How to Find the Right Social Video Marketer for Your Business

Video has become one of the most powerful marketing tools today, and for a very good reason.  According to Hubspot, 90% of buyers consider videos to be very helpful in the decision-making process.

With the majority of people being highly visual in nature, this is not surprising at all. It’s also not surprising that social videos get shared 1200% more than text and images combined, per SmallBizTrends. And video posts on Facebook have a 135% reach advantage over photo posts, according to Social Media Today. What’s more, landing pages with videos have higher conversion rates.

With all these staggering facts right in front of us, it doesn’t take a genius to realize how important a good social video marketing is to every business, big or small.

Can I do my own social video marketing?

Video-editing is not rocket science. It’s easy to learn in a couple of days with some technical know-how and a few online resources. That will do if you don’t really want to produce amazing videos. But video marketing is not as simple as putting videos and music together and slapping them on Facebook. And when it comes to your business, only the best will do. Finding the right video marketer will also take more than just a casual gleaning.

The question now is, how do you find a good social video marketer?

There is an element of art involved that makes a video marketer’s work come together cohesively. Social videos need to tell a story and not just show something that was pasted together to make it longer. It’s important to understand this. Knowing how to edit videos is not the same as knowing how to market them, and ultimately, how to make marketable videos.

With that said, below are some of the qualities you should be looking for in landing the services of a proficient social video marketer.

1.   Advanced Knowledge of Video and Marketing

This is key because there are a lot of people out there who are good at editing videos and there are a lot of people out there who are good at social marketing. But you’ll be hard put to find someone who has both these skills and the experience to make it work for your business.

If you want things to work and you’re looking forward to business growth and huge profits, the one can’t go without the other, and that’s non-negotiable. Getting someone who possesses both skills will definitely benefit your business for years to come.

Ask yourself:

Which video editing program do they use?  Are they familiar with Final Cut Pro?  Do they use a lot of transitions in their videos?

Do they understand people’s buying behavior? Can they invoke emotion with the music and slides or clips they use?

It would also be helpful for a video marketer to be adept with pre-production and post-production procedures.  A social video marketer who knows how to capture or at least identify excellent shots is a true gem. If you can find someone who knows their stuff in both video production and marketing, your business will have a promising future.

2.   Keen Understanding of the Customer

Just like any marketer, a video marketer should have a deep understanding of what a potential customer likes and dislikes. This is critical because the videos they create for your business must appeal to that customer.  Generating content for the wrong audience will cost you a lot, not just in terms of ads but also in terms of time and resources.

Does your customer react well to funny content?  Are they more inclined to share serious, thought-provoking material?  Are they more likely to react to long videos or short ones?

These are just some of the questions a video marketer should know the answers to if they’re going to help your business succeed. When your customers go through their social feeds, your videos should be shared enough so they don’t get buried and lost and forgotten.

3.   Aware of the Appropriate Video Styles

An effective social video marketer should know which video style fits the project they are working on.  Is the project better presented in interview format?  Documentary style?  A fusion of styles?

They should know when to apply black and white filters or when to employ slow-motion clips.  It’s not so much the timing but the proper use of all the different elements that are crucial. It is through these different effects that you can reach your audience and elicit your desired responses.

They need to also have the ability to craft materials that suit the product you’re looking to market. They need to be creative and strategic, able to make each campaign for different products and services effective from the introductory stage through to campaign maturity.

4.   Knows What Works on Different Platforms

A social video marketer should have the unique skill of knowing which type of video will work on different social media channels.  Though some formats may generally work, it’s not always going to be a one-size-fits-all solution.

Videos that convert on Instagram are relatively short compared to the videos we see on YouTube or Facebook.  People on twitter/”>Twitter, on the other hand, prefer text over images or videos. Knowing what works where will save you money, not just in terms of production, but also in campaign costs. This is a specialized knowledge that a social video marketer should be able to share and apply.

Another reason why this is important is that this also determines the video marketer’s ability to make one of his creations go viral.  We all know how going viral can produce good results for your business by increasing your reach and attracting more attention.

Would you be interested in watching a video that nobody cares about?

5.   Good Time Management Skills

Creating videos is tedious for the most part and takes a lot of time to complete from pre-production to post-production. You need to get someone who has excellent time management skills.

This person should know what to prioritize and be able to meet deadlines despite the heavy workload.  In this day and age of high definition where we deal with huge files and high compression rates, it takes even longer to render videos. With the time it takes to complete one scene and the number of takes usually required to perfect each one, a video marketer needs discipline to get you what you need.

6.   Knowledge of SEO

Now more than ever, it’s not enough to just produce content and post it on your social media channels. It’s not enough to just hope that people will like it.  SEO should also be a major consideration because all the long hours spent on content will be useless if it can’t be found. When your customers do a simple search, it should show up. The social video marketer you get should have ample knowledge of basic SEO tactics for social channels. This person should know how to properly use metatags and keyword-rich descriptions.

7.   Ability to Work Well with Others

Video marketers work closely with different people. They work with graphic designers, writers, and even actors in some cases.  Given the amount of interaction they have with different people, they need to know how to get along.

Video marketers need to be flexible and open-minded to learn from the expertise of others as all the skillsets come together to make the project succeed.

Just like anywhere else, content production is a total group effort. If one department fails to perform their function, it will affect the performance of the entire brand. Each of the people involved should be able to perform their duties correctly and efficiently. But marketing is where the buck stops, and the show must go on.

Conclusion

We can’t stress enough how important it is to have a reliable and efficient social video marketer working to push your brand forward.  Having one with above-average skills definitely makes a ton of difference considering the appeal of video content on social media.

The qualities mentioned above should lead you to the right candidate. And always remember that they should have a good mix of technical expertise and personal excellence.

Noel Rosos is a personal development writer, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and founder of Life’s How You Live It, a personal development blog dedicated to helping people live the life they’ve always dreamed of.  He is also a writer/contributor for Arianna Huffington’s wellness site, Thrive Global.  He is an affiliate marketer, a full-time husband and father, and a self-proclaimed FAILUROLOGIST.