GETTING THE MOST OUT OF VIDEO ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Everyone wants to create a video that will "go viral", but the truth is, the odds are against you. From a search engine standpoint, it's much better to have content being released on a regular basis.  It's also better for potential customers and clients to see you as the expert, and there's no better medium than video to bring your story to life. Releasing and promoting (FB ad, Instagram promo, etc.) a new video about your product or service once a month or even once a week is a great way to drive traffic to your web site and social media pages.  

So you might be saying, Brant, are you crazy! I can't afford to produce one video a week! 

And you're right, I am a little crazy, but there's a method to my madness. If you tried to write, shoot, and edit each video individually, then the benefit would not justify the cost.  

However, there's a much more cost effective way to approach it...TESTIMONIALS.

Think about this...you can line up 8-10 happy customers/clients and interview them for 20 minutes each.  Ask questions that guide the discussion to the key benefits that you want to promote.  Start broad and gradually narrow the scope. For example:

• Name, title and how long they've used your product/service?
• Why do you like our product/service?
• Do you feel safer using our product? Why? (Benefit example)
• Is our product easy to use? Why? (Benefit example)
• Does our product change the way you work? Why? (Benefit example)
• Can you recall any instances when our product saved the day? (or made life easier, or saved you money, etc.)
• Would you recommend our product/service to others? Why?

With all of these questions, you need to be sure that the interviewee repeats the question back to you.  For example:  [Product name] changes the way I work because it cuts my workflow time in half.  You also need to be sure that they say it in their own words, don't tell them what to say.  You want the viewer to see someone talking truthfully and naturally about your product, not scripted. A good interviewer will know how to guide the interviewee toward brand benefits without putting words into their mouth.

Depending on the geography of your customers, you can sometimes go through all of the interviews in a day.  If you have to travel a bit, it might take a week or two, but when you're finished, you have a treasure trove of social media gold!

The next step is to slice and dice the footage into 30-second to 90-second (sometimes a little longer if needed) clips that you can release over time.  So here's the math on how many clips a good video producer/editor can generate from 10 interviews that asked 4 benefit driven questions.

• 4 benefit testimonials with a mix of each person's comments.  Typically, these are longer videos, but if done correctly, that won't matter. Your prospect is interested in knowing more about the benefit you're sharing.
• 40 individual testimonials focused on one benefit each.  For example: Interviewee 1 - Benefit 1, Interviewee 1 - Benefit 2, Interviewee 1 - Benefit 3, etc. These tend to be quick and to the point with a focus on the credibility of the person being interviewed.  This adds validity to the benefit you are sharing with prospects.
• 10 individual testimonials focused on the interviewee.   You can make compilations of all comments from each interviewee that outline key benefits and lend credibility to your product/service.
• Easter Eggs.  Inevitably, you will find some other great benefits that you might have overlooked. Or someone will have a cool story that can stand alone as it's own video. A good video editor will be able to pull these out and bring them to life.

​Here's an example of a video we produced for Scott Safety.  We utilized the comments of customers to tell a compelling story about the benefits of their new Scott Sight mask with a thermal camera built in.

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So with one set of customer/client interviews, YOU NOW HAVE 55+ VIDEOS TO USE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.  And the process, including editing, can be completed within a couple of months. Once a week doesn't sound so crazy now, does it. :)

The other element that can add some additional pop to your testimonial videos (although it's not absolutely necessary), is b-roll.  B-roll is footage of your product in use or your teammates helping a client or demonstrating your product.  It's best to start editing your interviews first, then make a list of potential b-roll needed.  That will allow you to efficiently schedule a shoot or two to capture what you need.

Here's an example of a testimonial for the same client that features one interviewee and utilizes b-roll to help tell the story.

​So don't miss out on the ability to bring your brand to life by leveraging your customer's passion for you product/service. It takes some organizing, but in the end, you have more content than you'd ever imagined...and you might learn something new about how customers view your brand!

- Brant

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Brant Waldeck, owner of My Creative Team, is a North Carolina-based cinematographer, photographer and creative guy who lives to create and help clients tell compelling stories about their brands.