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Short-Form Video Strategy for Business With Reels and TikTok

Oct 25, 2023 | Content Creation, Reference | 0 comments

Short-Form Video Strategy for Business With Reels and TikTok – YouTube Transcript

Expertise
3 pillars of Content
What you do

Secret Sauce (for authenticity, Foundational)
Pats – How did you arrive at being this expert?
Present – Who are you now?
Professional
Lighthearted

Business (bite-sized, actionable)
Soft Sell
Hard Sell

OPTIMIZING
Hook
Patter Interrupt w/diff clips, angles, backgrounds, etc.
Cover Photo with Text

Transcript:
(00:00) if you love photos and captions and carousels I  don’t think that you have to completely abandon   those I’m never going to be the one to say  you can only post video that is your only   option however in the current landscape of  social media in 2023 we really are living   in this video first world on Instagram on  Tick Tock and of course other platforms today I’m very excited to be joined by jarrah  Bean if you don’t know who Jared is she is a   short form video strategist and speaker who helps  service-based businesses and content creators grow  
(00:40) their businesses with video her course is called  the video editing Rodeo Jara welcome to the show   how you doing today I’m doing so well thank you so  much for having me I am excited to have you on the   show today Jared and I are going to explore short  form video strategy but before we go there let’s   roll back the clock to your story I would love  to hear how’d you get into short form video Start   wherever you want to start we’re gonna rewind back  kind of a far ways here because the the origins  
(01:11) have have uh begin when I’m like a wee girl on  my mom’s lap so my mom is in the world a video   she works on Films commercials TV so from a young  age I’ve been sitting on my mom’s lap as she edits   different perfume commercials and fashion shows  and documentaries and so video and film and very   much editing have been in my blood since those  early early days and as I grew up anytime I would   have a school project like I remember in eighth  grade having a biology project on the artipithecus  
(01:45) Rambis and rather than like create a poster or you  know have a talking presentation I would create   these like feature length uh videos as my final  project and I think my teacher still shows that to   this day granted it was on VHS so hopefully he’s  transferred that over by now so video’s been in in   my realm for quite some time and I grew up in New  York City I graduated and went off to college in   Los Angeles I went to USC went in Undeclared  didn’t know what I want to focus on ended up  
(02:18) being a fine art major with an emphasis in graphic  design so in that creative world like I’ve always   loved art I’ve always expressed myself visually  in some shape or form and so I graduate from   USC I get a job as a freelance graphic designer  working at a advertising company and funny enough   as most of us do these days we all have to wear  multiple hats so yes I was doing graphic design   but I remember teaching myself after effects  because I had to learn these little animations   for the different presentations that the the like  the salesmen were doing and I edited videos little  
(02:59) promo videos so yes it was graphic design but  I’m still kind of learning these skills I’m still   creating video projects if I think to the next  place that I worked at it was a fashion startup   I edited their Kickstarter video that made forty  thousand dollars so once again this video creative   thread is weaving in and out of my life well we  come up to 2015.
(03:26) I’m still a graphic designer   but I ended up working at a startup that wasn’t  the best let’s just say they definitely kind of   manipulated me a bit didn’t treat me so nicely and  I remember one day I’m standing in the mirror at   a wework and I’m exhausted I’m probably getting  paid less than minimum wage at this point with   the weekends that I’m working in late hours and  I part my hair in the mirror and there’s a bald   spot on my head I started to lose hair due to how  stressed I was from this job it was also during  
(03:59) this time I realized I was struggling with social  anxiety I started to see a therapist for that   so I look back at that time as just challenging  dealing with some stuff and that set the scene   for me making a positive change in my life now  at the time did I go I’m gonna make a positive   change in my life not necessarily but hindsight’s  2020 and there was definitely something pushing me   to pivoting in some shape or form now at the time  I had an Instagram account for my hand lettering  
(04:33) I used to draw letters and spend hours on it and  that was the first time I really tapped into the   power of community on social media this is like  pre-2015 we’re talking like 2013 or so I remember   connecting with different artists from all around  the world and collaborating them on these drawing   projects so I had that in my back pocket when  I decided to start a workout program in 2015.  
(04:59) and I started that workout program it’s called  or was called BBG uh bikini bodyguide by Kayla   it’sinus it was a total movement at the time and  I started an Instagram account workout Bean at   the time to accompany my journey to help hold  me accountable and one of the main reasons why   I started that Instagram account was because  I felt the power of community from my drawing   account that I had already had for about a year  or two so I start this workout program I start   this Instagram account and this was the positive  change this was the Catalyst towards it sounds so  
(05:38) dramatic but literally changing the rest of my  life because what happened was at the time the   word influencer didn’t exist so I can label it  as at that now but I became a fitness influencer   without there even really being a word for it I  became an Adidas Ambassador I then transitioned   to becoming a soul cycle instructor which is  spinning so Fitness just took over my life in   the best way possible in addition to social media  it was this beautiful coupling of these two forces   that just brought me so much joy Community  creative expression and so on and that went  
(06:14) on until about mid 2018 I had grown my Instagram  account I was uh pretty much working full-time   as an influencer doing brand Partnerships but I  decided to leave Soul cycle pursue that full-time   and that’s when I entered kind of a little  bit of an unknown era I think Soul Cycle and   Fitness had been so part of my identity for so  long that to no longer have Fitness was a bit   of a shock to the system and it was a year  and a half of sort of rediscovering myself   again and feeling quite lost if I’m being  totally totally honest by the end of 2019  
(06:52) it’s like I got I got to do something here  I I need more I feel pulled to do more than   just create content and I don’t mean that in a  condescending way because one can be a full-time   content creator and be absolutely fulfilled  but I just wanted to add something else to my   toolkit hired a business coach and that was my  official pivot into the world of social media   coaching and education so with my almost five or  so years of experience in social media at that   point building my own brand my own account I then  begin to transfer those skills to my students so  
(07:29) I created a group coaching program and I ran  that program for about seven years and that   is what also helped to launch my speaking career  uh speaking on stages Keynotes as well as working   with some major brands like Estee Lauder and Mac  Bobby Brown Adobe ATT and that really brings us to   current day where I am still very much a content  creator I I love creating for Instagram for tick   tock video specifically I also have the coaching  aspect of my business with one-on-one as well as   my programs and that third pillar is the education  and speaking um on on stages and virtually as well  
(08:13) so that’s jarrah in a bit of a nutshell for you  that’s a really cool nutshell so Jara who are you   um creating content for like who is that  ideal somebody who might be listening who   might want to check out you like who is  your who is your customer Avatar I guess   here is the overlay okay I’m gonna explain  something first because it’s going to make sense   when I give you my answer every single person  who is using social media to support some sort   of a goal Vision business is a content creator and  that’s what I think is a little bit different than  
(08:52) a content creator and an influencer an influencer  might be really working towards those brand deals   and Partnerships whereas a content creator is not  necessarily working towards those Partnerships but   they’re using social media in a strategic way so  we are all content creators if we’re showing up on   social media for something specific whether it’s  a mission whether it’s our business Etc now if you   are a business let’s say you’re a service based  business or product based business you are still  
(09:21) a content creator but we’re just adding on that  additional layer of your business so everyone’s   a content creator and then from that pool we  have people selling specific things Services   products and that’s where that business this layer  is added on so in terms of my ideal person I say   content creators absolutely I really specialize  in building personal brand helping people show   up authentically finding their voice and their  confidence their secret sauce as I call it but in  
(09:50) addition to that I love helping I would say more  so service based businesses because they are the   face of the brand and so that content creator  aspect really translates really beautifully to   their social media strategy but we get to add on  that layer of oh how do we promote our business   how do I talk about my services how do I get more  clients Etc so content creators as well as service   based businesses excellent so there are a lot of  people listening right now that first of all we’re  
(10:19) completely locked into your story but might not  be sold on the idea of creating short form video   so what do you want to say to those people  because there are lots of people who might   be uh comfortable writing or using photography or  images but maybe when it comes to short form video   they just haven’t really understood um why it’s so  critical what do you want to say to those people   couple things couple things I want to say to  those people first and foremost I don’t think   that if you love photos and captions and carousels  I don’t think that you have to completely abandon  
(10:59) those I’m never going to be the one to say you  can only post video that is your only option   however in the current landscape of social media  in 2023 we really are living in this video first   world on Instagram on Tick Tock and of course  other platforms as well and I think when people   are resistant to video a lot of times it comes  with the overwhelm of video video has a lot more   moving parts to it than just a photo and a caption  with video sometimes we have to show up on camera   we have to show ourselves use our voice there’s  editing involved that’s a whole other other layer  
(11:47) of technical skills and things that you have to  get used to then we have adding text and music   like whoa we just went from a photo and a caption  to listing off like five to ten different things   that we now have to understand and specialize  in so the first place that I want to start is   that video can be simple video can be simple and  effective I know as we’re scrolling through our   reels Tab and it’s currently in the moment  because reels is having a a moment where we   got all this trendy editing and it’s a little bit  more aesthetic than Tick Tock is and it can feel  
(12:23) like holy cow in order for me to be successful  I need to do all these transitions I need to   have the high quality stuff and sure that is an  option if you are someone who has those technical   skills if you’re someone who’s really driven  or has the time to pursue that type of visual   aesthetic content by all means however video can  be as simple as setting up your cam camera right   here as I’m talking on my desk putting it on  a little tripod or you know what sometimes I   don’t even use a tripod I lean it against a plant  or a water bottle or the lamp and pressing record  
(12:57) letting that run as I’m typing as I’m talking boom  We trim that down that’s about 10 seconds find a   trending song put text on top and you know we want  to make sure that we’re still delivering value so   I’m not just saying oh just like put some text  on it we want to think about what that text and   that caption is but that is how simple video can  be so I always like to start off with that to um   convey that video can really be this low barrier  to entry if we see all sides of it and not just  
(13:29) the super fancy stuff the other thing that I love  so much about video is the authenticity Factor   when we show up on video and show ourselves when  we use our voice there’s this instant transfer of   energy that you will not get in a million years  from a photo and a caption and I know it can be   absolutely terrifying to show up in that way  to reveal yourself in that way a lot of people   have fear around using their voice and talking  to camera and seeing themselves but once again   social media has evolved and it’s no longer this  glossy highlight reel I think people are really  
(14:13) wanting to connect with the human the realness  the genuine the imperfections they want to see   themselves in you in some shape or form so we  don’t need to show up perfectly which once again   really lowers that barrier to entry for anyone  who’s feeling super resistant to it at the moment   excellent okay so we’re going to talk about  strategy specifically uh with reels and Tick Tock   and there’s a lot of people who um are listening  who um don’t know where to start right so let’s  
(14:47) start with like what’s the first thing we need  to be thinking about uh before we start creating   reels I have a three-step process so I’d love to  walk you through that three-step process but each   step has kind of a lot going in it so stop me at  any point but where I want to begin of course is   with step one so step one with where the heck do  I begin with video is the content ideation we want   to come up with strategic and intentional  ideas that make sense for our business or   if you’re not selling something that makes sense  for your personal brand okay we have that general  
(15:24) direction but then how do we come up with those  ideas you want to zero in on your content pillars   some people say content buckets and there’s a lot  of information out there about content pillars   and the best way to think about it is we are just  sectioning off we are grouping together different   parts of you and your business and that sectioning  off then allows us to get really organized and   then from those bigger pillars or Buckets come  come up with more granular ideas so it’s kind of  
(15:58) just following this flow I’ve been teaching  content pillars for years now and I have my   proprietary mixture of pillars that I love to  walk you through and there are three types so   there’s three types of pillars and those that’s  what helps us come up with individual pillars   first we have the expertise pillars the  expertise pillars is all about providing   value we want to teach what you know give advice  shed light on things speak to your client or your   customers pain and pleasure points it’s really  value-packed so that one when someone consumes  
(16:35) a piece of expertise content they maybe want to  save it or maybe they’re sending it to a friend   come back to it later but they’re benefiting from  that piece of content in some shape or form when   it comes to your expertise pillars more often than  not you’re going to want to have three of them so   can you figure out oh out of all my expertise out  of all the things that I’m good at of course that   pertains to your business how can I categorize  them into approximately three categories could it  
(17:05) be mindset nutrition and movement for a personal  trainer could it be messaging personal branding   and converting followers to clients for a social  media coach keep it simple it’s not groundbreaking   by any means but at most you’ll have maybe  four or five at the absolute least two three   is usually the sweet spot so that’s our first  type of content pillar expertise quick question   um so when we’re coming up with these content  pillars it sounds like we should pick at least   under this expertise category things that we’re  comfortable talking about that we feel like our  
(17:44) our domain expertise for example if it was for me  I’d probably say entrepreneurship content creation   and marketing you know what I mean like those are  the things that I tend to talk about a lot right   and they’re distinctly unique from each other just  like mindset nutrition and movement are unique   from each other and from them can spawn a whole  bunch of ideas is that what I’m hearing exactly   hit the mail on the head beautiful summary of that  okay keep going so our second type of pillar is  
(18:13) secret sauce and Secret Sauce is just my fun  little word for essentially authenticity if you   are a content creator or if you are a service  based business you are going to want to share   some of you share your personality share that  humanness that I mentioned earlier now when   someone says show up authentically as a tip or a  piece of advice it’s really well intentioned and   we all probably go oh yeah show up authentically  like great but then you go wait a second how do   I do it yeah like how do I do that that sounds  great but transforming the real life you into  
(18:49) the digital you it is really challenging it’s  something that took me a very long time to do   myself and then to actually translate that and  teach that as a whole other level so what I’ve   done is taken this framework for secret sauce  and divided it into four pillars so there are   four secret sauce pillars we have foundational  Secret Sauce this focuses more on your past then   your present so we want to think of the challenges  that you’ve overcome achievements pivots any of   the big stories and moments that have brought you  to where you are today that’s foundational next we  
(19:27) have personal secret sauce and this is very much  focused on the opposite it’s the present moment   it’s what are your hobbies what do you like to  do on the weekend who’s the human outside of the   business what are the things that are making up  your life in the moment right here right now then   we have professional secret sauce professional  as it sounds focuses more on the professional   side of you so who is the entrepreneur what’s  the founder story what are your values as a  
(19:56) business or an entrepreneur how do you do things  differently um really focusing once again on   the human but very much through the lens of your  business lastly and perhaps my personal favorite   we have light-hearted secret sauce and this  is as it sounds this is the more silly goofy   random uh parts of you that are just usually  the most fun to share via stories and that’s   the secret sauce framework foundational personal  professional light-hearted the really cool thing   about this framework is that you do not have to  show up or use all four pillars you can pick and  
(20:36) choose and this provides Nuance to the tip of show  up authentically and the resistance that people   usually feel towards it either not knowing how to  do it or thinking oh gosh well in order to show   up authentically do I have to share everything I  don’t want to share everything you don’t have to   share everything you can choose so maybe you are  really heading in the buckets of uh foundational   and professional but personal and light-hearted  either you don’t want to do or does not make  
(21:05) sense for your business now or at this time maybe  you reconsider in the future so not only does it   make this concept of showing up authentically  more tangible but it gives you options as well   allowing you to create boundaries if you need them  when it comes to sharing you and your life online   this is uh this is a fascinating one and I really  love and I’m grateful that you’re putting these   categories together because it’s helping me not  just with short form video both any video right  
(21:32) um this is even the written word I mean this stuff  is applicable to almost any kind of content but   the um the idea of like you know to show up  authentically for a lot of people they think   it means to show every Scar and every challenge  they’ve ever faced in their life and I love how   it could just be stories about experiences that  you’ve had in the past and it could be uh if you   are light-hearted showing some of those mistakes  you made right and when you’re recording instead  
(22:02) of editing them out is that kind of what I’m  hearing you say that kind of stuff absolutely   and and what I love about Secret Sauce is that yes  we have these categories but it’s also up to you   for interpretation so you might consider sharing  the outtakes as light-hearted but I might consider   that professional because you know podcast  business this is a professional moment and it just   to me gives Dimension to secret sauce and it’s all  open up for interpretation and it’s whatever makes  
(22:30) sense for you and those are starting categories  but in terms of labels like we can move things   around however it makes sense in your brain  but what you described sharing those outtakes   perfect example of a type of Secret Sauce yes  Okay so we’ve got uh content pillar number   one is expertise content number two is Secret  Sauce we just talked about a bunch of little   sub pillars what’s the next these I think you  have the third one right yes our third type of   pillar is the business pillar and the beautiful  thing about having these three types of pillars  
(23:02) expertise Secrets awesome business is that they  all work symbiotically so if you imagine like   three circles representing each type of pillar  overlapping and we have the middle section where   all three touch that is your content strategy and  when you uh Share value share your expertise when   you share the humanness it’s going to make it that  much easier to dive into the business pillar a lot   of people have fear around selling or talking  about what they do or feeling pushy and that’s  
(23:31) a whole other subject but it should feel a lot  better when you incorporate the other two types   of pillars to begin with now within the business  pillar we’re going to subdivide this as well just   as we did expertise as well as Secret Sauce but  this time we’re going to subdivide it into two   different subpillars we have hard selling and  we have stop selling and I love creating this   distinction because oftentimes people equate  hard selling to the only time type of selling   they think it’s buy this sign up now it’s the  selling that you do during a launch or promotion  
(24:05) and yes that is absolutely selling but that’s  hard selling and there’s nothing bad about it   we gotta do it when when we have a Time specific  thing or for wanting to make a sale or make money   so it’s absolutely part of the business pillar  but where the Nuance comes in is the secret oh   sorry is the soft selling uh pillar because this  is where we can be more nuanced and a little bit   subtle about presenting our business about  talking and sharing about what we do or what   we sell so let me give you some examples when it  comes to soft selling you want to ask yourself  
(24:39) how can I creatively feature what I do or how  can I share the value of what I do so when it   comes to creatively featuring if you create a  day in the life blog where you’re walking your   dog drinking coffee hanging out with a friend  but you’re also recording a podcast responding   to speaking clients doing a coaching call and you  can you you interweave all those together in one   video it’s a soft sell because you’re not asking  anyone to do anything but you’re saying hey just  
(25:13) so you know this is something I do this is part of  my business if we think about sharing the value of   what you do that’s when things like testimonials  come in reviews sharing client Transformations   sharing press features essentially hard selling is  when you’re talking on the business like this is   on the business content versus soft selling it’s  around it’s like the subjects that surround your   business and that also incorporate other parts of  your life and soft selling is something you can  
(25:47) do all the time versus hard selling is something  you want to do part of the time so that makes up   our our business pillar and completes the three  types of pillars that help us with our content   ideation in terms of coming up with specific  and strategic content ideas that are born out of   those those pillars I want to reinforce the value  proposition of soft selling um if you tell a story   and it’s got a moral and a value proposition to  it and you just plant in the middle of the story I  
(26:22) was talking to a client and this happened believe  it or not what you’re doing is you’re soft selling   that you take clients right and what would he even  notice is it but Sublimity they’re like oh Jara   takes clients oh I didn’t even know that right I  mean that’s an example of soft selling it could be   the most subtle little thing yes like I posted  on um a long-form piece of content recently on   all the social channels that take long form and I  I shared a story and right in the middle of it I  
(26:49) said I was talking to someone on my team about  launching social media marketing world and you   know it was just embedded right in the middle of a  long story about why I should create more content   but it was it was carefully crafted to be in there  to be like oh yeah social media marketing world   I should check that out right but it was subtle  and if you do that over and over again and then   people love your content all of a sudden they’re  gonna go check you out or they’re going to check  
(27:12) out your product right now I’m ahead yeah and and  it can be that simple it can be that simple just   dropping in on a podcast and having that line  or mentioning it in your stories or a sentence   in a caption and and that’s how subtle and sort of  dainty soft selling can be which means once again   we can incorporate it almost daily into our social  media content Okay so we’ve spent a really lot of   valuable times specifically talking about coming  up with creative ideas for Content specifically  
(27:43) for short form videos now you said this is a  three-step process and there’s lots of little sub   there’s pillars and subpillars and all  that fun stuff but there’s this is the   first step so the next step good thing that’s  definitely the most complicated kind of dense   step so whoo we got step one done it’s the most  fun too I think because this is like you can get   creative here right yeah exactly exactly so we  got the hardest work done I think at this point   and step two I think out of all three steps is  definitely the easiest and when I explain it I  
(28:14) think most people listening you’re gonna go oh I  know this already and jara’s just kind of putting   a name to it so with step one we came up with  content ideas but when it comes to social media   the idea isn’t the finished product we have to  turn that idea into a piece of content and I’m   going to focus specifically on video so how do  we take an idea and turn it into a video well   if you are able to label the four most common  video formats it then search the bridge the   gap so the four most common video formats for  reels and Tick Tock is either talking to camera  
(28:51) voice over a text overlay or a trend and these  are pretty much exactly as they sound if you do   a talking to camera video you are talking into the  camera and delivering that message if you’re doing   a voiceover you’re using b-roll which is just  different shots depending on the subject matter   and you’re adding in your voice as a layer if you  do a text overlay we have what I described earlier   like a shot of me typing at my desk I plop some  text on top and that text conveys the message of  
(29:19) that content idea and then when it comes to Trends  well that opens up a whole world because we have   trending content on both reels and Tick Tock that  can be a lip dub that can be a transition that   could be pointing towards on screen so that is a  format that has a lot of sub formats within that   but once we have that idea we can go okay well how  do I bring it to life let me identify those four   formats what makes sense also what do I have time  for today because doing a text overlay will like  
(29:47) likely be a lot quicker than talking to camera for  example so that’s the second step identify buying   those four formats and choosing what your content  idea is going to be within those four formats   okay I’ve got a couple questions um when  we are recording uh direct to camera   um I just recently got this cool little DJI mic  thing I don’t know if you’ve ever seen these   things but I’m showing these for the listening  audience no these little tiny microphones that   you can attach to your iPhone and then you can  put a lapel on it and uh it’s really good audio  
(30:23) right but um and then you have the audio separate  if you wanted to all that fun stuff it’s it’s more   relevant for people that are doing long form video  or and want to maybe make podcasts out of it but   do you find that you’re just talking to your phone  and you don’t even really worry about the audio   a hundred percent I’m pretty low Tech and this  is coming from someone who has a video background   like I could be high tech I have a fancy camera I  have lighting but because short form video content  
(30:50) is so casual and it’s nature for the most part and  because simple not super high-tech content can be   impactful and effective like I got a business to  run so even though I have the ability to create   that fancy content and use high-end equipment I  don’t feel like I need to so yes most of the time   when I’m talking or well actually all the time  when I’m talking to camera I’m setting my phone   up and as I mentioned earlier oftentimes I’m not  even getting my tripod out I’m that lazy I’ll put  
(31:21) it up on the windowsill over there and kind of you  know go up on my toes a little bit or bend down if   I need to and call it a day for the majority of  my content okay so um I found that sometimes if   you hold your phone in your hand the wrong way you  could be covering up the mic because I think the   mic is on the bottom of the phone isn’t it or  have you not found that oh I haven’t I haven’t   come into that issue I do think it is on the  bottom though so okay let’s talk about framing  
(31:45) because I know you have that video background so  like when we’re actually recording ourselves are   we talking like arm length away typically and  and how do we need to even worry about where we   are in the frame because anybody who has a video  background as you know there’s rules of thirds   and all this kind of stuff um should be really  close up does it look a little different on on   one iPhone versus an Android do you understand  what I’m asking as far as absolutely so I’m sure  
(32:08) people will have different opinions on this so  I don’t think my my opinion is is necessarily my   way or the highway but how I approach it usually  I as a creator of content as well as a consumer   of content if I’m looking at someone and we’ll  just keep it to talking to camera for now I do   like for there to be a bit of a a little bit  of a distance I think sometimes when it’s just   your face filling the whole frame it’s kind  of confronting and a little bit suffocating   visually so having a little bit of space from  the camera where I can see the top of your head  
(32:40) messed up or something or belly button yeah let’s  say at least kind of chest up belly button up   um I think is nice as well because then we can  kind of see how you gesture and how you move as   well the other important thing it’s not just the  distance from the camera but I call it Headroom   how much space is above your head and the top of  the video frame oftentimes some will have a way   too much Headroom where you are in the lower half  of the frame and then half of the frame the rest  
(33:09) is Headroom then you are you need to like lower  your tripod or you know kind of stand up on your   tippy toes a little bit or sometimes the head will  be right at the top and then we want to back up a   little bit so that’s also something to consider is  not just the distance but your Headroom and these   are these are more polishing pieces so I don’t  want to scare anyone away who’s super beginner   and and worry them too much about this but when  you kind of get the general hang of things then  
(33:34) you can start to worry or just think and consider  about these other additional visual considerations   let’s talk about voiceover for a little bit I  think people understand what I mean I’m sorry what   uh text overlay because I think people understand  voice over presumably would be you’re recording   with the better camera on the other side of your  phone and then you’re just going to be recording   your audio and then somehow sewing the whole thing  together that’s really what you mean by voiceover  
(33:58) am I right you could if you’re a podcaster you  could use a podcasting rig to record the darn   thing right and then just put a bunch of video to  it is that as simple as it is that’s as simple as   it is and I think the best example of that is  a day in the life video where you’re waking up   walking the dog we’re working out grabbing coffee  whatever I’m just talking about the generic things   but you are guiding us through that by adding  in your voice and you’re not you’re not like I’m  
(34:23) waking up you you just get the shot and then you  add in that voice over track later on as you’re in   editing mode so let’s talk about text overlay like  what exactly how is that different than what we   just talked about with these two different first  formats text overlay the way that I think about   it is separate from talking to camera and voice  over because text overlay does not use your voice   now well caveat when you are talking to camera  and when you are doing voice over I do recommend  
(34:52) adding text because there’s a whole strategic way  to use text but when I specifically say format   number three of text overlay that is specific  to video text no voice and it’s a great option   for someone who needs to create quickly it’s also  a great stepping stone for someone who is really   terrified to use their voice and maybe they’re not  ready yet and we’ve got to work our way up there   so it’s just a great option for both speed as well  as um sort of comfort level as well okay so just  
(35:24) so I’m clear you film either yourself or something  else maybe it’s the way that the sausage is being   made in the factory or whatever yup yup and then  maybe you just put some words up there and add a   music track and that’s it and that’s it but the  the words of this are very important because   every single piece of content has some sort of  message if we go back to Step One something is   either sharing your expertise something is sharing  about you as a human or something is sharing about  
(35:50) your business so with text overlay actually let  me talk about voiceover and talking to camera   the way that the main message the main point is  delivered for the most part is going to be via   your voice in text overlay how is the main message  delivered there’s no voice so it has to be via the   text that you put on screen so we don’t want to  just like when I say plop on text I’m not being   flippant about it but I do mean yeah we’re just  putting some text on there but that text is what  
(36:21) delivers the main message of the content idea now  the caption can complement that so it doesn’t have   to be the entire idea but we want at least part  of that main message in the text that you overlay   okay um I believe this is my last question on  this particular step which is talking about all   these different formats duration of the actual  final product my understanding is that I don’t   is it true you can do three minutes on uh Tick  Tock now and 10 minutes 10 minutes okay yeah and  
(36:54) reels is what 60 seconds now I I think we’re at  90. I think we’re at 90 unreal so how long should   we make these videos is really where I’m going  with this hmm okay I got a couple I got a couple   thoughts about this so my initial thought is  that I don’t want to prescribe a specific length   because sometimes we need all let’s say 60 seconds  at most just to keep things simple to deliver that   message which will really round out that story  so I never want to say oh only make short videos  
(37:24) however we do have to think about retention which  is how long someone’s watching your video for and   average watch time so if you are in the mode of  creating around 60 second long videos all the   time and your views are quite low I invite you  to pull up your analytics both on Tick Tock and   Instagram and look at that retention or average  watch time and you might be really surprised to   see wow I’m making these 60 second long videos  and people are watching three to five seconds   and that’s why the views are so low it’s telling  Instagram where it’s telling Tick Tock ah this is  
(37:56) an interesting I’m gonna just you know I’m gonna  swipe away and therefore it’s not going to push   it out to more people so that’s where we start to  get a little bit tricky is that the lower the the   shorter a video is the higher the chance is for  retention because it’s easier to retain someone   for 10 seconds than it is 60 seconds but then  we get into the nuanced conversation of well   sometimes we need we truly do need that fully that  full six 60 seconds and sometimes those videos can  
(38:22) absolutely perform well one thing I will add to  this is that when I do content audits these days I   would say pretty much every single time no matter  the business no matter the type of person people   are jamming way too much information into every  single post and so when you create regardless of   the format I want you to ask yourself is this a  bite-sized piece of content is this actionable as   well if you are talking about like a full customer  Journey like this is what a customer journey is  
(38:57) and you’re listing off all the things that’s  going to go over people’s heads because it’s   too broad and it’s just way way too much versus  if you took that one big idea and then squeezed   it like lemon to make a nice little fresh juice  of content lemonade and got really specific with   all the ideas that make up a customer Journey For  example can you describe what an opt-in is how do   you grow your email list all these different  things these ideas are much more tangible and  
(39:28) potentially actionable as well so you might be  making a really awesome 60 second video that   covers a broad topic but it’s not actually going  to perform well on social media because people   are craving more of those bite-sized actionable  pieces of content outstanding Okay the third   step in your process is drum roll please drum roll  please thank you for that step number three is the   optimization and there’s a couple things within  optimization and it’s not necessarily a finite  
(39:59) list I find myself kind of uh rolling through  the top three sometimes and sometimes those top   three things change depending on what I’m seeing  or perhaps depending on what the audience needs   um when it comes to optimization we want to think  how are we polishing off this piece of content   to essentially perform better so a really great  one that I think most people are aware of these   days is the hook I consider the hook the first  about three seconds of your video and usually   when I say the hook I’m thinking about what is  being said verbally however we also can think  
(40:40) about what’s being shown visually because we have  about three seconds to capture someone’s attention   actually less I think and what are we showing  what are we saying in order to entice them to   keep watching so a common mistake that I see with  hooks is people pausing for about one full second   which I know sounds short but that’s an eternity  in short form video content lands pausing before   anything comes out of their mouth or they start  with hey everyone how’s it going today today I’m  
(41:10) going to show you XYZ when you have an intro that  says hey everyone how’s it going that’s really   nice maybe for stories but for our reels and Tick  Tock I want you to be brutal and mix that out and   just start with exactly what you’re going to say  if you want to start optimizing Your Hooks then   we can think of oh what are things that we can  say Beyond just here’s what I’m going to show you   today such as here are the three things that are  going to change what you think about XYZ subject  
(41:35) or how comes no one’s talking about XYZ subject I  want to dive into that there’s a million hooks you   can google google them but it’s essentially how am  I enticing someone to keep watching quick question   on the hooks um do you recommend recording the  hooks after you’ve kind of finished up your   content and then dial in that hook in because you  can always add the hook in editing right can’t you   absolutely absolutely apps one who come to them ly  as you are recording or perhaps as you’re writing  
(42:05) if you write out a script or bullet points you  can let the content flow a little bit and then   maybe you watch the content maybe you edit down  the content first and then as long as you know   you’re in the same outfit the same lighting I mean  you could change up your outfit and then we have a   little bit of a pattern interrupt but most likely  recording around the same time in space you can   just add that in later on if the hook comes to you  during your process absolutely excellent okay what  
(42:32) else is uh part of this process of refinement if  you will another one one is pattern interrupting   in pattern interrupting is a technique in editing  where you are making different cuts to your video   to your Clips in order to keep people engaged so  if I record a talking to camera video about how to   grow your community and it’s 60 seconds long and  I just talked to the camera for 60 seconds and I   just trim off the end in the beginning so there’s  no dead space and upload that that video has zero  
(43:05) pattern interrupts however if I take that 60  seconds and I cut out any ums I cut out any   odds I essentially condense time a little bit and  there’s clear cuts and I’m creating Clips in my   timeline that’s the most basic form of a pattern  interrupt it’s jumping from One Clip to the next   to hold visual tension we can get a little bit  more exciting with our pattern interrupts if it   makes sense for the content and for your business  where maybe I’m talking to you first in front of  
(43:36) a white wall and then I change to talk to you  in front of a blue wall or maybe I’m recording   super high and then I change the angle and I’m  super low where I change my hair like that’s a   much more dramatic pattern interrupt in order to  keep people engaged so that’s really important in   general but I think when we’re creating talking  to camera videos very essential to hold people’s   attention with those pattern interrupts what do  you want to say about captions and or cover photos  
(44:05) when it comes to struggle a little right when  they’ve created this reel it’s like wait I have   the real do I need to say anything in the caption  and I always like to think about it this way   your video your real will either contain the full  message the full content idea and the caption can   just be you know a cute little fluffy one or two  liner or the video will contain part of the idea   and then entice people to then go to the caption  so that’s great balance of course you can go  
(44:41) the route of the real has the full idea the full  message and then you reiterate that in the caption   if you just want to hit people with both the video  and the written so there’s nothing wrong with that   but in order to work smarter and not harder and  not have to write a whole caption out if you don’t   want to either contain the whole message in the  Reel with a you know little complimentary caption   or entice people to learn the rest no more in  the caption that’s how you usually think about  
(45:05) it cover photos incredibly important because you  want to think about those as the hook when someone   lands on your Instagram profile or your Tick Tock  page if someone comes across your reel and they go   oh this is interesting let me check out jaira’s  page and then they arrive and every single cover   photo is just an image they have absolutely no  idea what each piece of content is about and   we’re in this state age where it’s quick I need  to consume I need to know fast and if they don’t  
(45:35) know they’re going to swipe away and I’ve lost  that potential Community member client Etc if you   have a text overlay let’s just say not on every it  doesn’t have to be everyone but most of your cover   photos that either acts as a headline or you can  really think about it as a hook into that piece of   content it’s going to entice people to click and  to consume that content so cover photos play an   incredibly important role I think in new followers  and and building your community do you recommend  
(46:05) that they we sample a piece of the actual video or  do you typically take separate pictures and just   create something unique like a lot of YouTubers  tend to do I go both ways so I have really   from my content creator days when I was like  full content creator mode before 2020 when   I really wanted my feed to be beautiful and now  I’ve like thrown that out the window and I don’t   I don’t really care anymore it’s I mean invite  anyone to take a look at my feed Now versus like   pre-20 days very very different energy and feel  but sometimes I want a little pop of color or I  
(46:42) want you know I’ve had all these screenshots of me  mid-sentence with my mouth open and text overlay   and I’m like let me just grab one of my nice  photos and kind of sprinkle that into my feed   so I think you can go one of both ways either  grabbing that screenshot and adding that text   on top and it’s sort of a low-tech fast easy way  to create your cover photos or you can also go   the route of grabbing a different photo if you  so choose and you can do both like I do as well   let’s talk about your preferred apps for doing  
(47:11) um editing so as I mentioned I have my background  in my early days sitting on my mom’s lap and she’s   editing on professional software and that’s how  I learned to edit I think originally on Final   Cut Pro I learned Premiere Pro I’m back on Final  Cut Pro now so that those are my editing Origins   however when it comes to short form video content  I do everything on my phone and my app of choice   these days is cap cut that is what I edit most  of my I say 90 of my videos on sometimes when  
(47:42) I’m doing like a fancy transition where I need  keyframes and layer mask which is very Advanced   most people do not ever need to know that or  do that then I will use video leap which has   those capabilities as well but most of the time  I’m on cap cut Jara this has been absolutely   did you say video being as being is that what  you said no video bean I like I hope it all never multitask like I’m trying to do  what was that what was that last cap   cut and what was the other one oh oh  you it sounds close video leap l-e-a  
(48:16) -e-a it’s a big leap for me to go from video  leap to video beam but we’ll take it and we’ll   keep this thing we’re being authentic here Jara  um this has been phenomenal if people want to   discover more about you where do you want to  send them you can find me of course on social   media Jara Bean but there’s a dot in there so it’s  jared.
(48:39) bean on both Instagram and Tick Tock it’s   jerabin just straight through.com for my website  and I have my new course launching soon my video   editing course it’s called the video editing rodeo  and if you want access to that wait list if you   want some freebies as well I have a special link  for everyone listening today that’s jerabeen.
(48:58) com   SME and you can access those freebies and get  that info for the video editing waitlist as well   chair Bean thank you so much for sharing  all your insights with us today we’re so   much better because of it oh thank you  thanks for having me I appreciate it

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Short-Form Video Creation Cheat Sheet

Short-Form Video Creation Cheat Sheet

A comprehensive guide to creating engaging short-form videos for platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok.

Table of Contents

1. Planning

Define Your Objective

Determine what you want to achieve with the video. Is it to educate, entertain, or promote a product?

Identify Your Audience

Understand who your audience is and what they are interested in.

Choose the Pillar

Decide which of the three pillars (Expertise, Secret Sauce, or Business) your video will fall under.

Brainstorm Content Ideas

Use your chosen pillar to brainstorm specific content ideas.

Example

If you are a fitness coach, under the Expertise Pillar, you might plan a video on “3 Quick Exercises for Busy Professionals”.

2. Scripting

Outline Key Points

Jot down the main points or steps you want to cover in the video.

Keep it Concise

Remember, short-form videos should be quick and to the point.

Add a Call-to-Action

If applicable, include a call-to-action at the end of your video.

Example

For the fitness video, your script might include a greeting, a quick intro to the exercises, demonstrations of each exercise, and a closing call-to-action encouraging viewers to check out your coaching services.

3. Recording

Use a Smartphone

You don’t need fancy equipment; a smartphone will suffice.

Ensure Good Lighting

Make sure the area is well-lit, preferably with natural light.

Stabilize Your Camera

Use a tripod or steady surface to avoid shaky footage.

Be Authentic

Show your genuine personality and be relatable.

Example

Record yourself demonstrating the three exercises, ensuring good lighting and a stable camera setup.

4. Editing

Keep it Simple

Use basic editing tools; you don’t need to be a professional editor.

Trim Unnecessary Parts

Cut out any mistakes or unnecessary parts to keep the video concise.

Add Text or Graphics

If needed, add text or graphics to emphasize key points.

Ensure Clear Audio

Make sure your audio is clear and easy to understand.

Example

Edit the fitness video to smoothly transition between exercises, add text labels for each exercise, and ensure the audio is clear.

5. Captioning

Add Captions

Include captions to make your video accessible to a wider audience.

Keep Captions Concise

Ensure captions are short and to the point, mirroring your spoken words.

Use a Captioning Tool

Utilize tools or apps that can help generate captions for your video.

Example

Add captions to the fitness video, ensuring they accurately reflect the instructions for each exercise.

6. Posting

Choose the Right Platform

Decide whether you are posting on Instagram Reels, TikTok, or another platform.

Optimize Your Caption

Write a compelling caption that encourages engagement.

Use Relevant Hashtags

Include relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your video.

Engage with Your Audience

Respond to comments and engage with your audience after posting.

Analyze and Learn

After posting, analyze the performance of your video and take note of what worked and what can be improved for next time.

Example

Post the fitness video on Instagram Reels with a caption like “Quick 5-minute workout for all my busy professionals out there! #Fitness #Workout #QuickExercises”, and engage with any comments or questions from your audience.


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