As we all know, attention these days is a scarce resource. Welcome to video’s next evolution, interactive video — by Vimeo.

Interactive video is for you if you want to maximize the impact of your video content — so you can influence audience behavior, drive revenue, and increase brand affinity. Interactive enables you to turn any video into an immersive two-way viewer-first video experience. Think product promos, shoppable marketing videos, training and onboarding experiences, and more.

Embed fully customizable overlays and clickable hotspots that fit your brand and invite your viewers to lean in and engage. Use branching to put the viewer in the driver’s seat, allowing them to explore the products or services that matter to them most. Close the loop and drive conversions with shoppable video experiences, leveraging our add-to-cart functionality, which lets viewers purchase directly from your video. Go beyond traditional video metrics and unlock new insights with behavioral-focused analytics that provide tangible data around viewers’ true interest and intent. Interactive video experiences are 32% more memorable than passive video. With interactive, creativity is your competitive advantage.

So, your mission — if you choose to accept it — is to get started creating interactive video so you can deliver richer, more memorable viewing experiences that move people to take the actions you want.

We get that learning a new tool can seem complex — and possibly even a little bit intimidating. That’s why we’ve broken it down and made learning interactive super simple. We’re gonna walk you through the basic, intermediate, and more advanced features. And the good news is you can get up and running just with the basics and save more advanced stuff for later — whenever you need it. And as for the software that makes it all happen, our interactive video creation tool is super intuitive. It’s a simple browser-based interface that’s built right into Vimeo.com, so it’ll feel really familiar if you’ve ever used Vimeo before.

So let’s dig in!

“Let me guess? There were two reasons you decided to get into video production: the fun — and the money. In the beginning, as creatives, it’s mostly about the fun, isn’t it? We’re doing the work we love, others are validating us by paying us for that work. We have these late nights of shared purpose with our friends who become our colleagues. They’re kindred spirits; we share the same passion for our craft. Together, we celebrate the wins and we commiserate over the losses. The whole thing feels more like a college dorm room or a rock-and-roll tour bus than it does a place of commercial enterprise. 

And then the days go by, and one day we wake up — and it’s not so fun anymore. Those people who once inspired us – we now see them as a burden, employees that we previously looked at as friends — we now see as overhead. And the late nights — the late nights are now too much. And somehow, the money and respect we hoped for — it never followed. The money, especially.

In the early days, we said we didn’t need it; we were busy having fun. But now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re a little tired of having fun — and we’re willing to admit, even if grudgingly, that we’re in this business of video production at least in part, for the money.

Back in school, we were encouraged by our teachers to “follow our passion;” they taught us to revel in the nobility of our craft. We were told, ‘follow your passion; the money will follow.’ One thing that’s missing from that curriculum is any discussion of money or of basic business practices. We know we need to go out and get more of the right type of clients. But the big problem is — that means — we have to sell. And many of us, as creatives, we recoil at the “S-word.” We see selling as a distasteful act. We think of it as the act of “talking people into things.” And we also think — if we’re any good at what we do, we shouldn’t have to convince people to hire us.

Meanwhile, the forces of the creative professions are aligned against us, the artist. The democratization and commodification of the tools of video means that everyone is a “videographer” now. Everyone’s bidding their services against one another online — it’s a race to the bottom. When we are seen as one in a sea of many, we have little power in the buy-sell relationship. But a revolution is afoot. It’s a revolution of single artists and production companies against the status quo.”

In this course, Blair Enns, author of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto and Pricing Creativity, teaches us how to get over our fear of selling — so that we can get more of the right clients and charge more. 

Topics covered include: specializing, sales, and pricing.

“As a video pro, there’s nothing like rolling outta your bed – knowing that you’re gonna fire up your camera and capture something dope. But as we all know, it’s hard to get the right clients consistently. You may be relying on word of mouth. The problem with that is there’s no guarantee to your income. There’s no security. And we can’t pay bills or buy gear or upgrade anything with random referrals. I know what it’s like to wanna create the best possible image, and I know what it’s like to also not make money doing this. I get it.”

Ty Turner’s the owner of FlashFilm Academy, designed to help content creators turn their passion into profit. He’s here to help you adopt the mindset of a business owner and get started marketing your business so that you can go from a starving artist wondering where your next job’s gonna come from – to a business owner, consistently landing bigger and better clients.

Topics include: choosing a niche, developing a product, building your brand, and getting in front of the right potential clients.

“No-fail, every night before a stream, I’m laying in bed and I’m thinking about what could possibly go wrong. What haven’t I planned for? What gear didn’t I pack? Live streaming really feels like it’s just kinda one big problem waiting to happen. There’s so many moving parts. There’s so much that can go wrong. And when you hit ‘live’ it feels like there’s a train that’s moving and you don’t have control over this. Everything could go to hell in a hand basket very quickly.”

Tom Gott leads the live production team at Vimeo and he’s here to help. Live is his life — he’s been in it for over a decade — and he’s seen everything.

Topics include: gear, software, internet, and troubleshooting.

After watching this course, you’ll feel prepared with the tools and the knowledge you need so you can get started live streaming (or optimize your current setup!) and have confidence you can tackle whatever challenge comes your way.

Think you know Vimeo? Well, truth is — there’re a lot of tools we offer that you may not know much about — and Derick & KK, from Vimeo, are here to the rescue. They’ll bring you up to speed — so you can get the most out of Vimeo and make even better videos.

Topics include: collaboration, review, replace a file, file transfer, team settings, marketing tools, publish to social, analytics, showcases, chapters, contact forms, end screens, webinars, GIFs, screen recording, creation tools, trimming, business tools, OTT, and more! 

“Ever spent days or weeks filming and editing beautiful video content — you put your blood, your sweat, your tears into it? And then you give it to a client — they put it online — and it kinda goes nowhere, and you never hear about it again? When this happens, it can be a really cool art project for us, but it really is a waste of our talent and a waste of money for the client. And it’s also not a recipe for repeat work or word-of-mouth referrals.”

Producer, Elise London, is here to help. She’ll give you an introduction to the basic concepts of marketing — so you can put it to use and get better results for your clients.

Topics include: what marketing is, understanding your audience, the buyer’s journey, and storytelling strategies for marketing videos.