DISTRIBUTION PART TWO: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

If you have a brand to promote and target audience to reach, video is still the best tool to get beyond the noise of everything else on social media.

And as we discussed in a previous blog post, Video Marketing strategy really begins with figuring out how and where you will distribute your videos. It should be no surprise that social media channels have become a huge part of that distribution.

If your videos live in Social Media your strategy will change – sometimes rapidly – as social media usage and rules are constantly in flux.

Previous blogs I wrote on this topic are still big-picture relevant, but the details, such as video length and format, are already helplessly outdated.

For instance, for SEO the former all-important keywords no longer hold the weight they did only a few months ago and Twitter now allows for videos 140 seconds long, where before they capped it at 60 seconds.

This means you will find yourself – most likely – re-doing, finessing, re-shooting, and re-editing the same content repeatedly as you react to channel changes, overall trends, and consumer behavior.

And you, as a small business owner, will need to pivot much more often with your content and offerings as well.

A few general pointers to heed:

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A Successful First Video Edit [Case Study]

You know that awesome feeling when you teach something and then it totally lands?

That’s how I felt when I watched this video:

Last year, I taught a class at a Bronx high school for an EDsnaps summer program run by Susanne Cappendijk. Her daughter, Lisanne, listened to my class and then went off and made this video from scratch. I love every frame of it!

So, I called Lisanne and asked her what she had learned in my class and how she applied it, and where her challenges where. Turns out that this video is a collaborative effort.

• The first interviews with the young ladies, I had shot on the day of my workshop. During the shoot, I taught one of the teachers how to replicate the shoot for the ‘after’ interviews three weeks later.
• The photos were shot during the program.
• The second round of interviews and with the girls, as well as the interview with her mom, where shot by Lisanne, who was given pointers by the teacher I had taught.
• While shooting the girls, the most important advice was to remind them to look right into the camera and not get distracted by the interviewer or other people in the room.

Editing took her about 3 full days – which sounds about right for that amount of footage and for being a novice. Lisanne was surprised how long it took just to look through all the footage. Let alone organize it and plan on how to use it! I know!

She used a pre-set graphic template that iMovie offered with a school-theme (how perfect is that) and used music from a royalty-free YouTube music library recommended by her brother.

Lisanne is a fantastic example of how with a little guidance, you can create a great DIY video for your organization or business.

Throughout this blog post, I will provide you with what you need to know and consider when organizing your edit, choosing editing software/apps, and what to consider when you’re thinking of hiring a video editor.

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