Video Marketing Ideas When You Are Not Comfortable with Video: Christine Gritmon @cgritmon #VCBuzz

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Using Social Media Videos at Each Stage of the Marketing Funnel with Christine Gritmon @cgritmon #VCBuzz

Video marketing has been on the rise for many years now, yet many marketers do not realize the real power of video content.

In most cases, brands shy away from creating video content, and lots of influencers don’t feel comfortable with it either (guilty here as well).

So how to use video when you’re not comfortable with video? Let’s discuss!

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About Christine

Christine Gritmon @cgritmon is a social media strategist teaching busy, stressed small business owners how to tell their brand stories online in efficient, effective ways that value their time, energy, and money

Christine was a speaker at #INBOUND18 giving a presentation on using social media videos which is what she is teaching us here too! Check the coverage of the presentation here.

Follow Christine’s blog here.

Questions we discussed

Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? Please share your career story!

I began my career with a decade in corporate beauty, but wasn’t a marketer per se; I helped marketers and creatives communicate, managed project details, etc. But this was before social media.

It wasn’t until I was a journalist, years later, that I was exposed to the business side of social media. It was still new, so we were all constantly learning what worked and what didn’t. I was hooked.

The newsroom also brought out my intuitive knack for personal branding, and I was promoted to help others in the newsroom put themselves out there and make connections, both online and off.

After business groups started asking me to speak about social media, I began to think this could be a career, so I left the newsroom and started Christine Gritmon Inc. in May 2016, focusing on small business needs.

Q2 I’m camera-shy. Do I have to appear on video myself?

No way! There are tons of ways to use video that don’t have to involve your talking head. Here are dozen:

  1. Voiceover with visuals (especially of product)
  2. Dramatization of result of using product/service (or of problem that product/service solves)
  3. POV (including behind-the-scenes or events)
  4. Unboxing POV
  5. Locations of significance
  6. Object boomerang
  7. Customer testimonial (video of them OR voiceover w/text)
  8. User generated content
  9. Staff profile
  10. How To
  11. Animated text (apps can do this)
  12. Stock video or imagery

If you do video that isn’t really video, though (like over a still graphic, or animated text), please have sound that adds to the experience! I don’t want a still-image slideshow over elevator music. Say something. Add a bit of yourself in there.

Q3 What kind of equipment do I need to start doing video?

Literally just something that can capture video footage and access to the internet to upload it. Your iPhone will do just fine.

You can get a clip-on ring light and a small tripod for your phone really cheaply on Amazon, and that should really do for most people. A little lavalier mic that plugs into your phone, too, if you want, or just your iPhone wired earbuds. Whole setup < $100.

I recently upgraded my tech: I use a Sony DSLR camera with CamLink and a tripod, a Blue Yeti microphone, and I run it all through Ecamm (even for pre-recorded videos). I also film with a larger ring light, and a simple curtain as a backdrop.

When it comes down to it, pulling your content together and getting it out there matters more than fancy equipment. You can always improve your tech. But it’s the meat of the content that will build your audience.

Q4 Should I put my videos in one place and link to them, or should I upload them separately to each platform?

This depends entirely on your goal. Are you trying to get more people in total to view the video, or are you trying to build up your audience on a specific platform?

If you’re going for total views and exposure, then videos always do better with the algorithm when uploaded natively to each platform. However…

If what you’re going for is to build your audience in a specific place, it might be worth the slight reduction in overall reach in order to make sure all you traffic is building in that one spot.

Q5 How long should videos be for social media?

Different platforms have their own guidelines for best practices… but it’s more important to consider your own content and your own audience.

Some things are absolute: a video on the Instagram feed can’t be more than one minute; IGTV needs over a minute, and up to ten (up to an hour if you’re super special.) IG Live is up to an hour.

FB videos can go up to 4 hours(!) but shorter ones really do best, like a minute-ish. Live videos, however, should go at least 10 minutes so you have a chance to build up an audience.

LinkedIn videos are 10 minutes max – again, unless live, where it should be at LEAST 10 minutes. Twitter vids can be 2 min 20 sec, but shorter is better on that platform.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: look at your own metrics for past videos and see where people tend to drop off. Try to identify content that gets them to click, and content that gets them to click away.

Q6 What are your favorite video marketing tools?

I’m now starting to use @QuiCC_app post-livestream: upload recording to QuiCC, edit captions (WAY more accurate than Facebook’s native tool), download the SRT file, and upload SRT to the backend of my video replay, so it keeps the livestream analytics.

Our previous video marketing chats:

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