How We Do It: Behind the Scenes of the #TomFerryShow

February 27, 2018

If you’ve been paying attention to the #TomFerryShow at all, you know I’m all-in on video.
We’re in the video age, and it’s only getting bigger.
Every #TomFerryShow we do on any topic related to video generates tons of comments and questions.
In this episode, we strive to answer as many of those questions as possible and we reveal every last detail of how we produce the #TomFerryShow week in and week out.
We’re gonna cover a lot of territory here in the blog, so I encourage you to bookmark this page and return to it regularly as your ultimate video resource!

5 Reasons Why You Need to Focus on Video Content Marketing

In 2017, video content accounted for 74% of online web traffic. By 2019, video traffic will account for 80% of all Internet traffic.
Facebook generates 8 billion video views on average, per day.
55% of people online watch videos every day, and this number is increasing even more every year.
Over 52% of marketing professionals worldwide say that video content has the best ROI.
Video content generates the most reach and engagement on Facebook.

4 Tips on Creating Engaging Content That Drives Results

1. Define your intention before creating content

The road to lackluster video content is paved with a lack of intention. Before you shoot your next video, think about why you’re doing it, who your audience is, what your story is going to be, and which online platform you will be publishing on.
If you consciously keep your intention in your mindset, you’ll notice that your video will take on a life it may not have had before and eventually positively impact your audience.
Along with your intention, your content strategy should also be about creating valuable, relevant, and compelling content on a consistent basis to a targeted audience.
Everybody has a special story, and there are people around the world who can relate to it. Define your audience (or avatar), create your message, and then deliver that message to them based on their preferred method of consuming content.

2. Entertain or Die: Make Content That Your People will Care About

You can’t force your audience to care about your content, but you can create content they will care about.
Have you ever had the painful experience of watching a bad and boring video? It leaves that bad feeling like you’ve wasted your time and got nothing in return.
Watching any video online is essentially a transaction. The viewer gives time or money in exchange for a rewarding watch experience. People watch videos online for one of two simple reasons: to be entertained or to learn.
What About Selling My Product or Service?
When you are in communication with someone, you should never lose their attention. The quickest way to lose someone’s attention is to try and sell them something. The best way to sell your product or service is initially not to sell. Instead you should focus on providing a rewarding viewing experience.
In order to provide that experience, you must create content that first and foremost provides value to them. Give them something that fulfills either of those reasons because that content builds that relationship with your audience, which then allows you to sell to them.

3. Create and publish content based on the platform, but don’t forget to maximize the opportunities of your videos

There is a varying mindset and demographic on each social media platform. For example, Facebook tends to have an older demographic compared to Instagram or Snapchat. Your customers might have a different mindset while on Facebook as opposed to being on Instagram. Some people may prefer to consume content in audio format via podcasts on Spotify or iTunes.
Maybe you need to take a friendlier approach on Facebook and appear more polished and professional on YouTube (or vice versa).
Different Aesthetics and Viewing Experiences
If you take a second to observe, you’ll notice that the videos on Facebook are different from those on YouTube or Instagram in terms of aesthetics and intended viewing experience.
YouTube videos tend to be longer (at 10-11 minutes) with a wide rectangular 16:9 ratio meant to be viewed horizontally.
Facebook videos tend to be shorter (at 3-6 minutes) with either a rectangular 16:9 or square 1:1 ratio with eye-catching titles and captions meant for vertical viewing on your phone as you scroll through your news feed. Keep in mind on this platform, people view videos with or without sound.
This also applies to Instagram Post videos, but with a shorter duration (30-60 seconds).
Instagram Stories (at 10-15 seconds) and Snapchat Stories (at 5-10 seconds) have a vertical 9:16 ratio intended for full screen vertical viewing.
Publish Your Video Properly on These Platforms
Have you ever posted a video that you spent so much time, energy, emotion, and money on but didn’t get any views? It’s frustrating, but you can’t just post your video on every platform and pray that it goes viral.
Each social media platform has a proper way to post videos, and each video needs relevant text information so these platforms can help people discover your content.
On YouTube, you need to have a proper title, thumbnail, description, and keyword tags so people who search for topics relevant to your video can find it in Google or YouTube search results.
Warning! After you’ve uploaded your video to YouTube it may seem easier to just share your video link from YouTube to Facebook, but DO NOT do it. The reason is simple: Facebook is actively competing with YouTube so any YouTube video shared on Facebook will automatically get minimal reach. DO upload your video natively on Facebook and make sure you have a relevant title and description.
If you notice your post is getting more views and engagement than your other usual posts, then I highly recommend that you pay to “Boost” your post to reach more people.
For your Instagram posts, make sure that you use proper and relevant hashtags along with trending hashtags. Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags per post.

Maximize Your Content and Exposure
Going back to what I mentioned earlier, you need to have an intention and purpose for each specific piece of content. However, you must also make sure to maximize the opportunities for your content. There are numerous opportunities for you to repurpose your single video into other pieces of shorter content for publishing on other platforms in order to reach as many people as you can with your message.
For example, here’s how we maximize the content and exposure for the #TomFerryShow:
We begin by posting the full episode on our YouTube channel, and embed it on the blog here on our website. On Tuesdays we send out an email out to notify our database so they can enjoy the show. We don’t just stop there. The audio version of the full episode is turned into a podcast episode that we post on iTunes and Soundcloud for those who prefer to listen.
We also create 1 to 2-minute video snippets from that same long-form episode to post on Facebook and Instagram throughout the week.
Each piece of content we post is meant to educate as well as notify our followers about the new episode and direct them to this blog on our website.
So I encourage you to observe what other successful creators and companies in your market are doing with their content to “R&D” or “reverse-engineer” their process to fit what best works for your business.

4. Create high-quality content to establish trust and credibility

Developing high-quality content online is a powerful way to communicate your message and establish your brand. What is always true, and will forever be true, is that high-quality content will always have a competitive advantage.
In the business world, developing quality products conveys professional legitimacy and credibility. The same concept applies to creating high-quality content that delivers value. For your message to stand out and to be delivered at higher value, you need to establish your perceived credibility by creating high-quality videos that look and sound somewhat professional.
It doesn’t have to be perfect in the beginning, but strive for an achievable standard. Keep consistently creating and improving with practice.
In order to create high quality content, let’s examine what we use for the #TomFerryShow.

Equipment We Use

Over the past few years, a lot of you have asked about what type of equipment we use for the show. We have always strived to achieve constant improvement in every aspect of our business as well as the show. Despite our complex production process, my team has a simple inventory of equipment to enable us to create and deliver our message to you. We upgrade or acquire more equipment depending on what needs to be improved.
It doesn’t matter what equipment you use. What matters is how you utilize your equipment to fulfill your creative needs to deliver value to your customer, and focus on your message and intention.
Cameras and Lenses
For a standard show, we currently employ two cameras: Panasonic Lumix GH5 with a Leica 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 lens and Canon 70D with a standard 18-55mm kit lens. If/when needed (such as during interviews with special guests), we add a third camera, a Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 24-105mm USM lens.
Audio Recording and Microphones
In order to capture crisp and clear sound we use wireless lavalier microphones. We used to have Sennheiser EW 112P G3 microphones, but we switched to the Rode RodeLink Wireless Filmmaker Kit for ease and simplicity.
During situations when a wireless microphone cannot be utilized, we have a Rode VideoMic Pro Shotgun Microphone attached to our second camera.
All the audio from our microphones is synced and recorded on to a Tascam DR-60D Field Recorder.
Lighting Kit
I can’t stress how important lighting is for your cameras and videos. Without sufficient light, your cameras will not be able to capture high-quality video. Throughout the years of the show, we used to only rely on the fluorescent lights of the office (see episodes 1-110). Ever since we started using lighting kits, our videos have massively improved in quality.
We use three simple Neewer 24×24 Softbox Lighting Kits. Two lights illuminate the background wall, and the third light is directed towards me.
Tripods and Monopod
Our main camera is on a Manfrotto 546GB-1 Tripod with a MVH502A Fluid Head, while our second camera is mounted on a Manfrotto MVMXPRO500US Monopod (which also functions as a travel monopod).
Software
My team edits our graphics and videos with Adobe Creative Cloud software. Our video crew edits the videos with Adobe Premiere Pro then adds other titles and effects with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop.
Now for some of you looking at this list of equipment that we use, I know that it may seem overwhelming or too complicated or even too expensive. However, as long as you focus on your intention and your message, it doesn’t matter what equipment you use.
For more details and insights on what professional equipment Richard, our marketing department’s Video Content Specialist, recommends, visit his profile at https://kit.com/project.richard.

Creating Videos with Your Smartphone

For those of you who are just beginning to create videos or can’t afford professional production equipment at the moment, don’t worry. In fact, you already own a capable video recording device in your pocket!
Some smartphones have incredible tiny cameras that sometimes rival high-end professional cameras. We even shot most of this episode on smartphones to prove to you that it is definitely possible to create high-quality videos just with your smartphone.
One reason Richard recommends using a smartphone is because it makes the process of recording and publishing videos significantly quicker and easier as opposed to a regular production process. With that simple device in your pocket, you have the potential to reach millions of people around the world with your message quickly and easily.

3 Tips on How to Shoot Professional Videos with Your Smartphone

In this episode, we used three different phones: the Google Pixel 2, iPhone 6s, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
In order to achieve that professional look and sound that modern audiences are accustomed to, here are some simple tips on how you can significantly improve your smartphone videos.
Always Have Adequate Lighting
Smartphones, like any other camera, capture better images when there is sufficient surrounding light. Better lighting equals better visual quality.
When recording indoors, you can use any sort of lighting equipment, and when recording outdoors you should have enough sunlight facing towards your subject’s direction and behind the camera.
Give High Importance to Audio Quality
Most people tend to disregard audio quality and focus more on the visual quality. This is a huge mistake because audio is just as important (if not more important) as the visual quality.
A video has two primary elements: the visuals and the audio. It is impossible to keep a viewer’s attention on a video with horrible sound quality despite amazing visuals.
To capture great quality audio with your phone, you have four options:
– Your phone’s internal microphone
– earbuds with a microphone
– an external shotgun microphone or
– a lavalier microphone
As a quick and simple tip to record better audio, Richard recommends placing your microphone as close to your mouth as possible. The closer your microphone is to your source of sound, the less likely you are to record other unnecessary sounds.
In the video, we show you a sample of how each of these microphones sound (at 16:37).
Keep Your Phone Stable
If you want keep the attention of your audience, then you must prevent your video from being wobbly, distorted, or even blurry by keeping it stable. Nobody likes a wobbly video.
Even if you try to use both hands while recording video, you will eventually get tired after multiple takes of trial and error. There are tons of affordable accessories out there such as mini tripods, selfie sticks, or electronic stabilizers to help you keep your phone steady as your record your videos.
Bonus Tip: Location
With all of these previous tips in mind, make sure that you are mindful of your location.
If you are shooting in one location, make sure that you have as much control as you can on the lighting and surrounding sounds.
If your video requires switching locations, be aware of the changes in both lighting and sounds. Each of these elements can change whenever you transfer locations (such as locations around a house).

Practice, Practice, Practice

The final takeaway I’d like to share with you is about practice. It’s okay to suck when you’re just beginning to create your videos. Were you amazing when you first started driving a car? Of course not! Learning a skill requires constant practice, and you must accept that you will not be good at it in the beginning. Improve. Adapt. Overcome.

Bonus Stuff

Recommended Book
Richard recommends “How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck” by Steve Stockman. It’s a great book for beginners and professionals that simplifies film school concepts for anybody to digest.
Richard’s Insights on Different Social Media Platforms for Video
Video content is currently the dominant medium on the internet and every company around the world should be aware of that fact. Within the next few years, there will be more than a billion more people expected to be on the internet. With these two facts in mind, you should already be competing for the attention of these users.
You should be uploading videos to Facebook along with the purpose of virality. It is less difficult to “go viral” on that platform compared to YouTube due to less competition with other video creators. I would not say completely disregard YouTube. YouTube is still the dominant video sharing platform, but I still want to provide you this information so you can be aware while making creative decisions that will impact your business.
The Facebook and Instagram “Live” functionalities are currently better than what YouTube has to offer in terms of user engagement and ease of sharing.
Be Consistent and Track Your Results
There is so much content noise constantly being published on the internet. The only way to compete in this digital age is to attempt to constantly publish high-quality content that engages your audience. It’s easy to drown in this sea of new content every week, but you can stay afloat and still gain attention with consistent content for your audience to consume and love. As difficult as it sounds to accomplish this, I promise you it will be worth it in the future.
Tracking your results is something I mention all the time. It keeps you on track and motivated with accomplishing your goals. All social media platforms offer insights and analytics for you to track your views or reach so you can figure out which areas of your creative process you can improve on.

What’s Next?

Now that you have all of this information on how to shoot great video, here is one thing that you can do to begin creating videos and then become the market leader, expert, and knowledge broker of your town:
Ask yourself two questions:
1. What are the pain points a client experiences when buying a home today?
If you can make a list of 15 or 20 problems in your marketplace that just needs to be solved, you can create a video explaining these problems and how you solve them.
2. What are the concerns and worries of future home sellers?
All of these things are what’s on the mind of your customers. If you can take the time to answer all of their questions and concerns with solutions and feedback, then you’re the knowledge broker and the one they will choose.
So I challenge you to create a 2018 initiative to crush it on video.