For some years now I’ve been impressing the importance of video when marketing your business. Every single digital platform ranks video higher than any other form of content and YouTube (where hundreds of hours of video are uploaded every minute) is the second biggest search engine in the world, clearly showing the importance of video if you want to be found online. The current situation has heightened the need for video as businesses move their offerings online and people are spending more and more time in front of the camera.
So many people are still saying they dread the thought of getting in front of the camera and this reluctance is not helping in the current situation. We’ve had some clients who have embraced the camera since lock down, people like Joanna from Wise Bytes who posts regular video content of her recipes and even jumps on the Facebook Live videos now!
So how do you build up your confidence on camera?
1) Be prepared - If you don’t know what you’re going to be talking about on camera, you’ll end up using filler words like ‘um’, ‘uh’, or ‘you know’, which are basically the opposite of confidence. It will help to plan out your content first. Ask yourself who are you talking to and why should they listen to you? Hint: your video is going to solve a problem for them, teach them something new, or answer a question they have asked. Plan the key message you want to get across and practice delivering your video in front of the mirror – if TV presenters, sports personalities and seasoned speakers can do it, so can you!
2) Feel confident! Your mind will believe whatever you tell it and will make your body act in the way you feel so, convince it that you are confident. Think of a time in your life when you felt super confident. Stew over that memory and the feeling of being confident in that moment before doing your video and that feeling of confidence will convince your mind that you are confident.
3) Build up your energy – No one wants to watch a monotone video and if you’re feeling nervous you’ll likely portray that energy on camera so do something that will get positive energy flowing instead of negative energy… I know someone who dances around the kitchen right before she presses play on the camera and that positive energy is so evident on the video. Your energy will exude your confidence and make your video stand out.
4) Aesthetics – Light makes all the difference! Have you ever taken a selfie or video in a dark room or with unflattering light? This will not help with confidence. I’m not saying you should rush out and buy expensive lighting equipment though, use natural light as much as possible as it is most flattering. Move the camera around until you feel that you look good. Do a run through and then watch for anything in the background or anything about your own appearance that you’re not happy with. Fix and then go again.
5) Get rid of perfectionism - Think about this: research has shown that true perfectionists are ultimately held back in life because they’re too anxious about the mistakes they might make to actually do anything. Think about the last time you recorded a video. Did you re-watch in horror, picking out every little mistake that you made? How many takes did you delete? Rather than beating yourself up every time you re-watch a video, take a step back. Think of the little mistakes or things you don’t like and ask yourself: Is this really that noticeable? Does it affect the flow of the video? Will this detract from my message? If the answer to these questions is no, then move on and accept less than perfect otherwise, you’ll spend way too much time creating the video.
For more advice and tips on building video confidence check out the Purple Dot Media Vimeo channel or call our Video Marketing Department, Purple Dot Media on 028 87 723 489. You can also check out our Facebook Page for details of the upcoming webinar on 17th June.