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The Importance of One-Minute Videos
A few weeks ago, Dennis and Logan attended SHARE Algarve, where they spoke about the importance of one-minute videos and challenged the audience to create more of them.
Dennis mentioned that creating one-minute videos is all about authenticity and taking the first steps, even if they don’t look good. By not trying it, you’ll never know the great result that you could accomplish by creating short videos.
You want to use one-minute videos to tell your stories, the things that made you who you are, and to drive interaction. Vera Borges had the chance to catch up with Dennis and spoke about the importance of video.
She mentioned how she wanted to interview some entrepreneurs and Portuguese people who were inspiring, utilizing video and Facebook Live as part of a digital project. When she mentioned the idea to Dennis, he told Vera to go with him to where it was less noisy and requested her to shoot her one-minute video right then and there.
Just Go For It
At times, we may be scared to go out of our comfort zone and do things that may be new to us or make us nervous. The great thing about that, though, is all it takes is a first step. Recording your first video may take many takes, and that is okay.
You may even have some filler words, and that is okay. As you continue making these one-minute videos, you will get more comfortable, and making them will become easier. So, no more excuses such as lacking the proper equipment or free time.
All it takes is one minute to share your stories or even some tips and knowledge you are learning daily. You do not need a fancy camera or editing skills. Right then and there, wherever you are, take your iPhone out and start recording your videos. People want to hear from you. They want to hear what you want to say and what you can teach them.
How To Get Started
Start with potential topics and ideas you want to cover and start shooting. Here are a few important points about the power of one-minute videos.
1. Start out with your “why” video.
Recording your “why” video (your mission or purpose) is a great way to start. Perhaps, it could be a time of hardship that you went through which changed you. From the hardships you encountered, that is where you get your “why.” Check out this “why” video from Nick Hicken, an advertising and analyst specialist at Content Factory.
Read Tips for Making a Good WHY video
2. Make one-minute videos of the knowledge you are acquiring.
You will constantly be learning and trying out new things. The best way to create educational content is by creating one-minute videos of some of the knowledge you are acquiring, whether it is learning a marketing funnel, the parts of a funnel, or even adding captions to a Facebook video and why that is so important. Look at this one-minute video from Elliot, Director of Personal Branding at Content Factory. He made it on the Facebook Engagement Point System.
3. Four components of a one-minute video.
Hook (from 0-3 seconds)
This part should capture the attention of your audience immediately. There’ll be no room for a video bumper, your name, or reusing what you see in a TV spot.
Ignite pain/pleasure (from 3-15 seconds)
Present a problem or opportunity to your audience. Ask a question, showing either success or failure. Let your audience know what’s in it for them, the benefit.
Describe the solution (from 15-50 seconds)
Once you present pain or pleasure, show your audience the solution you’re offering, which can be a product or service that caters to your pain or pleasure proposition.
Call to Action (from 50-60 seconds)
Tell your audience what you want them to do. Empower them to take action and be proactive.
4. By creating one-minute videos you can fit them into a 3×3 grid to help create if/then sequences.
The 3×3 guide contains three parts: why, how, and what. Along with that is a funnel to your left. Your “why” consists of your stories, the mission you set yourself out to achieve, and why you do what you do.
You can shoot three one-minute videos of your “why” and place them in the grid. Next, you will need your three “how” videos, which should be educational content about your product. They may include tips or things you learned and how you used them to fix a problem. You may even teach others how to do something.
The final videos you will shoot are your “what” videos that ask others to buy your product or invest in your service. Fit your one-minute videos in this grid to allow you to pull off if/then sequences meaning if someone watched video 1 for ten seconds, they would see video 4 as well. You can then sequence your video to build trust with your audience and drive conversions.
5. You can pull multiple custom audiences from your one-minute videos.
One of the many things people may not know about Facebook videos is that you can pull multiple custom audiences from them. On Facebook, the average watch time is 6 seconds. Facebook considers three seconds to be a video view.
Typically, we like to grab custom audiences from ten-second video views since it is a sign that someone may be interested in our product/service. Referring back to the 3×3 video grid, you can take the 10-second video viewers from your videos and sequence down your marketing funnel.
It means whoever watched video 1 for 10 seconds will sequence down to video 4. You would then take the ten-second video viewers from video 4 and sequence them to video 7 to drive conversions.
6. You can boost your videos to influencers and employers.
As you continue making these videos, you can now boost them. When boosting, boost them to a cold audience. For example, if your brand makes athletic shoes, you can target shoe designers, athletes, and maybe even the sport itself.
It is known as interest-based targeting. You could also boost it to a mega-media audience like CNN, Nike, CBS, etc. You could target the employees that work there with your content. You can even get the fine details, such as if they are a writer or a journalist.
Targeting using that mega-media audience allows your content to be seen by high-authority figures. Isaac Irvine boosted a video of a conversation between him and his son talking about being bullied. It has over 75 million views and has been picked up by many news stations and high-authority figures.
7. You can cross-post your one-minute videos to Instagram and Snapchat.
By keeping your videos around one minute, you could also cross-post to Instagram and Snapchat to reach people on those platforms. By doing that, more people will see your video. You are effectively killing two birds with one stone.
Go Ahead and Make Your One-Minute Video
Fear is the enemy that is holding you back from creating great content. When you learn to overcome your fear and start speaking of your goals, the universe will conspire to achieve them.
Here are more resources to help you get started:
Mobile Mastery: Creating Compelling Videos and Confidently Speaking on Your Smartphone
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations.You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel.You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.