Everyone in marketing now knows, or at least knows that they’ve been told, it takes a healthy commitment to video to maximize your online marketing presence. But so many in-house marketing departments are finding it difficult to get into a routine of creating and posting video content. Maybe you post videos sporadically, or maybe you don’t even know where to start with your first video. So, today I want to talk about THE top video challenge for in-house marketing departments that we’re hearing about at Talkington Media. And that challenge is…how do we get started?
There could be any number of barriers your company or nonprofit feels when it comes to consistently creating and posting video. Maybe you don’t know what would make a good topic, or maybe you have so many topic ideas that you don’t know how to prioritize them, good old paralysis by analysis. Maybe it’s budget. For the sake of this discussion, let’s look at how you can get on a path to consistently posting content as simply and inexpensively as possible. Let’s knock down some barriers.
What videos should we make? This is simple: just focus on making short videos with your staff that help people, that help your customers, your membership, or your community, and these don’t have to be elaborate. You can have someone with a smartphone act as an interviewer, and just have them talk one on one to a staff member. Have a salesperson answer a question about one of your products. Or ask a customer support person one of your frequently asked questions. Engineers are typically proud to talk about a new feature they’ve designed.
A key here is to address just one topic per video, maybe one aspect of a product or one frequently asked question about your membership process. DON’T try to explain too much in these particular videos, that’s not what they’re for, and DO keep the questions familiar and comfortable for your staff. These simple, helpful videos are NOT intended to, and shouldn’t be expected to, replace your website or personal interaction, they should actually encourage further interaction with your staff. End every video with a simple call to action, an offer to contact your sales, membership, or customer service team with further questions or needs.
Now, I mentioned a smartphone earlier. Is that good enough for filming your videos? Well, if it’s all you have, then don’t let that be your barrier to entry. We’ve all watched smartphone videos online and we’ve learned from them. Even feature films have been shot on them. Are they the best option? No, but at this stage of the game, if you’re not posting video content, don’t let the filming device be the thing that holds you back.
How often should you post a new video? Well, it’s often said that two or three times a week is best but, if you’re finding it hard to even just get started, that sounds pretty daunting. So, what’s realistic? Well, I don’t think posting video once a month is enough, that’s just sort of dabbling and I doubt you’ll find much traction, either internally or externally. How about twice a month? It’s a far cry from two to three times a week but, if you post new videos twice a month, then you’d have 24 new online videos in a year’s time. I’d say that’s a pretty good place to start, then maybe reevaluate in three months, and consider scaling up, if you can.
I hope these ideas sound simple enough and actionable enough that they will encourage you to get in the game. I’m actually on a twice a month video posting schedule here on LinkedIn, myself, so feel free to Connect with me if you’d like to ensure seeing future posts. And, as always, thanks for watching!