How Long Should My Video Be?

A pretty regular conversation we have with first time video clients is about the length of the video. Right off the bat they tell us, “We want to do an overview type video of our company about 3-5 minutes long.” My question is, where does this number come from? It’s just funny because we get it all the time. Well here are some thoughts on how long a video needs to be.

Short answer…however long it needs to be. I know not the answer you’re looking for, but it's true. Our feelings here are, if the purpose of the video is to sit on your home page and speak to a general audience, then it needs to be short and exciting. And if you plan on sharing it on social media, it really needs to be short and exciting! Pick a few key points to get across about what you do and how you help other businesses or consumers. If this general video is all about you, it shouldn’t be on the homepage because most potential clients or buyers don’t want to know about you in depth, they want to know how you can help them. If they want to learn more about you, your history, your accolades, etc., put that kind of video on your “About Us” page. See now you've got two pieces of video content to help your SEO. :)

Another way to gage the length of your video is if it’s going to speak to an industry audience. If you are in fact speaking to someone in your industry then this type of video content can be longer. For example, we did an industrial video for a company that sells electrical manufacturing parts. Knowing that they were using this as a direct sales tool for meetings and presentations, the video ended up being 3 minutes which gave them plenty of time to show off their warehouse and all the different kinds of products they rep and have in stock on a regular basis. With some upbeat music, drone footage and text graphics, we were able to make what could of easily been a boring video much more exciting, but informative at the same time.

So, a good rule of thumb is, broad audience, shorter video (45sec-1:30). Specific or industry audience, longer video (2-3min.) When you start getting around the 5 minute mark, you’re losing a lot of peoples attention even if they’re in your industry. So remember it’s not about length, it’s about substance and who you’re speaking to.

To better video!