Places Where Members Are Having Success With Video

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A report from Vidyard last year on B2B-produced videos revealed that while "the average length of a B2B video is now 9 minutes, 75% of all videos published in the last year are less than 2 minutes long." The retention rate—watching the whole video—on those is a healthy 59%.

Irving Levin's 60 Seconds With Steve Monroe falls into that category. Monroe is the longtime editor of Irving Levin, and his video blogs—like the one here from last week—are relaxed, to the point and complemented by transcribed text. His SIPAward-winning posts from 2017 drew 1,823 and 1,425 unique page views, so they are bringing huge engagement. (This last post brought a few very thoughtful comments.)

More than half of the adults polled in a new Pew Research Center Survey say video is important for helping them make purchasing decisions. The survey also reports that users are turning to videos—and that means YouTube, of course—for much more than entertainment.

Here are other ways SIPA members are using video:

Introductions. "You may have heard about IRMI, but you might not be completely sure about what we do." So begins a video on the homepage of the International Risk Management Institute. Scroll down and watch a powerful video from an IRMI member speaking their praises.

Event promotion. Education Week uses powerful videos to promote their annual Leaders To Learn From event which took place in Washington, D.C. last week. When they first started this approach in 2016, it helped boost year-over-year attendee revenue by 77% and live attendance by 75%. This year's video featured one-on-ones with speakers and leaders mixed with engaging footage from past events. "I probably learned more at this Leaders to Learn From conference than I learn at conferences specifically for my field," says one interviewee.

(Check out this video from Arno Langbehn, CEO of B. Behr's Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, promoting his and Denise Elliott's Pre-Conference Workshop at SIPA Annual 2019.)

Similarly, Access Intelligence's Social Shake-Up Show which starts today in Atlanta relies on video to convey its coolness and value. Watch how more faces pop up as the video moves along. Both the Leaders to Learn From and Social Shake-Up video are two-minutes long and move fast.

Recruitment: In a video on Money-Media's homepage—with the headline, "Why should you work for Money-Media?" above it—New York City looks fast-paced and scenic. We hear from employees about the career-growing opportunities, trust and camaraderie bursting forth in their brick-laden office. Then we see laughter and food at staff gatherings, a softball title and comfortable meetings.

"We are seeing video usage rise, especially as we test new formats," said Money-Media managing director Dan Fink. "Originally, we published video clips of industry conferences, but over the years we have added formal interviews, man-on-the-street interviews, explainer videos, data visualizations, and more. The last two formats have proven to be extremely popular."

Contests. Videos can also be requested from your audience. Columbia Books & Information Services' American Paint Contractor held a contest to find the top contractor videos. "You've watched them, you voted for them, and now you can help us congratulate the winners of APC's Top Contractor Videos on the Web..." Talk about a win-win-win enterprise. They get excellent, topical video content, all kinds of engagement, sponsor dollars and a page on their website that can stay relevant for a while.

Testimonials. These can also be requested. "Something else very exciting we're just now doing," says Joe Habboushe, a doctor and CEO and co-founder of MDCalc in a video for EB Medicine on YouTube. "We're working with one of my favorite evidence-based journals, EB Medicine—collaborating with them to make a new publication called Calculated Decisions."

How-tos. "Hi this is Greg Alvarado, and I wanted to give you something new to think about—a new way to look at the health of your equipment," says Alvarado, chief editor and father of Inspectioneering director Tyler Alvarado, in a video on their site. Inspectioneering showcases a whole series of videos on various topics in their industry, several dealing with safety.

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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 and SIIA in 2013 as editorial director…