Video has proven to be one of the best mediums by which to demonstrate social proof, grow trust, and ultimately increase sales in your business. You probably know this
What you probably don’t know, is that creating great video content is incredibly simple, and non expensive.
In fact your business already has everything you need to start creating video content your customers will love.
Surprised?
It comes down to one thing. Content.
Great content supersedes the need for expensive and timely production that “typical” video requires.
Don’t believe me? Consider photography. Once upon a time everyone used professional photographers to create images for marketing. Today; the vast majority of social media images are shot in house, with nothing more than a smartphone.
As Chase Jarvis put it:
Image source: iphone photography awards 2013 - Jon Resnik
With the video camera quality now in smartphones, video is taking the same path. The one difference is that to create good video, a filter is not enough. You need to find: interesting people, expert knowledge, passion, love.
Take a look around.
You are probably already an expert in your field, or fast becoming one. Your customers are also experts in their fields, and many of them no doubt love working with you. Your employees are passionate people, and every day your business deals with fascinating people.
Leverage this fantastic resource you have already painstakingly built, and in no time at all you will be able to produce 90% of the video your business needs in house
Great web video in 9 steps
First, lets take a quick look at what we mean by social video, just to make sure we’re on the same page.
Social video is high frequency & consumable. That is, it has a shorter shelf life that high production video, but is produced on a daily / weekly basis. Just like images you use on Facebook.
We are not advocating you stop creating your beautiful show piece video, advertising and explainer video - what we are saying is that you need to be creating a base layer of constant, cost effective video content alongside this:
This content is created by you, your team, and your customers using smartphones, simple video cameras, or even desktop cameras if needed. You only need to focus on two things:
Step #1. Focus on people, and find the “characters”
Sure, dog & cat videos are great examples of engaging, unedited video - but probably not relevant to you, or your customers. The most popular videos online in fact, involve people, not pets. More importantly, most of these people are just like you, your team, and your customers.
Not everyone will be comfortable being filmed (yet), often it takes a little time for people to get used to the idea, just like photography before the dreaded selfie! So to make things easy, start with those who are (often the CEO or marketing team).
Try to find characters. A little charm, charisma and humour goes a long way, especially if mixed with deep expertise.
Step #2. Uncover their passion
As Adam Singer so rightly says, “its not about content, its about passion”.
Uncover that passion, and its hard to stop someone talking, and generally, they will be fascinating. Once you have the passion, have a quick think about how to use it.
NOTE: Don’t worry too much about making all content “fit” your business. If its great content, people will enjoy it. Remember, people buy from people - if you see someone like you associated with a brand, you can easily sympathize with them.
Step #3. Give a little curation
Give most people an open ended brief, and they don’t know where to start. We’ve discovered that by giving just a little curation, you can repeatedly create great video content.
Questions: Without going into much detail at this stage around question formation - the best way to get someone talking about a valuable topic is to ask questions leading them there. Be fairly specific, but at the same time use open ended questions
e.g. Education: tell me your top tips for getting ahead in content marketing
e.g. Client Testimonial: why do you enjoy working with us?
Or Instructions: Above all else, video has the ability to portray action like no other medium. Doing a consumer competition? Ask everyone to submit a video shouting out their love for your brand in the most obscure location possible.
Step #4. Decide if you should film in person vs collecting video online
You can collect great video content in person, or easily request it online with Verbate. Both have their own consideration, outlined in brief below:
In Person - You get a wonderful response in person, as people respond best to another human, this is why talk shows work so well. However this requires a little more time on your behalf to conduct.
Use for: Interviewing clients at the end of a meeting, team videos, events,video blogging, daily video advice or even personal messages to customers
Remote collection - Collecting video responses from anyone worldwide is powerful. REALLY powerful. Run huge consumer video campaigns, reach out to clients & team in the field or other countries, event recruit your next team members using video.
Use for: Non event consumer campaigns, remote client testimonials & interviews, global team video, mass video projects, market research & recruitment.
Step #5. Get topical
Remember, you are creating high consumption, video here. Think of it as the video equivalent of twitter. This in mind, mix in topical content (see Facebook trending) to spark discussion. This shows you are on the ball, relevant and clever.
Capture Passion: Reach out to your existing social media following to collect video input on events. Your followers will use video as a much more expressive medium than text. Not only this, but you’ll be able to find the characters in your audience.
Tweet your own video: Feeling particularly passionate about an event yourself? Show the world using video and share.
Step #6. Take advantage of events
There is a lot going on in your world, so many opportunities filled with passion, excitement, and great content. Events are always a winning time to be creating content - some that you may consider:
Step #7. Keep it concise
Short form video is catching on, especially when you're not editing content. Aim for 20 - 30 seconds, and at most no more than one minute. You’re looking to drive home one or two clear messages.
Multiple videos: When conducting an interview, Verbate will play each question as a separate video. Viewers can skip through the interview rapidly, and share out the most relevant parts. You can always edit the videos together if you feel you have something good enough to break the 1minute barrier.
Step #8. Camera considerations
Remember, the quality just needs to be good enough if you’re doing a good job with the content. However there are three simple ways to vastly improve this quality:
Lighting: Smartphones and modern digital cameras are pretty good at auto-adjusting lighting, however there are 3 few things to be aware of:
Location: Don’t shoot video in the closet. Get outdoors, get the brand in shot, find fun locations - your camera is mobile - use it!
Talk clear & concise: Where talking is involved, make sure people speak up & talk clearly.
Step #9. Practice
As with any unfamiliar medium, practice is key. The real value is discovering the content your potential and existing customers want to consume ahead of your competitors. So explore.Try filming customers, team and people on the street - try different scenarios and interview techniques, and track the shareability and viewing rates. The more video you create, not only will you start to get a feel for what works, but your team will get more and more comfortable in front of the camera.
Unlike high cost, low frequency video, if you make a mistake here, the repercussions are minimal.
Share your video out using the channels you are most familiar with. This is simply another content source to be publishing. Include testimonials and reviews at key conversion points on your website.
Get started now
Here are some easy starting points to start creating content without upsetting the balance of your day to day life:
unique social media content such as:
social proof content such as: