If you were in Baltimore last week, you may have noticed a little event called Light City, a festival of art, music and innovation. Light City’s innovative programming focused on education and ideas during the day – while lights, performances and live music reimagined the Inner Harbor at night.
While I did take the time to do the Light Walk around the harbor, I was also honored to participate in a workshop with Betamore, on the topic of video marketing. I co-presented with Gus Sentementes, Audience Engagement Manager at Johns Hopkins University and Allison Lane, Principal and Founder of Tree Swing Communications.
Here were some of our key takeaways:
Good Video Starts with Good Stories
Seek out stories by asking questions and providing details. Allison gave the example of a 100-year-old library at Hopkins where 300,000 books are cleaned on one day each year. By asking questions such as: “Which books? Why are these books important? Who works there? Why do they work there?” we dig deeper into the story behind the annual book cleaning and uncover a better story.
Live Streaming is Fun
And it’s a great way to incorporate video into your current strategy. If you’re not quite sure what you need to do it, check out Gus’s set up below. More than 40,000 viewers are tuning in to watch streaming JHU events on Facebook Live.
{% include image.html image=”post-brighter-body1.jpg” caption=”Gus breaks down the gear he uses to set up live streaming.” photographer=”Gus Sentementes” alt=”Gus breaks down the gear he uses to set up live streaming.” %}
Bootstrap Wisely
Startups who might not have the budget to hire a production company should not discount using video in their content marketing strategy. DIY videos work well for short social videos that reach your existing audience. Here are some tools we think you should look into: iMovie (Mac), Movie Maker (PC), We Video (online).
Be Resourceful
Hiring a video production team works well when you want to scale up and make a big splash, for example if you’re launching a new brand or logo. If you don’t think your budget allows for a production such as this, look at the resources you have in-house to handle certain elements, such as pre production planning, animations or graphics. Flexibility with timing and creative execution can also help keep your video budget reasonable.
{% include image.html image=”post-brighter-body2.jpg” caption=”D.C. United hired ELM to create a video to launch their new brand logo last year.” photographer=”ELM” alt=”D.C. United hired ELM to create a video to launch their new brand logo last year.” %}
Create a Series
Facebook videos should be less than 80 seconds, so think about breaking up your story into 3-4 shorter videos. This also gives you an opportunity to test and see how your audience responds to a video and learn as you go. For example, Gus found out that his audience is a little grossed out by Cricket Spiders.
Jig Saw Your Story
When publishing videos online, borrow some tricks for visually breaking up your content from magazine editors. Allison shared these tips to make your digital publishing stand out using video:
- Format video into a bigger story, think of laying it out like a magazine article and using video to break up blocks of text.
- Use short statements, varied font sizes, bold text, screen shots and micro videos to entice your audience.
- For inspiration, check out the formatting from this story of Humble Design on Upworthy.
Light City was a great example of innovation and creativity; two things that should be synonymous with Baltimore. If you missed it, make sure you keep an eye out for it next year.
