of different video privacy settings for more details on those different settings.

7. Up-To-Date

There’s nothing worse than spending time studying up on something, only to discover the material you covered was inaccurate or out-of-date. Make sure that never happens to your viewers by performing periodic content reviews, and updating anything that isn’t quite right.

The best time to perform content reviews is during major updates to your products, services, branding, or company policies. That way you can get ahead of any necessary changes.

You’ll also want to be sure your content reflects the latest and greatest information about a topic. Set Google Alerts to notify you whenever new publications are released about any topics or brand names pertinent to your video learning center. That way you can prioritize updates as they come in.

If none of the above seems to apply to your specific niche, you should still try to review your content on a regular basis. Whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or annually, your viewers will thank you.

8. Supplemental Info

Sometimes, a video might not be enough. The surrounding content on a page can help viewers put each video in context. It can also help them navigate to related topics of interest.

Add links, images, PDFs, or text that adds to the learning experience of the viewer. Consider including key definitions, short biographies of any persons mentioned in the video, or written guidance on complex procedures.

This information can be placed anywhere on the page on which the video is embedded. Generally speaking, you’ll want to keep the video above the fold since it’s likely the focal point of that page.

On SproutVideo websites or landing pages, you can use the video description field. Add text or links to related info, and it will appear below the video. Description fields support basic HTML formatting to help keep this information organized.

9. Goal Setting

You’ve got your videos up, and viewers are clicking play, but how do you know if they’re learning anything?

You can always quiz viewers about what they learned, and whether or not the videos were helpful. But, that doesn’t always work. You might not get the response rates you were looking for, or respondents might not recall everything perfectly.

Instead, use different metrics to analyze the performance of your videos. This can tell you a lot about whether or not you are reaching viewers, and which videos in particular are doing well.

Play Rate

For starters, look at your play rate for different videos. This metric helps you determine whether or not viewers are electing to watch the video after the page loads. It allows you to compare performance across different videos better than by just looking at plays alone by controlling for the popularity of the subject.

A high play rate would be a good indication that the video is relevant to people arriving on the page; the poster frame image was compelling; and that the video is interesting to viewers.

On the flip side, a low play rate would indicate viewers aren’t very interested in watching a given video. To encourage more people to watch the video, try changing up the content on the page describing the video, swap out the poster frame, or try a different approach on the same topic entirely.

Engagement Rate

Ever want to know whether someone actually watched your whole video, or simply clicked play? You can, with Video Engagement Metrics.

This reporting uses heatmaps with different colors to indicate the number of times a specific viewer watched different sections of your videos. You can tell at a glance whether someone watched, rewatched, or skipped segments of a video.

The best metric to track is the engagement rate, also known as the completion rate. Ideally, viewers will watch at least 100% of a video, meaning they watched the whole thing.

A video with a low completion rate would indicate that viewers lost interest over the course of the video. Either the script was dull or repetitive, the topic was boring or not what they expected, or a specific section of the video is off-putting for some other reason.

By diving into this stat, you can drive future content development by noting which videos have the highest or lowest engagement rate. Topics that drive high engagement from viewers are likely to be very relevant to their interests, indicating more content might be needed.

Lower engagement rates might be associated with videos that are too basic or simple to be worth watching. It probably isn’t in your best interests to keep creating videos on these subjects.

10. Improve Your Videos Over Time

Truth be told, you’re never exactly done building a great video learning center. They evolve and grow over time, along with best practices and technology.

As mentioned above, Video Engagement Metrics allow you to understand how viewers are engaging with your content. This data can also help you improve your videos.

For example, you might notice that viewers tend to rewatch or skip a specific part of a video repeatedly. Revisit that video to edit for clarity, and check the quality of the visuals and audio. There might be a simpler or better way to present the information.

Have you built a video learning center? Wondering how to get started? We’re here to help.

The post 10 Best Practices for Creating an Engaging Video Learning Center appeared first on SproutVideo.

Upgrade your feedback

Remember the days when you were at school, deciphering the teacher’s feedback in the margins? That doesn’t have to be your students’ experience. For major presentations or projects, consider filming the students and their work, and create short videos for each student summarizing your feedback and encouragement.

Teach when you’re absent

Students can find it difficult to adjust to a substitute teacher. Compensate for your absence by recording a video of yourself leaving instructions for the class. It will be quicker than writing instructions to the guest teacher, and your students will enjoy receiving their assignments over video!

Communicate with parents

The days of notes in school bags are long gone. But can you be sure that parents read the emails you send? Research has found that using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by almost 20 percent. Get parents’ and caregivers’ attention by filming your updates.

Free field trips

If the budget is tight at your school, you can still ensure that your students enjoy a field trip. Many world-renowned museums have created fascinating video tours that will have viewers captivated (and make your budget-conscious principal very happy!). For starters, spend some time browsing the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Louvre in Paris, and Google Arts and Culture.

Communicate with students from other states

Team up with schools in other states so students can learn about the experiences and beliefs of their counterparts from other parts of the country. Video conferencing is an everyday aspect of life in the ‘real world’, so this is a good opportunity for students to get accustomed to an essential skill for the workplace. If you want to communicate with schools in other countries, we can think of no better way than video. Go for it!

Make contact with former students

There’s nothing more inspiring to students than seeing the real-life reward for dedication to schoolwork. But, it’s not unusual for high-flying former students to be scattered throughout the world. This is a major stumbling block when it comes to inviting them to speak to your class about their experiences, but not an issue thanks to video conferencing.

“Not another quiz!”

Students hate taking quizzes. Teachers hate marking them. Watching a video where a student demonstrates what they have learned is so much more interesting than administering and assessing a quiz. Moreover, the students will be challenged to show creativity and knowledge, as well as video and editing skills.

Special guest speakers

Who remembers Jack’s mom coming to talk about her job as a vet? Or Lily’s grandad’s talk about his time in the Navy SEALs? Presentations made by parents about their jobs are a memorable part of everyone’s school experience. If you’ve run out of parents with interesting or unusual careers who want to visit your class, video can help you reach out to those who are further afield. A video conference with a world-renowned expert in their field will be especially fascinating for older students.

Answer that question you’re asked at least 10 times a day

“Where’s the homework file online?” “Where do I find copies of the form we need for the class trip?” Every teacher has at least one question they’re asked repeatedly by students. Produce a video answering it clearly, and upload it to your class’ website, Blackboard, learning management system, or the school’s website in a dedicated FAQ folder.

Supplementary materials

Students who find themselves especially interested by a topic will want to learn more. Put together a resource guide of entertaining, educational videos that will inspire students who want to continue learning beyond the classroom. When it comes to video that gets people thinking, the best place to start is the TED talks. For younger students, we love this playlist of Ted Youth talks.

If you have found our tips for using video in the classroom inspiring, please share them with your colleagues on Facebook or Twitter!

The post 10 New Ways to Engage Students with Video appeared first on SproutVideo.

Make Video Really Easy For All Students

Not all students will be able to access their own camera equipment. This could be due to their families’ budgets, their age, parental permissions, or some may be a little too shy to be on camera.

Remove obstacles by creating groups to work on each project, and consider setting up a couple different “studios” in the classroom. Then, come up with fun and quiet assignments that groups not actively filming can tackle, like script writing or prop-making, while others get their turn in front of the camera.

An in-class studio could be as simple as a backdrop with a tripod, or more complex depending on your school’s resources and the space you have to work with. If you are able to setup a couple different studios, more than one group could be creating videos at the same time, and, no one will be left out if they can’t get the right equipment.

Basic video equipment is really inexpensive in this day and age, especially for this type of kid-friendly production. A low-cost video camcorder from Amazon would likely suffice, and simple tripods are usually under $50. If you aren’t in a position to purchase equipment, you can always use a smartphone or tablet with a mini-tripod or similar stand, or a laptop with a built-in camera.

Editing the final video together might not be required for all of these project ideas, but it makes sense to check on the availability of video editing programs on school computers to see if it might be possible. iMovie or Windows Movie Maker are both free and easy to use. That way, any particularly inspired students can take their project to the next level if they’d like.

Video Assignments for Elementary School Students

1. Task: Make a short video reviewing your favorite book.

Objective: Students should record themselves giving a synopsis of the book and sharing what they enjoy about it. Using age-appropriate props, younger children can shoot a scene from the book; older children can direct a scene featuring their friends.

In addition to putting thoughts together coherently, and learning how to write for film (for older students), this task will enable children to be comfortable in front of and behind the camera, and encourage collaborative group work.

2. Task: Make a commercial.

Objective: Take an everyday object – an apple, pen, table, lunchbox – and ask students to make a commercial trying to sell it. They should put together a script, create a jingle, and design a brand logo as well as filming the advert.

Depending on the age of your students, they could work together. Ask each member of the group to take responsibility for a different element of the video. This is an effective task at showing students the power of persuasive writing, and how to work effectively in a team, as well as the objective behind advertising.

3. Task: Create a video tour of the school for new students.

Objective: Pupils can share their school experience with new students by recording and narrating it. They should interview teachers and other students, as well as showing their classmates using the school’s facilities (outdoor play area, pool, computer room). In addition to learning filming and editing skills, this task enables students to hone interviewing and communication skills.

4. Task: Exchange video messages with other schools.

Objective: Students from a partnering elementary school exchange short videos with your class that explain what life is like at their school, or another agreed-upon topic. The idea would be to generate interest in another culture, or to introduce students from a far-flung part of the USA. Not only would this type of exchange expand their horizons, but it would help develop their story-telling abilities, too.

5. Task: Explain how to make your favorite food.

Objective: Have students make a short video about their favorite food, or a special family recipe. Use creativity for those who aren’t able to do any filming at home. For instance, have them bring in some of their favorite food to share, or use animated pictures instead of actual footage.

As an alternative, assign students to different meal groups, like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then, have them work on the assignment in teams. This assignment will help students get to know and appreciate other food cultures, while also having a really fun time.

Engaging Educational Videos Made Simple

For Ethan Anderson—Director of Product with NOLA Education—video engagement is the difference between student success and failure.

Watch: The Video Strategy That Delivers 95% Success

Video Assignments for Middle School Students

6. Task: Create vocabulary Vines.

Objective: Show a word on paper (perhaps a student could be filmed writing it), then record a visual representation of the term. Each short video should be shared with the whole class so students can easily access them. This is also a great exercise for foreign language classes.

Although Vine may no longer exist as a platform, short videos are still a great way to promote learning.

7. Task: Make a two-minute video assignment about your hobby.

Objective: The student will learn to operate a video camera (or the video function on their smartphone or tablet), grab copyright free clips from the web, and edit footage.

Part of the challenge will be to adhere to the two-minute time limit. Older students can be taught how to use industry-standard editing software. Whatever level they are at, students will respond positively to being given free rein to get creative and produce original content about a topic that interests them.

8. Task: Create a video dialogue with a famous historical character.

Objective: Using the split screen effect, the student should record themselves in conversation with someone the class has been studying in history. They will enjoy dressing up and getting into character for this task!

This video assignment challenges the student to demonstrate a deep understanding of the psyche and motivations of an historical personage. Note: this assignment also works well as a conversation between the student and a character from the book the class are studying.

9. Task: Film your science lab project.

Objective: Film a project from start to end, hypothesis to conclusion. Students should show footage of the experiment being set up, carried out, and concluded. They should add a voiceover explaining what’s happening and why in each shot.

This assignment is two-fold. In addition to demonstrating their understanding of the relevant scientific principles, students will hone their filming and editing skills.

10. Task: Give your own TED Talk.

Objective: Show students an age-appropriate TED Talk that’s relevant to a topic they’re studying in your class. They should use it as a basis to put together their own presentation on that subject area. Encourage them to use visual aids and to adapt an engaging mode of presenting, just like the TED speakers. A cameo from friends, family members, or even pets makes for a great video!

For demonstrating to students that a ‘talk’ is more than just talking, we recommend showing them the following TED videos: The Shared Experience of Absurdity, The New Bionics that Let Us Run, Climb and Dance, and Einstein the Parrot.

Secure Sharing

For sharing the video, it’s important to be sensitive to the privacy of the children participating. Consider sharing the video with a password or with login protection to make sure only the participants, or their parents, can view it.

Make sure you can track viewers at a very granular level. For instance, video engagement metrics enable you to check that only approved viewers are accessing your content.

If you need a website for sharing your students’ videos, we even have that covered. Each SproutVideo account comes with a customizable video website that you can configure to your specifications.

The post Ten Engaging Video Assignments to Get Your Students Talking appeared first on SproutVideo.

Here is a breakdown of why educational videos have become such a key part of successful content strategies, and inspirational examples of brands knocking it out of the park.

Why Educational Videos are So Successful

No one wants to be a know-it-all, right? Wrong.

We are living in the age of life-hacks, food-hacks, growth-hacks, and regular old hacks. If there is a smarter, better, faster way to do something, people will like it and share it and tell everyone they know.

The science behind this is relatively straightforward. We gain credibility amongst our peers when we have interesting and useful information to offer them. This reflects positively upon the person sharing the information in the eyes of their friend, while the person sharing feels good about themselves because they helped someone else.

Educational videos capitalize on this because they tap into our innate desire to better ourselves and help our friends do the same. With searches containing “how to” up 70% year on year, the demand for informative videos is clearly high and also growing.

How to Leverage Educational Content for Your Brand

The trick to creating compelling educational content is finding the right niche, and focusing on providing end-value for the viewer.

Business to Consumer

Home Depot has it relatively easy because DIY and home improvement are among the largest categories for “How To” videos in terms of viewer interest, and are a natural fit for their brand. Nearly everyone walking into their store is looking to learn how to use the new tools they bought, or properly apply indoor paint, for instance.

Even a relatively mundane video about how to clean a mattress managed to rack up more than 278,000 views:

Educational content has to be more useful than anything else, and that video about the more technical aspects of selecting a toilet is a perfect illustration of that point.

It’s not just about home improvement – it’s really about all types of self-improvement. Searching for “How to Apply,” for instance, turns up tons of results for different types of makeup products.

The demand for these videos is incredibly high. Videos about applying false eyelashes, notoriously tricky (as anyone who has ever tried will agree), get millions of views, and high levels of viewer engagement:

In case you’re starting to think it’s just homemakers or teenagers trying out different trends, more and more brands, such as MAC, Morningstar and Kleenex, are branching out even further into educational territory by turning to branded documentaries. Not only are these documentaries highly educational, they also get to showcase the more altruistic side of a company by focusing on topical social or environmental issues.

“How To” Content for B2B

That’s all well and good for consumer-focused brands, you might think. But what if I’m selling to other companies?

Educational content has been the bread and butter of B2B marketing for a long time. Conferences, webinars, white papers – all of those content types are dedicated to informing potential customers or engaging existing ones. The same is absolutely true for B2B video marketing.

IBM holds it down with online video for a B2B audience. Their IBM Technology channel frequently racks up thousands of views, and helps make a really complex and powerful piece of technology feel more personable and comprehensible.

Google Webmasters also does an excellent job of producing high quality content targeted at businesses. For instance, this video on “SEO for Startups in Under 10 Minutes” has racked up more than 500,000 views, and their channel has more than 200,000 subscribers.

How to Put Your Ideas into Action

When you think about your company or product, focus on the problems they solve for your customers, rather than their technical attributes, or differentiating features. Then, target your content according to different stages of the customer lifecycle, and adjust the topic and messaging accordingly.

For example, Home Depot doesn’t focus exclusively on the technical reasons why one type of paint might be better than another. They show techniques for applying paint, how to tape edges correctly, and tips for removing different types of paint from different surfaces.

People watching these videos might not have bought their paint at Home Depot, but they will certainly find their DIY videos useful, and might keep Home Depot top of mind the next time they are shopping. This is what is known as classic brand awareness, or top-of-funnel marketing.

When IBM puts out a video that shows what Watson can do with a Bob Dylan song, it might inspire people seeking a solution to an unusual problem to think of Watson rather than some other sort of hack.

How might you leverage educational content for your brand?

The post Educational Video is the New Marketing Video appeared first on SproutVideo.

This makes it particularly appealing as a tool for employee training. Importantly, video can save a substantial amount of time and money for businesses undertaking a major training program. Read on for our top five tips for making smarter employee training videos.

1. Keep it Short, Sweet, and Asynchronous

The announcement of a mandatory employee training program is often met with subtle eye rolls and groans. That’s largely due to the inordinate time commitment required to participate in the training program. Not to mention it’s usually scheduled without regard to existing workloads.

Sometimes training requires employees to travel long distances. This adds to the expense of organizing the event, and the inconvenience it presents to employees.

You can avoid all of those issues easily with video. When training is made readily available in on-demand thematic video segments, it becomes a true resource to employees. Anyone required to complete the training can do so when it suits their schedule from the comfort of their home or office.

Breaking the training program into shorter chunks makes it easier to digest because it’s less overwhelming. It’s also less work to produce the content. Think one topic, one short video, with several series of videos.

That way, employees can go back to specific segments and rewatch them at any point. They can then complete the training series without disrupting all their other projects.

The savings can really add up. For instance, one of the larger companies using SproutVideo mentioned saving as much as $1 million by switching from live training sessions to online video.

2. Restrict Access to Your Training Content

That’s all well and good. But, training materials often contain sensitive company information. You might be wondering how to prevent unwanted viewers from accessing your training videos.

There are actually a number of ways you can quickly and easily regulate access to your content using SproutVideo. We have the features you need to make sure it remains for employee eyes only.

Allowed IP Addresses

One of the fastest and simplest ways is to use allowed IP addresses. This setting allows you to make sure all viewers are originating from your company’s network.

Videos won’t play for anyone on an internet connection originating outside of your company’s network. The video won’t load on the page, and will not display the video posterframe, title, or description. This solution is optimal for large companies with lots of employees, or relatively high turnover.

Viewer Logins

Another option is to assign user logins to all employees, or one for each group of employees, and grant video access to each individual or group. When login protection is enabled for your video content, you can control video access at a very granular level.

This makes it optimal for situations where you need to assign different videos to different people or groups. You can also set video access to expire, or only allow downloads for specific videos and individuals.

Secure Embeds

A third option is to embed your videos in an employee portal, like Sharepoint for example. Access to your videos will also be regulated because you already control permissions for specific pages and sections of your Sharepoint site.

If you leave your videos set to Private on SproutVideo, they will only show up and be playable where they are embedded. This ensures that only people who can access your employee portal can view your content. For additional security, you can use domain whitelisting to ensure your embed codes will only work on your internal site, and cannot be copied to another webpage.

Single-Sign-On

If you’re using SproutVideo’s video website features to share your videos, then single-sign-on is an additional option available to you. Single-sign-on (SSO) authenticates your viewers by using your existing Identity Provider. Popular choices for Identity Providers include Microsoft ADFS and Google Apps.

When using SSO, your viewers are redirected to your Identity Provider for authentication. After they enter their credentials, they are then redirected back to your video website, where they can access your content. Anyone without company-issued login credentials would not be able to access your video website.

3. Include Interactive Elements

Training videos don’t have to be boring or dull. One simple way to increase engagement around a training video is to allow commenting on the video site.

Moderate the comments, and track the topics viewers ask about. The questions and answers will serve as a resource for any future viewers who may have a similar question about the material. That way, viewers can interact with each other and have conversations around the video.

4. Follow Up Post Play

Using a customizable post-play screen, you can link to a quiz on the material, a survey, or more training resources. The important idea is to keep viewers engaged with the training program, and give them an opportunity to provide feedback, confirm their learning, or look into related information.

5. Make Sure You Can Measure Completion Rates

Ultimately, you need to know if training is working. Part of that is knowing exactly who completed the material, and whether they watched all of it, skipped some of it, or replayed certain parts extensively. All of that data is available with SproutVideo’s video engagement metrics, which provide detailed reports of viewer behavior.

You might notice that people are not completing the training or are skipping parts entirely. You can seek feedback, and check for areas needing improvement in the material. Check if viewers are already proficient in the subject matter, and suggest more advanced topics.

If viewers are rewatching certain sections repeatedly, then they probably love it. Alternatively, you may need to rework it if you suspect the concept is too complex, or glossed over in the video.

Thinking about implementing video for employee training? Ask me your questions in the comments below!

The post 5 Tips for Using Video for Employee Training appeared first on SproutVideo.

Process and Retain

As any teacher can surely attest, no two students will learn at their best under the exact same instruction method. Some people excel at processing visual information, while others have stronger auditory learning skills. Being able to present information with a combination of visual, auditory and textual content with video has been shown to improve comprehension and retention. For example, 91% of UMASS students reported that the ability to rewatch lessons with online video helped them learn the material. These stats are borne out in higher exam scores and stronger student engagement in the classroom.

The impact of video on learning and retention carries over to people in the workplace. In our recent post about getting started with corporate video, we highlighted how video can benefit employee training initiatives and help keep everyone engaged with the company mission. This particular use for video is truly industry agnostic.

Global Connections

The way people respond to video makes it a powerful tool for increasing participation and collaboration across large distances. This has led to some interesting projects for students around the world. One example is the Peace Corps’ World Wise Schools program. Classrooms participating in the program get to explore remote areas of the world through pre-recorded and live videos featuring Peace Corps volunteers in the field (in addition to other resources). Some of the themes that are available to explore include global issues such as the environment, women’s empowerment, and cuisines from around the world. Another example is Collaborative Mathematics, a pet project from mathematician Jason Ermer. Jason posts videos of a mathematical problem on YouTube, and gets students from around the US to post video responses explaining how they arrived at their solutions. Making math – the subject nearly everyone dreaded at school – social and fun is no small feat, but Jason manages to do it with video.

The lesson for business here is clear. Just last week we wrote about a company using video to keep their 70% remote workforce engaged and productive. Video played a major role in their ability to work from wherever and still get work done. Inspiring students is certainly similar to motivating employees, and even more than that, fostering connections through video enables information to be transmitted faster, leading to higher productivity.

What other ways is video used in education that might be applicable to business? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!

The post How Video is Changing the Face of Education appeared first on SproutVideo.