Let's talk about seven Tips Adjustments whatever word you want to use to really improve your skills on camera, thus making your videos work better for your brand. In a know you like you trust your business. Like real estate, there is simply no marketing medium in the history of marketing mediums or formats or whatever word you want to use quite like video in terms of its ability to capture and convey the essence of who you are of who the customer is choosing to align with and hire. Whether they're looking to buy, sell, invest, or refer business, the trouble is, depending upon your level of comfort, on Camera video may or may not be the most accurate portrayal of who the customer is actually hiring.

So today we're going to talk about seven adjustments or tips you could say to really improve your on-camera skills, to get better performance out of video to build your brand. Welcome to this week in marketing! My name is Jason Pantana I'm your host and instructor today and I Can't wait to get into our topic. Now if you're new to the channel, it would mean the world to us if you'd hit that big red subscribe button and hit the Bell next to it so you can get notified whenever we publish new videos just like this one. Now, the first adjustment you might consider making when it comes to your on-camera skills for video, how you talk to the camera so to speak is why one we've dubbed First Impressions At the end of the day, you gotta have a strong first impression.

You might have heard it called an opening hook or something along those lines, which is all predicated on Research that Facebook did recently where they analyzed a lot of different videos and what they found was a repeatable pattern that if you can get the viewer to watch your video for the first three seconds, that opening frame that first impression. if you can hook them in the first three seconds, then mathematically or statistically speaking, what the research found is nearly half of the time those viewers will go on to watch for at least 30 seconds or longer. And so really, if you boil it down, the battle for attention is not to try to hold a viewer's attention for two minutes or three minutes or something like that. It's over the first three seconds.

Why? Well, because the viewer is on a social platform where they're scrolling through feeds looking for something that meets the needs of whatever they're looking for and so if your video seems like a waste of time, they're out straight away if they're on YouTube and they ran a search for a specific topic and then they found your video in the results. Either your video o fills the Gap and meets the needs of that search or it doesn't, so they're looking to know. Does your video have what I'm looking for? Which means you can't waste time. That opening frame is where you create the first impression and you got to hook the viewer out of the gate.

Because really, again, the Battle Is Over the first three seconds. If you could hook them for three seconds, you can earn their viewership for 30 seconds or longer baked in. Now there are some common pitfalls that we see a lot of folks committing when it comes to their videos. and I'll go through a few of the big ones just to be avoided because these stand in the way of a strong first impression.

Now the first one is unnecessary introductions. Look, if you're seeing a video on Facebook or Instagram or Tick, Tock or YouTube or any platform, your name is directly above the video because you posted it. So beginning a video with hi, I'm Jason pantana with ABC Realty and blah blah blah, they've already scrolled. they've already bounced to go watch something else.

Why? Because you're telling them what they already know, not what they need to hear from you. Now another Pitfall that we see pretty commonly is what I call sort of. Are we on Yet it's that moment where the person on camera doesn't realize the camera's recording. It could be like a half a second or like, uh, just a fraction of a second where it's like, oh, we're live And then they get into their talk.

that little blimp or that little moment of dead time, right? There is enough to get somebody who was viewing to go and scroll to the next video. Now a last Pitfall to be avoided is the use of an intro theme song or what's called a bumper at the beginning of your video that's kind of like a 1990s TV show with their you know their song like it's an episode of Friends or something like that. It's unnecessary and again, you've got to put yourself into the shoes of the viewer if they're on YouTube they're searching for something. If they're on social media, they're scrolling and looking for something to hold their attention and so either your video makes it very clear why they should continue watching or it doesn't.

Which means you may consider asking a powerful question or making a strong statement or sharing a statistic or something that lets them know. Here's what I'm going to cover and the reasons why you should keep watching. If you want your videos to perform at a higher level level, you gotta make a strong first impression. Now our second tip for getting better performance out of your videos is what's dubbed an audience call out.

It's as if you call your Audience by name in a manner speaking. For example, if somebody said like hey, Jason if I'm at a restaurant and I ever hear somebody say Jason I can't help myself but give my attention to that conversation. Why? Because I heard my name. We're all programmed that way that when we hear our name, we look up and give our attention because we think they might be speaking to us.

If you're watching and I say hey Sharon and your name is Sharon I've got your attention in a really special way now I am not suggesting that in every video, you should aspirationally say like hey, Fred I'm talking to you and everybody else who's not Fred is like okay so I guess we're done here because that's a little too granular. That's not my point. It's not about like naming the audience specifically, it's more about naming an attribute of the audience that is representative of what the video covers and thus who the video is most likely for. So I might say something like hey, Nashville homeowners or I might say thinking about buying your first rental property in the Nashville area I am naming a trait or an attribute that describes somebody and it invokes sort of the same idea of if that's you, I've got your attention I'm speaking to you because I'm on the radar.

It's like I called you by name but I called you by interest or I called you by attribute so to speak. This is a tip to get better performance out of your videos. but what do I mean by performance right now I Recognize that this point somewhat flies in the face of the last point because the last point was about, you know, capturing as wide of an audience as attention as possible and this one kind of constricts a little bit because I'm saying like, hey, if this describes you, then this video is for you. Thus, if it doesn't describe you, it's not for you.

You can stop watching. That's sort of the implied idea here and I'll tell you what. It's a calculated risk that I'm okay with. I'm comfortable with it because I don't care so much about vanity metrics.

Yes, views matter Yes, watch rate matters. Yes, the algorithms look at these these metrics that determine is this content relevant or not. But I would also tell you that if I can help say to the algorithm in a way hey, I'm I'm making a video that talks about this for people like that, then ultimately I'm helping these platforms like YouTube for instance, figure out who to show the content to over time. So my advice is name your audience, tip or adjustment number three to get better on camera is one we've dubbed scroll holes.

What are all those little moments or Windows or footholes of opportunities where somebody says you know I'm done and then they scroll to the next video or the next Post in their feed. The question here is how do I keep people immersed and engaged in the video as you go to avoid scroll holes? What are scroll holes? Well, one example could be a tangent whereby you're talking about a topic and you're on topic, but then all of a sudden you go off to a random story or a stray point that has nothing to do with why the viewer is there and so they're like, okay, I guess we're done And then they leave your video which is a bounce on YouTube or it's a bounce on any platform at the end of the day. These algorithms will reward you for retaining viewership. So the better capable your video is of retaining viewership, the better it's going to perform.

In terms of distribution to a wider audience, you got to keep people immersed and engaged in your videos. Other examples of scroll holes are unnecessary pauses or even And I don't want to make you a trip of your own two feet, but even breaths to some degree, especially when we're talking about short form vertical content on my reels. For instance, I instruct my video editor to take all the dead time out if there is dead time in between my words, that is unnecessary for the viewer. Shave it off.

Not to the point where I'm talking so fast you can't even keep up and you're not absorbing any of the thoughts. But honestly, if you have to watch my video twice or three times to really absorb it, that's only helping my video perform better algorithmically because Instagram for instance, is going to be like, oh, this person watched and completed Jason's video three times. Let's show it to a thousand more people because the algorithms are looking for signals of people's interest or the relevance of the video. Based upon how much of this thing do they watch at the end of the day, every platform cares about the same thing.

Facebook Google Instagram YouTube Tick Tock They all care about keeping viewers locked in their platforms as long as possible because that's how they make money. They can sell ads, the longer folks are locked into your platforms. and so if you want your videos to perform, you got to keep people engaged in your videos. Which means avoid the scroll holes.

Recommendation number four is one we've called Engagement Bait. Now first and foremost, what is engagement? Engage? Management is hearts and likes and comments and maybe saves and shares? it's interactions and activity inside the respective platforms. Whether it's YouTube or Facebook or Instagram or Tick Tock That's what engagement is. So engagement bait means you're actually baiting for it, so to speak.

That means you're asking for engagement on the video itself, directly to the camera, not in the caption. Necessarily, you should do it there too. But on the camera, you say something like, hey, tell me what you think or you might say the comments get really interesting. Go see what everybody else has to say.

It's inviting viewers to interact with your video in a way that is trackable and measurable. Which means the algorithms of the platforms are going to be so, so pleased with your video and therefore show it to more people. Why? Because it's garnering engagement and that signals the relevance of your content. and it keeps people engaged on the platform for longer.

So perhaps it's as simple as you have. Not because you ask not so ask for the engagement. It doesn't have to be a direct thing you need them to do. It could just be a broad question.

Hey, tell me what you think. In fact, I'd love to know right now. What do you think of this content so far and you get the gist right? You know I'm inviting you to engage. where in the comments thread, if you can drive up the engagement of your videos, the videos are simply going to perform way way better.

Now this next point is sort of on the heels of the last point. The last point, we talked about engagement. How do I drive more engagement Hearts Likes comments, interactions on the respective social platforms. This one's different.

This one's not about engagement. This one's about actually inviting customers, buyers, and sellers, for instance, into working with you. And we've dubbed this one subliminal Ctas. What's a CTA It's a call to action.

It's inviting a customer into working with you. Now the subliminal part. That's the whole trick here. Because think about the way social media works.

You post it runs through the feeds, and then you gotta post again. and then again and again. And the life expectancy of a post on social media is like a day or two. It's just a moving Target It's not like a billboard, It's not like a postcard.

There are certain marketing formats or mediums where you can be really direct. I could send a postcard to my farm and say thinking about selling, call me and I'll list your house or I can make a really blunt, obvious, direct offer and folks can choose to acknowledge it and reply or not. Social media is not going to work quite like that because of a couple of reasons. First, we know that a huge cross-section of your followers, for instance, won't see any given post because not every post you share in the feed reaches your entire audience.

And so you got to keep posting. Keep posting, keep posting. But here's the challenge. You don't want to keep posting straight up calls to action all the time.

If everything you ever posted on Instagram said hey, thinking about selling your house, call me at 555-5555 if that's all you ever did. People are going to be like block report unfollow and they're going to tell all their friends the same. you can't do it like that. So social media is transient.

It's a moving Target You don't always know you're going to reach all your followers or all the right customers. and so you've got to devise a way of inviting customers into working with you without making up straight up sales pitches all the time. Enter subliminal ctas almost kind of like kind of like it's going gonna sound weird. Okay, almost like a dog whistle where only the dog can hear the whistle, but nobody else can.

Well, in the same respect, how can you talk about what you do working with Buyers Working with sellers, we're only people who are in market for what you're describing, will hear the offer and everybody else will just keep on listening to whatever you're saying as if you said nothing else. In other words, how can you make calls to action in your videos that only people who are ready for the action will hear the call? So for example, it could be as simple as this: Imagine making a video where you say something within the script of the video like last week I was showing properties to a first time home buyer in blank and then you finish the script and everybody else is hearing the story. But if you're thinking about buying your first home, you're like, oh, they work with first-time homebuyers I should reach out to her or reach out to him or whatever. Or maybe you're making a video whereby you tell Sellers hey, here are some pricing strategies to be cognizant of in the context of a changing.

Marketplace And in that video, maybe you say something. like last week, for instance, I was invited to go meet with a seller who had been on the market with a different agent and it didn't work and they reached out to me. And here's what: I shared with them. now: I'm just telling a story, but there's a subliminal call to action because if you're a seller who's on the market, you're frustrated that you're not seeing results.

You're going to be listening differently. Or if you know somebody who's on the market and their homes not selling, you might be inclined to share this video with your friend. These are subliminal calls to action. I Want you to be thinking through.

how can you invite customers to take steps into working with you buyers and sellers? But the trick is without being obvious without everybody else hearing you constantly selling your services. It's called a subliminal CTA Number six We are so close to the Finish Line is sound off subtitles. There was another study Facebook did several years ago where they analyzed a ton of videos and they found that on average in social media feeds for social media videos, roughly 85 of videos were consumed with the sound off with the sound on mute. Now, those numbers have obviously changed because we have new platforms.

For example, take talks for you feed. The sound is on by default. Instagram's reels feed the sound is on by default. However, Facebook's news feed now it's off Instagram's Main feed.

The sound is off by default, which means there's a high chance that your followers or viewers of your videos may be seeing your videos with the sound muted. Are you prepared to engage them nonetheless, because what you don't want is for them to say ah, this isn't interesting enough to turn the sound on and therefore they scroll to the next one. The analytics still work against you in that context, so whatever should you do? The answer is subtitles or closed captions. Same difference right on-screen text.

Something that I can read as a viewer who may have the sound off. That can help me determine if I should continue watching the duration of your video because if I bounce, if I leave again, those metrics are going to work against you from an algorithmic standpoint. So what that means is your video is not going to perform to the degree that it could have if you had really hooked the viewer. That may mean if you're working with an editor that you're going to ask them to add some text or subtitles or different on-screen options to help the viewer know what you're talking about even if the sound is off.

or if you don't have an editor. For instance, Facebook Instagram Tech talk YouTube they all have the ability to automatically transcribe what you're saying, your words, and put closed captions on your video. In fact, Instagram For instance, they've got their fun, fancy caption sticker that can make the text really fun and animated. Or there's third-party apps and services to add subtitles.

My point to you is, you may have the most interesting genius point of view in your next video. However, if somebody can't read what you're saying and they're dependent to hear what you're saying, the point may be lost. Recommendation number seven to improve your skills on camera and therefore get better results from your videos is to learn to speak to the one. If you speak to the one, you speak to them all.

So what does that mean? Well, that means using words like you versus using words like them and us And they and We Because those words are a step removed. They're a different tense and it's so convenient for me when I'm listening to a video and they just describe the audience as them, oh them, not me, them But when you use the word you on your videos, the viewer can't help but hear you talking to them directly. We all hear things through the lens of our own ears ourselves. How does this apply to me? When you use Ubase language throughout your videos, it will carve a connection with your viewers whereby they're listening through the lens of how you're talking to them directly.

The next time you go to make videos and you look down the lens of the camera speak to the one and you speak to them all. Use you language throughout. Don't say we in us and they or avoid it whenever possible because it's too easy for every viewer to disconnect themselves from that message. But when I speak to you directly, it's really hard for you to say how is he not talking to me because I'm talking to you and hopefully you get my point.

Speak to the One and you speak to them all. Thank you so much for watching this video! My name is Jason Pantana and I would love to know what we missed, what are other recommendations or tips or best practices to level up our skills on camera and get better results from our video. Also, I would encourage you to check the comments thread because I'm willing to bet there's a lot of really good ideas from others in that thread. Until next week! This is this week in Marketing.