RedMint Media shares a strategy to leverage social media in 2023

With the ever-increasing popularity of video content, it’s more important than ever for small business owners to leverage the power of social media. Unfortunately, most business owners struggle with finding the time and resources to create a strong presence on these platforms. The good news is, with the right strategy, the process of producing engaging and effective content can be painless and not at all time-consuming.

As a video production company that specialises in content, we will share some practical tips for small business owners to make the most out of these platforms, with minimal time investment.

To make sure we are all on the same page, the short-form videos mentioned in this article refers to 60 seconds or shorter vertical videos designed for social media.

The TikTok Goldrush

Contrary to popular belief, TikTok is not just for teenagers. In fact, over 20% of its user base is made up of users between 30-39 years old, while over 30% of its users are 40 and over.

In response to TikTok’s success, other major social media platforms have followed suit by launching similar short-form video features, such as Facebook reels, Instagram reels, and YouTube Shorts. This is the first time in the history of social media that the exact same type of content is favoured across multiple platforms. This creates a unique opportunity for businesses to leverage their video content by posting it to multiple platforms, allowing them to reach a much wider audience.

How do these platforms work

Before we get to our strategy. We must first establish how these platforms are able to recommend videos to their users.

If you haven’t used TikTok or any of the other platforms mentioned, here’s a quick rundown of how it works.

When you open the app, you will be presented with a random video, you can watch it or skip it to the next random video. Over time, the algorithm of the platform learns your preferences based on what you watch and what you skip, allowing it to better recommend videos relevant to your interests.

If you are posting videos, the platform is also learning what type of users are watching your content and it will recommend your videos to similar users.

The Strategy

Now that we’ve established how these platforms work on a basic level, let’s take a look at how we can use it to our advantage.

Firstly, the goal of this social media strategy is to grow an audience who would also be interested in buying what we sell, whether it’s a product or service.

We do this by creating educational short-form videos based on our niche. This works because most people who are in the market to buy what you are selling would also be interested in consuming content about it.

For example, we are a video production company that helps businesses grow with video, so our social media content is all about how to use videos for business. Naturally, only people who are interested in growing a business would watch our content. Over time, this allows us to cultivate an audience full of potential clients.

Essentially, think about the topics your target customers would be interested in and make videos about that. The videos also help establish you/your company as an expert in your industry, further increasing the likelihood of inbound leads.

As you post these videos, you will start to grow an audience, and the larger the audience you have, your videos will be promoted to even more people, helping you grow an even larger audience, creating a snowball effect. Therein lies the true beauty of this strategy, as you are getting better results with each video, the time or cost of producing them stays the same.

How to get started

Consistent uploads are key to this strategy. You can batch each step of the process to benefit from the economies of scale and maximise the output of your time. It should take you less than a day to create 15 videos. If you do this once a month, you will start to see results relatively quickly.

Here’s how you can get started creating short-form videos.

Step 1 – Brainstorm ideas

Think about the topics you can discuss in your videos, and make a list. Here are a few ideas

• How to videos (how to do something related in your niche)
• FAQs (think about the most commonly asked questions and turn them into videos)
• Common misconceptions about your niche
• Lists (“top 3 ways to…”)

When we work with our clients on this, we typically provide a list of 100 video ideas for any industry to help them get started.

Step 2 – Scriptwriting

Because these are short videos less than 60 seconds long, the scripts are fairly easy to write and only a few sentences long. Here’s a general 3-part structure for scripts.

Opening – The first few seconds of the video are the most important, so make sure the first sentence of the script is attention-grabbing.

Middle – This is where you give the educational information, no need to go super in-depth, but make sure it’s insightful. Ask yourself if you would have appreciated this knowledge x years ago.

End – end with a quick call to action

If you have the ideas listed out already, these scripts should take less than 10 minutes to write each. Make sure the script actually provides value and isn’t just self-promotional.

Step 3 – Filming

If you are doing this on your own here are a few quick tips on how to make the best of what you have.

• Make sure you’re in a room with plenty of light
• Make sure your environment is not too noisy
• Don’t use a blank white wall as the background

To avoid having to deal with editing, you can use TikTok’s in-app recorder. Have the scripts printed out, read one line from the script, record yourself saying it to the camera and move on to the next line. You can then download the video from TikTok to be posted to the other platforms.

Working with us

While self-recorded videos may not have the professional quality, it’s still better than having no videos at all. To make your videos as effective as possible, consider partnering with RedMint Media. Our team supports clients from start to finish – from the brainstorming stage to posting – saving you time and maximizing the impact of your videos. Visit us at www.redmintmedia.co.nz to learn more.