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Many of you want your videos to be perfect! I get it, so do I, but I'm more of a "practice and consistency is more important" kind of gal.
In today's video, I'll answer the burning question of which aspect ratio should I record my videos (aka horizontal or portrait).
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I was one of those social media marketers that felt it was a fad that would fade away, but it seems it is on the rise and has amazing business tools brands can use. For early adopters, the time is now.
Here are some stats (via Social Media Marketing World):
TikTok has over 1 billion active users
49% of those users are over the age of 35
It's the 2nd most downloaded app in the app store, so the growth is not slowing down
Are you now convinced? Let's help you get started.
Download the app
The simplest way to start is to download the app to your phone and set up a business profile so you can get a clickable link in your profile and access to analytics.
Like I tell folks for Instagram Stories, sit back and watch for the first week so that you can get a feel of what the social network is like. Follow three users related to your industry to get a feel of the content being created on the platform.
PRO TIP: Save anything you like to favorites so you can refer back to those examples. This is something I had wish I had done in the beginning.
Tik Tok videos can be shared with other platforms
I downloaded the app in early 2019, but it took me until the fall to look at it and dive into making videos. I focused first on making my capsule wardrobe videos because I was already doing that on Instagram Stories, so I used that subject to learn how to edit videos on TikTok.
PRO TIP: You can make videos in TikTok and share them just about anywhere --- other social platforms, email, save to your phone and even email them to friends/family.
Engagement matters
Once you start commenting and liking videos, Rachel Pedersen told us at Social Media Marketing World 2020, it takes about seven days for their algorithm to begin serving videos you want to see. So, if you're looking at how-to make-up tutorials, you'll see more of that. Not a fan of the dancing trends, don't like or comment on those videos.
Niche down with hashtags
Just like Instagram, find your target audience via hashtags. Look at the content being made and take note. Use only the hashtags relevant to your subject. This is not a time to spam hashtags.
Same rules to creating content apply, with a twist
The rules for creating video content on TikTok are similar to other social networks and content rules -- produce what your audience wants — the twist is to be entertaining. The key here is to create stories that are engaging, educational but are also entertaining.
If you don't know what your audience wants, do some research and ask.
And similar to Twitter, there are only have 140 characters, so think wisely about the caption, hashtags and let the video be the star.
Ready to get started? Be consistent
I'm testing out the method Rachel Pedersen suggested at Social Media Marketing World: Create three videos each day over 30 days with a mix of trends and evergreen content that builds a relationship with your audience.
That evergreen content should be focused on what your audience wants (it's more than likely similar to what you're already creating for Instagram Stories). You can follow my progress at my TikTok profile shannonleeh.
Want to get up to speed on how to make TikTok videos? Rachel suggested her YouTube Tutorial on the subject which I've included here which was such a lifesaver for me!
Still on the fence? Don't let the trend fly past you! What's holding you back when it comes to TikTok? Just like getting on other platforms, don't let the little voices in your head hold you back. You've got this.
Interested in more tips on digital marketing and social media? Join my FREE Facebook Community, The Simplify Tribe.
Streaming is the way we'll consume video
Video is the wave of the future, especially streaming video services like Hulu, Amazon, Netflix. It's projected there will be one billion users using streaming services by 2024.
Big brands will invest in advertising on streaming and YouTube. There may be opportunities for media buying for small businesses. It's too soon to tell.
Online advertising won't be cheap in 2020
Facebook advertising will get expensive in 2020, mainly because it's an election year. This is typical of an election year for broadcast advertising already. It's too soon to tell if prices will go back down. If you're using Facebook advertising, plan on increasing your budgets.
Do you know your brand's story?
More emphasis on storytelling to convince consumer behavior. What's your brand story? Consumer brand loyalty is moving towards relatability along with word of mouth.
Craft your authentic story and tell that often through your online presence. Remember, it takes 20 touchpoints for someone to remember you.
Put your face on video
Video is the quickest way to build relatability and authenticity with your audience. Put your face or your brand's face on video. Long-form YouTube is best due to searchability and SEO but dive into Instagram (and Facebook) Stories if you're new or uncertain about making video.
YouTube consumption is up to an hour on average, and Instagram consumption doubled over the past year (up to 30 minutes daily).
TikTok is here to stay
I know, I was such a naysayer and still had my doubts before the conference. Backstory, I had downloaded the app back in October and started playing with it by spending 15 minutes a day watching with my kids before we started making our own videos.
The average user consumption is 60 minutes daily. If you're like me and think it's for the young folks, the 49% of users on TikTok are over the age of 35.
The key to this up and coming social platform, create educational, engaging content that's entertaining. 70% of marketers have no plans to use TikiTok to marketing.
You can follow me on TikTok at @shannonleeh because, over the next 30 days, I'm going to create videos each day. Read my latest blog post on how to get started on TikTok as a brand.
Do you know where your audience is hanging out online?
Building relationships online with your audience takes consistent, engaging content. Don't post and then leave the social apps because that kills your credibility with their (especially Instagram's) algorithm.
Spend time replying, finding your audience through hashtags. This goes back to create content your audience wants, not what you think they want. The critical point is to ASK.
The fastest way to do this use social tools like polls, questions, OR the best way … take that ideal customer and ask in-person. Even a Zoom call works!
I want to know, are you doing these items, OR are you still not convinced?
Eager to learn more about the latest trend in digital media and online marketing? Join the FREE Simplify Tribe Facebook Community.
One of my most asked questions is, Shannon, what's your process for videos? I have to preface this with saying that this has changed over time because if I would've told you to do all these things now, I'd have been so overwhelmed. You know me. My whole goal is to make things less overwhelming, simple, and easy for you to do. I do that with my strategy clients, and I also do that with my coaching clients.
So in the beginning, you just want to take things simple, and so I'm going to go through this process that I do every month or two months for videos and I'll kind of say, "This is something I ended up editing in, yada, yada, yada." All right? So the first thing I do is brainstorm my topics. I will sit down and I will brainstorm 12 topics at once, and I will basically make a series of videos because it's a step process.
In the beginning, I didn't have topics, so I just started asking people what they wanted to know. So always be asking, what do you need help with? How can I help you? How can I serve you? The second thing that I added in after a few months was batch recording. So once or once every other month, I will record four to eight videos. I'll block out my calendar. I will pick out the clothes. I will do with the makeup. In the beginning, I just held the phone up and did them every Tuesday, but I decided that the easier way to do this is, instead of stressing out every Tuesday about what I was in record, was to set aside an hour and take those topics that we talked about earlier and make an outline, which leads me to the next one.
Write down notes. This is a three-purpose process for me. There are three reasons why I do this. I post these notes to my phone to remind me to look at the camera. It keeps me on track, and it also helps me when it's caption writing time. I use a tripod, lighting, and a mic and my phone. I don't use anything else to record my stuff. What is new? The tripod is definitely something I added a year ago. The lighting is something that I added just recently. I was using a light off of my window, which is right here, but I found that I needed more light. I also found that you could hear me better if I had a mic on, so I bought a $20 mic, I think it was. I don't use anything fancy except my phone. Will I eventually go to a fancy-dancy videographer? Maybe. I don't know, but for now I am just doing these myself in my office.
The next thing I do is I will record them and I will edit on my phone. So I will edit them down on my phone, and then I will airdrop them to my computer where I save them in two places in case I lose them. All right, so I'll airdrop them to my computer. I'll save a copy to my desktop and I'll save a copy to my Google drive, so I always have it. Something that I did start doing last winter was editing them in Wave.video. This is definitely something, once you're in the weeds of doing this, something to add on. All right?
Then the next thing I do is, after I edit them in Wave, is I scheduled them out on social media, and I actually batch that as well. So every Friday, I batch out my social media scheduling for the next week. I go to my handy-dandy videos, video thing on my computer. I look at them in Wave, and then I have a process for all the social networks
Fun fact about me, I have a four-year degree in broadcasting that I used for a whole nine months. My whole life I wanted to be on TV, a reporter, behind the scenes, working for something like CNN. And then I got the degree and I worked in it for a few months and then got this amazing, crazy offer to go work in internet marketing. So I took it. I don't want that to discourage you because I have to say that all that knowledge, all those years of studying, I only implement just a tiny portion of it. So today I'm going to talk to you about mistakes to avoid at the beginning for your social media and videos.
I am not going to talk about how to look on camera, the background, worrying about what you sound, having mics. I'm just going to give you some quick tips, in the beginning, to start with. Eventually, I'll go over things like mics and backgrounds and things like that, but in the beginning, the whole point is just to get you comfortable on video. All right and so we've been using Instagram stories and Facebook stories as the gateway to actually recording some longer lengthy videos and I'll talk about my process soon.
All right, so tip number one. Always look at the camera. Always look at the camera. I think I've mentioned this before but I have handy-dandy notes that I stick right under the camera so I know where to look every time because otherwise I'd be all over the place. All right? Get to the point. Also back to the outline. No ramble city. I've been known to ramble on Instagram stories and I've gotten some great feedback on I need to keep it shorter and to the point. So I try to keep things that I say on Instagram stories, if I'm doing a training, under two minutes. I try to go at a minute, but if it needs to be a little bit longer I will go under two minutes. This will help you practice for longer form videos like these Tip Tuesday videos that I do.
All right, something that I did learn in broadcasting school. Your tripod is your friend. All right? So for the quick Instagram stories videos, you don't need a tripod. You can just use a PopSocket and use that. Okay? But if you're going to do longer form videos, buy a tripod. They're only about 20 bucks. Also, lighting. Lighting is your friend as well. Okay? I am next to a window. I have extra light. In the beginning just use the good lighting from a window and you'll be set to go. That's what I did literally for the first two years and now I'm using Eyelite and actually I'm using a mic now too. Mic and lights can come later. Tripod is your friend for a longer video. All right?
The other thing is is you guys have given me great feedback on this. I tend to move around and so I'm really trying to stand still for you guys. So standstill. There's one thing that they really didn't teach me in broadcasting school was to stand still, apparently. All right. The last one is only cover one topic per video. You don't want to be ramble city, as I said earlier with the... You need to get to the point. Cover one topic and stick to that.
I'm Shannon and I like to ramble. So I'm going to give you tips to getting right to the point when it comes to your web and social media videos. All right. I've been perfecting this over the last two years and I've been told that when I get on Instagram stories, I tend to be a little lengthy. And so, I have this new rule that if I go on Instagram stories, I can't go more than four of the little slides, so that's about a minute. So I have put that into practice for these videos and I'm going to kind of walk through how I developed short web and social videos. All right. Step number one, plan ahead. Set aside time to brainstorm all your topics, all the talking points for your topics and I keep a notebook of what people ask me in my purse at all times, so if I'm out and somebody asks me a question about web online marketing videos, I write it down and I keep track of those.
So I can have content for Tip Tuesday videos but if you're just starting out and nobody's really asking you anything, just ask. Go on Facebook, go on Instagram, go on LinkedIn, go to networking events and ask people what is keeping you from doing X, Y, and Z and that will help you develop content. All right, so the other thing to do is to create an outline. All right, so I write out an outline. I write it out in a word document and then I read it out on a handy dandy piece of paper. Why do I do this? Well that kills two birds with one stone.
I tape this to my, you can't see, I tape it to my camera right where you're supposed to look at so it reminds me to look every time at you guys because otherwise it'd be off in space looking everywhere, but it also is great because I also use this to write the caption for social media, so I already killed two birds with one stone. All right, what else do you need to do? I also make sure that I introduce myself. I used to do the same 5 to 10 second elevator pitch every time and then now I'm kind of switching it up, but in the beginning maybe just stick to that 5 to 10 second elevator pitch, all right? And you always want to end your videos with a call to action or an actionable step because that gets people coming back.
Like you tell them to do X, Y, and Z and then they go do it and then they tag you or get ahold of you on social media or through your websites saying, oh my God, you helped me. What other tips do you have for X, Y and Z or what services do you offer? It's a great way to get people to get to know you and possibly hire you.
You want to conquer that fear of getting on video and I'm here to help. It's Shannon with Shannon Lee strategy. I help you be less overwhelmed when it comes to online marketing so you can get comfortable and make more money. And this is our video tip series. Trying to get you to put your face on video. That is one of the things that I get asked about all the time is video, how do I get on video?
And video is exploding right now because of Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories, and so I'm going to give you a few tips when it comes to getting started. And the best place to actually start with video is Instagram Stories or Facebook Stories. Why? It helps you with the length. Sometimes you only have 15 to 60 seconds to get your point across. And so it helps you get the point across in a shorter amount of time.
There's amazing tools and filters. There is another app that's up and coming, Tik Tok, that has even more amazing tools and filters and editing software. But just start with Instagram Stories. And then when you get to be a pro at Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories, head over to Tik Tok. There is some great stuff there.
The other reason why it's a great place to start, they go away in 24 hours, guys. You don't have to see them after 24 hours if you don't want to. You could archive them and put them into highlights, but that's kind of like an Instagram Stories video 2.0 kind of thing to do. When you do send a video to Instagram Stories, make sure you're sending it to Facebook Stories, because people can view that content there, as well, and it's a great way to repurpose. You can also record using Instagram Stories and then download it to your phone and repurpose it for other areas, and I do that a lot in my Facebook group. I'll record a video and then I will then go put it in my Facebook group.
All right. The second part of this, why this is a great place to start, you can watch what others are doing and be inspired. No, not have imposter syndrome, but watch what others are doing and be inspired. No imposter syndrome. Please promise me you will not be like, oh, so and so is doing it, so I can't. You are what makes your content unique. Remember that always.
I'm taking a deep dive into standing out online by helping you get your face on video and feeling confident and comfortable when doing it too!
The #3 reason women don't want to get on video ... many think they have to hire someone to produce the videos because they are technically challenged.
What if I told you, it's as easy as your smartphone and good lighting? You don't need a big budget or fancy equipment DESPITE what the big social media gurus tell you. Watch more and let me know what tech challenge holds you back.
There is still time to join my "Put Your Face on Video Challenge" starting February 3! For details or to sign up, head over to my website: https://shannonleestrategy.com/instagram-stories-challenge
Last week we talked about the first roadblock to video, which is, "I don't like the way I sound, look," et cetera. This week we're talking about roadblock two, which roadblock two is, "I literally have nothing to say," or, "nobody wants to hear what I have to say," or, "I'm not an expert at anything. Therefore, I should not be on video giving expert advice." That's dumb, all right?
So you want to be on video, you want to, but these two excuses are just holding you back. And I'm here to say BS, because all you have to be is just one step ahead to be knowledgeable or to be an expert on something. One step ahead. I can't remember if it was Marie Forleo or Gary Vaynerchuk that said that, but one step ahead is all you need to be. So I'm going to give you some quick, simple steps and then a challenge that's coming up that I want you guys all to be part of in today's video.
So the first step is just start simple, lurk around on things where you consume media. So YouTube, Instagram Stories is actually a really great place to spend some time, Facebook Stories too, and kind of see what people are doing and think, "How can I do it differently?" And then the next step is just to start documenting what happens in your day. Start there, show the little bit of behind the scenes. Don't fake it. Show things that could make you relatable to your ideal clients.
I started in 2017 by really just doing this on Instagram Stories before I even started making my weekly Tip Tuesday videos. I just would show the behind the scenes of my day, ask questions, I'd get some responses back. And then about nine months later I started doing Tip Tuesday videos. I started doing them because I would then start to slowly ask questions in my videos and get responses and then getting people messaging me with more questions. And that's kind of how I started.
So the first step is kind of lurk, document, not create, and then figure out what your audience wants to hear. That could be taking out potential clients. That could be just asking on your Instagram Stories. It could be just going to Facebook and say, "What do you want to know about widgets?" What do your customers frequently ask you? You just have to be one step ahead. One step ahead. Just one step ahead to be an expert in your field. And when I started doing my videos, I'm ashamed to say this, I didn't want to do them because I felt like nobody wanted to listen to me. But then somebody pointed out, "You've been in marketing for 20 years. I'm sure you have plenty to say."
And guess what? I do have plenty to say.
Hey, it's Shannon and I'm back to help you stand out visibly this year, and I'm helping ladies get their face on video feeling confident and comfortable. And today we're talking about the most common roadblock that women face when it comes to video. Yep, you guessed it. I sound horrible, I look horrible. Nobody cares what I have to say. Yada, yada, yada. If you want to grow, you have to put yourself out there. More than likely you're going to networking events and just shaking hands and kissing babies and getting the word out that way. But a more impactful way could be to make some quick awesome videos that you could talk about what you do and how you can help people and answer the advice of those that you need to help. But you're really, really worried about the way you look, the way you sound, and people judging you.
No one cares but you. Bottom line, nobody cares but you. I was listening to a podcast by Gary Vaynerchuk and he was talking about how personal brands have it a little bit easier than big brands because we weed out 30% of the people right away when they hear and see how we look. But the other 70%, they stay, they stay because we like ... They like what they're hearing, we are relatable to them and they keep coming back because we're offering and serving our audience with valuable content they want to know. All right? So it just boggles my mind ... One of the things that really boggles my mind is people really want to master social media, but they don't want to get pictures of themself or do videos of themselves to put themselves out there. And when somebody goes to your website and they see a picture of you on the homepage, they know who they're going to hire, they're going to hire you, right?
So that's another little tip of mine. Put your face on your website. I had one person tell me that they searched for social media strategists in my area and I was one of the only people that had a picture of myself right across the website. I did that on purpose. I want people to know exactly who they're working with. So confidence issues are the biggest roadblock for people getting out on their videos. You really want them to be perfect. But here's the thing, when you start a video, you're going to mess up. You're going to have to take baby steps. Little by little. In the beginning, I didn't have a background to deal with. I didn't have a mic, I didn't have a light and I didn't have a tripod. I was just holding my phone out, doing my videos. You have to start somewhere. So each week I'm going to help you get there.
So I'm going to help you a little step of the way, baby stepping is key to building this confidence and what do I always say? Consistency and confidence equals success and online marketing. So where do we go from here? Next week we're going to talk about what to say, but I do want you to keep tuning in because I'm going to have an upcoming challenge to help get you faster and more confident when it comes to video. As always, if you have any question about video, any questions about online marketing, drop them below and I'd be happy to answer them. Have a great day.
