How To Shoot Videos For Digital Marketing

Video content was once a media dominated by TV broadcasters. However, with the stratospheric rise of web-based platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, video is more significant than ever. It provides a rich and engaging way for people and companies to tell their stories and reach their target audience with accuracy that was unimaginable in TV broadcasting.

In video advertising, gone are the days of only needing to produce a single 15 or 30-second advertisement for a TV campaign. With online platforms, the videos can be as long (or short) as needed. Your video can be easily tested before you commit to a lengthy and expensive campaign. Right now, your video is only limited by imagination and audiences’ attention span. 

With such an array of potential platforms, comes the challenge of creating assets that can be utilized on the multiple platforms. The key to this, (as with most things) is proper planning. But before you begin scheduling, writing scripts and shot listing, you’ll want to set goals, expectations and determine how and where your videos will be delivered and viewed.

Set Goals and Expectations:

Why do you need a video? Who do you want to reach? Where will the video be viewed? What outcomes do you wish to achieve? Below is examples of what some of this discovery can look like.

• Purpose (Why):
  • Educational
  • Brand Awareness
  • Customer conversion
  • Internal use

• Target (Who):
  • New Customers
  • Existing Customers
  • Employees
  • Community members

• Platforms (Where):
  • Youtube
  • Social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
  • Broadcast
  • Website
  • Store Display

• Outcomes (What):
  • Clicks
  • Conversation
  • Sales
  • Calls
  • Subscribers

Step 1: Planning

Now that you’ve established your goals, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of your plan. This is a vast subject and entails a lot of different aspects that we’ll only touch on. You may not need to determine all of this, but at least decide beforehand whether you’ll need any of these things before the shoot day.

• Distribution channels
• Video Lengths and aspect ratios
• Scripts
• Interview questions (if recording interviews)
• Location(s)
• Talent/Subjects
• Storyboard
• Shot List
• Timeline for the shoot day(s)
• Wardrobe 
• Make-up 

Step 2: Production

This is where the rubber hits the road and where your planning pays off. Make sure you have multiple copies of the scripts printed out and saved on your phone and iPad. A hard copy of the shot list is also good to have on hand so you can cross off shots as you take them. A way to copy the media to back up storage as the day progresses. Good Luck!

Step 3: Post Production

This is where it all comes together. It is fun, it is frustrating, and everything in between. But with good ideas and planning, you can master it easily.

Platform Multi-purposing Considerations

If your planning to utilize multiple video platforms, you need to take into consideration the limitations and features inherent with the chosen platforms. 

Here are some of the most common considerations for the most common platforms: 

Broadcast ads are generally limited to 15 or 30 seconds and are relatively expensive to run, so you want to make sure your scripts and storyboards are tight. 

On Facebook, audio is automatically off, so you want the video to be eye-catching to draw in your audience. Consider embedding some text if not subtitles in your video.

For Youtube preroll ads, you have audio, but the viewer can skip the ad after 5 seconds, so you want the beginning of your video to engage your intended audience. 

Generally speaking, there’s no time limit for videos posted to Facebook, Instagram or Youtube. So your videos can be as long as you want. Having said that, there are restrictions on video length for promoted videos on Facebook and Instagram. Choose which Ad placements you want to target and edit accordingly. For broadcast, your video must be 15 seconds or 30 seconds long. 

Bonus Tips:

• Create numerous scripts, short version, extended version, but be careful not to overdo it, and be sure to prioritize accordingly.
• If the production involves interviews, edit short teasers that could be used in broadcast, or web teasers.
• Get more footage than you need. You never know what you’ll wish you had once you get into editing. However, this can be a slippery slope and can mess up your shoot schedule if you’re not careful. A sense of content comes with experience.
• Shooting with multiple cameras at different angles is another way to get more footage to work with.

There you have it! An overview  to creating videos for multiple media platforms and placements.

I hope this has been helpful. If you agree, disagree and simply want to discuss this topic, please write to me at matt@eltonmedia.com