How to make videos when you don't have content

A guide to help you make videos when you don't have any of your own content!

We’ve all been there – we want to engage our audience, promote a product or service, but we don’t have a lot of content.

Luckily, it’s so much easier to work around this problem now! There are tons of resources at the tip of your finger, and we try to help directly within your Vidds account.

First, have a goal

Remember that your goals in the future rely on maintaining good relationships. It’s important to make sure that your videos have a goal, and the goal actually helps your users. Promoting your products and services does help your audience, especially if you have the right mix of informing, entertaining, and promoting.

If you’re looking to increase your audience or engagement, informing and entertaining are great ways to get those eyeballs, likes, and shares. This might be a funny post about your industry or expertise, a behind the scenes look at how something is done, or a quote from someone. In practice, that might look like a meme, a testimonial, a quick screencast of how you accomplish a task, or recording of how your product is made.

When you’re trying to get the sale, promote your product! Of course it’s great to offer a promotional code, but that isn’t necessary. Show your existing images and videos, explain the benefits of the product, answer a question about it, etc. Social media content has a short lifespan, so don’t be afraid to reuse your content occasionally!

Creating the video!

After you have a goal and a video in mind, it’s time to start creating! This is where Vidds will really help you shine! The videos created are meant to engage your audience and keep them watching.

Start with your text and layouts

Vidds breaks down your video into “scenes” – each one is an animated design and layout. It might include a word or two, a sentence, details of a coupon code, event details, or an entire paragraph.

The great thing is, while Vidds categorizes scenes (like Beauty, Brand, Lifestyle, Science & Tech, etc), they’re completely customizable, so you can find the layout that’s perfect for your content, then swap out content and styles.

By starting with your text and layout, it’ll give you some space to think about what other content will go well with that text.

Add Images to Your Video

So you’ve created the scenes that get your point across in text. Now’s the time to find visual content to make your video stand out.

Maybe you found a scene that already has the perfect background or foreground. Congrats, your job is done!

But if not, it’s time to get searching! The Vidds integrated Stock Media search will help you find a great video or image.

Finding the right stock media is easier than it might seem. The subject of the media isn’t usually your exact product or service. It’s more likely to be related to one of the following:

  • The setting it’s used in: Maybe it’s in nature or the outdoors, a classroom/auditorium, around the house, or out in the city.
  • What it accomplishes: Does it make you comfortable or safe? Maybe it’s about the adrenaline rush and excitement. Or maybe it will make you more successful in the workplace, make for a great vacation, or promote better health.
  • The general mood and vibe: Vibrant and exciting? Bold and outgoing? Relaxing? Romantic?
  • And more: How about your brand’s style? Maybe you like a retro feel, or you’re high tech, stylish vs down to earth.

Most of these translate directly to a quick search term. Nature, beaches, and waterfalls? Concerts, night life, city, countryside? Fashion, beauty, health? Cell phones and computers, science and technology, medical research? Try a couple quick searches and start plugging them in! [Check out our 2021 guide to stock video sites here]

Found the perfect photo, but wish it were a video?

Of course, we usually want video content within our videos, but sometimes a picture fits the goal of a video better. If it’s looking a little dull, be sure to try adding the “Zoom” highlight animation. It adds some slow movement to the image you’ve chosen, which might just complete your scene!

Go for a minimalist video

One last option is to go minimalist. It might not work for all videos, but sometimes, using minimalist scenes with little or no video/image content looks great and really highlights your text content! Solid color backgrounds and big, bold text with simple shapes and underlines can look amazing. Vidds includes some minimalist scenes you can start with.

You can enhance minimalist themes further by playing with different animations. Mix and match the animation in for color backgrounds and text to allow them to flow together or contrast each other. Try different animations out, or leave some as “None” so they stick around.

You might be surprised just how much you like them, and how your audience appreciates straight-forward content!

Still stuck? Let’s go through some quick tips

  • I have image/video content, but not text.
    Adding a ton of text isn’t always the right answer. It’s ok to be a brand of few words. Use one or two words that describe your product and highlight what it is. Your audience can create their own story 🙂
  • I still want more text content!
    Follow similar brands and influencers. Look at their old posts that did well and imitate those. No need to plagiarize when there’s plenty of content out there for inspiration!
    Use your previous blog content, product/service descriptions and previous posts to round out the content. You don’t need to rewrite every sentence for every new post!
  • The scene is too fast for my calm mood, or too slow for my exciting content.
    Vidds allows you to control the animation speed of each scene. An animation speed of 1 second or less is going to move quickly, and once you move above 2 seconds or so, it’ll mellow out quite a bit.
  • How else can I set the mood?
    Use the right color for your text and outlines. Play with fonts and sizes. Use sharp or blurred shadows. Add rectangular outlines that are sharp and thin or rounded and large.
  • I want more content of my own!
    People love to see real content that doesn’t look like it’s been manipulated. Don’t be afraid to record a quick 360 of your product, goof around with it in different environments, and don’t be afraid of your poor video/photo skills (although you should make sure it doesn’t look like it’s hiding anything!) You can start with small photos or create a 3-5 second clip of your product in an existing scene.
    You can hide any recording flaws with text or borders 🙂
  • How do I optimize for longer engagement?
    Try to prolong your text. Your first scene could be a simple question or statement that is true of your audience, such as “It’s so hard to find the right X” or “Do you have trouble with Y?” Follow up with related content. If you’re promoting your product, make statements about how it helps. If you’re entertaining or informing, use common formats like “5 Tips for Improving.”
  • Social Proof!
    Yes! Obviously followers and likes help, but you can quote your customers and followers in your scenes. And if you’re starting out, you can quote influencers if it’s related to your video content
 

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