Video presentation tips for social media

Have you noticed that more and more people are sharing their pre-recorded videos or doing live videos from their social media accounts? It’s no surprise either because social media platforms do love them and reward the videos that attract attention with great reach.

One of the biggest social media trends for 2022 is the growth of short-form videos, videos that are recorded in portrait mode and are led than 2:30mins. Earlier in the year Cisco revealed their predictions for 2022 and stated that 82% of internet traffic will be video content!

If you’re yet to get in front of the video camera, now is the perfect time.

But do you worry that you’ll come across as a bit dry, stumble over your words, lose your train of thought at the crucial moment, or not get your message across clearly?

Yes? Then you’ve come to the right blog. I recently spoke with Catherine Sandland from White Hart Training about how to speak clearly and concisely in a really compelling way. Catherine’s video presentation tips for social media are just brilliant! She’s a very talented presentation skills trainer and speaker coach and over the years has helped so many people overcome their fear of speaking out and standing out.

Read on to find out her top 8 social media video tips to give you the confidence to stand up and speak up, but to also stand out.

1. Look into the camera

I’ve seen this before in video presentation tips but often thought how hard this is to do throughout the entire presentation. Thankfully, Catherine has some tricks up her sleeve to make looking into the camera more natural and assures us that this doesn’t mean that you have to continually stare into the camera. Phew!

It’s okay to look away from the camera every now and then. Just think what you usually do when you’re talking to someone face to face.
But always look directly into the camera when you want to emphasise a point. This is a bit like underlying a really
Practicing this also makes you think more about what you’re saying and helps you to identify your key points.
Use sticky notes just above your camera, or even a photo a person if you like – anything that helps you to look at, or very close to, the camera.

2. Use your hands

This is a really useful video presentation tip as when you just look at someone’s head and shoulders, you don’t get a feel for the person’s energy do you? It’s also easy to switch off and not concentrate when you’re watching a static video with little movement.

Bring your hands above your tabletop to make them visible to the viewers.
Don’t wave them around frantically, use them to elaborate on your messages.
For instance, when saying something like, ‘this will make a huge difference’. Part your hands wide to demonstrate size.
It also builds trust when hands can be seen. It’s a gesture of openness and that you’re willing to share.

3. Use prompts

You can use prompts such as sticky notes stuck to the side of your screen for both live videos and pre-recorded. Using this method will keep you on track, stop you from forgetting what comes next, and also gives you a good reason to glance away from the camera in a natural way.

⦁ Make sure that your prompts are visible to you and not to your audience.
⦁ If you’re delivering a presentation that involves steps, write one step per sticky note.
⦁ Don’t write the entire script as you’ll be tempted to read from the notes and this won’t look, or sound, good.

4. Keep videos short

If you can, keep your videos to under 3 minutes. This is perfect for delighting attention spans and for keeping your viewers engaged.

Be disciplined about your structure and the time as it’s all too easy to talk about a specialist subject for hours!
Remember, the social media platform’s algorithms will be monitoring how long people watch your video for too. The higher the percentage the better the reach. You’re likely to achieve a high percentage, or even have lots of people watching 100% of your video if it’s short

5. Do a video series

If the thought of having to keep your videos short worries you as you’ve a lot to say, use this concern to your advantage! This video presentation advice will add so much value – and make filling your social media calendar a lot easier

Did you know that when you do a series, let’s say a series of 6, you’ll attract the attention of people who like to collect – the completers and finishers. Imagine someone watches number 2 in your series and loves what they see. They’ll actively seek out the first one and keep a watchful eye out for numbers 3 to 6.

When you jot down what topic you want to talk about, work out the number of points you have about it. Now, instead of spilling all the beans at once, reveal one point at a time.
With this in mind, make it clear that it’s a series and clearly number them.
And there’s another advantage too. When someone sees another post or sees another video from you, those that enjoyed learning from you previously will stop and listen to what you have to say now.

6. Have one clear message

To explain this, it’s helpful to know that a message is different to the content. The message is the takeaway stuff that you want your audience to remember – it’s the purpose of the video. The content is the words that surround this.

If you have more than one message, you’ll need a lot more content which means your videos are going to be longer than 3 minutes.
And having just the one message makes it a lot easier for the viewer to remember.
Find 3 bits of information to support that one message. This will help make sense of the message. Don’t be tempted to do more than 3 – keep some back for future videos!

7. Have a definite beginning

Your all-important introduction should be strong and be the ‘hook’ that grabs attention. Make sure your viewers know that you’ve begun and what you’re about to cover.

When going live, it’s the right thing to acknowledge those who are watching with a quick hello. But do this once you’ve announced your ‘hook’.
If you have to do a quick intro to say who you are, do so and then pause. After the pause give your big statement. The pause is representative that you’re about to begin.
Remember, some people may be listening to your video while doing something else like cooking so making it clear when you’re starting will get their attention and hopefully make them stop what their doing and watch.
Consider using a question for the big statement as this is a great way for people to give you their full focus.

8. Give your call to action before your final point.

It’s likely that you’ll want your viewers to take action after watching. It could be to book a discovery call, to download an eBook from your website or attend an upcoming event. But it’s important that you don’t make it the ‘takeaway’ message.

For optimum impact announce your call to action just before your final point – which by the way should be your takeaway message.
This is also helpful if you shy away from delivering a call to action message. Knowing that you’re still to give some valuable information when telling your viewers what you’d like them to do next, will make you feel a lot more comfortable. And this will come across too.

If these top tips for social media videos have got you itching to create your own, why not find out more about Catherine. She’s plenty of blogs for you to read on her website that contain the best video presentation tips. Link to her website.

Or if you fancy joining Catherine at her Phenomenal Women 2-day workshop in Northwich to help you to step up and into the spotlight find out more here.

Coming up soon

click on the link below for a list of upcoming social media workshops.

Workshops are open to all businesses, limited to 10 attendees and delivered online via zoom.

Different social media workshops are delivered each month, covering Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. Social media training can also be delivered in-house to suit you and your team’s training requirements email info@SocialMediaExec.co.uk to enquire.

To view all of my upcoming workshops, head over to my website today.