The stats are clear. People are spending an average of 17 hours a week watching short-form video. If you think there’s no way that’s the average compared to your own watch time, consider how many people must be watching even more than 17 hours to have an average that high.
We spoke with short-form and vertical video superstars Nick Meyer, CFP®, and Nate Hoskin, CFP®, of N2 Content Marketing about how financial advisors can get started on this important marketing effort with just a few ideas, their phones, and good lighting. Watch the full webinar at this link or watch the embedded clips below for a few highlights.
Why should financial advisors try short-form video?
Financial advisors understand the importance of relationships and trust in this industry. Nate pointed out, “Our presence as advisors on the internet doesn’t answer the questions: ‘Do I like this person? Does this person work with people like me?’ and most importantly, ‘Can this person explain financial concepts in a way that I can understand?’ and that’s what short-form video allows advisors to do, and all of this culminates in building trust.”
Nick spelled it out further, “If you start posting short-form videos that show up in your prospective clients’ feeds, you could be 1 to 2 feet away from their face on the phone screen, multiple times a week…Who do you think is going to be the first person they turn to when they decide it’s time to work with a financial advisor? You’d rarely have to sell to clients anymore, because they already know, like, and trust you if they consume your social media content and find it valuable.”
How should advisors set up their social media profiles?
“People follow people, they don’t follow brands.” Nick advised that you will get better results by using your own name and a professional but approachable headshot for your profile instead of your firm’s name and logo.
Nick recommends using the same username on each platform. Since you can use vertical video on all the major platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube, posting on all of them at once will help you determine which style of video works best for each platform.
It’s important to explain to visitors to your profile why you’re credible. You can do this with your bio, sharing your value prop, and including a full landing page in the link on your bio. Some social media networks don’t allow a link unless you have a certain number of followers, so the earlier you can gain followers, the better!
Here are Nate and Nick with more on what you can include within the link and how to create it:
How can advisors write “viral” scripts?
Nick noted the importance of writing out every single word you’re going to say—not only for your compliance team to review—but also because every second counts. It is very easy to lose someone because there are a million other options for your audience to scroll to on each of these platforms.
Nick and Nate have a “viral script formula” they follow to create the most engaging videos possible. This formula includes multiple hooks to earn the viewers’ intrigue, clear demonstration of value, and a call-to-action (CTA). Getting used to writing scripts this way will need to be learned and practiced so Nick recommended watching his and Nate’s videos, writing down the words, and applying the script style to your own topics.
Nick explained the formula in more depth:
Nate recommended writing scripts out in “bite-sized chunks” that you can memorize so you are not reading off a screen. This adds to your trustworthiness in the eyes of your audience and allows you to add your own tone and body language that might otherwise be lost.
What is the ideal recording set-up and what equipment do advisors need?
Nate and Nick recommended just a few pieces of equipment—a small microphone, a tripod, and two lightboxes—to get started. They agreed that lighting is the most important aspect of a video. While there’s much to say on this topic, they gave us three quick rules of thumb:
Place two light sources on either side of the camera
Use natural lighting whenever possible
Never use overhead lighting
Here are the equipment suggestions and more lighting notes from the webinar:
What style video should advisors try?
The answer here is to experiment to see what works for you and your audience on each platform. Nate has found the majority of his success with two main styles, one a casual “Facetime”-ish conversation with the viewer and another a little more structured with him sitting at his desk in front of a microphone sharing information. After testing many different formats, Nick mostly sticks with a skit format now, where he plays a character speaking to another character who he also plays, which he admits can take a certain personality to pull off.
How can advisors edit videos?
When you first start out, editing may be what takes the longest in your process. The most important thing to do is to add captions—not only for general accessibility but also because many social media users scroll with their phones on mute. You can add automatic captions within the platforms themselves, but it’s good practice to scroll through the words and make sure everything is spelled correctly.
Nick and Nate recommended some fun editing tricks to try as well as editing platforms they enjoy:
Looking to learn more about using short-form videos to promote your business? Visit N2 Content Marketing’s website today to dive into more valuable insights, gain an understanding of creating engaging content, and learn how to attract a wider audience.