Digital marketing, particularly when social media’s part of the mix, requires a lot of content. Fresh graphics, photos, and videos are needed regularly. While it’s certainly possible to have your marketing agency provide a significant amount of these marketing materials, there are some things even the best agency can’t do for you – things like:

• Taking a video of your customers as they line up & then rush through the doors at the start of a major sales event.
• Snap a quick pic of customers having fun shopping, trying on apparel or jewelry, enjoying the food in your restaurant, etc.
• Give customers that first sneak peek of coming attractions as your deliveries arrive and are unboxed
• Connect with those spontaneous local moments or events that define your community but may have nothing to do with your business, such as having an Olympic athlete in your town

When we explain this to business owners, they generally immediately ‘get it’ and see the value of this type of content to their marketing mix.

But there’s one set of objections that keep cropping up. They’re not videographers and they’re certain any footage they may shoot won’t be professional quality. Every time they take a picture, it’s crooked and sometimes people’s hands or feet gets cropped out. They’d love to share the latest news from their local celebrity, but every time they attempt to write about it, the words just don’t come out right.

Sound familiar? We’re here to tell you that execution isn’t everything. Today’s customers place a very high premium on the genuine, authentic, and real. If your door buster video’s a little shaky but you can still clearly see the customer’s excitement and enthusiasm – it works. You’re definitely not going to be the first person ever to crop out somebody’s body part on social media. People do love eloquent prose – but they also love information they can’t get anywhere else.

Do the best you can, but don’t let perfection become the enemy of the good. Remember that most social media content is viewed for only a few seconds; people aren’t going to sit down and do a frame-by-frame analysis of your cinematic technique. Practice makes all the difference in the world, too. Start small, committing to creating one or two pieces of content directly from your business each week. The more you do this – or have members of your team do this – the more your skills and confidence will grow. Meanwhile, you’ll be growing your collection of unique, sharable content that gives your customers a chance to know who you really are – and in today’s marketplace, that’s solid gold.