Producing great video content on a shoe string budget

Hey everyone. It's Andrea Anderson, Chief Ideas Specialist from Your Marketing Machines. And thank you so much for joining today. You can definitely join with me in thanking MBRIT for the opportunity to present this incredible information that can hopefully resuscitate and revitalize your business going forward.

Your Marketing Machines as a marketing strategy and communications company based here in Brisbane. We work with small to medium sized businesses and helping them to understand the lane that they should be best swimming in so they can not only gain success for themselves, but also financial success in the bank account. Most important. So look, sit back, relax. We're here today to talk about channeling Spielberg on a budget, creating video for social media.

Cool. So thanks a lot for being with me today team. First thing I'd like to do is acknowledgement a welcome to country. So we would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay our respects to the elders, past , present and future for they hold the memories, traditions, culture, and hope of indigenous Australians.

Thank you so much for allowing me to do that. But hey, we are here for you, it is all about you. So I'm going to ask the question. Why are you here? Is it because you're looking at the possibility of developing video content? You've heard, it's a good idea, but you don't know much about it. Maybe your questioning whether you should be going El natural and doing it yourself, or should you be bringing in a professional. That's a very important question. Maybe you're looking at understanding the different social media platforms, what video, what content goes right for what platform. Or even you've been hit with "Andrea, I don't really want to use my cell phone to do videos. What else can I use?" So we're going to be talking about those today.

However, first things first, I'm going to introduce you to something called the marketing blueprint. Believe it or not. Yes. There is a blueprint for marketing, actually made up of four key components, lead generation, nurture journey, prospect experience, and sales conversion.

Today for us, we are team going to be sitting in that top part of the marketing blueprint, where we're going to be looking to use video, not only for lead generation, but also for nurture journey opportunities as well. Don't forget, you will be given a copy of the marketing blueprint for you to download as you're going through this presentation. So make sure you download that, print it off and start using it as part of your marketing strategy.

Why use video for lead generation?

But let's get into it. Just a few things. Why you should be considering video for lead generation. Just a few statistics here for your team. 82% of users watch video content on Twitter. Go figure. I thought it was just where you sent tweets, but no, you get to watch video on there as well.

YouTube reaches the 18 to 34 adult age bracket, more so than cable network TV. And I don't know about you, but I just don't watch TV anymore. It's crazy. Right? In fact, more video content is uploaded in 30 days today, then major us television networks have created in the last 30 years. Go figure why? Cause we all want to be a star. 75 million people in the U S watch online videos every day. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it and text. Who figured? Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images contained. And videos on Facebook pages increases end user engagement by 33%. So if you will wondering whether video could be for you, just think about that statistics and guess what? Those numbers are growing every day.

So why you should be considering video for stage two nurture journey. Merely mentioning the word video, believe it or not in an email subject line, the click through rate increases by 13%. Video drives 150% increase in organic traffic. Embedded videos and websites can increase your traffic by up to 55%. And believe it or not, if you've got a video sitting on your website, from Google purposes, it keeps the individual longer on your website, which therefore increases your organic ranking. Bet you didn't know that. There you go.

Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users. Video can increase your landing page conversions by up to 80%. More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day. And YouTube has over, almost third of total internet users. So there are some real key areas here for you to understand and comprehend when you're looking at video.

So the first thing we want to talk about here, team, and that is how to develop your content. Cause that's going to be real important to you. So what do you need video for? Well, there's going to be six areas I'm going to give you.

I want you to consider it from building brand awareness. Who are you? Ooh. Remember me. This is a great way for you to educate your audience about your business, about your services and your products.

You can use video actually as a follow up introduction, which I've done and I'll share that story with you actually. When I first started out in business, I would go to networking events and I would get people's business and I'd love to send you a up email. And here's what I would do is at the time, as you can see, I'm a marathon runner, it shows right. But what I would do is take a photo or a video of me while I was out running in the morning. And I would embed that video inside an email follow up. And of course it would be no makeup. Hair pulled back. Oh my gosh. Perspiring like there was no tomorrow. And I'd be telling people it was great to meet you. Thanks for sharing your business within your opportunities and I’d love the chance for us to catch up for a coffee. Or maybe you'd love to come for a run with me. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

The amount of people who responded back to me went through the roof. A) they thought my video was mad B) They said they'd never come running, but C) they'd love a coffee with me. So think about how you can use video in such unique ways and a follow-up to an introduction.

Video, it's a great way for you to share your knowledge, to share the passion and what it is that you do. You can show your expertise. Always important. And it's a great way for you to create relationships.

So what content do you want to produce is the big question? Well, I always recommend to people to look at, maybe they want to use video to explain the product or service that they deliver?

A video is a great way for it to be used in a welcome, you know, for example, if you've got a newsletter that you asking people to sign up to, maybe instead of just sending them a thanks for signing up to my newsletter, maybe you want the newsletter welcome video to go up and stay where people, Click on you, And it's you, the CEO, the founder, the chief Walawala of your business, explaining about how thankful you are that they've come to join you on your newsletter. I mean, wouldn't it be brilliant to get that rather than, Hey, thanks for signing up to my newsletter go buy my next product.

Maybe you want to look at videos. Great way to introduce yourself. Yeah. It's a great way for you start connecting and creating that relation instantly.

You want to use it for motivation and inspiration. Maybe you're one of those people who, who naturally loves to motivate and inspire people and you see video is a great way of doing that. It's fantastic for event explanations, promotional tools, and even doing little info bites about your business.

So the questions you need to ask, and that is, What do I actually want to achieve from video? And more importantly, where will this video actually fit inside my marketing? Cause that's real important for you to know that if you're going to put your effort into it, it needs to have an outcome to go with.

El natural video versus Professional

So the next thing I want to talk with you about is do it yourself versus going professional. So this is that El natural. Which actually plays a really important part when you're looking at developing content about yourself. Sometimes the stage to having a professional is really good, because the advantage of having a professional is that, yes, look, it does require some and financial investment. You need to be organized. But here's what happens. They can adjust the environment. Right. They actually control the environment, which is brilliant. And guess what, ladies, for those of you who are mature, like me, they're really good at blocking out those crows feet. So just a word of advice there looking at the advantages of professional.

You need to have professional equipment. It usually includes the cameraman and the director. And it is suitable for professional business promotions. And there's going to come a time in your business there people, where you are going to need to bring on that professional person. And I can guarantee you, they have years of experience. They know what they're doing. They've been in every single situation you can think of. So you do need to consider when is the right time for me to go professional.

Now, if you're looking at doing El natural. Great thing about it, low cost. It can be done instantly. It's easy to do on your cell phone. It's great for those natural and personalised shots like me running around head tied back. No makeup. Asking people to come on a run with me at six o'clock in the morning. There's no control of the environment though. Just be aware of that. But it is perfect for things like your Facebook lives. Great way to connect instantly with people out. Yeah.

So what do you need? To do for video. Well, you need to have a video platform. Most commonly used is YouTube. You need to consider your video camera, does it have high resolution? Microphone is always a good thing to have, one of these things. Cause why? The microphone is coming into your mouth and doesn't pick up anything around you. Sunspot. Spotlights.

You need to have tripod spare batteries and SD cards, a good script. Okay. Don't bluff it. You'll find it sound spending hours making bloopers, which is actually a good way for you to promote your business as well. Good lighting. You gotta be aware of the background noise. External environments be aware of them, and your YouTube channel.

So the questions you need to ask here, team, and that is number one. What can I actually afford right now? Okay. And number two, where do I plan to share this information to share this video so important.

So I'm gonna give you a few moments to consider that, and then we'll move on to the next step.

What platforms should you be targeting?

Great. Okay, here we go. Business and marketing platforms. This one's going to be real interesting. And once again, I'm just really looking at where can you actually share this information, these videos to, and there's actually quite a number of different areas. So let's get into him.

Video speaks for Facebook, for example, the most common type of video on Facebook. Comes from sharing posts. You can choose between a landscape or portrait. The recommended video dimensions for Facebook is 1280 x 720 for landscape and portrait. The minimum width is 600 pixels. Now some of this is probably not going to mean a lot to you. So I'm going to encourage you to go and research. Find out what this actually means, because if you go into invest in video, you want to ensure that you produce the best possible.

So your minimum width is 600 pixels. So the length depends on the aspect ratio, but it's usually what they call 16 to 9. Your maximum file size is about 4 gig. So be aware of that. Your recommended video formats are an MP4 or MOV. And you're looking on Facebook on having 120 minutes, which team that’s a two hour movie. Not my recommendation. I'm going to recommend keep you videos depending upon what the content is, keep your videos to anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes. Anything longer than that, you know, you may want look at breaking it down into bite size chunks.

For Instagram, you'll be able to see there that there's actually quite a number of different speaks for Instagram as there is for Facebook.

So for example, the minimum resolution for landscape video is 600 x 315. So just be aware of the different changes there that you need to consider, when you're looking at the different platforms. The beauty about Instagram as it is for Facebook, the maximum file size is for all formats is around four gig.

Similar kind of formats, video formats as well can be recommended. But this one's 60 seconds. One minute. So one minute on Instagram.

For your LinkedIn. What's really interesting. LinkedIn has only just come into the 21st century of marketing. It's really exciting. And LinkedIn actually allows you believe it or not to have up to 10 minutes of video. So if you're thinking of putting content into LinkedIn, then just remember 10 minutes is the maximum that you can go. And there are some great opportunities there that you can do with LinkedIn, by the way, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

For your website. That recommended video resolution is 720 pixels. It's maximum video file sizes, four gig. And the video length max is 122 hours, but team, once again, be aware that you want to be looking at around about three to five minutes on a website, and then you want to put to a call to actions, so that people can actually move through your website, become more engaged with you, and then hopefully reach out and buy you. Which is the best thing that you want to have happen.

Video speaks for email and newsletter is very similar to those that I've mentioned. But look, you can have very long videos that you can put into an email, but once again, why would you. So be relevant, but be realistic also about the kind of video size that you're going to be putting on to those respective platforms.

So the questions you need task. What platforms should I be using? That's a good question to be asking. What information also is going to be relevant, that perspective platform? So just want you to take it a few moments to consider that because not every video you deliver is going to be relevant across all those platforms. You are going to have to consider what goes we are.

Let's take a few minutes to consider that.

Hey, how'd it go. Did you manage to get through it?

What video maker software is available for you

Here I want to talk about video maker software, because one of the questions I always get asked a lot is Andrea, what kind of software or video making tools are available? And look, I'm no expert by any means. And I'm a big fan of research to get the best advice and the best support for what it is you are wanting to achieve.

So let's just talk about video maker software for a moment, because there is quite a few of them out there. The beauty about it is that you can make your own video tools as cost effective. Sometimes there is a monthly fee involved, but it's usually a low cost fee. You can preset video and photography images that you can use. Some of them actually come with really funky music. So you can actually choose if you want a jingle to go with your video, sort of adds makes it a little bit of fun. And there's also a wide range of themes that you can use. And it's great for explainer videos on your website.

So some examples that I can recommend for you to go research, not buy, research. Biteable.com is a really good one. Wevideo.com. Camtasia.com, some of you at the may have heard of Camtasia or Animoto. Another one is Powtoon and one that I use actually for, doing my proposals and that is I use screencast-o-matic. I know it sounds crazy. Right.

So to give you an example, I no longer do a written proposal anymore. Instead, what I do is create my proposals on Canva and then I record my proposals. And instead of sending a 20 page document, I send people a link to their proposal for them to watch. It's normally anywhere between 8-15 minutes, depending upon the kind of proposal that we're being requested to use. And I find that actually people can go back at anytime they can listen to my proposal and the responses I'd normally get are normally fairly positive. Why? Because I know that people don't have time to sit down and read a 20, 30 page documents. I know I don't. So if somebody wants to make me a video, perfect. I’m in. So consider that from a video format doing proposals, you never know people might actually appreciate it.

So a question I want you to actually also ask yourself too, and that's your own video ability? I am by no means a videographer. Yes. I sort of know how to hold my phone while I'm doing Facebook live. But even then it gets a little bit like jiggly all over the place. So be aware of your own video ability other than you, who else can produce your content for you?

What timeframe do you realistically have available to video? Where does this all fit in my overarching marketing plan? And more importantly, how can I repurpose the video that I'm creating?

And I'm a big fan of actually sitting down and planning this guys. So if I have to do video, I go, where else can I use it? What is the intention of that video? Is there a way that I can break that video down, like edit it into smaller portions and be able to spread into different areas? So you need to be having those kinds of conversations with yourself before you actually press the record button.

People have said to me, Andrea, what about Tik Tok. And I go Tik who?. Tik tok, like a clock. Okay so Tik Tok, was formally known, believe it or not as musically and as a social media platform, grateful creating, sharing, and discovering short, you know, music videos that only really lasts 15 seconds. Yes it can be a great marketing tool. But once again, where does it fit inside your marketing?

One of the things I'm going to encourage you to do people, please. I encourage you try not to get caught up in the latest fads, right? You need to look at video as if it's going to be an integral part of your business brand success. And if Tik Tok is right for your business, where you can do those short, funky 15 second videos. Brilliant. Excellent. But don't feel that you need to use the latest tools. Okay. Get strategic and get clear about what it is you want to achieve from your business. So I've just got one question here that I need to ask you, and that is which software would best work for your business. Work for the level of your technical ability as well.

So I want you to take a few moments to consider that question, because that is such an integral part of how you create video success.

Perfect. Alright. So. Team. There was a lot of technical stuff we covered in there, but there was also a lot of very simple things that I want you to take into consideration. And it's now time for you to become the director and the producer of your own videos.

What was covered in this presentation?

So why did you come here today? Well, you were actually thinking about the kind of video content that you wanted to develop. You were looking at whether you are going to go El Natural or you are going to stage it. In other words, find the professional to help you. Maybe you want to find out where video can sit on your different digital platforms. And the fourth thing was to also consider what kind of video software is out there ready for you to use.

Wherever you decide to go with this. I'm going to encourage you download the marketing blueprint. It comes with these videos. And I want you, as you're going through that marketing blueprint to make notes of where you see video content being powerful for your business. Don't do it just because everyone else is doing it. Use video in a way that's powerful and purposeful for you business and aligns you in the best light possible.

Okay, because look, there is so much here that you can do with video. It's powerful. We all love watching videos. So I'm going to encourage you to definitely consider it. All right. So this is Andrea Anderson, Chief Ideas Specialist for Your Marketing Machines. Once again, thanking you for the opportunity to spend some time.

With you. I do appreciate that. Join with me in thanking MBR it for the opportunity to have this chat with you. And I wish you all the very best for your business success.