Why You Should Be Using Video, Even If You’re An Introvert

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• It is so much easier for your audience to connect with you through video. They begin to trust, know and like you.
• When it comes to recording your videos, you can use your phone to get started. They work well when there are lots of natural lighting and as they’re designed for audio, the sound is great. It’s important to remember, though, that the quality of the content is more important that the quality of the pixels.
• Launching video within your business takes time as it is a new skill that you need to learn. The best thing to do is be critical of yourself and know where it is you need to improve.
• If you are thinking of starting video within your business, the best approach to take is to look at the common questions that people are asking in your industry. If there are things you are asked over and over again, creating a video that explains it gives you something to send to people instead. It also helps when it comes to SEO and Google search.
• Remember, if you are recording a video and you don’t like it, you can delete it.
• You don’t have to be young to start a YouTube channel.
• If you don’t want to start a YouTube channel, Instagram stories is a great way to post videos that people will connect with. If it doesn’t go right, you can keep recording. IGTV is also an option.
• There are lots of mobile apps where you can edit your videos. Adobe Rush lets you repurpose a video for multiple different platforms, depending on the optimal sizing.
• Don’t feel like you have to fill time constraints when it comes to video, the important thing is the you’re getting started.
• If you are worried you don’t have time to do YouTube, you don’t have to fully commit. Whether you’re creating a teaser for your main ‘focus’ or creating one video a week, if you want to incorporate it into your strategy you can. If you know what content people want, the whole process is so much easier. Another approach is to batch content over the course of a few hours.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

One of the best ways for people to see whether they’re going to connect with you is for them to physically see you. Even if you don’t feel as though you’re confident enough, it’s important people see you for you.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

• Introducing Meredith - 08:35
• Why Video? - 13:12
• Why You Should Be Using Video And 19:20
• Who Can Do Video?- 25:00
• Top Tips For Getting Started – 27:00
• Using Video That Is NOT YouTube – 34:30
• The Basics Of Video On Social - 46:30

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE

• Morning Routine Podcast
• Jen Lenher Podcast
• Meredith Marsh YouTube
• Social Video Blueprint
• Social Video Workshop
• Meredith Website
• Vid Pro Mom Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Podcast (iTunes)
• Podcast (Stitcher)

Transcript below

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. How are you? So, do I sound any different? Because this is the first time ever I am recording my podcast stood up. I know that sounds really odd but as you might have seen say from my Instagram, my setup at home is my microphone is on my desk and normally I’m sat down at my desk when I record these interviews. However, I’ve just bought myself and treated myself because it wasn’t cheap to a very fancy stand up desk from Ikea. There are about.. I think in the UK they’re about just short of 500 pounds for the one that I bought. But it’s electronic and it goes up and down because as you will know in the episode I did a few weeks ago which I can’t remember what number is now but I’ll link up to in the show notes when I talked about my morning routine, I told you that I am.. hate to say it but kind of really lazy when it comes to exercise. I’m not very good at it. And I spend pretty much most of my day sat down on my backside because I’m sat in front of the computer so I don’t move a whole lot and I’m one of those people that when I start working I’m like a machine and I can go for hours and hours and even forget to get up for a drink or go to the bathroom.

So I knew how bad this was when I was interviewing Jen Lenher from.. Oh in fact this was a couple of weeks ago as well so again I’ll hook up to it in the show notes. We were talking about hiring a V.A. when I got on screen we were chatting about the fact that she was stood up and she told me she had the stand-up desk from IKEA even though she’s over in the States obviously you guys have IKEA too. Sorry just don’t know why I needed to add that and she was saying that she actually has a treadmill underneath hers and even though it wasn’t on at the time of recording because obviously I’d hear it she said normally what she does is.. She just has the bottom bit the treadmill she has a really slow walk and she has like a little button thing that sits on her desk as she can control it and she walks while she works which is like.. It kind of blew my mind but it did make me think, ‘You know what? It’s really not healthy sitting down for all those hours.’ And she also said that apparently what did she say.. Something like sitting is the new smoking like it’s that bad for you. So I’m making an effort to stand more to move a little bit more maybe but just to not try and be sat on my backside for the entire day. So I have this new fancy stand desk and this is the first time I’m recording a podcast episode stood up so I’m interested. Do I sound different? Am I more energetic? Is it you know, is it any different? Or am I just being a bit crazy and it’s no different whatsoever.

So anyway this week quite a bit has been going on in a couple of things on update you on. And this won’t be new news to you. A few weeks ago quite a few weeks ago now I talk to you about the fact that I might be changing the name of the podcast and that kind of has come to fruition even more in terms of we’ve really looked at it and I have decided to change it and I’ve come up with a new name and I think next week’s episode I’m going to change it. I need to think of the planning of when that will be and sort of what time of year it will be as in I know it’s gonna be in the next few weeks but when I have some recording this a little bit earlier than it’ll go out. So yeah I just need to work out a few more things. I’ve had the brand done. Branding is very important to me. I don’t do that myself. I have a designer that works in the team and to be honest just really quickly if you ever get anything done like a brand, I would highly recommend that that’s where you invest a little bit of your money because you know what my brand and all my marketing and the stuff I put out means a whole lot to me. And therefore, it has to be right and I have to be happy with it. So we’ve worked out a new brand yesterday I’m just finalizing it and tweaking it and just making sure how it all looks. But yeah I think we’re going to have a new name. Now if you’re subscribed to the podcast, no problem. You are going to continue getting it. All you’ll notice is that whatever platform you use to listen to on an iTunes or I’m now on Spotify or Stitcher. It will just change as in the cover photo, the little image that is of me with the title on that will now change to the new title and the name of the podcast will change. But you will still be subscribed. You won’t lose me. I’m terrified that I’m going to lose listeners and I don’t want to lose listeners so I am trying to get everybody. If you’re not subscribed please please please go and subscribe now because obviously I don’t want you to miss out on seeing the podcast again or hearing it again. In fact next week, I might just tell you what the name is and then I might introduce it the week after because I’ll give you another opportunity to make sure you subscribe or at least know what the name is before I change it so you can then find it. But if you go and subscribe wherever you are then obviously you will continue to get my podcast and as I’ve said before in previous episodes, it’s not changing my podcast is staying exactly the same. I will talk about the same things. I will do the same things. It’s just because Social Media Marketing Made Simple is.. It’s really what’s the word? It’s like really specific and I talk more not general but I talk about lots of things that are all to do with social media and running your business and digital marketing. So I just didn’t want people to look at it and think, ‘Oh I don’t want to know about just Facebook or just Instagram or whatever it is’.

So anyway that’s what’s happening this week. And like I said, I will give you some more details on the next episode but I just wanted to let you know. Now see, make sure you’re subscribed.

This week I have an interview for you and you know what it’s going to be a really good one I think for most of you listening if I understand my audience well which I hope I do. So this week I’m interviewing the lovely Meredith Marsh who is a blogger but total introvert. She has over four million views on YouTube and she publishes video editing tutorials and camera know how’s and all that sort of good stuff on YouTube. As well as on Insta Stories and on her other social media platforms.

But what we talk about in today’s episode is obviously it’s so important to have video. We talk about it all the time but I know it’s one of the most difficult things for people to start to do because putting yourself on camera is tricky. And for me I feel like well you know I think you probably know that obviously I have my office slash studio. So I have the lights set up I have my mic. I have a background that I know is suitable and all that sort of good stuff and I felt I needed that if I was going to do any video of any sort. Not that I am on YouTube although, it is a long term, not dream that sounds a bit extreme, a long-term area that I want to focus on but just not right now.

So anyway yet video can be really really difficult to do. And I wanted to get someone on the A was doing it kind of all herself and she doesn’t cast herself as a YouTuber. Because we were talking on the interview the fact that when I think of YouTube as I think of like Zoella and Alphie whoever that is and people that my stepchildren talk about. Who were young and basically vlog their entire life. She doesn’t do that. She is a bit older she is. I think she’s probably a little bit younger than I am. She’s got kids. She’s running her business but she’s really kind of helping people use video more in their businesses and get themselves out there. And the fact that she’s an introvert is huge. You know she’s trying to lead the way and say listen if I can do it, anyone can do it.

So it’s a really really good interview it’s really nice to talk about some great things some real practical tips about how to get started and some of the things that you should think about doing. Also in preparation for the interview and funnily enough just before I recorded at this intro I was looking at her YouTube and it really is really good.

There’s some great videos on there about getting started and what to use and how to edit. So definitely go check that out. Obviously as always I put the links to all of her stuff in the show notes so go to teresaheathwareing.com/65. Okay, I will take up no more of your time.. Here’s Meredith.

Teresa: Hey Meredith welcome to the podcast.

Meredith: Hey Teresa. Thanks for having me.

Teresa: No problem. So good to have you on. And I’m really excited about today’s topic because I’ve got to be talking all about video and as my audience know because I talked about it just a few weeks ago.. Video is still very very very much in the forefront of things that you should be doing on social media and in your marketing. So I’m really excited to talk to you about that. But if my audience have never seen you before, if they don’t know who you are.. can you just give me a very brief overview as to how you got to do what you’re doing?

Meredith: Well a brief overview. OK. So my name is Meredith Marsh. I have a podcast called The Video Pursuit Podcast where I help bloggers and content creators reach a wider audience using YouTube and social video. So they can impact more people and be more profitable in their content creation businesses. And I got started about I think five years ago. Well initially I got started, I was a freelance web designer out of college and I was doing that for about five years and I kind of got burned out going from business to business learning enough about their business to create a Website and then walking away and then going to learn about another business to create a Website. So I had an opportunity to take an in-house web designer job for a local company that made storage sheds. And it was great..

It was a great place to work. I loved the people that I worked with and believe it or not, like sheds are actually kind of interesting thing to market. And so but it really I think about six months into that I was like, ‘Oh so how about that whole entrepreneurial thing? Can we get back to that?’.

I started a side hustle. I started a blog and a YouTube channel because I thought this will be a great story. I’m going to take this full-time job and I’m going to start a side hustle then I’m going to quit my job and just take my side hustle full time. It’s like the classic story that everybody hears and dreams about for themselves. But about three years after I took the full-time job, they moved my position to another city. So I didn’t move. I wasn’t gonna move. So we parted ways and I just took the blog full time basically. So but really from the moment I made the decision to start a side hustle, to like you know I looked at all the skills I had and the ability to learn new skills and I have every every skill I need to be one of these online entrepreneurial type people. So what the heck? Why not me? And so once I made that decision to take action on that I thought. I needed to help other people do this too because I think there’s so many people sitting at a desk somewhere using their creative energy to grow their employer’s businesses when they could absolutely be growing their own businesses. And so that’s why I do what I do now. I want to help content creators. I think that’s maybe the perhaps one of the easiest ways to start an online business to start a blog or a YouTube channel something where you’re creating content and I want to help those people reach more people so they can get out of their jobs faster or get out of few jobs before their job kicks them out.

Teresa: That’s really funny because it’s almost like it was I guess a way kind of a good that you have that in your head already. Because then at least it wasn’t too much of a shock when you then had to find an alternative. But also I think you’re right in the world of online and some of and we’re in a group together where it’s a lot of online businesses. You just kind of look at it and think why not? Why can’t I have part of that? Why can’t I have a space in that world? Because it’s a growing world because we use it. I use it. You know we we’re in an online group so we’re making the most of it in our businesses so why not in other people’s places and why not us? That’s really cool. So tell me what it was particularly about video though. Because you did Website so I could understand if you did more down that side of route but what was it about video?

Meredith: Well so I really kind of took my time thinking as we all do we take a lot of time to think before we take action. I was a big fan of Pat Flynn and Smart Passive Income Podcast and he had an episode fairly early on about how to figure out what you should start a blog about like how do you pick a topic. And so I spent like a I would say over a year even before I took that full-time job, I was already thinking if I was going to start a blog to turn it into a business. What would the topic be? And for a very long time I had no idea. I mean I had lots of ideas but I was like you know, ‘I’m not going to blog about that.’ And I could have done something along the lines of you know helping people become a freelance web designer or something like that. But I was like, I don’t really want to be fully immersed in it for the rest of my life. And. So one day. I was driving home from work. I had like a 15-minute commute so I. Had. It was like a. Perfect. Length commute to just decompress and think about life for a few minutes. And I was thinking my kids were little there. I think like I don’t know 6 and 2 or something and I have two little girls and they all just seemed like they were growing so fast and I was like, ‘What am I doing to make sure that their childhood is fun and interesting? And we’re doing fun things together as a family? And I thought I should start like just documenting what we’re doing. Like you know. Basically make family videos so that 10 years from now or 50 years from now, we have something to look back on. Right? And I think in the world of social media these days. People just they take their photos and their videos of their kids and their family and their event, adventures and stuff and they just dump them on Facebook and that’s it. And I thought I should be more intentional about capturing this stuff. Having nothing to do with starting a blog or anything, it was just like my own personal I don’t know, thought. And so a few months later I bought a GoPro camera, which is an adventure camera and action camera and I thought this would a good family camera because it’s waterproof and it’s small. And I think I bought it probably on like a Cyber Monday. So I got sort of suckered into it and I’m like this is perfect. So I’ve got this camera. And. The first. Little snow storm that we had, I live in upstate New York. So we get snow quite a bit.

We had snow just this week. No it wasn’t a big snow storm but the flurries were flying. So anyways I went outside with this GoPro. Take the kids outside. They went sledding and then I captured that and I captured them decorating Christmas cookies with my mom and I put this video together and they watched it on the iPad and they were like, ‘Wow this is really cool!’. And I’m like, ‘Yeah it is really cool. This is a really cool thing to do.’ And they wanted to watch it again and again like over and over again it was like a five-minute video. And I thought, ‘I think I need to help other people figure out how to do this.’ And in my mind I was thinking other moms. I need to help moms figure out the tech of creating these family videos so that when your kids are off to college, you’re not like wondering what have we done with our lives.

Teresa: All those years gone.

Meredith: And so I immediately thought I need to help other people do this which led to ‘Oh this maybe this could be the thing that I blog about’ which led to ‘If I’m going to be creating content around to use a camera or how to edit videos then I probably going to need to create a video tutorial here and there’. So it just made sense and I was had started kind of going to YouTube for you know, how to use an iMovie or like little things like that and I realized YouTube is full of all different kinds of content but there’s a lot of people who basically just stand there and talk to the camera and teach you something. And that’s their video. And I thought,...