We’ve come a long way since the internet was a handful of lip-syncing videos and wine-pressing mishaps. At least the technology has—the intelligence behind it, maybe not.

Video content packs a lot of value into a short time frame. Additionally, with music and graphics, it provides more entertainment value than a static image. For a culture driven by increasingly short soundbites, this means you’re more likely to locate and retain viewership.

Video-powered platforms are much newer, so you won’t be fighting against the same glut of content as you might through marketing channels that are saturated from decades of use. Finally, and most importantly, if you’re investing in video, congratulations! You’re already doing more than most of your competitors. That means more clicks from different searches and more cross-platform sharing. As a bonus, transcripts or highlights can be repurposed for other social content later! That means more bang for your video buck.

As creating videos became more straightforward than ever and filming tools became integrated with nearly all handheld mobile tech, we saw an explosion of video marketing content. This new wave of content took plenty of different forms, which I’ll touch on in this blog today. So grab your lights, your makeup, and find your “good side,” folks.

Here’s how to get started with video marketing!

Locate Your Equipment Filming

For live shooting, this one hopefully answers itself. Your laptop, your phone, your old digital camera (remember when those things were new?), it doesn’t matter. As long as you can capture audio and video together, you’re gravy.

Higher quality video may seem like a requirement, but I wouldn’t sweat it. Most phones do better what only the highest-end cameras could have dreamt up years ago. Plus, in-screen compositing tools on platforms like Zoom and Google Meets mean you can automatically separate yourself as a filmed subject from the backdrop. No more pesky cats in the background!

Test these devices and ensure they can transport content over to your computer for editing. While I can’t go into the specifics of editing content (sorry!), I can point you in the right direction. I personally work with free software and outsourced marketing departments to edit and compile my content. The learning curve is manageable if you’ve got the time and coffee.

Planning Your Platform Strategy

Once you’ve got your lenses and cables ready to go, it’s time to plan for the content you want to create. That begins with thinking about what best fits your business:

If you offer technical information and plenty of it, infographic videos for Facebook are great!
If your product fits into a lifestyle brand, perhaps “slice of life” Instagram and TikTok Videos?
If you are offering guides, conversations, or walkthroughs, YouTube is a great host!
Aesthetic shots of venues or products with a higher budget? Vimeo is the way to go.

Planning your strategies will mean a blend of informative and creative content. You are and aren’t yourself through video—read the room, keep an eye on the trends, and sneak your personality and services in however you can. The creative potential is relatively limitless. Click around the links above for insider tips and guides for getting your brand set up!

Followup and Metrics

As with any content marketing strategy, monitoring performance will let you know how your content is doing and enables you to respond to those interested in engaging further. If you find you can’t quite land the balance between effort and reward, feel free to try another strategy or platform!

Speedy responses to shares or comments help foster an online community around your services and social media platforms. It will also allow you to hone your strategies if you find certain content aligning with a spike in desired outcomes. That could be sales, website traffic, or follows. Remember: this is a part of your funnel. Your content can only transform into sales if the rest of the process is in place.

Video marketing might not be for everyone, but when it fits, it’s a match made in heaven. You can see my YouTube channel here to get an inside look at my process, classes, and hectic life.

If you want to explore this content strategy further or any other processes that stack up into a kickass pipeline, consider signing up for a consultation! I’d love to get started on systems that move you and your business forward.