What is the most engaging content, allows for the cheapest ads, and is doable from your smartphone? Online video!
The big question with video is: do you feel comfortable ‘going live’ or would you like to pre-record your video.
Pros of going live: After you record, you’re kind of done. People will tolerate lower production quality easier. People can watch it later (if you publish it afterward to your page). People can comment on it while you are live.
Pros of prerecording: You can delete/edit sections to tighten it up. If you aren’t comfortable on video, you can practice. No need to deal with live comments as you are recording.
Places you can do live video: Faccbook, Instagram, Youtube, a closed platform that streams to these other places at the same time (Steamyard, Zoom, Second Life, etc.)
I would recommend a couple things:
- As you get bigger and do live videos, to either have two monitors (so you can see comments) or have an admin/producer person who can keep an eye on the comments while you give your message.
- If people are looking at you, get a ring light or some other lighting source… or sit in front of a window. If you look weird, people are going to feel weird watching you.
- Add captions to your live videos for accessibility. Youtube will autogenerate captions and you can download them and fix them in a text editing software… and upload the caption files to other places you post the video. (90% of videos are watched with the sound off!) If you don’t want to do this, Rev.com and other caption services exist and are at the time of writing about $1.25 a minute.
- I like online video editors better than things like iMovie because then I can collaborate with people on them more easily (and it doesn’t totally suck up my computer processing power). I like Wevideo.com.
- Facebook Business Manager is totally worth setting up if you do any kind of Facebook or Instagram ads.
In the video, I said Oscar Wilde but it was Mark Twain who said:
“If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.” – Mark Twain
So no specific task list today folks except consider what role video can play in your business and make a plan for an experiment (give at least 10 videos of stuff to really test it).