SILENCE IS THE NEW BLACK

Perhaps you are wondering: How possibly no sound video can become a trend? Imagine you are sitting in your classroom or office, you are browsing news feed then pass by a video. Abruptly, the video plays automatically with sounds, furthermore, you forgot to turn off the phone sound. As the result, all the attention is on you. On the scale from 1 to 10, indicate the number represent your hatred to the video. Do not worry, you are not the only one give the number 11 or 100. Loud sound ads may attract customer but at the same time create negative responses. A report from Facebook indicated that 80%of the viewer has negative react towards both the platform and the advertiser when video ads play without their expectations.

In recent years, number of people owning a smartphone has increase, lead to the increasing of their browsing time, which mean they surf internet at their home and even the public places. Hence, people tend to use their phone in sweet silence to avoid disturbing surround people, even Facebook’s video ecosystem given the users choice to adjust their view experience and how they interact with the videos by not required them to turn the volume up. With this no sound trend, it is essential for advertise agencies to think out of the box and push them to find the creative way to produce promoting video without rely heavily on sounds. Slowly, the trend creates a de facto standard for advertising videos. Noah Mallin of MEC North America also confirmed that based on their internal tests, KPIs and customers purchase intentions were not affected by whether the viewer watched the video with the sound on or off. However, the down side of this trend is that it provokes the similarities of various videos: a visual or message then explanation follow behind. Despite the similarities, as long as it works, the agency will keep applying this kind of content for their video.

One study of Facebook upon ads video, they found that 41% of the video will be meaningless without the sound, as for that, it is better to priority video script that can understandable without sound and easy to bring it visually. Furthermore, another study of Facebook brought up a significant results: number of viewers who will continue to watch at least ten seconds more after the first three seconds is65%, and the number is 45%for the group with watch time continue up to thirty second more. In order to capture that critical moment, and compete in the market, read these tips to equip yourself:

1. Basic of basic- Your story, the content of the video:
   It is your weapon on the battlefield, so plan ahead how the story will be told, what is the main point and how to bring it visually. Most important, the content should be easy to understand even without audio.
2. Hook your audience with visual:
   Video thumbnail images, tittle, company’s logo, these are the front end of the video, which catch attention and attract viewers. Plus, the combination of content and visual is the perfect match like sword and shield. Suitable colors, theme, imagery, movements will keep the eyes of viewers on the screen for longer time. Not only that, the video can also include caption, short snippets, or text on screen
3. Caption for the video, why not?
   The advertising video’ content can be more accessible as the SEO has been boosted. The business can reach to millions user through captions. Not only that, many viewers also use caption to understand the content better. Internal tests from Facebook show that captioned videos ads increase video view time about 12%. As the Communication manager of A&W Food Services of Canada — Robert Cifarelli said that the company used automated captioning tool to ensure that even with sound or no sounds, the viewers can learn about the chicken which raised by the company.
4. Add spices to the dish: music or sound effects
   Yes, music or sound effects. When viewer’s curiosity is triggered, they will ready to turn on the sound and learn more about the brand. This is when sound help you interact with customers and create connection with them, therefore, background music or sound effects should be included in your video as the final piece to get your customers.
5. Secret ingredient- Animated Infographics or 3D virtual anchor :
   Chris Cavanaugh of Freemanshared his experience about this special feature that graphic is used to lead the story and fit with all ages of audiences. However, animated infographics or 3D virtual anchor, both are special tools to getting younger audience’s attention as it creates friendly and comfortable feeling to the younger. This kind of feature has been applied in Japan but costly, while in Taiwan, Gliacloud proudly to provide the same feature with better offer in price.

In conclusion, the tricky part from this no sound video is heavily depended on the type of your content, because some contents can work perfectly without sound when some others do not. To find out if this type of video is suitable for your company or not, how about give it a try to see?