Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you’ve been on social media at all in the past three years, you’d undoubtedly have realized that more and more entrepreneurs, influencers and business owners are creating and leveraging short-form video content as a part of their marketing. That being said, 14% of businesses are still not using any kind of video marketing. And to be honest, can we blame them?
Entrepreneurs are busy. It takes time to set up the camera, brainstorm the idea and shoot content… not to mention the editing. For most, this seems like a chore more than anything.
Marketing with short-form video isn’t an option anymore — it’s a necessity — and there is no debate that it’s the most potent form of content on social media right now. However, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort. In fact, it can add just 30 minutes to your schedule each month. Who can’t squeeze in 7.5 minutes per week? You can no longer afford not to.
Here are three proven strategies to cut down your content creation time and 2-5x your short-form content output.
1. The podcast strategy
With the podcast industry set to reach 465 million listeners by 2023, you could be tapping into a lot of attention. Listeners and audience aside, the hidden benefits of being on a podcast could be the most powerful. Obviously, getting in front of your target audience on a podcast can do wonders for your bottom line. But where most people go wrong is a lack of leverage.
A 30-minute podcast could have five to 15 “golden nuggets” of information that your audience and the future audience would benefit from hearing. By recording the podcast on either Zoom or another screen recording tool, you can go back through and find the best clips and re-purpose them across your social media channels.
With the reach of short-form content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and now even Facebook reels, it’s not uncommon for these videos to reach 10’s of thousands of people. I’m no mathematician, but 10 pieces of content across five social media platforms, means a lot of extra eyeballs on you and your brand.
The only caveat is that it can take quite some time to actually edit the videos, which is where you’ll require the help of a great editor.
Related: Podcasting is the New College
2. Client and team call strategy
Now I understand there is a wide range of people reading this. However, like the podcast strategy, we are simply creating leverage from areas where you’re already active. In this case, it may be a client call, strategy session or even a team meeting. Again, by simply recording this, there is no doubt that there will be some valuable, actionable tips in there that people can benefit from.
Again, chop these down into clips, and use them as teasers for your ‘actual’ content. This will be a great way to get on video in as quickly as possible and give people an insight into you, your brand and the value people can get from you.
Related: 3 Social Media Hacks to Help Your Content Go Viral
3. The batching strategy
Now the first two strategies are great if you’re really time-poor. The batching strategy is ideal for curating a specific message at a specific time to get your message in front of more people. Obviously, setting time out of your day every day to create content can become repetitive and easily skipped. However, when you schedule a fortnightly or monthly 1-3 hour block, you’ll be able to get your month’s worth of content done in one session. I typically recommend doing this in 3-parts.
Firstly, the idea formulation. Get a pen and paper and write down 15 to 30 ideas on your market’s pain points, desires, things they need to know or even interesting facts and statistics that will pique their interest.
Secondly, set up your camera or iPhone and press record. It is highly recommended that you have a professional-looking set-up behind you. A simple neon light in the background and a ring light behind the camera will work wonders for making your videos look high-quality and professional.
Thirdly, is to get all those clips you just created edited. Again, you can either do this yourself or hire a freelancer or agency to do this for you.
At this point, you must be using video. Apply these proven strategies to make your time creating videos even more accessible.
