Summary
In this episode, Jera Bean, a social media coach and educator, shares insights into video strategy and the importance of short-form video in 2024. She emphasises the need for a strong foundation in strategy and the connection between content pillars and video formats. Jera also addresses the fear of being on camera and provides tips for overcoming it. She introduces the concept of secret sauce in content and explains how it can help businesses connect with their audience. Jera encourages taking messy action and offers guidance on getting started with short-form video.
Takeaways
- Video strategy is the foundation of a successful social media presence. It involves understanding your goals, target audience, and the content pillars that align with your brand.
- Short-form video, such as Reels and TikToks, is a powerful tool for businesses in 2024. It allows for authentic communication, longer shelf life, and increased visibility on social media platforms.
- Transitioning from long-form to short-form video requires identifying smaller ideas within longer content and repurposing them for short-form platforms.
- Showing up authentically on social media involves sharing content in the four quadrants of secret sauce: foundational, personal, professional, and lighthearted.
- Taking messy action and starting with simple content ideas is key to getting started with short-form video. It’s important to iterate and improve over time.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction and Background
02:20 – Understanding Video Strategy
05:13 – Short-Form Video Strategy
07:24 – Aligning Format with Strategy
09:46 – The Importance of Short-Form Video
12:09 – Transitioning from Long-Form to Short-Form Video
16:21 – Overcoming the Fear of Being on Camera
25:19 – Balancing Secret Sauce and Expertise Content
36:11 – Taking Action and Getting Started with Short-Form Video
39:29 – Where to Learn More from Jera
Links from the show:
If you found this episode of value I’d love for you to reach out and let me know on Instagram @engage_ben or email podcast@engagevideomarketing.com
Rate the Engage Video Marketing Podcast on iTunes
Transcript of the Interview: ** Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.
Ben (00:01.208)
Jera Bean, welcome to the podcast.
Jera (00:03.599)
Thank you so much for having me on. I’m excited to be here.
Ben (00:06.65)
I’m excited to have this conversation with you. I was in your session at Social Media Marketing World. We didn’t get a chance to meet at the conference, but a lot of what you were speaking about during your session was right aligned with everything that I share on this podcast. You’ve got a great insight into this world of video and video strategy and short form video as well, which is the thing in 2024 for so many businesses. I’d just love to …
dive in and hear a bit more about your insights. Really looking forward to this episode. So before we do that though, tell me, who are you for people that haven’t met you before and what’s your passion?
Jera (00:42.446)
I am too.
Jera (00:50.125)
Who am I? What a big question. All right, let me see if I can sum this up in a nutshell. So I am Jerebeen. I’m a social media coach, educator, speaker, content creator. If we rewind many, many years, I’ve always been in the creative realm. So what I went to school for was graphic design. That’s what I did after college for a few years, but I found myself in this, let’s just say it was a little bit of a dark time and social media ended up being,
this light for me. I discovered fitness. I made an account to hold myself accountable as I was doing this fitness journey. And that’s really where social media began for me. And I started off in the world of content creation and essentially being an influencer for lack of a better word, we’ll just say. But if that was in 2015, and then if we fast forward to 2019, that is when I pivoted into the world of social media coaching and education, which was really
the basis of what I do now. So fast forward today, I work with clients one -on -one, I do workshops, group programs, digital products, and I would say my main focus is a mixture of short form video content, high level strategy, and one of my favorite things to talk about as well is how to show up authentically on social media as an individual and as a business. So that’s JeraBean in a nutshell.
Ben (02:20.06)
Yeah, very cool. Great story. You talk about that idea of high level strategy. I’m interested, from your perspective, Jera, what is video strategy? That’s a term thrown around, but what does it mean to you?
Jera (02:27.733)
Yeah.
Jera (02:35.373)
Yeah, that’s actually a good point. I feel like it does mean different things for different people and that’s okay. I think strategy can be flexible. It can be customized based on the person who is giving the strategy as well as who you are creating the strategy for. The way that I see it, I see strategy as the foundation of a metaphorical house. So I actually have a visual that I like to include on my slides. I’m like, here’s a house.
Here’s the foundation. Here’s the actual house above ground. And what I find is that so many people, when it comes to crafting how they are going to show up on social media, is that they jump straight to the house. They’re like, okay, what transition should I use? What trending audio should I use? What should my caption should be? It’s like all of these outward facing components. And it’s not that these outward facing components are wrong or that we shouldn’t think about them, but if they are not,
rooted into the why of why you’re showing up if they are not connected to the goal. To me, it feels like you’re building a house on quicksand. So that foundation to me is built up of first you and your business like who are you? What is your business? What is the overall goal? What is the impact you’re trying to have? Also, what are the things that you’re selling? Like, of course, there’s a business aspect in terms of the why here is.
well. And then from that, I like to
Essentially that divide up your content pillars. I call it the content pillar trifecta and I have three main categories of content pillars, which are your expertise pillars your business pillars and then your secret sauce pillars and that’s a starting point to then come up with more specific content ideas and content themes, but what I find is that with these Three types of content pillars. It’s a really well -rounded approach that always circles back
Jera (04:39.663)
to the why and the goal. So the expertise pillars are all about defining and solidifying your authority. Business, of course, is about converting and then the secret sauce is about connection, relatability, the humanness. So even though I’ll customise these three types of pillars, depending on who I’m working with, if it’s a company, if it’s a small business, if it’s a content creator, I do find that all three of these tend to apply to create this really well
rounded approach to your strategy.
Ben (05:13.852)
We talked about your passion for short form video specifically before, but when you talk about that overarching, that high level strategy and those content pillars that you’ve talked about there, do they directly play in the short form video strategy or do you see them as part of a overarching video strategy as well?
Jera (05:36.389)
say it’s it’s
overarching, like we could take those high level content pillars and apply them to carousel pose. We could apply them to photos and captions. Like we can even bring stories, Insta stories into the mix, like all these different surfaces. But I find that most of the time I am zeroing in on people’s short form video strategy as it pertains to reels, as it pertains to TikTok. So even though these three content pillars can really apply to all of these three surfaces,
Most of the time I am talking about them in regards to video and what’s cool about these is that they give us this foundation going back to that house that I was talking about and then from there we can kind of get more specialized and more focused in on video. So for example, what I mean by that is we’ve defined these content pillars. We have refined them more specifically for each business, each person and then from there the next question is well, how are
we actually bringing these ideas to life? Because a content idea is not a video. So the next step is, you know, most of the time asking ourselves, well, what is the format in which we want to bring this content idea to life? And when you think about video, which I think is really exciting, but can be quite overwhelming for people who aren’t quite as excited about video, we can bring it to life by talking to camera. It could be B -roll with voiceover underneath. It could be a video.
with text overlay, it could be a trend. So I like to think of those formats as the primary four formats for bringing a content idea to life. So that’s really when video starts to become more specific in that process.
Ben (07:24.834)
Yeah, I love that understanding there and I think it’s important that we hit on that because really the format, the style of video that you create should be informed by the strategy behind it. It should be when you align it with a particular content pillar as you described them, then that strategic decision should lead to, well,
That’s why I’m creating this format of video. Does that align with you?
Jera (07:56.193)
Yeah, could we just pause really quick? You just froze for a second, so I want to make sure I heard the full question. Could you just repeat that one more time? Thank you.
Ben (08:02.989)
Absolutely, yep. So yeah, sorry, I think our Riverside’s been a little stupid, but that’s okay. We’ll tidy it up. Yeah, totally.
Jera (08:09.057)
No, no, all good. We’ll make it work. We’ll make it work.
Ben (08:13.795)
So more or less I was talking about the format of the video content that you create. So the style of video or the approach that you take to your video that you create really needs to be informed by the strategy, right? Needs to be informed by what you’re trying to achieve for your business in those content pillars. Is that the way you look at it?
Jera (08:35.199)
That’s absolutely the way that I look at it in terms of we’re building that foundation.
first and then thinking about how is it represented on social media. So it’s a great way to make sure that what we are posting is really linked back to the goals, the purpose, the vision of the business, rather than just saying, oh, we need to make a trend or, oh, we should share a tip or, oh, I guess we should create a vlog. Like these kinds of things feel like they’re being picked out of thin air with no rhyme or reason versus, okay,
Let’s actually come up with what we need to post about. And then the next step is the format of that content idea.
Ben (09:20.292)
Yeah, absolutely. It’s the idea of not doing video for video’s sake, but doing video with a clear and defined strategy behind it, which I talk about all the time, so I love that. Yeah, I love it. We’re definitely agreeing here, which is great. But let’s talk about short -form video, Jera. So what’s so important, or why should businesses be thinking about short -form video here in 2024?
Jera (09:28.132)
Yeah. Yeah, I know. I feel like we’re on the same page with that. So I’m into that. Yeah.
Jera (09:46.365)
Oh gosh, so many good reasons I could go on and on about this all day. I mean the things that come to my head, my, my head right away are the ability to communicate what you are all about. Like if I think of a photo and a caption versus a real or a TikTok, especially a real or a TikTok that uses voice, I am a huge proponent of incorporating your voice into your content in some shape or form.
When I think of the energy that can be conveyed through that piece of content when I think of the story when I think of the personality when I think of even just like the behind the scenes and the human element that to me is so powerful compared to a Static post and a capture now don’t get me wrong like I’ve been posting some carousels on Instagram recently like I’m not saying to never do that But the power that a piece of video can hold is
uh, more often than not is going to be so much stronger than, than just a photo and a caption. I think the other thing that, well, gosh, there’s so many things that are powerful, but another thing that comes to mind is the longer shelf life that a real or a TikTok can have, especially on TikTok. I am still getting engagement on some of the first videos I ever posted on TikTok back in like late 2019, early 2020. I’ll see different notifications come up. I’m like, how are people still finding these videos? Like they’re,
must be popping up in their search results or maybe it’s on their for you page. I don’t know, but the longer shelf life that a video can have because the algorithm will push it out longer. Sometimes it will have a resurgence in popularity after coming down after a little bit and TikTok specifically when we think about how powerful that platform is as a search engine, like it is rivaling Google these days and it’s videos that are popping up as the results.
So the authenticity, the energy, the longer shelf life, the way that videos pop up as a search result compared to like how we use Google, to me those would be like the two strongest elements that are coming to mind as to why I would want a business to use short for video content.
Ben (12:09.512)
So what would you say to a business that has been doing long form video content for a while for their business? So maybe YouTube 10 minute, eight minute episodes, that kind of thing, or even longer video on LinkedIn or longer form video on Instagram, right? So what would you say to get them to consider that short form 60, 90 seconds type content?
Jera (12:16.12)
Mmm.
Jera (12:34.104)
things. First thing that comes to mind is if you are creating that long form content, there has got to be so many smaller ideas, not hiding, but sort of baked within that longer idea. So in a way, you are at this advantage where you’re creating this longer form piece of content that can then be dissected into, gosh, if there’s a 10 minute video, there’s got to be at least 10 ideas within that 10 minute video. So to me, that’s what
really exciting because you’re doing the heavy lifting already. And now it’s about dissecting and finding those smaller ideas that live within that longer form piece of content. Now, I think in an ideal world, take this with a grain of salt, but I would prefer someone to look at that long form piece of content, dissect and pick out those ideas and then re -record those smaller ideas living in there versus repurposing. However, the only thing that’s kind of
of different around that is that I oftentimes, I will say more so on TikTok than on Instagram, will be scrolling and I will find interviews, moments of podcasts that are just like a snippet and are actually quite engaging because you almost don’t really know 100 % what the topic is at first and you kind of have to wait to find the payoff and hear the subject matter. So I do think there are times when a piece of longer form content can
be clipped in its original state and actually do well, more so I would say on TikTok than on Instagram. But nine times out of 10, I’m going to say, OK, find those ideas and now let’s batch record to make them fresh and make them optimized for reels for TikTok.
Ben (14:22.059)
I think to add to that as well, Jera, is it’s important to recognise the platforms and the algorithms driving those platforms are putting a lot of value behind the short form platforms that they have on their channels, right? So yes, you can get value from long form content, but when you’re respecting what …
Jera (14:35.858)
Yeah.
Ben (14:46.825)
formats these platforms, Instagram, Facebook, even obviously TikTok, but even YouTube as well with YouTube Shorts. They are really driving views and viewer behavior towards these short forms. They know that people are spending a lot of time watching this sort of content and they don’t just watch one video, you flick and you have a long viewing session in these short form platform channels.
Jera (14:56.572)
Yeah.
Jera (15:14.74)
Yeah, absolutely, which is another moment of encouragement of, okay, maybe if you do have this longer form content, how can we be smart about how we are portraying those content ideas on these platforms if there is a certain…
configuration or flow that is not typically working because there’s so many different types of content and ways of sharing, but you do kind of have to switch on different parts of your brain if you are really playing the short form video content game and really wanting to be smart about how you are optimizing your content for the short form platforms.
Ben (15:54.412)
Yeah, 100%. So this is my own experience and also from many people that I speak to is one of the biggest barriers to doing consist to form video content or any video content really is that fear of showing up, that fear of being on camera, putting yourself out there in front of your business, being the face of your business. If you’re not a personal brand type of business, it’s hard for businesses.
So what would you say to people to encourage them to hopefully overcome that mindset and put themselves out in front of their business?
Ben (16:38.858)
We lost it.
Jera (16:38.928)
Sorry, Ben, I think you froze again. So let me just make sure. I think I heard most of the question, but then it paused. It’s more about people who are nervous to be.
Ben (16:46.829)
put themselves in front of their business, to be on video, when they’re used to delivering their business and working directly with clients. But it’s a bit of a different thing to overcome that fear of putting yourself out, right? So you can take it from there.
Jera (16:58.992)
Yes. It is. Yes.
I first just want to normalize this. I think in a day and age of scrolling through social media where it seems like everyone has it figured out, everyone is charismatic, everyone knows how to edit, everyone understands trends, it’s really not the case. And it can feel like video and video confidence is this inherent thing that most people have, but it’s really the opposite. Like most of us were not born with the confidence to be
putting our lives out there and sharing our voice. And it’s almost like in, you know, before social media existed, when you’re recording your voice for your voice recording for your phone and like you listen back and hear it, you’re like, oh my God, that’s my voice. Like it’s very confronting. So I just want to normalize how normal it is to have this fear, have this resistance, have this suck point. Pretty much everyone I work with has this to some degree. So first, just really knowing it’s okay to feel that way.
The next thing I think about is how do we not go from zero to 100 in a metaphorical way? I think oftentimes people feel like they have to talk to camera when they’ve never even just appeared on camera before. And that is really confronting and really jarring to go to that 100. So instead of going zero to 100, what are these stepping stones? What are these, like going from zero to 10, zero to 100?
to 20, how can we find those steps and really ease into the process? So an example for you is if someone is really nervous about getting on camera and showing themselves talking, being seen, etc. Can we record ourselves? So we ourselves are in the frame. For example, I set up a tripod and I record myself typing at my desk.
Jera (19:00.107)
That to me is very different than setting up your tripod and delivering like a 60 second talking to camera video. So to me, that would be a stepping stone. And in that video, perhaps you are in the frame, but we don’t have your voice, but a text overlay is conveying the main content idea. Then perhaps the next stepping stone is, okay, we still want you in frame, but we’re going to add your voice underneath and use voiceover. And therefore your voice is…
in it and we’re getting a sense of your energy and we see you in the frame, whatever it is that you might be doing, baking, behind the scenes at a shoot, like a vlog of your day, whatever it might be. And then to me, the 100, like the most confronting format is when you are talking to camera, but we can work our way there and really build up our confidence along the way. But overall, I would say my mindset and my approach to this is that people are…
especially in the current day and age, looking for…
real, they’re looking for relatable, they’re looking for the humanness. I think the day and age of social media being purely this aspirational thing where everyone’s showing the highlight reel and the best of the best has come crashing down to some degree. And so when we have this fear of showing up, I actually think in a way it’s a bit of our superpower because we’re allowing our authenticity to come through our
imperfections and that is so relatable to the people who are watching. So just to flip that on its head a bit, it’s a little bit of a mindset approach as we are also playing with these stepping stones to increase our confidence.
Ben (20:46.001)
Yeah, I love that stepped approach to building confidence. And eventually, hopefully, you just don’t even really think about that, what used to be a mindset or a roadblock to creating content. Ideally, that’s the position that you get to. But I think the other thing that holds people back is maybe they…
start creating content, they start putting some content out there on these short form platforms, but then they don’t necessarily feel that they’re getting the results that they want. So hardly anyone sees it. They get only a handful of views and then they think, well, what’s the point of continuing down this path? What would you say to that argument?
Jera (21:27.334)
My first reaction is that I feel like social media has made everything feel instant. Everyone grows quickly. Everyone gets followers. Everyone gets views. Everyone gets everything that they’ve ever wanted. And to me, it’s really like 1 % of people who that happens to. And for the rest of us, it really can be slow and it’s not instant. Like think about all the other things that…
that we could possibly want to do in our lives and how we would just laugh thinking, oh gosh, like we expect that to happen quickly. I think if someone wanting to learn how to draw or paint, like your drawings are gonna suck for a while. Your paintings are gonna suck and you might not even like them. People might not like them. Or if you want to run a marathon, like it’s gonna take a while to build up that endurance. And I really view social media as the same thing. I look at it as a lie.
long -term game and not game but a long -term process rather and if you have certain goals that you are wanting to work on as an individual or as a business whether it’s getting your personal brand out there, selling specific product, getting speaking gigs, wanting to get more clients, whatever it may be, even if it’s a slow burn social media will be a tool to support you. So if you just throw in the towel right from the beginning even if like it’s not right away even for like a
a couple months, a year in, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot because it takes that consistency over a long period of time to really build up something that can be that long -term support. So that’s how I think I would view it if someone came to me with that feeling or frustration.
Ben (23:16.339)
Yeah, I love that. And just to add to that as well is there’s this perception that creating or publishing content on social media is content for the masses, but at the end of the day, really, it’s about reaching that one person who needs to hear that message that potentially wants to do business with you, for example, or whatever your goal for that content is. So it’s maybe you don’t need…
Jera (23:39.875)
Yes!
Ben (23:41.011)
hundreds of thousands of views on your content for it to have an impact, a real monetary, financial impact on your business, to grow your business. You might just need to reach one of the right people.
Jera (23:55.009)
Any –
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I fully support that. And something just popped into my mind recently, which isn’t video content, but I still I think it still can very much happen with video is I’m actually a huge fan of threads. And I’ve been very active on that in the last few weeks. And the way that you can find people on threads with the algorithm and how it shows you people and content you’re interested in, I actually found this wonderful copywriter who I did not follow on Instagram yet. And
Ended up following her love her content and hired her to do some copy for me and she has I don’t know a thousand two thousand followers Which is not a tiny amount of followers, but it’s not hundreds of thousands And so I think video can function in the same way where we’re scrolling on our reels tab and we’re scrolling on our FYP Constantly being fed people who we don’t yet follow yet even on Instagram now the recommendation feed just scrolling our main feed like I was actually doing a presentation
the other day and showing the recommendations that popped up. Every other post on my main feed was a recommended post and usually a video. So to your point, sure, we all want not we all, but a lot of people out there are wanting hundreds of thousands of followers. But like, do we really need that? Especially as someone who is more of a
business versus like an influencer, it might even be counterproductive to have that large of a following. So I think the tides have really shifted in that the following doesn’t necessarily get you what you want. And it could be a really small, tight -knit group of people who are your leads, who are your clients. And it could be really powerful in that smaller number.
Ben (25:44.821)
Yeah, definitely. So I think you talked about your secret source concept, your secret source pillar of content. I think that it’s this secret source that leads to that connection with that potentially one person who’s going to actually take an action, reach out and engage and do what you want them to do. But I’m assuming that. So tell me about this secret source thing.
Jera (25:52.923)
Yes!
Jera (26:12.895)
Oh, I am so glad you asked. This is one of my favorite things to talk about. So when it comes to social media, I’m sure we have all heard or even said that phrase of, yeah, show up authentically or we should show up authentically. And I think that it’s really well intentioned. But what happens is people don’t actually know how to show up authentically. It’s the same thing with video not being this inherent skill. And it’s something we have to learn.
I also think that showing up authentically on social media is not something we just inherently know how to do because here’s like the real life version of yourself and now we have to somehow like turn it into a digital version of ourselves. It’s hard. It’s challenging. So what I have done over the last few years is develop a framework for showing up authentically.
and I call this the four quadrants of secret sauce and what I love about this framework which I will explain is that it makes showing up authentically more
tangible. It actually allows you to go, oh, these are different things that I can share. And in addition to giving you different pathways for what you can share about yourself, it also gives you choice. So one thing that people usually think about authenticity and social media is that they have to bear it all. They have to talk about every nuance and nook and cranny of their life in order to appear authentic. And that’s so not the case. I am all for having
boundaries and being picky about what you choose and what you choose to share and what you don’t choose to share. So with that being said, the four quadrants are as follows. We have foundational, personal, professional, and lighthearted.
Jera (28:08.796)
So foundational secret sauce focuses more so on our past. These are the things that got you to where you are today. What are the challenges, achievements, the pivots, the big moments, as well as the small moments that have really led you to the present moment. That’s foundational. Then we have personal secret sauce, which focuses more on you in the present moment. So what are you doing outside of work? What are you doing with your family? What are your hobbies?
What books are you reading? What are you doing on the weekends? It can sound like it does gear a little bit more towards like the happy but it could also be Challenging things in the moment too. Like I’ve shared before that I’m you know, experiencing a lot of anxiety or I’m struggling with XYZ So it can be both the good in the moment and it can also be the challenging and the deeper in the moment as well So that’s personal then we have professional
secret sauce, which as it sounds focuses more on you as a business, as an entrepreneur, whatever you may be as a company. And these are the things that set you apart as a business, as an entrepreneur. What are your values, your philosophy? What are the frameworks you have, the processes, the different ways that you view what you do? Like, why does someone come to you over someone over someone else or over another company? And then lastly,
we have lighthearted secret sauce, which is my personal favorite because I am a goofy, wacky, silly type of a gal. And this is exactly as it sounds. It’s more of the lighthearted, the wacky, the silly, the random. I have lots of different things like my secret hidden talent, which is not secret anymore, is like armpit farting. My community knows me for that. I have an obsession with cheese and crackers. I like break out into show tunes. So this all fits into the lighthearted category.
Now once again, having these four quadrants gives you choice and direction for different ways to show up authentically and it also allows you to pick and choose. So someone might say foundational and professional makes sense for me or maybe feels comfortable for me, but personal and lighthearted, not really my thing at the moment for whatever reason. And I would say, awesome. If you choose to show up in those two quadrants, you are still showing up.
Jera (30:38.43)
authentically.
Ben (30:38.934)
Yeah, I love that. And I imagine that just in being strategic about planning your content is you could potentially draw up those quadrants on a whiteboard, you could use Post -it notes, you could brainstorm around those four quadrants to give yourself some guidance so that you’re not sitting there thinking, I need to create content but I don’t really know where to start. Is that what you find?
Jera (31:03.196)
Definitely, yeah, having those quadrants. And then if I’m working with someone, usually we go past those four quadrants and we start to brainstorm specific prompts around each one to get more specific and actually generates actual content ideas. So having that in front of you can be really helpful. And then just as we discussed before, you can start to think about the format. So you could talk to camera and deliver a story about foundational secret sauce. You could…
create a vlog that has some lighthearted secret sauce in it. And here’s the other cool thing. Like I love evergreen content. As I said, I really encourage people to use their voice so that they can present their energy, their voice, their personality, their perspective. At the same time, I love short form video content culture and I love trends. Like I love dissecting TikTok trends and like getting into how those evolve and shift. So I am not someone who poo poo.
trends at all. And with that being said, I think sometimes trends can be a really great way to tap into secret sauce in a way that you might not be comfortable to share maybe by talking to camera. So recently, let’s see on Instagram, there was some I don’t even remember the song, but the trend was to put little blurbs all over the screen, sharing different things about you different things that that you like, for example. And so,
So that could be a mix of personal and lighthearted. And you might not have thought to share those things in that way had that trend not existed. So trends can be a really fabulous way to take that content idea and then bring it to life via video.
Ben (32:48.726)
Yeah, so what would you say to someone that’s thinking secret source is awesome, but how do I balance the right amount of secret source versus actually getting enough business and expertise content into my content mix? Does that make sense?
Jera (33:07.514)
Mmm.
It does, it does. And I think it’s challenging to answer as there’s like no perfect mix. And I also think it’s so specific for each type of person in business. So for example, if I think of like a content creator, I’m going to say they’re, they are relying heavily on secret sauce as probably one of the main content pillars within their content versus
I think of like an HR consultancy and probably most of their content is going to be expertise and also leaning of course into the business pillars and a little secret sauce sprinkled here and there, which actually a lot of people think, oh, a big company or something that’s more corporate can’t have secret sauce. They absolutely can’t. It’s going to be very different than an individual, but the secret sauce can still come through. So those are two like ends of the spectrum where…
we see Secret Sauce turned all the way up versus like a little bit. I also think it’s dependent on sort of the season you’re in. So if you are leading up to like a really big launch as a service -based business, we’re probably going to want to lean into that more authority building content around the course you are launching, for example. And then when we get into the launch, it’s like heavy business content. And then maybe once the launch ends, it’s like, well, I have…
all this authority building and all this business content, time to reconnect back to my community. Community, let’s turn up the secret sauce a little bit. So it’s dependent on the person, the type of business, as well as the season and the goals that someone is currently working on.
Ben (34:52.79)
Yeah, and I think the important thing there, the distinction you made around even for very corporate kind of content, the secret sauce is critical, I think, some element to secret sauce, because whether you’re in B2B or B2C or large corporate or a personal brand, people buy from people, you know, and it’s the secret sauce elements that you get in there that allow that personality even in a large company.
Jera (35:16.252)
Yes.
Ben (35:21.974)
to differentiate what you offer from someone else who also sells the same thing down the road, right?
Jera (35:27.194)
Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s that human factor, whether you are the individual and the face of your brand or a larger company. And I think that’s the beauty of also company showing up.
on TikTok is like this unexpected element of humaneness and personality from these larger corporations and well -known brands and companies. It puts them in a new light. It then inserts themselves into like this cultural conversation in which otherwise they would not have been included. So that humaneness, that secret sauce, the authenticity is crucial on so many levels. Yeah.
Ben (36:11.096)
Yeah, we need more human in business, particularly as things move into digital and AI and humanity is going to win through, I think.
Jera (36:15.78)
Yes!
Ben (36:22.552)
So as we wrap up here, Jera I’d love for you to just, if you were to speak to that person who is sitting there watching this or listening to this and thinking, okay, I really need to get started on short form video to be doing this more consistently, where would you say the first step? What’s the first action you want them to take after listening or watching this podcast today?
Jera (36:47.9)
Hmm. Whoo. I well first of all, I think it’s embracing more of a mindset Wait and pause for a second. Okay
Okay. Just want to make sure. Cool. So first I would say it’s embracing a mindset of how you are going to approach this and a mindset that I love for my clients, my students to take on, especially when they are new to something is this idea of messy action. If I think of like the first few TikTok videos I posted like four or five years ago, none of them were good. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I learned, I improved, I honed in.
in on how I want to present myself and talk about things and edit my videos by taking action and learning as I was doing. You’re never going to just figure stuff out by sitting and thinking about it. So that messy action is imperative. So that’s number one. Next, I would just take some time, whether you are using my content pillar trifecta framework, or if you just want to start really, really simple, if that feels overwhelming, is asking yourself,
what are the main themes of me and my business? Like if I was to divide up what I do in a really simple way into three chunks, what would those be? If that’s overwhelming, what does your ideal person, your ideal client need help with? What are their pain points? How can you answer some frequently asked questions? Like using one of these starting points to then come up with content ideas.
because that’s the really important thing. We’re not pulling content ideas out of thin air. We’re pulling them from things that are connected to us and our business. And then from there, I would ask myself, how can I turn this into an idea? Can I take one single video shot?
Jera (38:47.419)
overlay text on top answering what that question is or speaking to a pain point and boom you have a video. It’s not a super complicated video. It’s one single video shot with text on top with maybe a sound added. But look at that. You just recorded video. You just thought of an idea. You just uploaded it into Reels or TikTok and now you are like in the groove of creating and you can finesse, you can refine, you can try some fancier things.
as you go. But I think that action and finding that first stepping stone of keeping things as simple as possible while taking messy action and continuously repeating that is the only way you’re going to figure out this video thing.
Ben (39:29.944)
Yeah, I love it. Just take action, take messy action, get started, improve and iterate from there. Love it. Yeah. Jera, that’s just been awesome. Inspirational for people to get started and to do so with a strategy, right? So not just video for video’s sake, not just getting onto the short form video bandwagon, but thinking about how it drives business is critical. So thank you for sharing that. And where can people learn from you more and dive deeper into some of this?
Jera (39:38.851)
Yeah, perfect summary.
Ben (39:59.608)
this strategy that you share.
Jera (40:07.584)
Yeah, you can find me on Instagram, jerabean, but I’ve got a dot in there. So it’s jera .bean. Same thing on TikTok, jerabean .com. I am launching my first self -paced course very soon. It’s called the Video Editing Rodeo, which is all about how to edit short form video content. So I’m really excited about that. So stay tuned if you’re interested.
Ben (40:28.7)
Excellent. Well, we’ll have all the links that Jera’s talked about there and links to everything that we’ve referred to there in the show notes for this episode at engagevideomarketing .com slash 299 for 299. Episode 300 next week apparently, if my numbers work out. Jera, this has been great. Thanks for joining me.
Jera (40:55.647)
Thanks for having me on, this was awesome, I appreciate it.
Ben (40:57.838)
Awesome. Cool.
