Bring your website to life with multimedia content

In this fast-paced digital world, user engagement is the trickiest but most valuable return for your website. But how do you get your members to slow down, engage, and most importantly, keep coming back for more? It’s time to bring your site into the new decade with dynamic, multimedia content that brings your site to life.

What’s multimedia content?

We’re talking about video and audio content. Podcasts and short videos have made a mark on the internet as some of the most engaging and influential content. In 2019, nearly one out of every three people were listening to a podcast at least once a month. Companies incorporating video content see an average of 41% more traffic to their website. The best multimedia content has these three elements:

The power of people

A face and/or voice gives your content a human element, making it more relatable and impactful. This, in turn, builds your society’s credibility and builds trust with members. You work hard to create value for your members, and a great way to promote membership is with video testimonials. In fact, 64% of users are more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video.

It’s consistent

A regular cadence of video or podcast content encourages members to return to your website. Right now, your members might be accessing your site occasionally throughout the year to purchase CPE courses. Having regular, relevant media content will have them returning to your site like the morning paper.

It gets shared

When you provide useful and engaging content, people keep coming back, but perhaps even more importantly, they spread the word! Sharing media content across your social channels drives traffic and helps expand your audience and overall reach. In fact, users are more likely to share video content, this type of post on average is shared 12 times more than text or image posts [source].

Incorporating multimedia on your site

If your CMS already has a news or blog tool, building a new podcast page or feature video is a pretty quick update. The platform you select to host your audio or video will provide each uploaded piece of content with an embed code. This snippet of code can be placed on your site via the CMS editing tool, and your video or audio player will appear directly on the page. This means site visitors can enjoy this content without leaving your site.

Publishing your media content on your site has SEO benefits as well. Say you have a member testimonial from last year’s conference that you’d like to use to promote the upcoming year's conference. Rather than posting a YouTube link to your page, you can share a blog post that delivers value to members with the video testimonial, details on this year's conference agenda, new society benefits, and a link to the registration page.

Is this something your society could benefit from? Our team can help you come up with a custom approach for incorporating multimedia content that fits your needs and budget. Whether it’s a stand-alone page or a new media tag on your existing blog, we can have you up and running quickly.

Tools to get you started

Getting started is easier than you might think! There’s a variety of audio and video equipment you can use to create high-quality content. Most equipment is even compatible with your laptop or smartphone.

Here are a few gadgets we recommend:

Recording Equipment

• Samson Meteor Mic USB Studio Microphone: This portable, USB-powered microphone lets you record directly on your computer. It’s plug-and-play, with no driver installation required.
• Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III: This camera allows for stunning videos and still images with a tilting touchscreen and effective stabilization.
• Yaekoo Steady Cam: This professional stabilizer is compatible with camcorders, DSLRs, HD DSLRs, and more.
• Hitch Tripod: This tripod is compatible with smartphones and cameras. It’s adjustable, extends fully to 51 inches, and has a Bluetooth remote.

Editing

• Audacity: Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application software available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like operating systems.
• GarageBand: GarageBand is free for Mac and iOS users. In addition to editing tools, GarageBand offers a sound library so you can add musical intros and outros.
• Adobe Premiere Rush: Arrange video, audio, graphics, and photos by dragging and dropping. Intuitive tools let you trim and crop videos, adjust audio, enhance color, and add video effects, titles, transitions, voiceovers, and more.

Hosting

• Simplecast: Simplecast provides affordable podcast hosting and analytics with one-click publishing to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your audience listens.
• Vimeo: Vimeo offers hosting, sharing, and streaming of videos in HD and 4K with no ads.

As always, the Imarc team is always here to help you reach your goals. Need help getting started on your multimedia strategy? Let’s talk!