Meet Brandon Windsor of ARO Content Creation, a Nashville marketing professional who helps brands create video content. He does it all- from storylines to shooting and editing, all the way to the finished product.

Brandon often shares behind the scenes pics and videos of his work across social media- which I find fascinating! We met on instagram, and quickly became friends over a shared love of content marketing. Brandon is my go-to guy for all things video. He even produced my blog’s welcome video.

I sat down with Brandon and asked him for some DIY Video Content tips to share with y’all. Our conversation resulted in some great tips I intend to start incorporating, and I encourage you to try. ;)

The Opportunity with DIY Video Content: It’s no secret that video content gets the most engagement of all content on the internet. People are visual. Video is emotional. What better way to tell a brand story?! It’s a match made in marketing heaven!

The Challenge with DIY Video Content: Most people don’t know where to start with video content creation, or they don’t have the right equipment (lights, cameras, editing software), or time, or skills (editing is very time consuming , especially if you are teaching yourself!)

DIY Video Content Creation Tips

1. Start with Strategy.

Brandon says, “Everything you are creating should be around educating your audience / customers on why they should pick you.” (Mic Drop!) What are you trying to accomplish? Plan your video content based on your goals. You would think this is easy, but it’s not always easy for small business owners to let go of their personal preferences. You have to be OBJECTIVE, and put your customer first. What do they want to know, versus what you want them to know.

Thought Starters for DIY Video Content Strategy:

Behind the scenes. This is my personal favorite! Interview your staff around an event or product launch. Show what goes into the process!
Listen to your customers. What are they asking on your social posts? What are they saying in reviews?
Help people. What are the pain points that your products/services address? What are the top questions sales people get?
Give opinions. What are hot industry topics you have a unique point of view on?
Spin it. What do your customers dislike, that you can put a positive spin on?

2. Think Mobile First.

You can go ahead and assume the audience will be viewing your video on their mobile device. Whether it’s on social media, in an email, or on your website- doesn’t matter. That’s where they are viewing it, so let’s optimize their experience!

Video Format- Shoot in Square because it is best for mobile viewing. Square takes up more real estate.
Video Length- Try to keep 2 minutes or less. If you want to share a complete video across all social sites- make it 60 seconds.
If it is longer than 2 minutes:
- Make a 30-90 second teaser video that links to a longer version of the video.
- Add variety by changing the camera angle or move yourself around to make it interesting.

Video star tips: Have your talking points ready. Shoot in segments to make it easier to go back and edit.

3. EDIT WITH FLAIR!

Get Creative with DIY Video Content editing. All you need is your smartphone! There are TONS of video editing apps for your smartphone. Explore what’s out there and works for your needs.
Brandon’s Recommendations: iPhone's iMovie for editing beginning and end. Clip-o-matic for shooting, editing, and adding captions or text - (this has fun filters and it records in square!)

Want to get fancy? Use your computer’s video editing software to play around! A long video of someone talking for 30 minutes can get boring. No one wants to watch that! Break it up a bit. Use soundbites (short clips) to filter your message.

Mix it up! Combine still images and voiceover with video to make it interesting (just like on my blog welcome video!)

Camera shy? Not a problem. Not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera. You can be a narrator. Use images or video of what you are talking about. Like webinars- use video to visually explain something - show what you are talking about.

4. Spread it like butter!

Brandon says it’s best to upload the video directly to each social network. Native video gets more distribution- especially on Facebook, who doesn’t play well with YouTube anymore.

One video can be shared 5 different ways:

Posted directly to YouTube
Embedded YouTube video in a LinkedIn blog post
In an Email message- (as a link to it on your website)
As a blog post on your website
In a Social Media post (as a link to it on your website). Vary the message to make the most out of several posts over a couple weeks.

5. SEO it!

Google can’t detect what a video is about. It needs text to be able to make the video populate in search results. You will need a video caption text file to accompany your video (especially for long videos). This is a MUST for SEO- because google doesn’t know what the video is about. Long form video is best- 1500 words or more. Brandon recommends Red.com for generating video captions.

Be descriptive with keywords in the title and description, and link it to the most relevant landing page on your website (it’s not always your homepage!) Think like a customer- what content on your website can you direct them to that will best continue their path of learning about this topic?

Hire Brandon W. Brandon's clever social media handle is @HireBrandonW. Follow him online or connect with him directly for business inquiries.

Want more DIY Video Content Marketing tips? Hear Brandon speak on “Creating Video Content in 2018” at Craft Content 2018- April 21 at Nossi College of Art in Nashville. Follow #CCN18VIDEO for more!

Brandon Windsor on DIY Video Content