8 Ways to Optimize Your Mobile Video

1. Make Sure Your Mobile Site is Responsive

It’s crucial that you do a bit of heavy lifting before even picking up a camera. Make sure that your website has a mobile experience, and that it’s up to snuff. Users who visit your site should experience a 1:1 experience with the desktop site, even if they’re browsing on their phone. That means that all menus, videos, and text should be condensed without the user losing out on anything. If your site features a welcome video on the desktop site, it needs to be there on the mobile site, as well. If you’re not sure whether or not your site scales, consult your web developer. Plenty of web platforms feature auto-scaling, but custom-built sites are a bit more complex.

2. Mobile Video Needs to be Short

Unfortunately, mobile data can be quite costly to consumers and not all of your audience will have an unlimited data plan. Even if they do, their network speed is throttled at a certain point. Keep this in mind by condensing your mobile video as much as possible. Aside from basic data considerations, peoples’ attention spans aren’t what they used to be. Think about your own web browsing habits, for instance. You may skim page after page, and when you do find something interesting, you only give it a few seconds of your time. Your audience is going to interact in much the same way. A short, 90-second video is always going to be more appealing to the consumer than a five-minute video.

3. Include Captions

Most video producers will tell you that high-quality audio beats a great-looking picture any day. But people don’t always want to watch a video in a public place. In an ingenious case of everything old becoming new again, closed captions have taken the mobile video market by storm. Now audiences don’t need to mess with their device’s volume. Including captions is an easy way of ensuring that audiences can still appreciate your mobile video — even in a public setting.

4. SEO and Video Titles

Mobile optimization requires a clever titling system. Since digital marketing is so accessible, all businesses are competing for attention. This is why SEO-driven titles are so important. You may already be familiar with SEO and its role in bringing visitors to your business. Mobile video requires optimization in much the same way. Your title should be descriptive and feature keywords if you want it to track well.

5. Don’t Autoplay Videos

Earlier we mentioned that not everyone wants to watch a video in a public setting. However, some businesses don’t seem to get this and insist on autoplaying their videos whenever someone opens their page. Don’t do this. Please, turn autoplay off. Really, your audience will appreciate it. There are even entire articles about how users can stop it on their browsers. Save them the frustration and show that you value their freedom of choice. If your mobile video is enticing enough, they’ll likely watch it anyway. Aside from simply being annoying, autoplaying video doesn’t always fully load. Now you’re left with an annoyed visitor with a video that won’t stop buffering.

6. Grab Your Audience’s Attention

Think back to your high school English class. Remember how your teacher told you that the first rule of essay writing is to entice your audience? Mobile video is much the same. Within the first few seconds of opening your video, your audience should have a clear indication of what they’ll get from watching the video. Start out with a startling fact, an interesting shot, or anything that will set your mobile video apart. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention, so stand out.

7. Keep Editing Tight

Mobile video optimization requires the same tight editing as any other form of video production would. Your shots still need to make sense and keep the audience interested. When optimizing your mobile video, ensure that your editing is as tight as it can be. Watch your video with a critical eye and start to ask yourself what can be cut. If you’ve never sat in an editing suite, here are a few things you may want to think about: Is your shot list diverse enough? Do you really need that extra second of the talking head or is it just awkward? Does the music fit? Editing is perhaps the most important step in all of the video production, so make sure you get it right. Watch a few examples if you’re unsure about your edits.

8. Learn About Mobile Encoding

Finally, not all video formats are supported by mobile browsers. Most of the common ones, such as MOV, MP4, and even AVI in some cases are. However, some editing software likes to encode in bizarre or downright unusable formats. Whether editing the video yourself or using a professional team, ensure that the video format works with your site.

Tell Your Story

At Viva Media, we believe that video production is the best way for brands to reach their consumers. That’s why we’re equipped with the best equipment and resources you’ll find. Whatever your video production needs are, make sure to get in touch for your free quote. We’d love to bring your big vision to the small screen.