When making videos to promote your business, you will usually need to spend money on professional equipment to get a high quality video.
You don’t always need Hollywood production values in your videos. You may sometimes need videos that can be produced quickly and without costing too much money.
If you haven’t thought about incorporating video into your marketing strategy, you should consider it—video is an incredibly versatile format, after all:
- Videos can live in several places: The same video can potentially be used on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Tumblr, Reddit, embedded on your website/blog, etc.
- Videos make for eye-catching social media posts/ads: Audiences can read, watch, and listen, so video can engage them in a different way than your basic static imagery. Plus, videos play automatically on some channels, like Facebook.
- Videos can be repurposed into new videos and from other content formats: Video content can be clipped down, expanded upon, or converted into new videos or GIFs. You can also take infographics, blog posts, photos, and other types of content and turn them into videos.
Additionally, marketers who have used video say that it has helped increase sales. If you want to see a return on your investment, you need to start making videos.
Although you may not have a large budget, you can still take advantage of video content.
3 Steps to Make an Effective Video on Social Media
1. Brainstorm ideas
Every video is going to start with an idea. But how do you get the right idea? Don’t stress yourself out too much, you can always make more videos if you have a lot of good ideas. Right now, you just need to start with one.
To generate your first idea, focus on a specific topic. Any given video should only focus on a single topic, for example an educational video, an explainer video, or a product video.
Then, pinpoint what the goal of your video is:
- Do you want this to be for SEO on your YouTube channel?
- Is it a product video that will help users better understand how to use your product? (94% of marketers agree that videos are great for this)
- Is it an instructional video that walks viewers through some kind of how-to or tutorial?
Decide why you want to create this video. After you do this one thing, you will be able to start receiving ideas for videos.
2. Research and plan
You have an idea. We are still in the very early stages of making your YouTube video. After you’ve come up with an idea for your video, it’s time to start planning and researching how you want it to go. This will help you determine what kind of resources you’ll need and how to go about making your video.
There are three main aspects of creating a film: writing your script, creating your storyboard, and planning production.
Scripting
What are you going to say in your video? You will need a script whether you have your voiceover talent or have them actually appearing in the video.
If you want to turn a blog post or podcast episode into a video, it’s not difficult—just adapt the blog post to focus on the main points in a more conversational style. If you are starting from scratch, you will have to do more work, such as outlining, researching, and adding more details to your topic before you can put it in script format.
Keep these tips and structure in mind when writing your script:
- Introduce yourself and/or your company.
- Share the central point of your video.
- Address the audience as “you.”
- Write your script the way you speak so it feels natural.
- Read your script out loud as you work through it.
- Add any music, special effects, transitions, or other video elements you want to see.
Storyboarding
A storyboard is a document that includes a video’s planned scenes, so that everyone knows what needs to be shot when production starts.
Teams can create a visual representation of the story using a template or online stock images.
In order to prepare for sourcing your video footage, you should build out every scene and include any necessary dialogue. This way, you will have a clear idea of what you need and will be able to find the best footage to use.
Find a place to shoot and plan production
The last thing you need to do in the research and planning phase is to find a place to shoot your video.
This will largely depend on the concept of your video. If you’re filming a video about skateboarding products, you will probably need a street setting. The ideal setting for an informational video would be a quiet office with a green screen or another basic background.
You should book your recording space well in advance so that your team can prepare properly.
3. Create the video
To make a video, you can either record your own footage, or use existing photos and videos.
Record your own
The most intimidating part of recording a video for new business owners or video marketers is often getting started. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s easy to create great video content when you first start out using your smartphone’s video camera. Videos that are taken with a smartphone are ideal for Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, and other social media apps that are based on smartphones.
If you want to do more than just the basics, you can get your own video equipment by renting or buying it. Some of the basics you’ll need include:
- Camcorder, point-and-shoot video camera, or DSLR
- Camera lenses that fit the camera you chose
- Memory cards
- Tripod or stabilizer
- Lighting
- Microphone
If you wish to create a high-quality video on a budget, at the very least, use your iPhone and gather some lights and a lapel microphone.
Once you have collected the necessary equipment, you can begin to prepare for the recording process. Get your camera set up with its tripod. If you have a tripod, it’s a good idea to use it when filming with your smartphone. This will help keep your phone steady.
Then record your talent or video scene. If you or someone else is reading from a script, consider placing the script on a monitor as a teleprompter so they can ensure they get all their lines right.
Perform some test runs of the visual to confirm it is visible and the audio can be heard easily. Make sure your lighting gives your video a high-quality look, not like it was filmed in a basement.
Repurpose existing content
If you need to get footage for your project, you can use existing photography, get it from stock footage sites, or shoot your own footage with your phone.
There are many great places online where you can find free stock footage, fitting music, and cool sound effects for your video project.
The content you borrow might need to be credited to the creator depending on the licensing. You might also need to pay to use the content for commercial purposes.
Here are 12 video tools your team can use to generate interest, broaden your audience and create tons of new brand converts.
Video Tool #1: Splasheo
This is a tool that content marketers can use to make their videos more visually impactful.
Why is this important? Most uploaded videos are shorter than two minutes. Videos longer than a certain length need help in keeping your audience’s attention. Splasheo makes it easy to add captions to videos that are both short and long. These captions are professional-looking and attention-grabbing, which will keep your audience engaged.
Video Tool #2: Wistia
Wistia is not just a video customization tool, it is a tool that can customize an entire channel. If a brand regularly posts videos on their website, it’s a good idea to use a video hosting service. Wistia is a good option for content marketing teams who want to make the viewing experience more branded.
Users can choose to have a custom thumbnail and colors for their video, add a logo, and have a call to action on their video. This will be a stream of only their video content, without any other videos from competitors, and without any of the clutter that is normally present on YouTube. This software is also compatible with many marketing and analytics platforms, so it can save you time.
Video Tool #3: Camtasia & SnagIt from TechSmith
There are many reasons why brand ambassadors and content marketers might want to record a video of their screen and then share it with the world. You might want to demo a piece of software, make a video tutorial, or host a webinar or training video. No matter what the situation is, Camtasia is a app that is easy to use for people who have Windows and macOS. This app makes it simple to record and fix your screen capture so that many people can see it.
Camtasia provides a set of tools for editing screen footage, webcam footage, or both. These tools include effects, transitions, music, title cards, animations, and captions. Adding interactive elements, such as quizzes, can help hold your viewers’ attention.
SnagIt is another tool from TechSmith that allows you to capture and edit footage from your screen. If you want to export your video to presentations or documents, SnagIt easily integrates with services from Google and Microsoft to save you time.
Video Tool #4: Vidyard
Vidyard is a video hosting, recording, and sharing platform with video personalization capabilities. The hosting feature provides players with the ability to customize their player, plus deep analytics tools so they can better understand their audience.
The most exciting feature for content marketers might be the video personalization feature. When you are trying to close a sale, it is important to create an emotional connection with your audience. One way to do this is to incorporate their name, their company’s name, or other personal details into your pitch. You can easily put together personalized offers for many prospects at once with Vidyard. If you want to improve your company, you should consider doing things that will help with conversion and retention, building a more passionate audience, and improving the quality of your sales calls.
Video Tool #5: PlaceIt
In such cases, you may need to consider repurposing some existing content instead. If starting your content marketing project from scratch doesn’t make financial or practical sense, you may be able to repurpose some existing content. That’s where PlaceIt comes in. The platform provides access to a large number of visual templates that can be used for designing t-shirts, banners, book covers, and videos.
PlaceIt has several hundred templates for video that can be used for inspiration, storyboarding, or to create professional-looking footage quickly.
Video Tool #6: Wirecast
More and more brands are finding success with live video. The live streaming industry was worth $30 billion in 2016 and it is much bigger today, so now is the time to get involved.
Wirecast helps turn your computer into a TV station. You may want to have representatives from your company present at a panel discussion or lecture, or you may want to show viewers what goes on behind the scenes at your operation. No matter what the situation is, Wirecast is a great tool to use to record live events without any glitches, add transitions and effects while the event is happening, and then stream it directly to Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms.
Video Tool #7: Videoshop
There is no need to look any further if you want a video editing tool that is feature-rich and gets the job done. When Samsung wanted to promote their new set of multi-room speakers, they chose to use a video-based campaign with Videoshop. After two weeks of running their ads, Samsung noted that a lot of people were viewing their ads, searching for their brand online 50% more, and conversion rates increased by 14%.
The question is why Videoshop works well. The Videoshop app makes it easy to create different versions of the same video on iOS and Android devices. That makes it great for A/B testing. Vidoeshop provides a wide range of filters and transitions, as well as easy editing tools for adding text, slow or fast motion, animations, voice-overs, and more. It only takes a moment to post your finished work to Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms.
Do-it-yourself video
The quality of your content is how you compete with other creators. You don’t have to spend a lot to have a good time.
Entrepreneurs who lack resources can make up for it with resourcefulness.
If you think that videos could improve your marketing, don’t let the investment or effort stand in your way. Most of these resources have a free or trial version which willallow you to get started, and then you can continue to improve your skills from there.
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