Pet Blogging 101: Sharable Videos!

“This year, the number of unique visitors to BuzzFeed Video might surpass that of BuzzFeed.com”, said Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, recently (via Stream Daily).

Four key types of videos get shared – 1) Comedy 2) Heartwarming, amazing, super cute 3) Valuable Information and news (including celebs and music videos) 4) How to/instructional.

Who Is your Audience?

When creating videos, know your audience. People share because they find it funny and/or entertaining and believe their friends will find it great too. Or they think something is relevant and/or interesting and they will seem smart or help. Or because something is trendy and they will seem cool. Or because it is moving and they want to help or promote or show their own values (eg with rescues and heartwarming stories).

However, Don’t try to cut your audience into demographics, focus on viewing your audience’s needs and filling different niches. Always be solving a problem with any story, find a specific problem that is being ignored by other outlets and fill it. Fill aspirations and passions of a general target audience, but let it be accessible to anyone with that mindset.

Importantly, appeal to human emotion, tell your story and make connections.

“A video worth spreading is going to say something about the viewer’s identity, it’s going to be an “emotional gift” for them or their friends, and .. support a view they already hold dear”, said Ze Frank, EVP of video at BuzzFeed.

Video Creation Basics:

A video should have a clear-cut beginning, middle, and end with a flowing story line. This is also the case for interviews and product reviews, edit to create rising action, a climax, and falling action. Each shot should only be about 3 seconds, no longer. The shot composition should be switched up often between establishing shots and action shots to hold interest. Often, video hosting websites will reward you for content that holds attention, so keep the pace of your video quick. Never film on flat white as this is visually boring, and avoid jarring jump cuts that take the viewer out of focus.

Your video thumbnail is also important, make it engaging by using catchy graphics, buzzwords in easy to read font, and emotionally pulling by using close ups of smiling people and pets.

 Here are some of our most popular videos to give you some inspiration. So start filming!

 

In order to create an effective video, the STORY is key! Our favourite heartwarming video is the story of Max and NSD Chester which we were honoured to share:

We are also proud of our trailer which shared information on our documentary:

Video is a visual medium so say less and show more, and do it in about 2-3 minutes if you are releasing on YouTube! 

If you take the time to create really cool content, don’t just wait for others to find it! Share them with the world! It is free and very easy to set up your own YouTube Channel and they provide great tips in the Creator and Partner section. Once you have a channel, it helps if you can build up subscribers who like and share your content. 

Happy Wordless Wednesday!