Video Storytelling Made Simple: 6 Steps to Content That Really Converts

Video content keeps getting more and more important for businesses.

But it's not just the medium that really matters — it's also the message.

Brand storytelling is one of the best ways to approach modern marketing. Narratives resonate with people, and if you can tell a great story, you'll stand out.

Videos are one way to do that.

It doesn't have to be expensive and over-produced, either.

You can easily put together a compelling video on a shoestring budget, as long as it tells an engaging story.

Naturally, people don't always have time to watch a 20 minute video.

It's best to keep it as concise as you can. In a recent blog post, AdEspresso explains how to craft a story that fits into a 60 second video, but that's still engaging and impactful.

With the right structure and the right focus, you can get a surprising amount of marketing mileage out of a simple minute-long Youtube or Facebook video.

Here's how:

How to Craft a Compelling Video Story That Can Be Told in 60 Seconds or Less

• 1. Choose One Simple Concept

This is important both for story impact and for the conciseness that is necessary to maintain viewer retention.

Each video should contain one very simple concept that you’re exploring with a story.

This doesn’t mean you have to only include one person in the story; plenty of great videos talk to multiple different individuals throughout the video, but the individual stories all work towards one common goal.

• 2. Have a Beginning, Middle, and End

All stories absolutely always need three things, no matter what: a beginning, middle, and end. If you’re missing any of these, the video will feel incomplete and you’ll lose viewer interest.

• 3. Showcase The Problem & Solution

This one is especially important if you’re creating not only Facebook videos, but Facebook video ads.

Showcase a problem exactly how your specific audience will experience it, hitting all of their pain points. Then, after talking about how this product affects them, swoop in with a solution.

Introduce the solution, and then explain how it can combat the pain points and completely solve the viewer’s problem.

• 4. Appeal to Viewers’ Emotions

Stories are most impactful (and memorable) when they appeal to viewer’s emotions.

Emotional impact doesn’t mean that you need to make viewers cry their guts out, despite what 99% of creative writing undergraduate students think.

Instead, it’s about eliciting an authentic emotional reaction of any emotion.

That can mean joy, fear, sentimentality, guilt, sadness, anger, or relief.

• 5. Use Compelling Characters to Showcase Brand Personality

Compelling characters are one of the best things you can do for brand storytelling because they can help convey your unique brand personality. This helps establish your brand, and it makes you memorable all at once.

Compelling characters can be real life people that you’re featuring in the video.

Curology has another excellent ad where a woman swears, apologizes to the camera, and then swears again and it feels exceptionally authentic.

They can also be off-the-wall, zany and unreal, which works well for quirky brands.

• Incorporate UGC

If you have it, flaunt it, especially when it comes to user-generated content. If it’s possible to include UGC in your social videos (regardless of whether they’ll become paid ad campaigns), you should.

User-generated content is extremely appealing to viewers and can do wonders when it comes to engagement and conversions.

You can find more tips for telling your brand story with video in the full article from AdEspresso.