Creating Knowledge Base Videos + Examples, Tips, Tools
Videos are one of the most popular ways to consume information online. They’re engaging, visual, and easy to digest; all the things that make an excellent knowledge base article. But videos can also be challenging to create, especially if you’re not a professional video producer. How do you know if adding videos to your knowledge base articles is right for you? How can you use them effectively in your content? And what tools can help you get started, All of these questions and more are answered in this guide.
Benefits of Videos in Your Knowledge Base Articles
1. Video is easier to understand
People have a shorter attention span than ever. They’re constantly distracted by their phones, the internet, and other people. Videos are a great way to get your message across quickly so your audience can keep up with you even when they’re multitasking.
2. People prefer video content
People are visual learners. They learn better when they can see something, hear it, or do both. And a lot of people don’t like reading long articles in their spare time. But if you add a video to that same article, they’ll be more likely to read it because they love watching videos.
3. Better knowledge retention
Videos are a powerful way to help your customers retain the information they need. Unlike written content, videos can be watched multiple times and rewatched as often as necessary. A video also allows you to express yourself in a way that’s more engaging and effective than text alone.
4. It’s more contextual
When you create a video, you have the opportunity to set the stage for your viewer by explaining what they’re seeing first. This will help them understand why they should pay attention to what’s happening in the video and not get distracted by other things going on in their environment.
5. Videos are available on demand
If your customer has a question about your product or service, they can access the knowledge base at any time and watch the video right away. This is especially helpful if you have a lot of customers who work during non-traditional hours.
6. Deflects support tickets
When people don’t understand something after reading an article, they’ll often reach out for help with their questions or concerns. Customers can watch knowledge-based videos whenever they need to. This way, it will reduce the number of support tickets submitted by users who are lost or confused when trying new features of your product or service.
Also Read: 7 Tips for Producing High-Quality Youtube Videos
Challenges of Creating Knowledge Base Videos
1. Video creation can be difficult and time-consuming
Creating videos is not as easy as it sounds. Even if you have a great script and a talented actor, there are still many other variables to consider: lighting, sound quality, camera angle, movement, etc.
It’s also important to consider the time it takes to create a video. If you want to make multiple videos on different topics, creating the first one may take hours or days of work. Once you have this first video created, you should be able to reuse some of the same elements in future videos (such as music tracks or other audio clips), which will save time later on.
2. Hard to update videos for product or process changes
When making a knowledge base video about how something works, viewers need to understand exactly how your product or service works so they can use it correctly every time.
However, until your existing knowledge base video is updated, any changes made to your product or service (such as the addition of new features) won’t be reflected. If this happens, viewers may become perplexed while using your product or service because they’re viewing out-of-date information when they shouldn’t be.
3. Video can be expensive to create
Making a high-quality video is not cheap, especially if you don’t have the budget for it. For example, hiring a professional video production company or freelancer can cost thousands of dollars or more depending on their experience and expertise level. Therefore, this option may not be feasible for many businesses that are just starting unless they can afford it upfront.
How to Create Videos for Your Knowledge Base
Chat with customers and customer-facing teams to understand the problem and solution
Your knowledge base is a repository of information that your customers and teams use to answer questions about your product. If you don’t have a strong understanding of what people need to know when they visit your knowledge base, it’s difficult to create useful content.
To start, talk to your customers and team members who are most frequently using the knowledge base. They can give you a better idea of what topics are most often requested or how people use the knowledge base. If you don’t have any teams directly interacting with customers, consider talking with customer-facing individuals like salespeople or support reps, who will be able to give you insight into common issues.
Write a script
Once you’ve had these conversations and have a sense of what’s most important, write out the script for each video you plan on creating. It should be short and focused on one topic at a time, so viewers can easily find what they need without having to spend too much time looking around for it.
Capture contextual screenshots and screen recordings
When creating videos for your knowledge base, try capturing some screenshots or screen recordings along with them. These are great ways to show visitors how things work in real life – not just text descriptions or static images like icons or logos.
Record your audio
If you don’t have access to expensive recording equipment, you may still do this by speaking into the built-in microphone on your laptop or phone if you’re traveling.
You don’t need much for this step because it’s just a rough draft anyway. However, make sure there aren’t any distracting sounds around you that could compromise quality later on during the editing stages.
Edit your video
That means cutting out any extra footage or parts that aren’t necessary and adding any transitions between scenes or slideshows. It will be easier for you to do this if you use an online video editor.
Publish and host your video
Once you’re satisfied with how everything looks in your finished output, share it with your friends and family so they can see the amount of labor that went into creating this knowledge base resource. You may publish it to YouTube or Vimeo for easy access.
6 Tips for Using Video in Your Knowledge Base
1. Your videos don’t need to be perfect.
2. Use real customers and examples in your videos.
3. Match audio to your visual cues.
4. Add closed-captioning to make your videos more inclusive.
5. Gather feedback from customers to identify common challenges for your video topics.
6. Create videos to drive awareness and adoption of new features or process changes.
Also Read: Download videos from your favorite online streaming apps
Examples of Helpful Knowledge Base Videos
Tutorials: How to [do something]
Tutorials show you how to do something step-by-step. These tutorials can be useful for any number of things, from learning how to use a specific technology to learning how to perform a specific task in your personal or professional life.
This is a helpful format for your knowledge base because it helps you provide information that’s easy for your customers to understand and follow.
Tips: How to [do something] in a better way
Tips are videos that show you how to do something better. For example, if you’re a chef and you’re looking for a new way to cook eggs, or if you have trouble remembering how to set up your company’s social media accounts, a tip video could help.
Tips can also be used in other situations, for example, if you have a question about the [product name] product itself but don’t know who to ask. Instead of spending time trying to figure out the answer yourself, why not just watch a tip video?
Cheat Sheets: A list of tips and tricks for a certain software
Cheat sheets frequently consist of lists and are usually brief enough to be printed or saved as desktop wallpaper. They typically include tips and tricks for using a specific software program or system.
Explainers: Tell the story of how it works, or why it’s worthwhile
Explainers are videos that explain how something works—or why it’s worthwhile. They are generally more complex than tutorials because they’re trying to do two things at once: tell you what something is and how it works.
The most effective explainers are those that give you enough information for you to understand what’s going on. However, they also leave out some details to avoid being overly complicated and overwhelming.
Best Practices: When it comes to [doing something], we recommend you do
Best Practices are videos that give a brief overview of how to do something, but they don’t go into a lot of detail. They’re usually meant as a quick reference guide for people who know the basics but need a refresher on how to do something more advanced.
4 Tools for Creating Knowledge Base Videos
1. VEED
Review Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Pricing: Free, $24/month for the pro version
VEED is one of the best video editor and is super easy to use. It has many features, like auto-translate and screen capture, which make your videos look professional and on-brand. You can even add text overlays, video intros and outros, and music to make your video pop. They also have a vidoe compressor tool that you can use to reduce the size of your videos.
2. Biteable
Review Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Pricing: $49/month for the pro version
Biteable is an easy way to create short videos that are shareable on social media. You can record directly from your phone or desktop and then use the built-in templates to customize the look of your video before sharing it out into the world.
3. Canva
Review Rating: 4.7 out of 5
Pricing: Free, $12.99/month for the pro version
Canva is a free design tool that makes it easy to create graphics for your website or social media posts, including infographics. You can choose from thousands of templates and add text easily using their drag-and-drop editor.
4. Visme
Review Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Pricing: Free, $24.75/month for the best value
Visme allows you to create marketing graphics quickly and easily without any design experience needed. Choose from one of their many templates or start from scratch with the blank canvas option.
