According to Statista, there are roughly 1.5bn smartphones sold globally every year. That means that chances are most small business owners have one, but probably aren’t making the most of video as a marketing tool.
The medium is an extremely effective way of communicating your message quickly using entertaining visuals. By using your smartphone camera, not only is it incredibly easy to create content but it also provides you with a wide variety of platforms in which to share it.
Think of Your Audience
When you’re creating the content, first think of your audience and how they’ll consume the content. YouTube has become a great platform for high quality, polished content but you should consider putting it on Instagram if your video is less than 1-minute long.
YouTube is also a poor choice if you’ve shot your video in portrait mode. Anything filmed in portrait will be converted into 1920x1080 resolution and you’ll end up with two black boxes either side of your video which just isn’t pretty.
Snapchat is a great platform for quick, off-the-cuff content that you’d like to share with your audience, as is Instagram Stories. Portrait mode adds a personal perspective to the content when used in this way. There are pros and cons to filming in landscape and portrait. Before you start recording, consider where you plan on posting it first.
Lighting is everything
It’s so annoying watching a grainy video because the smartphone camera is struggling due to lack of light hitting the lens. What’s more frustrating is when someone sits directly in front of the sun, so all the viewer can see is their silhouetted outline. Lighting is essential to create a high-quality video, especially when you’re talking directly to the camera.
If you don’t want to spend any money, then film outside, or inside by a window, or somewhere inside where there’s good artificial light. Just don’t point the light directly into the lens, otherwise it will struggle to pick up details. There’s also inexpensive LED lighting equipment that you can pick up to help you capture and create great content for your small business.
Try Not to Shake
Having a video that’s shot in a very amateurish style works on Snapchat where your audience is expecting your content to be more personal. However, if you’re using your smartphone to film a video that you want to look professional, you want it to look and behave as much like an expensive DSLR as possible, which means not having it shake constantly while it’s in your hand.
To prevent this, you should consider buying a tripod. This will allow you to film without worrying about freezing still like a statue, or even position the camera at a natural height for you to talk into. The aim here is make the phone as stable as possible so that it can capture the best quality image possible.
Today, there’s really no need to stress if you don’t have the budget to film grand advertising campaigns. The power has shifted to a more mobile world as evident by how many people look at their smartphone screens during ad breaks when watching TV. The good news? Most small businesses are not taking advantage of the mobile friendly environment the market is craving. Try using these tips to reach out to your audience using your smartphone’s video capabilities and you’ll be surprised at the amount of engagement it receives.