– Hey everyone. Today we’re here to talk about video marketing, specifically how to do it well. T.W., what do you have for us?
– I wanna share today three best practices that make video marketing most effective. And number one is something we’ve all heard before a thousand times, and that is to be authentic.
– Absolutely. What does that actually look like though?
– Being authentic is not something that you can decide to do. Your audience is gonna decide whether you’re doing it well or not. All audiences are different. They’re all coming from different places. And people intrinsically know that if something is mediated, if they’re seeing it on TV, or the internet, or on a billboard, they know that somebody had to set that up and pay for it. So the opportunity for fakery is gonna be there somewhere, and they’re naturally suspicious of that. So, it’s your audience that will decide if you’re being authentic or not, and they’re gonna decide that, not with their heads, but in their gut.
– So there’s really no magic formula. No one size fits all here.
– No, there’s no one way to be authentic. But there are a few guidelines that we tend to tell our clients as we make videos for them. For example, filming your actual employees as opposed to using stock footage. That’s always gonna be more real, obviously. Another is to, instead of using a voiceover narrator, which is often very efficient, it’s more real and has a better connection if you can film somebody from your firm talking on camera, whether that’s doing an interview or doing a straight to camera read, that’s always gonna be a stronger, more authentic approach to your video. And then, another one is, when you’re writing your scripts to make sure you’re writing them in your conversational voice, not your written word, the way your English teacher instructed you to use perfect grammar all the time. In a conversational voice, you don’t always get it grammatically correct every single time, but it’s how we hear the world, and it’s what’s natural, and what comes across as real, and connects with your audience.
– So this larger conversation about authenticity really has me thinking about AI. How does that factor into the larger conversation here?
– AI figures in to this discussion of authenticity, because it undermines the whole idea of authenticity. AI, and the hysteria around AI, is trying to mainstream fakery. And we’ve been in a time, for the past 10 years or more, where lies, and what is real, and what is fake have become something we all just can’t take for granted anymore. I think that people are craving something they can really trust.
– That makes a lot of sense. So, what’s next in your list of best practices?
– Okay, so number two is also gonna sound familiar, and that is make sure you’re delivering content that people actually want. And to do this, you have to know your audience and understand who the visitors are to your website, and your SEO crew will have their tools for figuring that out, and you need to do your research. But don’t forget, another source of data is in the customers you already have. All of your customers were once prospects at one time. So, talking with them, and getting to know what they’re interested in is another way to figure out what your prospects are looking for.
– Absolutely.
– It’s possible to over-leverage your data, however, you don’t want all of your content to sound like it came out of a Google Analytics report. I think the best way to deal with that is to add into your content mix some things that are just based on the instincts or interest of the business owner, or perhaps content that features your staff.
– That’s a really great point. We’ve all heard that homogenous messaging out there, and ultimately I think it kind of ends up feeling really soulless.
– Exactly. Everything sounds very optimized. Another source of content that your audience wants is in your own social media. What are people saying in the comment section? What questions are they asking you there? You can mine your own comment section for topics of content that you know your audience wants.
– Very interesting. So what rounds out your top three?
– Number three is also gonna sound familiar, and that is to make sure you have a steady presence across all your social media. We all know that more posting is better. We all wanna post every day in every social media channel. But let’s face it, it’s difficult, and usually it doesn’t really happen. I would argue that consistency is more important than posting every day. As you develop a consistent voice, your audience and followers get used to that. They become accustomed to it. You become something that they can make their own.
– So even if it’s less frequent, consistency’s really what we’re shooting for here.
– Exactly. A friend of mine once shared with me that they do all their social media for their business in the summer, ’cause that’s when they have summer interns to do that work. And then once the school year starts, they go silent for the rest of the year. That is not the way to do it. That is not a sustainable strategy. Your clients wanna become familiar with you, they need that consistent output from you so that you can become part of their world week in and week out.
– Of course. That makes a lot of sense. T.W., this has been a really good conversation. I hope people will find it helpful.
