How to Create a Video Content Plan

Video marketing is no stranger to modern businesses-87% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool. For good reason, too: an impressive 85% of internet users in the United States regularly watch video content. 

Video is the #1 type of content consumers like to see from brands on social media.

Still, planning and executing a video content plan is just one more thing to flesh out amongst many others on your plate. You know it’s important to generate video content, but how do you actually go about it? What is the path to this elusive “video content” you keep hearing about?

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t figure out where to start with video content. I’ve collected the most effective starting points to help advisors create dependable plans for their video marketing.

1. Idea Generation: Start With the Basics

The task of coming up with actual content ideas often scares advisors away from video content. Brainstorming doesn’t have to be daunting, nor does it have to be time-consuming. Simplify it and start with what you know. 

Outline the major problems you help your clients solve, as well as frequently asked questions from clients and prospects. By starting general and then narrowing your scope, you can find hundreds of possible topics.

A great illustration of this is the concept map. Start with your firm’s name, then break your firm down into subtopics: what do you do for clients? What are your services? This should be general, but still specific to your audience. For instance, possible subtopics could be “estate planning” or “investing for physicians.”

Here’s an example of a simple concept map for an advisory firm that helps with family planning. From one subtopic came three possible video ideas, and even those ideas could be broken down further.

Continue to break down these subtopics, getting more and more hyper-specific. You’ll find that the content will generate itself, and it’s helpful to compartmentalize your ideas. This will also help with content organization.

Don’t forget that this is your area of expertise. Clients in search of your services want to have their questions answered, and you don’t need to overthink what these questions might be-you have extensive experience in answering questions from clients and prospects. This is simply the same premise in a different setting-don’t be afraid to get creative, too.

2. Think Educational

How-to videos are the second most popular types of videos on YouTube. The key to these videos is that they’re educational. Having an informative mindset is vital for advisors, because these informational videos, in turn, encourage the audience to take some sort of action and apply their newfound knowledge. If that action reaps positive effects for them, that then reflects positively on you.

These educational topics not only position you as a thought leader but also build trust with prospects. Your industrial insight will build credibility with viewers. 

Also, note that these educational videos are the most successful in reaching your target audience. You’re the financial professional; cater your video content to an audience that is not made up of financial professionals.

3. Line Up Your Distribution

Video content is good to include everywhere you can. The great part about this is that you can push out the same video on a multitude of platforms. As part of your video content plan, include a distribution strategy about where you’re going to promote your videos and how.

The most obvious (and probably smartest) place to start is with a YouTube channel. YouTube is the video capital of the internet, closely followed by Facebook.

You don’t have to start with a YouTube channel-but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a great asset to have, especially if you want to embed videos on your website or blog. 

Using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%.

If you’re just starting out with video, don’t overwhelm yourself with all the platform options; YouTube and Facebook are a great starting point. You can expand to Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn once you gain your footing. As stated earlier, you can really leverage the same video content across all platforms; when Twenty Over Ten posts a YouTube video, we schedule that same content on our other social media.

4. Content Management: Consistency Is Key

Once you come up with the content itself, you need to figure out the logistics. Intentional organization makes your content ideas come to life.

Don’t overestimate your ability to put out content, but don’t cut yourself short either. Remember that building a consistent stream of video content is a marathon, not a sprint. Be realistic about how much content you can manage on a regular basis: you can’t produce a 1-hour webinar every single day, but you could do that monthly. Or, if you’re planning to post 5 or so minute videos, how often can you do that? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? How long do you need for editing and other preparations?

The sweet spot for video length tends to be in the 2-15 minute range, depending on the video’s substance. That doesn’t mean you always have to stick within that time frame, however, and you can use different strategies on different platforms. You don’t have to go into extensive detail in every single video; often the best strategy is to keep things short and sweet, leaving you space to fill in the cracks in other videos and keep your content educational. 

A helpful tool to keep yourself on track is a content calendar. This keeps you accountable and makes content management much easier.

5. Get Inspired, Build Originality

While you can certainly take other video content as inspiration, be original and put your own spin on things. Research your competition on YouTube and other social media and determine what opportunities they’re missing that you could capitalize on. In general: focus on making your content fresh and original.

Look for those “open markets” where you can be the first to speak on a subject, making you a leader in the field. Generating targeted content builds trust and connection with consumers by giving them the information they want and need. Optimize your video content all around, and you will see results.

Final Thoughts

In video marketing, recognize that it might take time to see ROI on your efforts. Yet, 89% of video marketers report satisfaction with their ROI. You’re not going to gain subscribers overnight, but you can draw on your present base of support-your team, clients, and partners-to lay the foundation. Over time you’ll find your voice, get comfortable in front of the camera, and establish a marketing flow.

In general, enjoy the video-making process. Making video content should be a fun way to display your personality and expertise, and prospects want to see that from advisors.