Utilizing Video in Your Digital Publication

Written by Matt Berringer

August 15, 2022

Video content is becoming more popular than ever before, accounting for over 80% of all online traffic. To meet the growing demand for video content, more and more digital publishers have begun embracing videos in their online magazines. While video content is relatively new in the world of digital publication, there are many ways to stay on top of this emerging trend.

This guide will teach you how to optimize video for online magazines with the best video types and file formats to deliver the most positive user experience.

Choosing the Right Type of Video for Your Audience

There are many types of online videos you can use in your digital magazine. While this variety gives you plenty of options to choose from, it can also make it challenging to determine which will be best for your publication. We made it easy by narrowing down your options.

The following video types make excellent content for online magazines. Consider which will best complement your publication.

How-To Videos

How-to videos are among the most popular video types due to their ability to inform and entertain. These videos are educational in nature, showing viewers a step-by-step tutorial of how to accomplish something — whether using a product, doing a workout or following a food recipe. You can use how-to videos to answer common questions about your product, service or industry to improve audience understanding and trust, making your organization appear more credible.

How-to videos play a major role in digital marketing. You can easily repurpose your how-to video for social media to drive traffic to your online publication.

Promotional Videos

Promotional videos are used to inform audiences of a new product, event or sale. These videos are a great option for magazine publishers that offer print ads to advertisers. You can enhance these print advertisements with branded videos or embed promotional videos within your sponsored editorial content.

By using promotional videos in your magazine, you can bring more audiences to your publication and increase brand engagement. And because promotional videos also benefit advertisers, you can expect to boost your advertising revenue by attracting more companies looking to promote their products.

Product Videos

Product videos allow you to highlight a product or service, convincing audiences of its benefits. You can use these show-and-tell videos to educate potential customers on a solution, its features and how it works to give them a better idea of what it is and why they need it. These videos also make it easier for audiences to understand who you are and what you do as a company. As a result, product videos can help increase brand awareness and conversion rates.

How to Optimize Video Size by Choosing the Right File Format

Now that you know what types of videos to feature in your online publication, it’s time to choose a file format. Some video file formats are better than others in terms of video optimization — minimizing webpage load times by reducing file sizes without sacrificing quality. That means you must choose your file format wisely to get the best results.

Some of the most common video formats include:

• MP4: Most digital platforms support this file format, which can store video, audio, still images and text with high video quality. MP4s have a high degree of compression and can maintain smaller file sizes, making them useful for online video optimization.
• AVI: AVI works with practically every web browser and can create lossless files, meaning they wont degrade over time. However, these files use less compression than other formats, resulting in larger files, which can bog down website load times.
• MOV: MOV stores high-quality video, audio and effects and is compatible with most video formats. The downside is its large file size and lossy video compression.
• AVCHD: This high-definition digital recording format was designed specifically for camcorders. Though it exhibits excellent image and sound quality, it is not compatible with most devices and has large file sizes.
• MKV: This open-source format incorporates video, audio and subtitles within a single file. It is known for its high resolution and lossless compression, though it produces large video files and has slower loading speeds. MKV isn’t compatible with most programs.
• WEBM: WEBM is a Google-backed file format that keeps videos as small as possible to maintain fast loading speeds. Though WEBM has lossless compression, it has lower video quality and limited support for mobile devices.

Choose the Right Digital Publishing Platform for Video Optimization Online

If you’re looking for video optimization tools to support your digital publication, Nxtbook Media is your dependable solution. Our next-level platforms allow users to build responsive, digital-first content experiences or replicate traditional print layouts in the form of interactive digital publications. With our innovative tools, you can engage audiences for more than seven minutes per visit.

Request a product demo or contact us for more information on our platforms!