*Easy ways to use social media to create a following – Part 2*
Other ways to create a following on social media:
VIDEO.
VIDEO.
VIDEO.
VIDEO.
I couldn’t yell this high enough from the trees!
And yeh, I am feeling you. The thought of creating videos made me feel sick to my stomach. All my fears came up…however. I got over it.
I got over the anxiety and worry about how I looked and these days…? You are lucky if you find a video of me with makeup on.
People are watching the video for the content and the message. Think about this when you watch a video online. Also, what I realised as time went on and I did more videos…even if people noticed I didn’t wear makeup etc…they preferred it! They told me that it made the videos more ‘real’… how cool is that?
Practice was also part of this process. The ol’ saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is absolutely right! And jeez, did I stumble on my words when I first started. If you feel the need to have a good old laugh – go check out the first videos on my YouTube platform here. I would mess up A LOT. I would sometimes not be looking at the camera correctly (hint – don’t watch yourself…look at the lens). And more often than not…? People were not even watching!
And this is the thing. At first, it will feel like no-one is watching. It will feel awkward. It will feel embarrassing. BUT KEEP GOING!!
Don’t just give it a try. Commit to doing regular content, and it will work for you.
Another hot tip is to get your videos ‘captioned’ so people can still watch in silence. Over 50% of people watching videos on Facebook, watch them in silence…why? Consider this – they could be watching in bed, on the train or the loo! Your videos will get a better I if you have captions.
So, how do you do captions on your video? There are a few options:
- Get someone to do it for you. Teenagers can be paid to do this on their laptops, and are sometimes faster than going to the next option.
- Sites like Fiverr can do this for you – It’s not my first choice, but if you definitely do not want to do subtitles on your videos, someone there can do it for a price.
- Use www.rev.com and pay $1USD per minute. You simply send them your video as a file or even a link…then they send back a file you can use to upload to Facebook with your video or upload to YouTube. Check out a video I did HERE to watch how. It’s easier than you think.
Option 3 is my preferred choice, and I generally do a video in the morning, get it captioned during the day and either post it that night or the next day.
On occasion, I will ‘batch’ my videos up and do a whole heap of them in one go. I may even change my top or hairstyle to mix it up. This is an excellent way of getting all your videos done for the week ahead.
Video content is a fantastic way to create trust without people meeting you. You also create value…which we have already spoken about.
It just makes sense to create videos when we have a camera in our pockets and the ease of the internet to get our content out within minutes.
So, what can you talk about?
See, this is where it gets easy! You can talk about anything you bloody well like!
I can suggest that you provide information and value, though. The purpose of doing this is for you to show that you are the expert in your field. I have some ideas here that I have used myself and with clients.
* The 5 things to consider when building a pool
* The 10 gut health tips everyone needs
* 5 ways to increase your sales, leads and create value for your customers (Oh! hang on! You are already reading that one! Yes, there are videos to go with this eBook…clever hey? So, keep following my lead, my friend)
* The 5 mistakes people make when they buy a new home
* The 7 steps to financial freedom using your side-hustle
Did you notice that I use numbers like 5, 7 and 10? You can, of course, use any number you like – but for some reason? These numbers just work. Plus people generally want things in bite-size pieces these days.
So far, I have discussed using video on social media – and this definitely works. However, why should you make things harder for yourself by creating MORE content when you have already done the videos?
This is where you will get excited!
Let’s use precisely what I have done for this eBook as a great example:
* I created 5 x videos of no more than 3 minutes long each
* I got all the videos processed with rev.com with subtitles and uploaded the videos to Facebook
* I then got them transcribed by…you guessed it! rev.com again and this started the eBook you are reading now.
* Then I used each chapter as a blog post for Facebook/Instagram/Linkedin/my website/my newsletter
* Then I made up quote images on canva.com and put them on all the platforms too.
* Lastly I pulled the audio off the videos and created podcast episodes for my podcast channel
Wow! For approximately 15 minutes of video content – and let’s remember that I have given value, insight, experience and context for what I am delivering – therefore shown the viewers that I am an expert in my field.
Note: Nowhere throughout this, do you hear me say ‘buy my shit’…do you?
So, 15 minutes of me talking has now created 51 items of content across the platforms I utilise.
I have broken it down below for you too:
* 5 x videos = 5 videos on Facebook
* 1 x eBook you are reading now
* 5 x blog posts across Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and my own website blog = 20 places
* Content for 5 x email newsletters
* 5 x quote images (a sentence taken from each chapter) over Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin = 15 places
* 5 x mini-podcasts on my podcast channel
Total = 51
I think for 15 mins of video, I did amazingly creating the content!
My friend, I want you to copy what I am doing here. You can do this yourself in the area of your expertise.
So, where is the ‘sell’? To be honest, I don’t think you need to do a ‘sell’ at any point. If you have created enough value, and the people you want to reach and liking it…they will reach out and ask what you are selling. Trust me! This happens all the time!
If you do grab their email to give the freebie eBook (like I have done for this project) use it! And when I say use it, again…I don’t mean send them the ‘buy my shit’ emails! Create the value again in the emails, tell them what you do and every now and again. They will buy from you if you have given them enough value. And if they don’t? They are not your customer!
Do not make the mistake of collecting the email and doing nothing with it either. That’s an easy habit to fall into to! Flippin’ use it for your regular email newsletter content.
You want your potential and current customers to talk about you to their friends and for them to realise you are the expert that they need for whatever you do. You want to be on the tip of their tongue when someone they know needs you.
THIS is the reason you are doing this. Please don’t forget that.
Stay tuned for the next article on the ‘Power of 5’…
Emma