018: The No.1 Thing You Need To Know About Video

Video Matters

The podcast dedicated to giving you a no-bullshit look at what it takes to build relationships through video. This is for the scared, the overwhelmed, the awkward as fuck, and all those who believe diy doesn't have to mean amateur but don't know where to start ...

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TheHost

Tors Grantham

Tors is a television professional, who studied all aspects of television production before launching her career spanning almost a decade. She's worked with a BAFTA nominated production team, has her own entry on imdb.com, and has even walked the red carpet several (terrifying) times.

She's had chips thrown at her by David Tennant (it was an accident, he's got terrible aim), she's interviewed some amazing actresses, and she attended the cast and crew screening of Empire Strikes Back at the grand old age of four.

Now she lives in south Wales with a large dog and a small cat, where she uses the knowledge she gained in her television years and beyond, to help online biz owners step in front of the camera and connect with their audience.

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In This Episode

I have some opinions on video, you may have noticed if you’ve been listening for a while. Some of those opinions aren’t mainstream, and I use this podcast to work through and discuss my feelings about video and being on camera. I’m still figuring out some of my viewpoints, so this episode is likely to be something I revisit in the future as my opinions change over time, but I am a-okay with that because that’s how things should be.

Today, however, I want to talk about my feelings about video right now. I want to share the number one thing I think you need to know about video, the most important piece of the video puzzle.

• Show Notes
• Transcript

Tors said

"There is one fundamental truth about video for your business, and it's that’s that you and your business are going to be judged by the video content you put out." - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

"If you hold the belief that every video you make should best represent your brand and your business, what does that mean for your videos?" - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

"Audience experience should be at the heart of everything you do, but really it comes from a self-serving place. Without your audience there’s no point spending time making videos." - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

"Really, the number one thing is your audience are more important than your insecurities because your business needs them." - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

"How you show up on camera trumps shitty production values. If your personality can shine through then your audience are going to stick around because they like you." - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

"I’m going to let you into a little secret here by the way, highly polished videos don’t build relationships. People find them intimidating, because they worry they can’t compete." - Tors Grantham on #videomatterspodcast

There is one fundamental truth about video for your business, and it isn’t that video’s all about your business, or that the equipment you use is important. It's that’s that you and your business are going to be judged by the video content you put out. Whether that’s a live video or a pre-recorded, disappearing content like InstaStories, or video on your social media channels, you and your business are going to be judged by it.

I know, I know, you don’t want me to be saying this sort of stuff to you, you may even be wondering what the hell kind of video coach you’re listening?! You want to be told that having a public learning curve is fine, that it’s important to just get on camera, you can figure it all out later, right? Yeah, no. I mean sort of yes, it’s important you get on camera and however you do that is good, but don’t ignore that one fundamental truth because it’s not going to become something that’s not true for you. You’re special, but you ain’t that special, you picking up what I’m putting down? This is me, living up to my promise of no-bullshit.

So let me say that again, because this shit is important: you and your business are going to be judged by the video content you create, no matter where you share it. The only way you can stop that judgement is to not share them, which kinda defeats the object of making them in the first place.

Does this mean you should stop? That you shouldn’t even bother?

Oh hell no!

If you think everything else you’re putting out isn’t being used as a way to make judgements about you and your business you’re sorely mistaken, we’ve just got used to pretending it doesn’t. Or we’re used to the idea that our blog posts and our emails and our Facebook Page updates represent our business.

So why are we so reluctant to include video in that?

Actually, that’s probably a bit of a sweeping generalisation. Maybe it should really be, why are we so reluctant to include live video in that?

If you hold the belief that every video you make should best represent your brand and your business, what does that mean for your videos?

Well, you’d probably plan them out a lot better. Put a little more effort into making them more visually interesting. Maybe try to work in some more creativity around the shots that you’re using. You might be more concerned with how you show up on camera, and how you deliver your content. You might realise that video is really public speaking in a bubble, even if that’s a large, global-sized bubble. You might work harder at editing, learn the basics really really well instead of giving up and just making do. You might make sure you have more clarity around what’s in it for the audience, afterall if they don’t like it they’re not going to watch it nor are they going judge you and your business as favourably.

As favourably is the key here by the way, unless you’re making something really awful, are showing up on camera in a way that alienates your audience and you’re talking about a topic that’s of zero interest to anyone, you’re still going to connect with some people. The problem is, you’re not going to connect with as many people as you could.

My mantra for video is that audience experience should be at the heart of everything you do, but really it comes from a self-serving place. Without your audience watching, there’s no point spending the time and energy to make videos. Without your audience, your business is nothing, and that’s catastrophic. Audience experience is important because a positive experience reflects positively on your business.

But often we’re so busy worrying about ourselves: do we look stupid, do we look ugly, do we sound as awful as we think we do, who are we to stand up on camera and say these things, will people like us, does our background work, do our videos look amateur. Y’know, all the shitty things we think about ourselves - we’re so busy worrying about all of those things that we’re not giving any consideration to the audience.

And that’s what makes videos fail.

Because the audience feel disconnected, and they judge our business. They decide they don’t want to work with us because they can’t connect with us. They decide that our business isn’t for them. They judge our business as something maybe not negative but certainly not positively enough to form a relationship with us, all because we didn’t put their needs first.

So really, the number one thing is your audience are more important than your insecurities because your business needs them. Making video content for your audience, instead of for your business, is the best way you can build relationships and help people judge your business as valuable to them.

The best part about making this mindset shift is that it can help you with getting on camera, it can help you with delivering your content, and it can help you with your confidence overall. By making it about them instead of you, you’re shifting into a serving mindset, which can really take the pressure off. It’s no longer something to fear, because you know you’re going to be providing value and really helping people. And that’s what makes videos successful.

Know what else makes videos successful? You.

How you show up on camera trumps shitty production values. No, really, it does. If your personality can shine through, if you can deliver your content in a way that’s completely you, then your audience are going to stick around because they like you. Production value isn’t really as high on the list as some would like to believe, we’ve got our priorities mixed up and worry about cameras and lighting when really we should be worrying about being ourselves, 110%, when on camera.

Hands up if you’ve watched a video that had poor lighting or a slightly fuzzy camera because the person on screen was interesting, what they had to say was interesting, and how they said it was interesting? I know you can’t see me right now but, for the record, my hand’s up.

Sometimes to get our heads out of our arses we need to shift how we evaluate things. Instead of comparing your videos or your performance on screen to professional television, or industry leaders in your niche who use professionals to help them create their content, maybe you should be comparing it to the worst video you ever watched but you watched it anyway. Why was that? Why did the shitty things not matter to you?

Once you know that (and I’m going to bet it was because the person on screen was awesome) then you can start trying to live up to that standard instead of one you can’t hope to meet because you don’t have access to professional people or equipment.

I’m going to let you into a little secret here by the way, highly polished videos don’t build relationships. People find them intimidating, because they know they can’t compete … or they worry they can’t. People in highly polished videos are on pedestals, which makes them inaccessible. Their videos are useful, you can learn from them, but you don’t really feel a huge connection to the person on screen, you don’t feel like they’re accessible to you. You may like them, but there’s a barrier to feeling like you could hang out with them. Highly polished videos shouldn’t be the end goal, relationship building should take the top spot because that’s how you grow your business, one relationship at a time.

And it all comes back to that number one thing you need to know about video: that you and your business will be judged by it. Everything else spirals out from that one truth. Keep it in mind the next time you make a video and I bet you’ll make a better video because of it.

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