Nearly every marketing publication has stressed the importance of video for any company’s content marketing plan. ReminderMedia has been on a journey to produce more content, and one of the first things the company had to embrace was the production of more video.

The first, and maybe best tip, is that you simply have to start. It’s a lot like public speaking. It can be a nerve-wracking experience, and if you want to produce something that will engage an audience, you have to exude a lot of energy. Audiences are attracted to figures that emit enthusiasm and passion for the subject matter. This means that you’ll have to turn it up a notch once you start recording.

Embrace the fact that you might fail, because those failures should be used to inform the necessary changes that need to be made to your video approach. The most important part is to simply start. If you have an iPhone, then you have iMovie, which allows you to create simple listing videos right on your phone. Start with what you know, and make your first videos about your area of expertise. Here’s a blog post we wrote all about creating awesome videos with the app.

From there, start reviewing the footage and make changes where you see fit. Remember, you have a very small window of time to capture someone’s attention, so you want to state the purpose and payoff of the piece within the first 5 seconds of the video. Pay attention to titles, and while they should always be bold, you never want to lie. Think about the way people will get to your video, and ask yourself, how does the thumbnail look? Remember, that little thumbnail will be the image that draws someone to view the video.

When all is said and done, authenticity is what audiences value most. Even though we’ve gotten to a point here at ReminderMedia where we produce our own coaching videos with videographers and a room full of professional equipment, our live Facebook videos get the most traffic. So as long as you have a smart phone, you can take action and create your own brand-expanding video today.