Social Video Marketing Campaign

Marketing has adapted to a new form – social video marketing. Building a powerful social video marketing campaign in the modern world takes a lot of different approaches.  There are now dozens of alternative platforms and places online to reach out to your potential audience! 

Whether you’re a company building your brand awareness or a blogger looking to build your audience through social video, the key to an engaging video series that brings people back time and time again is expert filming. No matter how killer your content is, if your audience can’t see or hear you, they’ll have a hard time connecting or wanting to tune in next time. 

To give you a clearer picture of what your social video marketing campaign needs, follow these five shooting tips.

1) Balance Your Lighting First

Plain old light from above may seem ‘normal’, but it’s almost never what the camera wants to see. There’s a reason professional videographers and photographers always come equipped with big specially angled lights. The goal is to get plenty of light onto the face and torso of anyone being filmed without creating a blinding effect that will result in squinting. Before shooting, always make sure your light levels are correct, as this will be one of the most difficult things to ‘fix in post’.

2) Use a Clear, Sound Filtering Mic

No matter how beautiful and engaging your video is, no one wants to listen to crackles and pops, people moving and talking in the background, or just the sound of air moving over the mic overpowering the video speaker. Make sure your microphone is high quality and filters everything but what it’s pointed at. You can easily find nice ones for sale that can sit a few feet back so as not to be in the shot.

3) Give the Camera Some ‘Personal Space’

When it comes to a social video marketing campaign, the atmosphere is everything. In your video, speak to the audience as if you’re in the same room; doing so creates a sense of authenticity and brand connection.

However, this also means that the camera space is standing in for your viewers’ personal space. Remember to sit a few feet back from the camera and not to lean in too close. The top of your head should always be visible in the frame with at least an inch or two of buffer space so that your normal movements while talking don’t ‘chop off’ the top of your head or seem to crowd your audience.

4) If You Use a Green Screen, Don’t Wear Green

Green screens can be incredibly useful if you’re going for a more media-oriented or digitally-set social video rather than one based in your workshop, office, or on a pre-built set. However, first-time green screen users often have trouble understanding the rules of chroma-key!

 Essentially, the digital background will be inserted onto anything that seems to match chroma-key color, so don’t wear any green for a green screen. Alternately, if you need to wear green, use a blue screen instead and adjust your chroma-key accordingly.

5) Add Subtitles and On-Screen Text

It’s true that sound is an important aspect of your video, but most people who are just getting into a social video marketing campaign don’t think about how many people browse their social media with the sound off. Subtitles and on-screen text are a great way to be inclusive not just to the hearing impaired, but for viewers who are at work, school, are waiting in a quiet lobby, or are working with a device that doesn’t play sound.

Need Help With Your Social Video Marketing Campaign?

Whether you’re starting your first social video marketing campaign or looking to improve on an existing series, it always helps to remember your video shooting fundamentals. Get the light and sound just right, don’t crowd the camera, work with your green screen, and never forget to put in subtitles. 

Of course, if all this sounds like too much hassle, you can always hire professional videographers to do the hard part so you’re free to rock your video content without extra worries. For more video tips from professional DC videographers or to consult about a social video series you’d like to shoot, please contact us today!