How To Optimize Video Content For Mobile Devices: 5 Top Tips

10 Oct, 2021 Animation, Content Tips & Strategy, Video Production

If you knew how to optimize your content for mobile, you’d be happy too!

Here’s a crazy statistic for you:

There are 5.2 billion individual and unique mobile phone users in the world.

That’s more than two thirds of all the people on earth!

As a web video production and animation company working in Melbourne, nationwide and beyond, we work day in and day out to help our clients get conversions and all-important ROI from the money they spend on web content.

And you know what? We’ve learned so much, we’re absolutely willing to share it!

So. How are you optimising your video content for mobile devices? Are you missing out on a wealth of business opportunities just because your video and animated content can’t be effectively engaged with on a mobile device?

Can you do better?

Sure you can. Here’s our top tips on how.

1. Optimize your web video production by keeping clips under 30 seconds

Short web videos do better. In fact, so much better that the world’s leading video production and animation companies tend to suggest that social media content in particular is kept to 30 seconds, or under.

As entrepreneur.com reported just last year, the average human attention span gets shorter and shorter by the year as visual media dominates the landscape with short, sharp and concise audiovisual experiences.

There’s also the argument that shorter-form videos offer marketers the greatest possible freedom to produce concise, hard-hitting and purely relatable videos that sell an idea before the viewer has a chance to become distracted.

And just think about how your audience is likely to be viewing your content: research by e-marketer.com recently demonstrated that 2.72 billion people will watch video on their mobile phones in 2023, up from 2.16 billion in 2019.

What do people do on their phones? A lot more than just vie content, that’s for sure. So, better keep it short.

2. Maintain a narrow narrative focus for your mobile-optimized corporate videos

A good book has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your content should be no different – so, time to head back in time to your high school English classes!

In mobile-optimised web videos, there are no second chances – no second shots at hooking your audience before they choose to scroll on by. So, no matter how you begin your web and animated content videos, be sure to begin, develop and end with some kind of hook – and keep the storyline narrow and focused!

Ask yourself:

How can I open by grabbing the audience’s attention? Is it an emotion? Something visual? Something unexpected? Something creative? Perhaps empathising with a likely problem or concern held by the audience?
In the middle of the video, what kind of solutions are presented to the problem or concern you first addressed?
How are these problems solved by engaging with your product? End with a call to action (CTA) encourage the audience to take next steps today.

Overal, decide your outcomes first (what do you want the audience to do after engaging with your content?) and then decide how you’re going to get there (with a storyline).

3. Use the four-second hook rule to optimize your video content

Research consistently shows us that we have but a mere four seconds to hook our audience’s attention – and that’s no matter what the format; web videos, animations, corporate content, animation and beyond!

So – how will you plan for this while producing your web videos and animated content?

Our top tip is to make sure your most important message is mentioned/paraphrased multiple times in the content/script. You might even like to open with it.

That way, your viewer will ‘take home’ the key message, even if they don’t indulge in the additional time required to develop it.

4. Make sure your content makes use of clever editing techniques in order to optimize for mobile

Editing is an incredibly important step in the video production process. And when the aim is to keep web and animated content short, sharp and focused – and especially in the context of mobile content optimisation – why not make creative use of editing to help you do so?

The short story? Boredom = bounces, so keep it fresh!

Try:

Quick cuts
Animations with dynamic forms and colour palettes
Music and foley that aligns with the pace of the animation
Movement of talent/animation characters that draws the eye around the frame

…and look for web video and animation companies that will help you do the same.

5. Include closed captions in your optimized web and animated videos

Just a few months ago, instapage.com reported that only 12% of people who view their videos turn the sound on. Interestingly, the same company found that fact ‘astonishingly close’ to Facebook’s “85% of video is watched without sound” report.

The writing is on the wall, quite literally: not only are close captions great for accessibility, but they also allow your viewers flexibility in where and when they consume content… and that’s got to be a good thing, right?