Here are some tips, tricks, and what not to-do's that we've learned from making videos for our website.
If you are thinking about making a video, here are some of the best tips on how to do that and some of the mistakes that are typically made when first starting out. This can help you get a head start on making some good video content around the topics that you think would be useful in our business and for our clients.
The first step is to make an outline. We've included an example outline for you to follow along with at the bottom of this page.
Here are the most important parts of making a video:
- The goal of the first 5 seconds of your video is to tell the audience who you are talking to. For example, if you are talking to mortgage originators, say something like “if you are a mortgage originator, then…” This first five seconds is really about who you are speaking to as well as who you are not speaking to. This way, someone can very quickly identify if this video is for them or not.
- The next 25 seconds or so of your video should be you telling your audience what you are going to tell them about. “I’m going to talk about some things you might do or mistakes you might make.” This should closely follow your outline and helps introduce your topic.
- After this, you explain the rest of your content, and go into detail about what it is you are going to talk about.
- Next is where you start to wrap up the video with a clear conclusion of what you went over. At this point, you should have a clear call to action explaining what it is you want the audience to do. If you aren’t sure where this video is going to be viewed (like YouTube or in a blog or social media post), try to make your call to action fairly universal or record several options. Examples of this could be: “If you liked this video, subscribe below” or “for more information, visit monitorbase.com”.
Tips and tricks
- Speak in small sections and don’t be afraid to pause. If you need to reference your notes or outline, you can stop speaking, look off screen, gather your thoughts, and look back at the camera when you are ready to start again. That pause can easily be edited out, you don’t have to record perfectly all in one go or memorize your entire script.
- It’s very important to pay attention to your lighting and audio. There isn’t much you can do for these things in the editing process, so you really need to get them right during filming. Run some tests and make sure these are good before you film your entire video.
- Background is also important and can’t always be changed in editing. If you don’t like your background, try changing rooms, or adjust your camera to a better angle. Your background should look professional and not too busy.
- Try to engage and use gestures. Watching yourself will help you be more engaged, and remember to talk with your hands.
- If you make a mistake, just stop and back up, don’t restart your recording altogether. If you feel you could do something better, just pause and restate what you are trying to say. You don’t need to record 17 tiny videos to try and piece together later, you can just pause and readjust your message and then continue filming.
- If you have been staring at your computer screen all day or you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, you can use redness reducing eye drops to look more alert and less tired.
- Smile, and be enthusiastic. It may feel a little funny, or out of character, but it’s important to have a good energy level throughout your video. You don’t want to be monotone or unengaged, this can lead to a very boring video. If you don’t care about the topic you are covering, why would the viewer?
To recap, the first five seconds should let viewers know who you are and are not talking to, next 30 seconds should be about what you are going to talk about, then you should talk about it. Last, a clear call to action or multiple calls to action.
The example outline and Video Making Cheat Sheet:
1. First 5 Seconds: Who are you talking to? Who are you not talking to?
a. Example: “If you’re in the mortgage industry, and you’re trying to capture refinances
while rates are down…”
2. 5-30 Seconds: What are you going to talk about in this video:
a. Example: “I want to talk about how Predictive Rate Watch alerts can help you identify
who you should be engaging with and who you can ignore…”
3. 30 + Seconds: Say what you want to say…
a. This is the body message, you be you!
4. Last 10 Seconds: Call them to action or reference more resources, etc…
a. You aren’t always sure where the video will be seen or how it will be used, so let’s just
record several Endings one after the other, and let the editor pick!
i. Call them to Actions:
ii. For more info, email Sales@monitorbase.com
iii. For mor info, visit MonitorBase.com
iv. To Learn more, click below
v. Subscribe to our blog for more information like this.
vi. Click the link below to get more information about this.
5. Couple Tips:
a. Speak in small sections. If you mess up or need to look at notes, stop, pause, gather your
thoughts, look back at the camera, then back up and restart. Editing the pause out is
easy!
b. Great lighting and Audio are important to manage upfront.
c. Background is going to matter. If you don’t like how it looks from your desk, consider
sitting in the conference room, with your back to the office, so looking through the
glass, they can see the group working.
d. Look at the camera, or watch yourself on the camera app, with the preview as close to
the camera as possible
e. Gesture, be enthusiastic, and energetic, this goes a long way, and people want to hear
from a person, not a robot, it really does help.
f. If you mess up or need to look at notes, stop, pause, gather your thoughts, look back at
the camera, then back up and restart. Editing the pause out is easy!
g. I use redness reducing eye drops.
h. Try to smile in the intro, maybe even wave.