Well, 2015 is nearly half over and it’s looking like, in the U.S. alone, that we will have over 200 MILLION regular viewers of digital video. 
On top of that, 61% of young executives have said that they will continue to rely more heavily on business-related video content in the next 5-10 years. So what does that mean for you and I? Well, with the heavy reliance on video (video advertising spending seeing an increase of almost 8% so far in 2015!), it’s imperative that you have strong CTA’s included with your content to take advantage of these increases!
A CTA, or “Call to Action,” is essentially you, or, in this case, your video, instructing the audience in order to get a response you are looking for. CTA’s can be text instructing the viewer to “call now” or “learn more” or can be more clever like “choose a color to continue” or “watch this video next!”. It can even be multiple steps, such as choose a color, then choose a style, then choose a size – small CTA’s that the user feels comfortable doing and the progression feeling natural – all the while positioning the viewer to your end goal.
With online videos, CTA’s can vary greatly, as you will see, and we are starting to see people get really creative with how they implement them. CTA’s can be the video itself and how it ends, or you could see pop-up annotations (YouTube) or overlays (Rich-Text Font) directing viewers during, after, or even to the videos you want viewers to see. These CTA’s can be images. They can be text, and even can be arrows or something that would otherwise be intrusive, now directing viewer’s eyes to buttons, thoughts, overlays or more videos. Here at Fresh Ink, we us the annotation option, and in a pretty neat way – check it out here on our reel:
With an implementation of a CTA, businesses now have an increased pressure on ensuring the viewer watches the entire piece of content to the end. In order to keep the viewer watching, you can begin a video with a CTA like “let us know what you think after watching” and you might see your length of time watched grow! The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon has an exceptional video end-cap with multiple options/CTA’s for viewers to utilize! Take a look at this screenshot below: you will notice that they are both utilizing multiple forms of CTA’s, but also constantly updating the end cap content to keep the viewers coming back!
Looking to educate or inform your viewer? We suggest using the video as the CTA itself, overlaying a thumbnail or a digital video box at the end of your video to keep the viewer moving through your content. Khan Academy does a great job of this. In this screenshot, the thumbnail itself shows that you will be learning about html coding: http://screencast.com/t/SDjqsCzwU9
Once you’ve decided on HOW to implement your CTA, the next step is A/B split testing which CTA works best for your vide, as well as if viewers are staying through till the end. You can split test for color, location of CTAs, arrows vs. no arrows, using images, and varying fonts – the idea is that you NEED to split-test to see what is working best – if you don’t try it, you will never know! You can also tell average watch time and if viewers aren’t watching through the end, we suggest revising your video to make it more compelling!
What sets FIM apart is our ability to do all of the above and more; from creating the online videos specifically tailored for your brand or company, to then having the expertise to know what to do with it – how to market your content and generate acquisition.
Try one, try some, try all of the options; the key is to try something and see what works for your brand. Good luck and let us know below in the comments what you have tried and what results you have seen!