Your Video Marketing Strategy Needs 5 Things.

These tips can really apply to anything from a YouTube video to a Reel. It’s all about your approach, and your mentality. With video continuing to rise as the most popular medium out there, you need a plan. A plan that will actually work with you and not against you – and one that’s going to help you move forward in confidence even if you don’t like to be on camera.

I. How to Build a Plan That You’ll Actually Stick To.

A) Building a Following

• When you’re building a following you need to figure out your objective first. WHAT is it you are trying to do?
• Follow this up by being confident about WHO you’re talking to. Figuring out and having a firm grasp on who your audience is and on who you are trying to reach will have massive impact on the success of your strategy. 
• Focus on telling your STORY. It walks like you.  It talks like you. It acts like you and is a reflection of you. 
• Evergreen Content:  A buzzword which means creating content that will stand the test of time.  Something that people can come back to and refer to time and time again.

B) Batching Your Content

• Focus on one task at a time.  This allows your brain to zone in until you have multiples of the task completed so you have something that lasts longer than two days.  The result is your content improves drastically. Your brain needs time to catch up when you switch tasks.  Relieves the stress of trying to remember what you were doing when you do batches of one task at a time.
• Use themes if this helps you!  A good jumping off point is to use already existing strategies that you can use here and there to sprinkle into your video marketing (Day themes, Hashtag Themes, National/world day/week/month, Trends or Challenges.)

C) Scheduling Your Content

Check Your Insights First.  Know whether your content is resonating with people and what it is that they are connecting with.  [NOTE:  Reels does not yet have the capability of insights.  Facebook and Instagram do.]

Content Calendar.  Make sure you have a content calendar belt planned in for yourself.  For example, I sit down and actually batch as well as plan enough content in one or two days for an entire 30 day period for all my socials because I am dialed in to do it.  When you build a plan of attack with a content calendar, it provides dividends back for you and also allows a huge amount of stress to come off of you in the process.

II. Ways You Can Research New Ideas For Your Strategy.

A) Audience

• Ask your audience: This/That polling in your stories.
• Use people who watch your stories regularly and ask for their honest opinion.  A great conversation starter is to reach out and ask if there is anything you can do better in a DM.  Look for constructive criticism.
• Send out an email survey to your followers.  Include a little incentive by requesting an honest opinion of your last three videos for a small gift at a certain location carrying your product.  You benefit by their feedback and they are rewarded for spending the time to be a part of your focus group.
• Facebook Group.  Use your Facebook Group to gain valuable feedback from your followers.

B) Watching Others

Do you watch other people’s content?

Choose 3-5 channels to watch.  On a regular basis, take note of what it is they do and how they do it right down to the kind of creative flourishes they use and how they infuse their branding into what they are doing. 

Don’t copy.  Get inspired by watching others and let their example fuel your creativity, however, don’t copy what they are doing.  Help them to also grow and interact by giving them feedback.

C) Forums

Forums are great ways to research new content ideas.  All of the following forums allow you to see what questions people are asking about specific topics.  This can help you to gain momentum in traction when you sit down and batch/schedule your content. 

• Quora:  People can up-vote questions that are asked and you can see how many people have up-voted the same question and gauge whether it is a topic that you could speak to. 
• Answer the Public
• Keywords Everywhere:  A tool in Chrome.
• TubeBuddy (YouTube):  Allows you to see what people are searching for.
• Reddit

III. Structuring Your Video.

• Polls, Quizzes and Interactive Features.  Whatever type of video you are creating, add in a call to action whether it is asking a question, clicking on a link, or any number of things, you are causing people to interact.  Stories has built in interactive tools (fun stickers, polls, quizzes) you can use which makes things easier.  Remember, interactivity is a marketing trend that is going to continue in 2021. 
• Takeovers or Interviews:  Guest episodes or interviews to infuse other people’s expertise into the videos you are producing.  You can also do a side-by-side video with another content creator.
• Showcasing Tutorials:  How to videos that get new eyes and awareness on what it is that you’re doing.  This can be an amazing tool because a process or time lapse video can capture what it is you are doing and it can be fascinating to watch.
• Showing New Products:  Highlight new products you have.
• User Generated Content:  Share a review or read off a question from someone and include their tag as well as tag them.  Showcase the people who are taking the time to follow you and it will do big things for you.

IV. Tools to Help you Accomplish Your Video Goals.

A) Storyboard

• Pick Your Style/Theme:  Use your branding to make your videos recognizably you.
• Break down each scene:  Even if your video is fifteen seconds long, you can plan out each scene for any video content you create just like Pixar or DreamWorks.  In fact, it looks favorable to the algorithm on TikTok and Reels when there are more transitions breaking in doing new things in your video.
• Add the extras:  Evaluate where to put a poll, question or other interactive activities as you plan your video scenes.  If you know where you want them in advance, it makes it easier when you go to produce the video.
• Include CTA:  Make sure you always plan to have a call to action in every video you produce.

B) Notes

• Use Notes on Your Phone for Ideas:  One of my favorite tools is my phone and I use it to make notes for ideas as I think about making videos.  I can save the ideas that pop into my head and come back to them later.
• Create a Content Journal:  Write down your ideas.  This is especially helpful when you are researching topics.  Your ideas and the research you do piggyback off of one another because you decide more about your ideas as you get into the specifics of what you want to discuss.
• Record a Voice Memo:  Another way to have access to your thought process as you build out your content.

C) Deciding how/when you’ll record

• Daylight:  Since light is a huge part of a successful video campaign, it is a good idea to determine if there is a specific time of the day when lighting is better in your home or office.  Make sure you have good natural light or purchase a ring white to use.
• Background:  Deciding what to use as a background is extremely important as this is part of your branding.  If you are showcasing a product, you need to have a clean, tidy, space that is on brand.
• Pinterest for Inspiration:  Pinterest is a great place to pick up on what some other people are using for video backgrounds.  You can find a lot of incredible DIY budget-friendly ideas.

D) Apps to Use. 

Pick a couple that are your favorites and use them to your advantage so your video really looks as clean and as put together as possible.  Whatever app you use, especially on Reels, if you continue to have the TikTok logo or the watermark of any other app except for Instagram, it will actually hurt you in the algorithm.

• Inshot:  If you are using a really popular app called Inshot to edit your videos, make sure to use the paid subscription version so your videos do not have a watermark on them because this will damage your reach and your views.
• Hyperlapse:  For content creators who want to show their process not their face.  This is a speed version of what you are doing so you can fit a lot into a shorter period of time.
• Various other apps:  Face-tune or Splice are editing apps.  Story cutter is an app for long videos  There are so many apps available, click here for a printable list of resources!

V. Repurposing Your Content.

If you have a really good solid piece of content that performs really well for you, don’t just limit yourself to putting it in one place.  There are multiple avenues for you to get your message out on.  Use that piece of content that you worked super hard on in multiple places so it becomes an advantage for you.

• Cross Promoting Across Other Channels:  In 2021, cross-promotion is so important.  Work smarter, not harder. 
• Take the content from your video and make into Blog Post:  Transform your video content into written form using a transcription service like Otter.ai or Scribie.
• Pinterest Post:  Repurpose your video into a Pinterest post that shoots to your blog post.
• Podcast:  Repurpose your video into a Podcast episode.
• Social Media Post:  Repurpose your video into a Social Media Post or YouTube video.

Concluding Thoughts

Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Be consistent, make a plan, do things regularly in order to gain traction and build momentum.  Video Marketing as a business owner takes time, curation, effort, patience, and persistence.  Figure out what’s working better for you. Take stock of what is/isn’t working and adapt and flex to use video marketing to your advantage.