The strength of video, particularly in the social media space, continues to grow. While Facebook has continued to point out that they are prioritizing video with their roll out of Facebook Live and video ads, Instagram also joined in on the video trend yesterday. Instagram rolled out an upgrade allowing all users to be able to upload for one minute video, as opposed to the 15 second videos it has been allowing for the last few years. The problem is that many people don’t know how to make great looking videos and low quality videos are almost as bad as no video. Don’t lose the opportunity to put great video into your marketing strategy and follow our tips of making a great video on your smart phone.
- Keep the phone steady.
Not only do shaky videos look unprofessional but they are difficult to watch for the viewer. The best advice is to use a tripod to keep your phone steady. If you don’t have a tripod, another option is to hold your camera with both hands to keep it steady.
2. Have great lighting.
Smartphones have smaller image sensors and lenses so they need bright light to take great photos. This will help with shadows or grainy look to your videos. You also want your lighting to stay stable. If there’s changes in the lighting, such as the sun going behind a cloud, the camera won’t be able to process it. It’s recommended to either film outside or to light up your indoor location as much as possible with lightbulbs or sunny windows.
3. Great audio matters.
Audio is just as important in your video as the video is. Microphones in smartphones are usually low quality so they will catch up wind and unnecessary extraneous noise. It’s recommended to use a microphone with your smart phone or try to film in a quiet place. If you can’t get a microphone, try to stay as close to internal microphone in the phone as possible.
4. Get close to the subject.
Most smart phones use a digital zoom instead of an optical zoom so they can’t focus or zoom as well as professional video or cameras so we recommend staying close to your subject for better quality and less noise. The iPhone has a great tool to allow you to focus on your subject, by tapping on the screen wherever you want to focus.
5. Hold your phone horizontally.
Vertical videos don’t fit all screens correctly. Computer screens, laptops, tablets are all have horizontal screens and videos that are filmed horizontally look much better on those devices.
Video is an excellent marketing tool and is easy to do with the variety of tools that exist online and on smart phones. If you’re looking for more ways to incorporate video into your business and marketing strategy, drop us a line to discuss professional video.
