Creating videos can take on a whole lot of different forms for your company. As each caters to a different need and helps you with your overall marketing strategy, make sure to pay attention to one basic but crucial type: the tutorial. This video-style can often be the overlooked, pesky one you don’t really want to attend to, but if you’re looking for your clients to learn most about your product and in turn make it more accessible, this is by far the best how-to visual content you can create.
What are the incentives?
You’ll be welcoming the newbies and really putting the user first by guiding them through how your product is working, almost to the point where it’s a one-on-one experience. With tutorials, we’re also able to have a greater reach and connect – committed users, newcomers, or even seasoned ones will benefit and find something to take back with them.
Another great aspect to tutorials is how it ultimately gives a new user the possibility to “stop, rewind, and replay”. This beats out a webinar, as everyone is able to repeat any part that was left unclear to advance to a specific section without having to sit through the basics that may be unnecessary to some.
It’s proof your product actually works. You’re bound to gain some more reliability and credibility for your brand because you can showcase the ‘in’s and out’s’ of your product. The even greater perk? Reaching a spiral effect – where your own users begin to create homemade tutorials on how to use your tool or service. It shows off their expertise but helps to get your product out there amongst avid learners, and is often a nice form of flattery.
How to do it
- Structure your content and start with the basics. As an opener, its crucial to tell your audience what it is that they’ll be learning.
- Break down your information into a logical progression. How do you complete one task from start to finish? This should also be achievable within reasonable time, with 3-4 minutes as your target max time.
- Keep your images and sound clear, and make your examples concise and simple. This may seem like a no-brainer, but often you will find yourself having to repeat your steps because they weren’t as to the point as you expected. Having said that, make sure to rehearse whatever it is you’re giving instructions about so that the communication flows.
- Silence is also a no-no. Make sure you’re using a voice over (your own even!) to explain each step. It helps for learning to be absorbed and makes your efforts more valuable to a new user. If you’d like to record and use a built-in mic at the same time from your computer using screen captures, a great tool for this is Jing. Alternatively, you can also use the handy Audacity program that includes audio recording and editing for free on your desktop.
- Best tip: There’s no need to assume anything. Odds are you’ll be trying to target first-time users that may want to understand your product better, so establish your step-by-step for a beginner, and avoid thinking that some things are self-explanatory. Anything lost along the way will just make your product appear to be more complicated than necessary.
Here is our own example of how to get started with Wideo:
Once you’ve got the basics down, you can think about creating more specific, experience-needed tutorials to help those more advanced users. Making a step-by-step tutorial may test your patience and dedication, but it is vital to keep one thing in mind: you’re creating a tutorial not just to help, but to create a sense of community. That last word, paired with your business venture, is invaluable.
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