Three years ago I was sitting at my desk working through a social media review of an organisation.
The Facebook and the Twitter were okay. Good in places and poor in others.
But the wheels came off when I reached the YouTube channel. A dozen videos. None less than a month old. Two good clips that looked as though money had been spent with a few thousand views. The rest? Dreadful with a few dozen views at best.
Yet, research was showing that people were consuming video at a striking rate.
So, it got me thinking that there was a need to teach the skills to comms, PR, digital and marketing people to get them to start shooting their own content. I sat down with Steven Davies and we drew-up a day of training that would give comms people the skills to plan, shoot, edit and post effective video. Steven has been a joy to work with and his colleague Sophie Edwards has played her part too. It’s been a source of continuing pride and satisfaction that we’ve given people new skills that will help them communicate.
What started as a trial has flourished, grown and improved and I’m so proud of that. I know Steven is too. We’re past the 50 workshop mark. That’s 1,000 people. So, to celebrate here are six things I know.
Videos of real people work best
Your Chief Executive may be a great performer in front of the camera. But people connect best to what you can call ‘real people’. The service users. The seven-year-old kid who is raving about the bouncy castle on the park fun day. The parents of someone whose child spent his last days in the hospice.
You can still include the VIP without driving people away
I get it. You need to get the Councillor in. Or the chief executive. Put them on at the end. Tell them you are giving them the last word. You salute the flag without driving your audience away.
You need to cut your video depending on the platform
On Facebook, 21 seconds is the optimum length of a video. On YouTube it is three minutes. So, edit accordingly for the channel you are on.
You won’t scare people as much filming with a smartphone as you will with a big video camera
Smartphones are great. They fit in your pocket. You have them with you all the time. People are used to have them being pointed at them. So, if you see something that needs filming you can reach into your pocket and with permission film. You can get it there and then.
You are using a channel that people are happy to consume media on
Two thirds of the UK population have a smartphone and two thirds of them are happy to watch video that is less than five minutes. They are already on it.
Here are our next workshops. Or shout me dan@comms2point0.co.uk if you want to explore an in-house workshop.
ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS FOR COMMS workshop
Leeds 26.9.17 More here.
Birmingham 5.10.17 More here.
London 17.10.17 More here.
Edinburgh 19.10.17 More here.
Cardiff 24.10.17 More here.
Manchester 31.10.17 More here.
SKILLS YOU’LL NEED FOR LIVE VIDEO workshop
Manchester 27.9.17 More here.