Well, apart from the absolute delight of interviewing Kate Humble at the Adventure Travel Conference 2017, Robin Waldman and I gave a talk to business leaders across the UK adventure industry on trends, tips and tricks in the world of travel video.
As promised, we said we'd share out thoughts on social media after the event. We will also be publishing the official video of the conference later this year.
Factoid - return of the Silent Movie!
Our factoid of the day at the conference - commented on by many afterwards - was that although Facebook is hosting more than 8 billion video views per day, a massive 85% of them are being watched in silence!
So you need to edit your videos to make sure they have graphics and text in them so that all viewers (looking at them while on a train, in the office, while watching TV, in bed, in a queue at the garage...) can read your message as well as seeing the movie. The silent movie is back!
Anyway, here are our Top Five Tips and Tricks:
1. Develop a strategy and budget for video comms
Start with the end in mind. Try not to think of ‘making a video’ as being the end game. Instead, have a vision like: “Three aspects of our business being used online and offline in 10 different ways by X date”. We can help you work on the vision and then strategy to make it happen within an affordable budget.
2. Make a list of ‘deliverables’ - think of more than 10 ways of using your video investment to maximise your budget
Think of a video as being like an ice-berg. What you see initially is only a fraction of how you can use your raw video footage. Yes, of course create a YouTube channel and post it on there. But there’s so much more besides - use it to train staff or suppliers; create a short version for Twitter; plan a Premier Launch event and invite clients, staff or suppliers; post a different version on Facebook (shorter and with graphics); post on Vimeo and Instagram; signpost from brochures...
So tailor your videos for different platforms and audiences. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all in video but as long as you have good raw footage and know how you want to use this, it is only a marginal cost to create a different version according to the platform or audience. For instance, if you are mainly shooting video for your marketing team for promotional purposes, ask them to create a version that is suitable for training (e.g. more factual about hotels, transport, transfers...).
And, if creating video content for social media, remember to make different versions according to the duration allowable on Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram etc.
3. Get the essentials - Mic, Tripod, Storage...
You can mix your own footage with professionally shot video material to reduce the cost of sending out a film crew to film on location.
But there are a few dos and donts to be aware of. Poor sound quality is probably the number one thing that can make amateur footage sound pretty rubbishy (and probably unusable) but investing in a small microphone (around £100) can make a big difference.
Similarly a tripod will keep your camera steady and will also make a huge difference. Storage is often a problem for people shooting video on their camera or iPhone so plan ahead and make sure you have a storage device or plenty of space on your smart-phone before you travel.
4. Share budgets
We recommend getting at least some of your content shot professionally and then all of it edited professionally. To help reduce costs you may be able to find a partner (e.g. an airline, accommodation provider or local operator) to share some of this cost in return for footage or a version of the video for them. They might also contribute to a Premiere Launch as long as they are credited for their contribution. Tourist Boards may also contribute to social media campaigns using video of their destination. We have several examples of this working very well.
5. Think offline too!
Most travel companies still create brochures and newsletters. So why not signpost your online videos in them too? If there’s a trip or destination you particualrly want to push or one that’s very popular, then tell your readers where to find it at every opportunity. Once you’ve invested in video, milk it at every opportunity because statisitics show that people are far more likely to buy from video content than from text or images.
Copyright. 23 January 2017. The Adventure Connection and Robin Creative Media