Common questions around using video for social media

Short form video is becoming increasingly popular on social media and it's powerful for telling your story, showing behind the scenes of your business and for adding value with tutorials and tips.

At the upcoming Social media fest there will be plenty of tips around this topic so I asked Anita Wong to give me her top most common questions she is asked.

Anita says "I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge in Wexford on November 29th! Here are the five questions I am always asked"

1. I don’t know what to record a video about for YouTube - Ok, I would recommend choosing 5 areas within your business and writing down 5 things you always get asked about for each one, now you have 25 video ideas

2. Do I have to have a professional studio to record videos for YouTube?

No you don’t. You can get started with the basics and go from there, The basics would be

a) A?quiet area to record your videos,

b) a microphone which could be your earphones or EarPods,?

c) decent light, if you don’t have good lighting, try to position yourself in front of the window

d) Your mobile phone or desktop/laptop camera although I would say, your mobile would have the better camera

3. Every time I go to upload a video, everything has changed so I don’t bother!?

I know, it’s frustrating, however, if you learn the basics and familiarise yourself with how the desktop YouTube app works, then the principles will always be the same and the more you do it, the more confident you will become.

4. I can’t use my reels or TikTok ?videos can I as they're not horizontal ?

Yes you can! YouTube recently introduced a new format of video called YouTube Shorts videos. These are short vertical videos 60 seconds less just like Instagram Reels and TikTok videos so you can easily get started on YouTube using these.

The fifth on is more of a statement Anita hears a LOT:

5. I don’t have time for another platform, let alone recording new videos?!

Anita says "When it comes to getting started and utilising YouTube, I feel that a lot of small business owners are tending to shy away from the platform because they think that all the content needs to be professionally produced and polished. This just isn’t true, with the introduction of YouTube podcasting and YouTube vertical videos alongside normal landscape videos, there really is a space on YouTube for business owners and all levels of video creators.

All it takes is to plan your videos the same way as you do any other social media campaign and to upload consistently to reap the rewards of YouTubes visibility and its unique connection with Google Search.

I could go on and on about how business owners could use YouTube but there probably wouldn’t be enough space inside this newsletter, but you can learn more by attending the Social Media Fest in November!"

Book your tickets now