Making Social Media Videos Without Being on Camera

It’s no secret that video is the staple of social media marketing. The sheer number of available formats and venues for social media video illustrates the point well (think TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories, YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and more). Social media marketers who use video say it’s vital to their success.

But in polling the decorator’s community, not many people are taking advantage of this medium for several reasons. One of the major reasons is people don’t want their faces on camera. People who get on Zoom, FaceTime calls, and more are uncomfortable being recorded on video. It is a different animal, and I certainly understand that fear can get in the way.

Let me share these three statistics from sproutsocial.com, a leading social media management tool and someone who brings the social media world valuable insight to help marketers determine their strategy:

• More than half (54%) of marketers say that video is the most valuable content type for achieving social media marketing goals.
• Video is the most underutilized format across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, comprising 14%, 11%, and 5% of each network’s content.
• 93% of companies have acquired new customer(s) via social media video.

Pretty telling how much opportunity is available to people willing to jump into video content. So how do we balance the clear need to do more with video on social media and the fears associated with creating video content? One of the best ways to overcome our fears is to build self-confidence by surviving much smaller risks. So I want to share five strategies you can use to create video content without being the star of the show, as well as the strategy I used to get myself to a point where I am creating video content with me as the host three to four times per week.

But first, the strategies where you can create content and not have to be in front of the camera.

1. Unboxings or product reviews
2. Time-lapse videos of your process
3. Behind the scenes
4. Screen sharing
5. Animated videos

Ultimately, you will need a “face” of your company because people want to get to know you. If you have employees, one of them could take that role, but at the end of the day, as the owner, people are buying you. So the last strategy I wanted to share is the one I used when I started. I wanted to speak and share more, but I thought I was terrible and could never bring myself to be on camera or in front of an audience. So I found a friend who was good in front of a camera and audience and asked if we could do some things together.

Starting out with a friend is like having a conversation; he was happy to do it since he loved sharing (Thanks Terry Combs). I did all the groundwork to make it happen, and he just had to show up. Ten years later, we are at about 475 episodes of the 2 Regular Guys Podcast, where we go live on video each Friday. From that foundation, I spun off Small Business Saturdays, The Half, Q&A with T&A, and even started an education company called Our Success Group, where I make most of the content.

The co-founder of Our Success Group, Todd Downing, used a similar strategy to grow his Tuesdays With Todd program and has now added 3-morning programs, live video DTF bundle drops, and tons of other great content.