Is video part of your marketing mix?

Having recently supported a retail group with questions about video and using video to support their businesses, I thought some of the points that came up would be worth sharing with you.

Particularly in light of the recent comments from Instagram, making it clear that video would get more reach than still photography on Instagram.

From the group training work I’ve done, I know there was hesitancy to use video. We seem to have a fear of appearing on camera, is it because we worry about what others think of us? Partly that, but deeper it is the concern that we need a full production crew behind us to ensure great quality.

It’s true that if your video is shaking all over the place it will be a turn off, but we can take simple, inexpensive steps to create a video that is “good enough“. Remember the phrase “done is better than perfect“ and don’t let procrastination stand in your way either – I struggle with this one myself so I know how real it is!

So we’ve all got a phone in our pockets that creates pretty good video, so equipment-wise we can keep things simple.

To get over the shaky hands it’s worth investing in a tripod and if that's out of reach I’ve known people pop their phone in a mug to keep it still!

Remember, your camera settings usually have a timer so make use of that while you get yourself prepared. 

One of the most important elements is to have good lighting. Natural light from a window is best but if that’s not available to you, some strategically placed lamps or even a ring light or light box, if you have one, will do wonders for your audience's viewing.

If editing seems too complicated, simply go live on your platforms. Yes, you may make some mistakes, but your viewer is forgiving; no one expects perfection, unless video production is the service you offer!

A note on going live; there are a number of support applications that you can use if you want to offer an interview type live experience such as zoom, streamyard and ecamm live, however if you’re going live on Instagram it’s all through the Instagram app. Don’t forget when you finish your live, save your video to your device (as long as it’s less than 10 minutes long); it’ll prompt you when you finish and it then saves the footage to your camera roll. By using some simple editing tools like iMovie or inShot you can create some shorter pieces of content to be used later.

“So what sort of video should I create?“ I hear you ask

Go back to your basic marketing principles

Who are you trying to help? 

What do you offer? 

How can they buy from you?

What do they need to know in order to buy?

Think about the kind of questions that you get asked by your clients or customers? Could you answer some of those questions in a video?

Do your customers like to know the provenance of your product or service? If you’re a creator, consider the inspiration you work from, perhaps a behind-the-scenes video? 

We were discussing retail the other day, so consider “a day in the life of…“ What goes into getting your business open; where do you source your products; how do you display them? Creating a window display or creating an online catalogue perhaps? 

If you’re a service-based business, how do you create your packages?

If you go live regularly, do you schedule it and let your audience know? You could have the potential to list your live as an event on your socials or simply go live impromptu? Perhaps you could create a set time every week, is that a schedule you can commit to?

If you’re struggling for content, why not create a calendar? Think about awareness days that are relevant to your business, which can give you a foundation to build upon when you’re feeling a little lacking in ideas. 

If you’re in retail, think about the holidays and events that your audience buys for like Father’s Day or Valentine’s Day,, then fill in the gaps. Perhaps you’re in hospitality and you could do some behind-the-scenes prepping in the kitchens, making cakes and then showing the finished article.

A word on ‘before and after’ imaging – try to show the “after” image first as people are more impressed by the finished product because it’s most eye-catching, this is a great one for hairdressers and barbers.

If you’re worried about fluffing your lines, have a plan – ensure you know how you’re going to open, practice by rote, if that helps, as if you can get through those first few sentences, the rest will flow. Or perhaps you just have music in the background and you let your video do the ‘talking’

Of course you don’t have to talk facing the camera, you could do more of a commentary on what you’re showing your audience. However, if you are talking to the camera do you make sure you look into the camera lens and not up or down – it can be very distracting as we often make eye contact with our reflection when filming on a phone -  we are, as humans, programmed to make eye contact with another person after all!

So practice recording and when you playback to yourself, check to see where you’re looking. If you don’t look directly at the camera your audience won’t feel like you’re connecting with them.

How long do these videos need to be? Have a think about where you’re going to place them….

For Instagram and Facebook stories you have 15 seconds each story but can load up to a minute of video which would be broken into four 15 second clips.

For Instagram reels you have up to 30 seconds for most accounts - watch out for the new length of 60 seconds coming to your account soon!

For Instagram and Facebook live you can be as long as you like but be warned that once you go over 10 minutes Instagram won’t give you the option to save your clip to your device.

IGTV is over one minute and up to 10 minutes (some larger accounts can host IGTV videos up to 60 minutes).

LinkedIn stories are only 20 seconds long

LinkedIn pre-recorded videos can be from three seconds to 10 minutes long

And for LinkedIn live you need to request the live option for your account - have you done that yet?

And don’t forget when you come to the end of your live remember to offer your audience a call to action; whether that’s to click on a link / book a table / register for an event or sign up for your email list. So think about why you want to do the live, which will give you the call to action to suit your needs

One last thing….have you noticed on LinkedIn that you can now do a video on your profile? You can only record this on the mobile app, which is a little frustrating when so many LinkedIn users actually access LinkedIn from their laptops but let’s work with what we have.

I’ve prepared a little free video to walk you through the steps to do that recording here, if you’d like to access that. Let me know how you get on and if you have any questions about video, comment below.