Our Channel 10 – Social Media Video Marketing Tips

Video is super hot – leading all new age social interactions and the time spent by people on their mobile devices. Guesting on a feature segment on Channel 10’s The Living Room, I had the chance to help Zak’s business and the Living Room’s Audience with plenty of good Social Media Video Marketing Tips.

– Watch the episode here, skip to around 30 mins for the segment

What we shared

Having your own video channel and audience is accessible to everyone and anyone with an idea, the motivation and a mobile, but there’s so much more to it…

Before you start

You need to plan before you dive into it. What is your topic or the target audience that you’re after?

Well, the good news is that online there is a topic for everything and anything that you could think of under the sun. From sheep shearing to monkey watching, even snail racing if you dig deep enough. But you have to understand that the internet is a BIG place, so the main thing you need to always ask yourself is – is your topic engaging? Who else is doing it, how can you overcome the competition and importantly – what will be YOUR point of difference in engagement? (We’ll come back to that in a bit.)

Whether you’re running social for a huge global brand, or just wanting to get your foot into this area for the first time; Learn as you go – your very first video will be like the first pancake. But the important thing is to not discard it, but rather to learn and continuously build the whole time. So my advanced tips to take home, or on the journey with you are:

1. Be real – be YOU:  Sounds obvious, yes, but when you don’t know something or you over-reach, the internet can have too many critics who’ll knock you back. Don’t forget to also talk TO camera – be the brand and the face of your videos – develop your TOV (Tone of Voice) and character, either personalised, or a well crafted character.
2. Do something different: This can be something big, or even something small, but it has to be different. If you don’t have something that will wow audiences, you won’t stand out. It could be as simple as shiny red shoes, your HUGE personality – with Brand we talk about UVP (Unique Value Proposition), but essentially character is what it is all about.
3. Do it often : Decide when you are going to post and do it regularly – at least once a week is ideal (just like The Living Room) to keep audiences interested with new content. This means planning out what you want to say over at least 6 months so you don’t run out of ideas.… and any new topical posts are a bonus – add and mix anytime.

Yes, it does take time, but of course you’ll develop your character and confidence over time. On a scale between 1-10, you’ll start, hopefully above my kids, by going “Hey guys!” at the start of their Youtube videos and rambling about their favourite toy for 10 minutes…. but certainly below the Kardashians.

Advanced social media video tips

After you’ve established yourself comfortably in front of the camera, then we move onto the nitty-gritty 0f turning basic videos to serious channels. Use your communication skills to hone in on ROI / revenue generation for businesses with the following. There are hundreds of good ideas, here are some thought starters / best practice we mix into our client strategies;

• Having a Core brand tagline
• Tripods, Selfy Sticks, Gadgets to grab onto things for unique angles.
• Understanding your audience and where the high topic engagement sits
• Crafting specific audience pathways / messaging
• Building an Audience, slow and fast pathways (but don’t ever buy likes / views)
• How to “go viral” with both boosting and organic sharing
• Hashtags and Social Best Practices e.g. the best time of the day or week to post
• Publishing platforms – Time and Effort vs Reward/ Scheduling
• Brand tagging, collaboration and sponsorship
• Utilising Video SEO, website and social addresses to get interest and click through
• Titling videos correctly for FREE traffic – read more about SEO titling here
• Recording quality, visual brand, top and tail graphics, audio
• Tracking $$$ returns and revenue (CPA)
• 12 Month Content Calendars and detailed posting plans

Most of the stuff is actually common sense once you actually start – like anything you’ve got to commit time or resources to make it work, the competition for social video is huge and growing everyday. It’s why so many high profile youtubers have more views than mainstream media.

This post was for the The Living Room Segment on Channel 10  – Watch the episode here, skip to around 30 mins for the segment