G’ day. I wanted to give you a quick checklist on if you’re using video, how to make sure your videos don’t suck. This is a basic checklist for if you’re using video to promote your business, if you’re doing video blogs, video ads on Facebook, etc, etc. So, four things.
Firstly, use landscape. Use landscape view on your camera. Whether you’ve got a phone or a fancy more expensive camera, make sure you use landscape device or landscape mode view. The reason why that is, is simple: It just works better. You’ll get better click-through rates, you’ll get better engagement, and they look better on mobile phones and they look better in Facebook. So if they look better within the platform, you’ll get more views, so just use that. I can tell you a hundred other reasons why, or maybe not a hundred, but a bunch more and I’ll do that in another video if we have to. But use landscape.
Secondly, use a microphone. People will put up with poor video quality, but they won’t put up with poor audio quality. Use a lapel mic. A remote mic that plugs into your phone or whatever device, recording device, simply doesn’t cut it. Even the fancy ones I think suck, so just use a cheap lapel mic. I’ve got a RØDE smartLav or something like that. It’s a great mic. It’s $75. There’s no batteries. They work cool.
The next thing is, blink a lot. So if you’re reading a script or some kind of teleprompter or something like that, make sure you blink. Because otherwise you just stare at the camera like this and people can see you reading, and it kind of looks creepy. So that’s that! Blink a lot. Watch the news readers as they do this really well, they blink a lot when they talk and you’d be surprised at how blinking a lot doesn’t look weird on a video.
The next thing is, have your camera at eye level at least. So don’t … If you have it below you, it’ll make you look like you’ve got a double chin. And my wife said this really cool thing as well, or someone … I think it was my wife, but anyway, she said, “Your kids are used to looking up to you because they’re smaller than you, but your clients aren’t.” So you don’t want the camera view below you for two reasons. It’s not your children that you’re working with, your clients are generally going to be adults. But, it also avoids chinning. Double chins are not the most flattering thing, so eye level or even a little bit higher if you want to.
So, there’s those four things. What were they?
- Landscape mode
- Use a microphone
- Blink a lot
Have the camera eye level or above
That’s it. Have fun!