Studying the video content uploaded to popular social media platforms – even by large and established businesses – over the past 18 months might suggest that music in video is a dying trend.
This is not the case, of course, and there is a large disparity between the percentages of users who play adverts with sound depending which platform you are studying.
For example, whilst the music found in 85% of Facebook adverts goes unheard, 96% of adverts played on video streaming platform YouTube have the sound turned on.
It is easy to deduce what is going on here – people do not want to be annoyed by random seconds of music here and there as they scroll through their social feeds, those watching YouTube are much more likely to be interested in hearing the audio of the content they were watching prior to your advertisement appearing on screen.
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False Impressions
Unfortunately, statistics can be lazily compiled by some analysis firm – multiple platforms are bundled together, giving a false impression about whether viewers want to hear music when watching advertisements.
This has led some to question how important the role of the music you choose for your business video projects really is.
Don’t be fooled – music plays a hugely important role and should be present whether you believe it will always be heard or not.
What Music to Choose?
Music and mood are inextricably linked – this has been proven repeatedly in studies which always prove that the music we listen to engages wide ranges of neurobiological systems that affect our psychology immensely.
The music you choose can dial up the mood of your target audience, and choosing the right sound track to elicit the specific emotional response that your product or advert is aiming for is a crucial part of modern-day advertising.
So, what kind of music should you choose?
Cheerful
This style of music is particularly well suited to travel videos, food videos, and those which feature uplifting news or announcements.
You should also consider the target demographics of your video – not everyone will feel happy and cheerful from hearing the same kinds of sounds.
Invoking nostalgia is a fantastic way of making people feel happy, but nostalgia is a very personal thing and may not be a suitable way of invoking these feelings across multiple generations.
Searching the YouTube Audio Library is a terrific way of finding cheerful sounding tracks that will appeal to larger audiences.
Inspirational
This is a tough one to get right, but when done well, can have some of the most dramatic effects of all musical content.
Seeking out the services of a third-party music specialist can be a promising idea if this is the type of sound you wish to go for, as they will have much more experience and data about what works with distinct kinds of people.
Charities are always looking for great inspirational music, as it makes viewers appreciate the work done by the charity being shown on screen.
Inspirational music should not be too distracting, if that helps – and a build to a crescendo at just the right moment for dramatic effect can give your video the professional edge you crave.
Fast
Often used for pushing dramatic or action-filled products or services, fast music invokes a feeling of excitement, but be careful not to overdo it!
If your video contains a lot of text on screen such as quotes, you might be surprised at how an upbeat tempo can help to keep the video feeling interesting for the viewer in those moments where not much is happening on screen.
The Free Music Archive features a large amount of royalty-free music for videos in this kind of style, and it is even indexed by date and genre as well.
Comical
Finally, if you are hoping to strike a viral hit with your next business project video, nothing works better than a comical soundtrack – something people will instantly remember, are likely to tell their friends about, and that subconsciously tie that repetitive meme-like audio to your video.
In Conclusion
Controlled testing has shown that videos with text and images are 50% more memorable when they come bundled with a suitable soundtrack – likewise, using the wrong kind of music in your project can be a killer blow, and you should always test out the planned release version on diverse groups of potential viewers before spending big money pushing it out onto the big social media sites.
Also, keep those figures from earlier on in mind – if your music is never heard, it can have no effect.
Therefore, create different adverts for different platforms to be sure that you are not using unnecessary resources on something that will go dramatically underutilized.
Facebook – 85% people will not hear your music. YouTube – 95% will. Use that information and run with it.
