I know there are a lot of you who are using smartphones to produce content for your brand really don’t like being told anything about how you are using video in your digital marketing. That is just human nature. And many more of you usually blow off all constructive or corrective criticism you really do not want to hear. That is really a shame.
Everyone should take heed to the comments that contradict things you have been told or at least take a look at what you are being told.
To make it easy for you who have not been told something you do not want to hear I have made a list of things you probably do not want to be told just in case you are doing these things and have not been told.
Things you Don’t Want to Hear!
Stop taking videos in portrait mode.
Yes, there are a million social influencers and so-called experts who say “everyone” prefers looking at videos taken in portrait mode. In reality, “everyone” is not interested in watching videos shot in portrait mode. Portrait mode is just easier for the social networking platforms to manipulate on the page they have created. It takes up less space so they can get more ads on the page.
There is no argument that today’s smartphones have some awesome cameras built-in. We use smartphone videos to produce Tier 3 video content, but never for brand building videos like 99% of social influencers attempt to do.
Videos shot in portrait mode are usually taken by people who are not really concerned with their image (but should). They find it too hard to turn the smartphone to landscape so as to properly take a quality video.
The debate over portrait vs landscape will go on forever which makes being told not to shoot video in portrait mode one of the things people do not like to be told…but need they need to be told since videos shot portrait are not liked by 88% of consumers.
Yes, that is right, 9 out of ten people viewing videos today who are given the choice to watch a video shot in portrait mode and a video shot in landscape mode will choose landscape.
But hey, that is something you didn’t want to hear..right?
Don’t shoot videos with a window behind you
We will all agree shooting a video from your office that has a view of the skyline of downtown Dallas is a great idea. But, unless you are an experienced videographer using a sophisticated digital camera and a full light package…don’t attempt it. Smartphone videos are very limited in what they can do and shooting a video with a reflective surface like a window right behind the subject just does not come out well on a smartphone.
What takes place is light from the window produces a mirror effect and what happens is viewers will become fixated on the reflection of the back of your head or on the reflection of the camera person in the window or worse…will reflect the smartphone rig you have set up in front of you. Viewers simply HATE seeing poorly thought out video productions.
Being told your videos with a window in the background suck is something nearly everyone does not like to be told…but need to be told so they can stop burning down what positive image they have created for their brand. If you are really wanting to capture the skyline through your office window the solution would be to hire a video production crew to help with your productions of videos shot with a window in the background.
Don’t have microphone arms in your videos.
In 2018, podcasters started turning their podcasts into video podcasts. With this change from an audio-only format to a video format, more people thought turning on a webcam in their podcasting studio would create a cool video podcast. Actually, it does create a cool form of video content if the microphone arms being used in podcasts are removed.
Being told that the microphone arms use for podcasting is cluttering up the video podcast is not what you want to hear.
Having people sitting around a table with a huge microphone hiding their faces from the camera is not what consumers like to view. Actually having the microphone visible in the video is starting to turn consumers off. Having microphone arms visible in the video portrays an amateur approach to video production which reduces the quality and the appeal of the video to consumers.
To truly convert your podcasting studio to a video studio means you have to get serious about what the camera picks up for viewers to see. This means you have to drop the Webcam and smartphones since they are very limited in what they can do.
But, again, this something you really did not want to hear.
Your audio is awful.
It takes a lot of effort to produce a video. To be told after you post your video that your audio was awful is not what you want to hear..but it happens way too much. Smartphones and webcams can capture audio but not at the quality that it needs to be to capture a viewer’s attention.
Having a microphone placed on the people in the video is a must. At the very least having a mic on a boom that is hanging over them out of sight of the camera would work much better than just using the mic on the camera or worse, the mic on the smartphone.
There is nothing worse than not being able to clearly hear what the people in the video are saying. Being told your audio is awful is not what you want to hear, but it has to be said.
Quality video production cost too much
Now we are getting to the things I really don’t want to hear.
Being told professionally produced videos cost too much is really NOT what I want to hear. Yes, quality video production comes with a price tag, but 99% of the time the cost of a 60-second video would cost less than the smartphone many people purchase to take videos.
When you take into consideration all the things a professional videographer does for a video that keeps you from hearing all the things you do not want to hear then the cost for producing a quality video is justified.
If you do the cost analysis for the time it takes you to produce a video against the cost it takes for a professional to take your video it breaks out to be cheaper for a professional to produce the video.
A quality produced video will be viewed by more people. This means there is a much better chance viewer will interact with the video which would lead to a possible sale.
Having someone call you after watching a professionally produced video is something you DO WANT to hear.
Contact SyncLab Media to learn more about how they can help you from hearing all the things you do not want to hear.
Let me know how I can help.
You need to delete your Facebook account.