Skip to content

Brilliant ways to create video for social media

Posted By: / May 18, 2020

Video is huge and it's continuing to be popular on social media - it was before and increasingly so as the world adjusts to the 'new normal.'  Video content gets much higher engagement on social media (see stats below) compared to text-only posts, so it's time to start getting confident in front of the camera and creating your own videos! Luckily, there's loads of tips and tricks out there to help you create your own videos for social media. Here, Rachel Allen from 13Ten Marketing pulls together some of the easiest tools to use to help make your social media stand out!

1. Get started - plan and practice

Whilst we don't advocate having a 'script,' it is useful to have a couple of key points planned out, so make some notes on paper or in the notes section of your phone about what you want to say. When you start editing your film, you'll see that you can easily put segments together so if you have 3 points to make, you can create 3 separate videos and edit them together.

2. Get set up

You can do so much with the settings on your phone, but a few extra bits of kit will make the film so much better. A tripod and a light ring will really help, plus a remote control so that you can start your film without moving in to position. Plus, a mic will help with the sound quality. I did a video with my son, who spoke very quietly which impacted the subtitles (more on this later).

3. Take your footage

Once you're set up, you can start rolling. Make sure you speak slowly and clearly and look directly at the camera. Another tip is to try using the slo-mo or time lapse settings as they add a fun dimension to your videos.

4. Edit

I have used iMovie to pull my video footage together and if I want to split the scenes up, I create an image in Canva (I use Canva Pro) to pull segments together and to avoid a glitchy looking film. Plus, you can add in extra audio plus add in a soundtrack. As an iPhone user, I think iMovie is brilliant for creating simple videos.

5. Subtitle

Approximately 85% of people watch videos on mute (auto-play videos are muted as default) so adding subtitles is a brilliant idea. Here's a video that I did recently where I added subtitles using a package called Zubtitle. I was on a free trial but the package is about £19.99 per month so you'd want to do a few to make it worth your while. However, the great thing was that I could download the transcript and turn it in to written content for my blog and social media.

Are you creating video? We'd love to see how you're creating yours - leave a comment below with details of how we can view your work.

Extra Information:

The engaement on various social media platforms, when using video is increased by:

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/video-marketing-statistics-for-2020-infographic/566099/

 

Here's some of the equipment we use:

Lighting:
A poorly lit video is one of the quickest ways to turn off a viewer. A well-lit video will give you sharper looking visuals. You can very easily use natural lighting, just make you’re facing the window and set the camera up accordingly.
We decided to buy a ring light, as this gives us the option to film anywhere, well-lit or not.
Price: £82.94

Tripod:
Nothing looks more unprofessional than a shaky video.  Having a sturdy tripod:
1.) Saves you time: You don’t need to find someone to hold the camera or waste minutes finding place to prop your camera.
2.) Focusses your visuals.  When the camera is still, your IPhone will automatically adjust to focus in on the main object.
TIP: Tap and hold the focal point before you begin recording until you see the AE/AF Lock banner appear at the top of the screen. This will stop your IPhone changing the focus whilst recording.
Price: £17.99

Sound:
Rode Smartlav+ Lavalier Microphone
From our research, we found that this microphone is one of the best to use with IPhones. Attaching a mic will help focus the sound of your video which is particularly useful when you’re in noisy environments. Again, the in-built IPhone microphone works just as well in a quiet environment.
Tip: If you have an IPhone 7 upwards, you will need the adapter to attach the mic.
Price: £53.99