In this article you will be wearing your video marketer goggles. It might be your first time, and i hope this will jump start your critical thinking when you plan out your video marketing strategies.
I mean, even if you make a great video, it doesn't mean it will work out on every platform you are it publishing on. For every content platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube, the videos characteristics should. differ, and we will talk about how it works and how you, can adjust your videos to any platform you wish to publish your content on.
Before we get to video marketing, let's cover the basics of video production for independent video creators:
Plan Your Videos with These 2 Steps:
When doing videos, you should keep in mind these 2 rule of thumbs: Decide on a specific goal, and which channel would be the best fit for your video.
Is your goal raising brand awareness around your product? Is it to get people to download your app? Try and get some traffic for your website? After you have decided on a unique goal, you will need to understand which channel is best suited for your content, as each social media or video platform have different characteristics which you can take advantage of. Than, you can tailor your content accordingly, and maximize your video's full potential.
Filming Basics – Lighting & Audio
I think it’s clear that this is the golden age for video creators. I mean, any small business can be a video creator. If you have an iPhone 12 and above, you can make really high quality videos. Smartphone cameras are very powerful. You can make a short movie for a film festival while solely using your iPhone, and it will turn out incredible.
My caveat though for small business out there doing videos, is to not neglect lighting and sound, essential elements for filming, even if you are just starting out. For sound you don’t need to invest as much as you may think. A 50-dollar lavalier mic could really be a game changer for your videos, and your videos will instantly sound better. It’s very easy to use, and you can connect it to your smartphone, you don't need a professional camera or anything like that. My personal recommendation would be to go for a wireless mic, so you won’t be tethered to your phone, it all depends on your budget.
Lighting properly the object you are filming can really make your videos look professional. you don't necessarily need to use any special equipment for lighting. If you have a big window in the area you want to film your video, you can utilize it to make your videos look 10 times better. You can even use a white sheet and put it on your window to make the light softer (lessens harsh shadows) and the person being filmed look more appealing.
Another example to soften your lighting, would reflecting it on a wall or another object. Let’s say you are using a room lamp in your video for lighting, but after filming a couple of videos, you saw it might be too harsh. What you can do is simply aim it to the wall and let the light reflect onto your face. This would immediately make the light softer and yourself look better on video.
Usually, we would want to avoid hard light (causes harsh shadows). Harsh lighting isn't always a bad thing, but usually it gives an unappealing look to the person being filmed.
If you have some budget to invest in lighting equipment, you can buy a LED light panel, which you can dim and change the light's temperature. it's easy to use, very intuitive, and it would make your videos look alot more professional.
Video Content for Facebook and YouTube
When you are thinking about the channel you want to use to publish your videos, you need to take into consideration these 2 elements:
1. Technical setup
2. Mindset of the viewer
Keeping these 2 factors in mind will enable you to tailor your videos precisely to your chosen platform. Let’s demonstrate this method using YouTube and Facebook as examples.
YouTube
The mindset of a viewer on YouTube is consuming content which is being searched for directly (Most of the time). The viewer is coming with an intent. If we are making an ad for YouTube, our viewer will consume it at first without being asked for permission beforehand. We are pushing the ad to his face, and In most cases they will want to skip it as fast as possible.
Now for the aspect of the technical setup, the most common youtube ad is an unskippable video, for 5 seconds, and the user will have his sound on (Facebook users tend to consume videos with their sound off). how can i utilize this information to make an effective ad?
Considering these 2 elements, you will be able to adjust your content accordingly. In the first 5 seconds of the video, you need to convince the viewer to keep watching. you have something valuable to show them, considering we managed to reach our target audience, you need to make sure they understand that in those 5 seconds frame. it’s a lot to ask from video marketers. 90% of your viewers will probably skip your add, and for that reason there is another thing we can and should do:
At monday.com we think of the 5 unskippable seconds as a space for a mini ad. We try and get our entire message, in those 5 seconds, so if we managed to reach a potential consumer, his conversion will be done in that time frame.
What should be included in those 5 seconds:
- What is the brand? (monday.com)
- Call to action (Go to our website)
- What is the value we are offering (Working Efficiently)
How about video marketing when it comes to Facebook? Let’s go back to our 2 elements again: In Facebook’s case, our viewer’s mindset is different.
I don’t know about you, but when I go on Facebook, it’s usually when I’m bored or need to take a little break from something. I don’t really intend to watch something specifically. I usually just scroll down and passively wait to stumble across something interesting to watch. As a marketer, I don’t even have Youtube’s 5 seconds time frame. If I didn’t catch my viewer’s interest or curiosity immediately, he will just keep on scrolling.
Regarding the technical aspect, Facebook users tend to watch videos without any sound. This means it would be necessary to use big, fat captions and pretty much anything that is eye catching. we shouldn’t rely on sound.
To summarize, when approaching content creation for Facebook, we need to take into consideration 2 facts:
1. Your user's attention span is approximately 2 seconds
2. Your video will be played without sound.
I never said this was going to be easy.
Eran’s Secret YouTube Channel
When I started my personal YouTube channel, I didn’t have any clear goals or specific aspirations. I just wanted to make videos I would enjoy creating, and that’s exactly what I did. I kept doing videos and send them to my favorite blogs, and then just forget about them. Eventually one of my videos went viral, and this is in a time where the word viral had some meaning.
The strategy for my channel was to create videos which are not easy to do, that take time to plan and execute, and very hard to mimic. That way my content was unique and stood out.
All of my views are 100% organic. I didn’t do any advertising whatsoever. I trusted my intuition, I made adjustment to make better videos, I sticked with a clear and a consistent concept for my channel, and kept uploading videos consistently, and it worked.
All of this was in a different era of the internet, yet I strongly believe, that good content, will flow to the top if it was done with effort and provides some sort of value. inevitably, people will discover it and share it. You just need to make sure it reaches your target audience.
Okay, you can take off your video marketing goggles.
I really hope you learned something new today. Keep exploring this topic, you don't need to be an expert whatsoever to use simple video marketing strategies when you publish your videos on whatever social media platform, or any platform.
No matter what your business's size is, if you do videos, you are not only a video content creator, but a video marketer. Good luck!