How to Make Professional Videos with a Smartphone

Video is powerful because it allows you to see someone’s face, hear their voice, and pick up on all the non-verbal communication cues you otherwise miss.

There is a general perception that expensive equipment and expertise are required to create successful video content, but that is simply not true. Here are three simple steps to create professional-looking videos.

Step 1: Record the video on your phone

Start by recording the video on your mobile device. That’s all you need – no fancy, expensive DSLR camera; just your phone. The quality of videos recorded on smartphones has improved drastically and they are getting better.

If you plan to upload the video onto your YouTube channel (which I highly recommend), then you should be holding the phone horizontally when you record. Conversely, if you plan on uploading your video directly to your social media platforms, hold your phone vertically while recording.

Before you press record, place your phone in a tripod or propped against books or other objects where it is stable. Purchase some great affordable tripods with LED ring lights like this one from Amazon. This is the only additional piece of equipment I’ve purchased to record the videos I shoot for Twenty Over Ten. [Pro tip: Set the camera on your phone facing you, so that you can shoot and watch yourself on the screen at the same time.]

Once your video is recorded, quickly edit out the beginning and the end where you are getting ready. This can be done directly on your phone; no need for complicated editing software. Once you have made those simple edits, save the video on your phone.

Step 2: Add captions

Next up, it’s time to add captions. Trust me – do not skip this step. Having video subtitles makes your videos easier to understand, and they increase engagement rates and can even help give you a little SEO boost. They also ensure your video content is easy to comprehend for those with disabilities or those who chose to watch with the sound off. Studies show that captioned videos receive over 7% more views than those without captions.

There are many different tools that you can use to transcribe your videos. At Twenty Over Ten, we use a free tool called Headliner . This tool automatically transcribes your video for you, so all that you have to do is pick the video orientation (landscape, square, or portrait) and within a few minutes, the subtitles are auto-generated for you. Admittedly, they’re not always the most accurate, so go through and ensure there are no errors. From here you can export your video as an MP4 file.

Step 3: Share, share, share!

Once you’ve got your subtitled video ready to go, share it with the world! Some ways to do this are by:

Add it into the body of a blog post

Your blog is one of the best places to start when integrating video into other marketing channels for your business. You still want to host them somewhere (i.e. YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Self-hosting your videos will not only be problematic from a user-experience standpoint (formatting, loading times, etc.), but self-hosting videos can reduce visibility. If your video is on YouTube or Vimeo, millions of people have access to it at any time.

Secondly, include the transcript (see step #2 and example below from Retirement Theory) in the body of your blog post. Adding your transcript is another great SEO booster. In fact, a recent study compared found that in less than a month, pages with video transcripts climbed the ranks in Yahoo and Bing for a targeted keyword phrase, moving from no organic ranking, up to 14th, then to 9th and 11th place, respectively.

Step 2: Add captions

Step 3: Share, share, share!

Once you’ve got your subtitled video ready to go, share it with the world! Some ways to do this are by:

Add it into the body of a blog post

Upload it natively to your social platforms

Uploading videos “natively” to your social profiles means uploading the raw video file rather than just sharing a link on your page. Social media sites prioritize videos that they host over videos hosted elsewhere. Studies show that Facebook native videos receive up to eight times more comments than non-native videos, and interactions were 168% higher for native videos compared to interactions on shared YouTube videos. Facebook native videos also had a 477% higher share rate compared to YouTube videos.

Include it in your email marketing and newsletters

Repurposing your video and using it in a newsletter or in your email marketing efforts is another great way to get more eyeballs on your video content. Email has such a wide reach with the click of a button – it’s cost-effective and it’s measurable.

In fact, according to the DMA, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $32. With those rates of return, utilizing this strategy is a great investment for your firm, so get some legs out of your video and include it in your newsletter.

Depending on the email service provider you use, you can also tie measurable performance to each email campaign. In a platform like Lead Pilot, you can see clicks, open and send rates.

The next time you want to create a video for your website, make sure you have your iPhone. You will be ready to create compelling videos, boost traffic to your site and get much more out of your content.