Heres a picture of me with THE camera – my latest weapon in Social Media Marketing!
Social Media Video. Just three little words.
But if those three little words strike fear into your heart, then rest assured you’re not alone. How do I know this? Well, it’s not just my customers who look a bit rabbit in the headlights when we discuss ‘doing a video’ – it’s me too. Although I extol the virtues of getting your personality and passion for your brand ‘out there’, I have yet to bite the bullet. Social media video has been on my to-do list for 18 months!
But why the delay? What is it about posting a short simple video to our websites, about the stuff we actually know about, that causes such consternation? For me, it’s about getting it right, performing well in front of the camera and getting my message ‘out there’ so that potential and existing customers want to engage with me. As comedian Steve Martin says “be so good they can’t ignore you”.
Video online is a growing area of social media marketing – but I’ve seen a lot of really low quality stuff out there, and it’s better for your business to have no video at all, than have a poorly executed video on your site. Having recently made a new friend in TV presenter Penny Haslam, and heard her speak about the importance of a good quality performance and the power of visibility for businesses – I felt I could no longer hide. It was time to feel the fear and do it anyway. With luck, her husband and business partner, Steve Blears, is a freelance cameraman and director who regularly works on flagship TV programmes for BBC1. Between the two of them, they have a lot of experience so I was in safe hands.
I met with Penny and Steve at their house to ‘dip my toe in’ to the whole experience of being filmed. I arrived quite nervous, but before I knew it I was standing up in front of the camera, waving my arms around, talking passionately about my work – totally at ease and loving every minute. As they’re both broadcast journalists they helped me convey my message succinctly, offered tips on how to engage with my viewers and crucially, gave me confidence in my ability.
Steve’s work looks a bit like this when it’s done (this example is Penny talking about a future event).
So today I’m proud to say that I felt the fear and did it anyway.
The next step is to build on the idea that Penny had about starting with five short videos (all to be filmed on the same day) so just like I ask my customers for content for their websites, I’ve now got to come up with content for my social media videos. And do you know what, I really can’t wait to get on with it.
