Welcome back to another bonus episode of Cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask successful entrepreneurs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host Ellen yin and I'm joined today by video content coach Natasha, host of the Shine Online Podcast to share her 10 juicy hot takes on video marketing that you can apply immediately. She blew me away with some of these. This is a two part episode series by the way, so keep listening for the first five video hot takes here in part one on our show, and then head over to Natasha's show to finish listening to hot take six through 10 In our Part Two companion episode on the shine online podcast. Natasha's podcast is one of only a select few I actually listened to regularly so do yourself a favor and go add her show to your weekly round up to
Natasha I am so excited to have you as our first official guest on a bonus episode to share your video hot takes You're the queen of hot takes. So I was so glad you were on board for this idea. Yes, of course you didn't you got me at hot takes I was like I'm in I'm down. Still the tea for us. Okay, so we have 10 Juicy hot takes lined up. We're doing this madlib style. So I'm just going to start you off and then you close out with your hot take your thoughts? And if you want to share an example. I'd love that too. Perfect. All right. Hot take umber one content ideas are not...
People often think they are education, entertainment, inspiration, or even like themes or series like Tip Tuesday or work with me Wednesday. But those are just a way that you can organize and deliver your ideas. But they are not your content ideas. And when we kind of limit just those things to being how we create content. We're really not being strategic and intentional getting closer to our goals. That makes sense. So if someone is currently implementing something like a tip Tuesday, or some sort of weekly recurring theme, what might you suggest they do instead? Yes, so instead, I think it's really important to get clear on like, what are the topics and categories that you want to consistently be creating content about, and then use that to guide whatever type of video content you create. And then if something like a tip tuesday helps you stay consistent, go for it. But you want to make sure you're kind of doing it the opposite way around. So for example, if video marketing and content creation is one of my reoccurring topics, then what I essentially would do is then I could deliver that as a tip Tuesday on a reoccurring basis. I wouldn't do it the other way around and think okay, I'm giving a tip every week, I already know that video marketing is where I'm creating my tips. And the tip tuesday could just be a way to help me consistently do it and stay on top of it.
That completely makes sense. All right, hot take number two, this video trend is so last year...
The video trend is trends and I really feel like I want to be super clear that if you're using trends and you love them, and they feel good for you, like go for it, I am all about empowering small businesses to create video content in a way that feels great for you. But what I've often seen is that people think it's the only way to create short form video content. And when you only rely on training audios, like lip syncs, or certain types of editing where you need to point or edit a certain way. You're kind of losing your creativity and originality and ability to really be strategic with the type of content you're creating. And I would much rather have a trend be like the background music to whatever type of video I'm creating, and not be what I need to create my content.
That distinction is so important because like you said, it's about utilizing it almost as an added element to enhance a video or maybe to help its discoverability but you're not relying on other people's ideas for creating your own content. That's great. Hot Take number three. The best video hook in your opinion...
Is one that is clear and concise and not cutesy and clever. And this is what I what I often see is people try to like do the clickbaity things they try to just like focus on hooking people in and they don't focus on like what does someone need to know? Or why are they going to care or continue watching your video that's really what a hook should do.
I cannot, just applaud you more for saying Be clear over clever because people always they want to be like, I want to flex my creativity. I want to show that I'm funny or unique or whatever it is. But the truth is of nobody understands, right? Like what you're even trying to communicate. That's the quickest way to lose someone to the scroll. So I am just curious, you obviously create a lot of video, you've tested a lot of different hooks, what has been your favorite hook to fall back on? As a follow up question?
Oh, yes, so we're talking about hot takes. So that is definitely one of my best hooks. So I'll kind of give the formula so people can kind of edit and apply it to their own niche and industry. So essentially, I have a bold text that says, unpopular opinion or hot take. And then I immediately deliver what that unpopular opinion is usually a one or two lines. And I've consistently found time and time again, when I say what the hook is, and then I give it directly to them. That always gets not only so much engagement in terms of shares and saves and comments, but it really gets people like reading the content and the hook is doing its job.
100% That's been my experience as well. I think polarizing content to your point is such a great conversation starter. As long as of course you actually have context to back it up. And it's not just oh, I'm you know, I'm being controversial to be controversial. I am curious. I know I said that was my follow up question. But I do one more bonus follow up. Just to clarify, when you put on the screen the text that says unpopular opinion or hot take, do you immediately, like you said verbally just say the unpopular opinion or hot take? Or do you actually also restate my hot take is or my unpopular opinion is blah, blah, blah?
Yes, so in a talking video, you can say and support the hook. But actually, for me, and I'm sure this is probably something we'll talk about in some of the other hot takes. But I actually love to do it kind of quote video style. And so what I mean by that is I will just have like video footage of me doing something, and then I will have just text on the screen. So instead of people hearing me say it, they're just watching some B roll footage, it's kind of the background, maybe I have some trending audio in the background. So kind of leaning on one of my other hot takes. And then the text is kind of front and center. So what I found overall with hooks, maybe this is kind of like another part of my formula with hooks. Is that like yes, saying it in a talking video can be really effective. But sometimes I like to just have the hook as the actual video content.
Oh, okay. I'm so glad I asked that. That second follow up question because that clarifies a ton. All right, hot. Take number four, Natasha. Stop, fill in the blank, and start, fill in the blank when it comes to video.
Oh, this is what I am so passionate about. So stop thinking about your video, as you're actually creating the content, and start outlining your content ideas for easier video creation. This is a common mistake that I see a lot of small businesses do is they sit down, they have their phone in front of them. And they're like, literally, you know, the face off, you're like seeing yourself in your phone. And you're thinking, Okay, I have this idea. And you're literally thinking about what to say or what to film, or what prompts to have, like you're literally thinking of the content as you're supposed to be creating it. And not only does that take so much time and energy from you as a creator, but it also can make content that isn't as effective at communicating the idea or the initial goal or point of the content. So instead, I always like outlining, and I know this seems like an additional step. But essentially, once you outline like what are those bullet points that you're wanting to say, or the clips you're wanting to show in your video, or the texture wanting to add or the props you want to have or whatever it is that applies to the type of video you're creating. Once you have that, that is like your roadmap. So you can refer back to a while you're creating so you're not having to do the thinking and you're just focused on creating the content, which makes it more impactful as well.
Absolutely. And I feel like that must be so much more efficient. You can get so much more created when you actually you know, set aside time to film. I'm curious for you. This is my add on question for you is how many, I guess video outlines? Do you create an advance of let's say a film day? Or do you kind of only outline the very next video that you're creating?
Yes, so for me, I do a little bit of both. Sometimes I have an idea and I want to create it in the moment. And so I've kind of done it so often. Like for some people this might not be natural, but I like outline in my brain. I've trained my brain to outline which I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing. So like, whenever I'm thinking of a story series, for example, I'm like, oh, I want to share about this, I will outline what I want on each story side, like in my brain or on a sticky note in front of me. But also, when I am sitting down, and I have a content day, and I'm batching, a lot of different videos in advance, I make sure that I have not just a list of all the ideas I want to create, but I actually have the outlines to go with them. So it's something I do like to do in advance to kind of just allow me to get into creation mode.
Super helpful. Do you just outline within notes or a Google Doc? Or do you have some sort of system that you feel like our listeners should know about?
Yes. So I always recommend that my clients have a place that your ideas live. And wherever your ideas live, this is also where you want to have your outlines because then they're kind of they're kind of one in the same, they go together peanut butter and jelly, I guess you could say. So I personally love using clickup as my content calendar. But if I'm doing those more kind of like off the cuff type of videos, then I might just do it in my notes. And if I do, I'm just going to literally create it right in that moment. But literally Google Docs I've seen air table, literally anything under the sun really works. For anyone that's listening. I always say that the best tools for your content calendar is the one that you'll consistently use.
Yes, this is why I love you. Okay, final hot take on my show. Before we direct you over to Natasha show the shine online podcast to finish out the remaining five hot takes. But Hot Tip number five. The most underrated video editing feature is...
Ooo... it is slow mo, I often find that we focus so much on like time lapse and like making our video content like snappy and fast. Like I feel like that's an editing style that we see like all the time. But what I actually really love is slomo. So my editing tool of choice is in shot. But honestly, almost every editing tool like you can even do this in Canva. Now, any editing tool that you're wanting to edit your reels in this will work and you can even in the Rules Editor film and slomo in the settings. But what I found is that not only does it allow your footage to go a little bit of a longer way, so if you have a five second video clip, and can make it closer to a 10 second video clip, just by slowing it down. But it honestly just adds so much drama. And it makes your video look a little bit more professional and interesting without you having to like use a fancy camera or anything like that. And also to kind of some other tips that we mentioned is like if you're adding text and you're adding these different elements, what I found is that when you have like a fast time lapse going behind your text, it kind of can be overwhelming for us to consume. So not only does it kind of like slow the viewer down and allow them to really get value from the content. But it also just looks very dramatic, which I'm here for.
Also, I love that it's such a pattern interrupt you made such a great point. We live in this world of instant gratification and just short attention spans and the fact that you kind of go against the grain and say, okay, instead of making things faster to satisfy people's need for quick and on demand, you actually kind of go the opposite way, which probably, you know, actually in a weird way captures people's attention because it's not what they expect. So I love that tip. Of course, you know me, I'm going to ask you an add on question. When you utilize slo mo, do you typically apply it to the length of the entire video, for example, like what you said, maybe making a five second B roll footage, like 10 seconds? Or do you only kind of use it for one specific clip like an intro or outro to kind of hook someone's attention and then you go back to let's say regular speed.
Ooo love that question. For the most part, I will do it for all of the video clips. So it all kind of like cohesively flows together. But sometimes instead of it just being one long video clip, I will kind of take a bunch of smaller video clips and make those all slomo. So he's kind of still leaning into what makes those types of videos really interesting of like being able to tell a visual story with a bunch of different clips. But as I mentioned before, we're still kind of like slowing people down a little bit and letting it be like less overwhelming of like flash flash flash. So that's definitely what works for me, but I also will say depending on your business type, you definitely can leverage slomo and that could even be a part of your hook. So something that a lot of people this is like I guess a little bonus hot take is a lot of people focus on like the hook being like what you're saying or like the actual content of your video, which it absolutely can be, but to my point it can be the texture adding on your video, or it also can be the visual of those first few seconds of your video.
So it could be going normal speed and then it goes into slow mo, or it could be starting as slow mo and then go into normal speed. So that can also be another way to just make your video like hook them in, and then kind of keep them for the duration of the video. So you definitely can have a lot of fun just like experimenting with that feature, which is kind of one of the reasons why I love it for editing is it's so simple, but you have so many different ways to use it.
So interesting. I never thought about a hook in that way like what's your visual hook, not just your audio your your topic hook. This is awesome. I love your creativity, Natasha. And if you have already gotten a new tip or insight from these first five hot takes, you do not want to miss the remaining five video hot takes that are going to be on Natasha's podcast. And just to give you a little teaser the next hot take we're going to answer on Natasha show is a common mistake people make when creating stories content is. So if you're curious to know the answer to that plus for more remaining hot takes, you definitely want to go over and listen. Natasha, tell us where should people go to find your podcast? Tell us the name of your podcast and what makes your show a must add to their weekly rotation?
Yes, absolutely. So you can find this podcast wherever you listen to your podcast and it's the Shine Online Podcast. And what we focus on in the content is specifically video marketing and content. And my goal is that you walk away with each episode with a simpler, more strategic way for creating video content. So you're feeling less overwhelmed but you're really fueling your business growth as well. So we talk from everything from systems to video mindset when it comes to being on camera to higher level topics like launching and using video to attract speaking engagements. So there's literally a little bit of everything no matter where you are on your video journey.
I love that. All right, go subscribe right now or actually the new term I don't know if you confusing to people because people associate following with social media apps I feel like yes, regardless, the actual correct term is follow so if you're listening to this on Apple, if you go to shine online with Natasha you'll be able to see a little plus button that's the button you want to click to follow her show and then it will add to your weekly rotations and on Spotify. They actually make it a little easier for you they actually spell out the word follows and you know it's fun to click. Anyways Natasha, thank you so much for joining us for these video hot takes. And again if you want to listen to the remaining five video hot takes, make sure you search for the Shine Online Podcast and go subscribe to Natasha show to hear part two of our conversation today.
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