Unleashing Your Inner Spielberg
As much as you might have tried to bury your head in the sand and avoid it… the time has come to be less ostrich and start embracing the wonderful world of video marketing. Trust us, you’ll only be increasing your brand awareness and loyalty.
You can’t argue with the benefits any longer…
- 64% of us are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it
- We spend 88% more time on a website with video
- We’re lazy and addicted to scrolling and browsing – we want to watch, not read, and be stopped in our tracks by a video
- Video content is more valuable in Google’s eyes – it’ll rank you better the more you have on your website
- Social media video generates 1200% more shares than text and image combined
We know it’s a daunting prospect, so if time and purse strings are tight, read on for a classic top tips blog that will help you with the hardest part – making the first steps.
1. Find Your Tribe
Get to know your audience, and create every piece of content with them in mind. Which platforms are they on, what problems of theirs can you solve and which emotions can you tap into? What’s the best way to speak to them?
For a B2B business in the service industry, a client testimonial explaining how you helped improve their sales, website visits or daily operations is a sure-fire route to inbound enquiries.
For a retail business, a product explainer, unboxing or simple 360 degree showcase of the item is a quick, simple way of increasing sales and reducing customer service hours.
2. Keep it Short
Our attention spans are short and getting shorter. Short form video is the most engaging type of engaging in-feed social media content. And when we say short, we mean short – under 10 seconds. Have we said short enough?
Other types of video can be even briefer or longer of course depending on their purpose – but remember to keep it tight and make every frame worth including.
To do this, remember to A. Identify your core message, B. Show – don’t tell C. Use emotions to connect. That way, you’ll naturally start to avoid the waffle and encourage your viewer to do a bit of the hard work – which helps the message sink in.
3. Consistency is Key
See if you can start to establish a house style. Settling on the same sort of setup when it comes to your intro and outro, colour palette, filter, voiceover, visual aspect and tone will not only save your precious time, but reek of professionalism and help foster loyalty.
Take your brand colours as a starting point.
4. Tell a Compelling Story
Storytelling is a key part of brand marketing; it helps capture the viewer’s attention, makes a lasting impression, connects emotionally and communicates the value of your brand.
Of course a story has a beginning, a middle and an end – but there are many ways to interpret this.
Check out different narrative structures including the Hero’s Journey and Three Act Structure for inspiration.
5. Get to Know That Computer in Your Pocket
Familiarise yourself with geeky terms including the rule of thirds, aspect ratios, filters and pulling focus. Your phone will automatically help you with features such as portrait mode to blur background focus, and the grid helps with arranging items in a sensible way.
Here are some of our favourite Apps and Software for editing:
- Adobe Preimere Pro
- Final Cut Pro
- Capcut
- Canva
- Snapseed
- Adobe Lightroom Mobile
- InShot
- DaVinci Resolve
6. Filming Practicalities (boring, but vital)
Firstly, give yourself a little helping hand with three key pieces of hardware; a ring light, tripod and microphone. Lighting, stability and clear audio are non-negotiable and once you have this holy trinity, you’ll never go back.
Next up, make sure you’re filming in the right dimension and layout for your channel and post type. Square, rectangle, 1020×1020, 16:9, portrait, landscape, aspect ratio all count and differ across the board – take some time to research and get it right. You’ll be able to get what you need on your phone by investigating the settings.
Think about what’s in your background. You don’t want to go viral for all the wrong reasons… or do you?!
7. Distribution and Reporting Strategy
Social media and search engines will reward your content for being engaging by showing it to more people.
Other than having great content in and of itself, there are ways you can help this process along.
Consider the time of day, anything that could compete and try to plan when to post to your advantage. If people comment, don’t leave them hanging, reply as soon as you can and keep the conversation going.
If a post is doing well, consider giving it even more attention with a boost or paid promotion – that engagement will skyrocket.
On a regular basis take the time to analyse your content to see what is working and what isn’t and make tweaks as you go.
8. Relax and Have Fun
Just remember that you don’t have to do everything on this list – getting going is the important thing! And just one day dedicated to capturing video can set you up for at least three months’ worth of content.
It’s all trial and error – and for many organisations, the more honest, the better. Some of Giant Peach’s most engaging videos have been our blooper reels. So make sure you’re capturing that behind the scenes, good honest fun too.
Sources:
Wordstream
Cisco Visual Index
If you want to know more about how we can help you create video that will transform your brand, let’s chat.
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