Did you know that one third of all online activity is spent watching video?
It’s true and there’s more. Video has been found to increase people’s understanding of products by 74% and one study found that video gets more engagement on Facebook than any other type of content.
Do you have a video strategy for your travel business?
You’ve probably been thinking about it for a while now. The need for video is there, but the how is the hard part. Cameras and equipment can get really expensive and the time requirement for editing can be more than you can invest.
The good news is that there are low-cost options for getting started with video.
1. Low-Cost Camera Options
If you want to make high quality videos for your website to describe products and get visitors interested in what you have to offer then you’ll want professional quality video equipment (and editors). But you don’t necessarily need to buy this equipment. Talk to your local Chamber Of Commerce to see if you can rent or borrow equipment from someone that already has it. The local university might even have something you can borrow.
For many of the other video strategies out there you can use your own smartphone or something like a GoPro camera. The video cameras on phones have improved greatly and some of the most popular online videos were created with smartphones, but more on that later.
If you are using your smartphone to take more professional videos, ones that you might upload to YouTube and add to your site then make sure you film with the phone in the horizontal position. This creates the wide screen effect you get when watching video on your computer screen.
2. Upload Directly To Social Media
Instagram, Vine (Twitter), SnapChat and more.
The rage with video today is all about social media and I would include YouTube in there, but people are uploading video directly to social media channels including Facebook today more than ever before.
People don’t want to view horrible video on these channels. You still need to have a good looking picture and sound, but you can do that with your smartphone today.
Sound is very important. If you’re having trouble getting good sound with your phone you could invest in a microphone for your smartphone like this one.
As with anything, subject matter is what really matters with social media video.
Restaurants could show the daily special as the chef prepares it for the first time in the morning. Post that on Facebook and see how many of your followers get enticed to come in and try it.
Tour operators could take video of a beautiful day they’re having with the day’s followers. Show all the smiles, laughs and wows in the video and people will want to be there the next time you go.
Hotels could show a quick video of a freshly made room that is ready for guests on their arrival. You could cut to a sneak peek of what’s going on behind the scenes in preparation for an event. All the work you do leading up to big events or to get things ready is appreciated by your potential guests.
3. Take Advantage Of Customer Generated Video
Chances are your guests are taking their own photos on their trips and stays with you. Create your own hashtag and encourage visitors to share their social media updates, photos and videos using the hashtag.
It could be something like #IAteAtSams or #BoatRideLux or whatever your brand is. You can probably come up with a cool hashtag. Try to keep it short if you can.
Then you can monitor the hashtag and re-share the content your fans share on social media. This way your followers can see the content including the video content and you don’t actually have to be the one taking the video.
You can even embed the videos from Twitter and Instagram in blog posts on your website. You might have to start it yourself and work with your best customers to help get things rolling, but the more you share it the more your followers will want to share their own video content.
Conclusion
If you’re using your phone to take video there are some editing functions you can use that are often right in the app. You can also put the video from your phone to your computer. If you have a Mac, you can use the video editing software, iMovie to make edits to the video. You can even add music. You can find free-to-use music from Creative Commons Communities.
Video is one of the most important forms of content today and it will remain that way in the future. In fact, it will likely be more important in the future. So it’s important to invest in video today.
But you know that.
Hopefully the tips above can help you get started without breaking your pocketbook.
Image: Stephan Ridgway
