Make your social media videos exponentially better with these quick fixes.

Getting the basics of video right isn’t as complicated as it used to be, so there should be no excuse for some of the horrible video content you seen on social media.

In your pocket right now is a device with more processing power than the old supercomputers that used to take up entire rooms. It’s so much easier than it was even a decade ago to shoot great video. Your smartphone has a camera that can, in a pinch, shoot really great high-quality video content — feature films have even been shot with this device — if you keep a few simple things in mind.

Note: these are very basic tips but a lot of small businesses on social media get them wrong.

1) No vertical videos

This is probably the biggest mistake we see made on social media. Notice how your eyes sit horizontally across your face? That’s how we see things. There’s no surer sign of an amateur than vertical video. Tilt that phone and, congratulations, you’ve automatically become 50 per cent more professional than half of the small businesses on social media.

2) Learn to edit — but don’t go overboard

If you can get things done in one take, great (see below for our performance tips). However, there are cheap (and even free) editing programs and apps that are relatively simple to learn to give your videos punch. A word of caution though: unless you’re a designer, don’t get too fancy with graphics and transitions. Simple is better.

(And once you reach a certain level, there are businesses — hint, hint —who can help you out with the higher-end content.)

3) Focus on performance

For the person in the video doing a talk-to-camera, it’s worth keeping in mind a few things:

a) Keep your voice clear and your demeanour upbeat. There’s nothing more likely to turn someone off than a low-energy performance. You’re also probably speaking faster than you think you are. Slow it down.

b) Scripting vs. off the cuff. If you’re good at talking off the top of your head and staying on-topic, great. If not, you might want to think about scripting something out — not the whole thing necessarily but jotting down key ideas in dot point form can keep you on track.

c) As always, keep it short and snappy. Not only will this get your fans further into your videos, breaking your content into smaller chunks means you have more pieces of video content to work with overall. Try to limit each video to one or two key pieces of information per video.

Takeaway message

Sure, these are simple but you would be amazed at how many small businesses on social media get this stuff wrong.

The good news is, if you’re getting these three things right, you’re well on your way to creating better and better video content for your business.

If you need more help with your video content, don’t hesitate to get in touch.