It is estimated that more than half of all video content will be watched on mobile devices. This isn’t just movies and the games your kids watch. It’s everything from the marketing content you are sending your client in an email to the social media content you are posting for your brand awareness and development. However, the way video is designed matters. If the content is not optimized for use on mobile devices, it simply cannot be viewed easily in that way. That hurts the way your business operates because it directly impacts how nearly half (or more) of your audience is viewing that video.
How, Then, Can You Optimize Video to Ensure It Is Mobile Friendly?
Realize that, whenever you create a video, it needs to be mobile friendly. This means that when you work with a video production company, you’ll want to ensure your content is designed from the start with a mobile advantage.
Some websites, such as Vimeo and YouTube are already mobile friendly when it comes to the video player size. However, most marketers are extending their video libraries beyond these platforms. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you create mobile-ready videos for your marketing campaigns.
- Start with your landing or splash page. The image you place here needs to look good no matter if the viewer is on a desktop or a mobile device.
- Embed content on your own site rather than on third party websites whenever possible. This allows you to ensure the content is on par with your goals and designed properly. It also means people are on your site viewing the content – and that’s the end goal.
- Ensure the video player you use on your site is responsive. You’ll want to ensure the video player you use fits the screen properly.
- It is possible to create unique content for each application. For example, you may want your tablet users to see a different version of your video than those using their mobile phone. That’s possible and can be ideal for some applications.
- Incorporate a clickable CTA if the video is hosted at your site. You don’t want to do this if it is on YouTube. Remember, you want to have clickable CTAs whenever possible and that is not something you can do when using a third party website to host your content.
What’s important to remember when it comes to mobile viewing of videos is that you need to start from the beginning with the goal of creating content that’s capable of being viewed in all platforms. This is what will ultimately drive your results.
To achieve this goal, start with who you are working with. The video production company or service you use needs to understand the importance of optimizing content for the mobile audience. They can help you to ensure you are creating responsive web design, adaptive streaming and HTTP live streaming solutions, and creating effective, actionable calls to action. With the right design from the start, your video not only can be viewed by anyone and on any device, but it can also be received in the manner you want. And, your customers or clients can then take the action you want them to with your product or your service.
