For months now, you guys have been ASKING me to share my short-form video strategy…
Well, I heard you. And I got you.
Today, I’m sharing a simple strategy + script formula that has helped us generate nearly 10 million views on Instagram alone.
Let’s get into it…
Hey Posse, what’s up? It’s Alex, here to help you level up your content marketing…
So you can grow your audience, get more leads, and KEEP those leads around long enough to buy from you…
Again and again and again.
So if that is something you want to learn how to do too, then you know what to do…
Go ahead subscribe to my newsletter to be first to know when my next tutorial goes out.
Now I always find it interesting when people ask me about my social strategy…
Because, despite having hundreds of thousands of followers across my different social accounts, social media is not something I typically teach…
If you’ve been around here for a while, then you already know that what I primarily share here on my blog are copywriting, marketing, and branding strategies to help you grow your online business…
With that being said, I have used social media as a tool to build my own business from scratch to multiple 7 figures – almost completely organically…
I have an incredible team and I’m proud to say we’ve really dialed in our social media process over the last 5 years.
So, although I’m not a social media “coach” I am a big fan of social media (for obvious reasons, hi!)…
I’ve racked up millions and millions of views across my social platforms (both short-form videos and long-form videos) and I only record content for about 5 hours a month.
So I’m here to tell you this does not have to be super time-consuming and you can start deadly simple, even without a team or big budget…
And today I’ll show you how, starting with a simple 3-step short-form video strategy that has worked so, so well for us over the years.
My 3-Part Social Video Strategy
YES, people come to social media to be educated, entertained and inspired, but how do you turn those views into actual clicks and customers?
I mean, as much as I love social media, I don’t just create content for the sake of it. I’ve got a social media strategy, whether you realize it or not…
I blame the day job, but I can’t help but think about my social video strategy like any other marketing funnel…
Where there is top-of-the-funnel content…
Middle of the funnel content…
And bottom of the funnel content…
And each one has a very specific purpose! So let’s start at the top, shall we?
Our top-of-the-funnel videos are what I call…
QUIPS
These are quick videos where I share, well, quips. There are:
- Quick opinions
- Quotes
- Anecdotes
- Or Stats.
Typically, these are ideas things that appeal to a broader audience.
This is the content that draws in the most people—usually because it’s controversial, quirky, enlightening or challenges a common belief.
The goal with this type of content is to get people to follow us or share the video to get more views or reach.
So we’re casting a wide net with broad topics that appeal to a wider audience so that we can get as many people as possible into the top of our funnel.
Now I want to make sure I’m clear about something…
YES, you want to cast a wide net at the top of the funnel.
But that doesn’t mean we want followers just for the sake of having as many followers as possible.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, posted this on threads:
So getting followers is awesome, but not at the expense of your engagement. Don’t fall for doing off-brand hacks in an attempt to “go viral” because you’ll attract the WRONG kind of people.
You want to make sure your TOF content is aligned with your ideal audience.
Alright, now, getting people into your “social funnel”…
But it’s only one piece of the puzzle.
You need a different type of content to move people further down the funnel…
Or else you’ll end up with a broad and unengaged audience who never takes the next step.
So in addition to your TOF content, you want some MOF content, or what I call…
TIPS
These are the videos for the people in your audience who are ready to go deeper.
They want to learn MORE from you and see what kind of value you have to offer them.
This content should be focused on giving more specific advice like:
- Tools
- Strategies
- Tips
- Frameworks
Create content that showcases how you can help your audience achieve their goals or solve their problems…
This is going to inspire them to want to take the next step with you and make it “official” and sign up for your email list.
Yup, the goal here is to turn your followers into email subscribers.
Because you and I both know that without an email address, your marketing will not make the impact it could…
And if you want to see proof, go watch my latest tutorial on the difference between social and email marketing. I’ll link to that video at the end of this one.
So now we’re getting closer to the bottom of the funnel, where you’ll want to post some…
CLIPS
These are videos for the people who already know who you are…
They’ve seen the value you provide…
Maybe they’ve already become a customer…
But you don’t want to ignore them just because they’ve converted! Quite the opposite!
You want to continue to show them love and create a sense of connection with you so that they feel LOYAL to you and your brand and keep coming back.
We do this by sharing:
- More personal stories
- Behind-the-scenes content
- Or clips of interviews I’ve done with experts
The goal here is to create conversations – person to person.
We do this by having people comment or DM us.
While this BOF content will get fewer views than your TOF or MOF content, it’s so so important as it keeps your best people around longer – and it’s why you should focus on creating all 3 types.
Here’s a sneak peek at the actual spreadsheet my team and I use to plan all of our short-form videos…
First, we come up with a big list of general topics and ideas…
Making sure we are systematically targeting people at every stage of the funnel… quips, tips, and clips.
Then, I’ll review and approve the ones I want to proceed with and leave any additional notes or thoughts I have.
Then we move on to the writing phase.
Yup, if you’re wondering how we prepare our short-form scripts, I got you there too…
My Short-Form Video Formula
Here’s the formula we follow…
STEP 1: The Hook
The very first thing you need to do is figure out the hook. This is the fun part and where your copywriting and marketing skills really come into play…
Without a strong hook, no one will watch your video. Period.
So you need to take your general topic idea and turn it into a short and punchy hook that attracts eyeballs and makes them WANT to pay attention.
This will become the text on the cover of your video. Like this one here:
Writing the hook is arguably the hardest part of this entire process.
And it SHOULD involve some research.
- Don’t just guess (“I think people might like this…”)
- Get online and see what kinds of headlines & hooks are getting high engagement online.
- Check out sites like BuzzFeed, cosmo magazine, and even just scrolling an online news channel.
- Brainstorm ways you can piggyback on those concepts with your content.
If you need help getting started, I have a swipe file with 99 fill-in-the-blank hooks waiting for you at the end of this blog.
Alright, on to the next step…
STEP 2: The Juicy Idea
This is “the script writing” part.
The most important thing to remember is that short-form videos are SHORT.
We try to keep all our videos under 60 seconds and IDEALLY under 30 seconds.
And out of those 30-60 seconds, the first 3 seconds are crucial to keep people watching.
According to data released by Facebook on video content, 65 percent of people who make it past the first three-second mark tend to make it to the ten-second mark and 45 percent of those will watch for thirty seconds.
So to increase the odds of people actually watching your video, you need to practice the art of RETENTION.
Which is a lot harder than you think!
Say what you need to say in as little words as possible and get straight to the point…
That was only about 25 seconds long – which is pretty good for me because I like to talk LOL.
In contrast, the blog you’re reading right now is about the same topic, but it’s MUCH longer right?
Because in the short form video, I’m including only the high-level framework (btw did you guess that this was a ‘tips’ style video? If so, good work).
Whereas in this blog, I’m expanding on each element and going into a lot more detail.
Learning how to remove unnecessary elements to make your point or deliver value takes practice.
Here are a few things we do to keep our scripts as short as possible…
First – we have a column where we track the total word count…
This is a good way to gauge how long or short your video will be.
We’ve figured out that we need to keep our scripts around 75 words if we want to keep the video under 30 seconds.
And we try not to go higher than 150 words – which puts our videos around 60 seconds.
Of course, this number will depend on how fast or slow you tend to talk.
If you write your script and it’s over your word count, go back as you read each word ask yourself if it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary.
The answer should be “no” for a lot of things.
So delete, delete, delete!
Now if you write your script and there’s absolutely nothing you can cut out without losing value and it’s super long…
Then you don’t have one video, you have multiple!
Think about how you can split that info up into separate videos with their own hooks.
This will be better than trying to cram it all into a 2-minute video that people will only watch ¼ of.
Okay, the final step…
STEP 3: The CTA
And of course, each video has a specific goal – right?
- With Quips = we want people to follow or share…
- With Tips = we want to get people to get on our email list…
- With Clips = we want to start a conversation…
You can add that call to action to the script itself if you have time…
Or you can simply put in the caption – somewhere at the top ideally.
Either way works, just make sure you always tell people what you want them to do.
Alright and that’s that!
I hope you guys found this video helpful and that it answered your questions.
Don’t forget to grab your FREE swipe file of 99 hooks you can use.
While you’re at it give me a thumbs up if you found this helpful! And if you have any suggestions for a future blog, drop it in the comments below. You know I always love to hear from you.
I’ll see you next week, with a brand-new tutorial. Until, then I’m Alex. Ciao for now.