April 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Natasha, a video marketing expert and host of the Shine Online Podcast—is back and talks about how to create a video series that builds trust and turns viewers into leads.
- Cut your lead gen costs in HALF with my $37 mini-course–NOW only $17!
- Visit The Art of Online Business website for Facebook Ads help
Natasha explains what a signature video series is, how many episodes you really need, and why having a clear message matters more than going viral. She also shares tips on making your series easy to plan, fun to film, and valuable enough that people want to keep watching and take the next step—like joining your email list or sending a DM.
If you’ve been posting random videos without seeing results, our conversation will help you create content with purpose and stay consistent without burning out!
Watch the previous episode on YouTube, "Six Figures Doing Done For You Video Content With Natasha Pierre"
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Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:
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- Subscribe to The Art of Online Business’s YouTube Channel
Natasha's Links:
- Connect with Natasha on Instagram and LinkedIn
- Subscribe to her YouTube channel here
- Join her FREE Video Confidence Challenge to learn simple strategies to cut your video content creation in half
- Learn how to DIY Your Signature Video Series
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever wondered how your videos could
be better and work better foryour business?
I'm talking like add moredollars to your revenue or a lot
more followers on social mediathough that is a vanity metric
it is, but it feels good whenthe followers are coming in.
Dig it.
On a serious note, though, wehave a video strategist with us
(00:21):
for this episode.
Her name is Natasha Pierre, andif you didn't listen to the
previous episode, that is linkedup in the description below,
but you're going to want tolisten to what she has to tell
you about how to make video thatworks, because, well, let's see
.
I mean, how does a little over2,000 extra subscribers for her
(00:42):
YouTube channel in less than twomonths sound?
Or how does the fact that, likemeta you know, like mark
zuckerberg's company of allfolks sought her out to do some
well-paid video partnershipsbased off of her personal brand
that she had built on instagramand youtube?
Antasha, she's the host of theShine Online podcast and a video
(01:05):
marketing coach for smallbusinesses, so through her
signature group programs andeducational content, natasha
helps you build your brand witha confident video marketing
strategy that ultimately growsyour business community and
impact simultaneously, and inthis episode.
(01:25):
We're going to talk about whatshe has seen personally and for
her clients, because she runs anagency too work really well and
that is video series, so we'regoing to dive into it.
Natasha, thank you for beinghere again, welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty
gritty on this one.
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty
gritty on this one.
There's a lot that goes in tovideo.
Jamie, I frequently tell whenI'm like a guest on other
podcasts and they'll say, like,well, you know, is it what's
working best for Facebook andInstagram ads?
Is it video?
Because I hear that, you know,we all hear that right.
Or graphics, and I'll say youknow what, to begin with, just
(02:07):
make yourself some graphics,because actually video has so
many different variables thatyou have to get right to have a
good video.
And so, natasha, please talk tous, yes, about the video series
, but first just give us like avery impactful compacted, if you
want to have a solid video onInstagram like what components
(02:31):
do you need to practice and getgood at?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, I love this question because, even though I
am, like, totally not a pro atads at all that is absolutely
both of you but there's a lot ofsimilarities on what works
organically often works wellwith paid and vice versa, and
every little element, as youmentioned, really makes a big
difference.
And so a few things that I'mnoticing make a big difference
(02:55):
on how videos perform.
I think the first is how youtalk about your idea or your
topic.
I think a lot of times peopletalk about it how they would
talk about it as the expert andthey forget to speak in the
person, that they're trying toreach language of how they would
actually talk about things.
So you don't need a lot ofjargon, you don't need a lot of
lingo, you don't need to make itsound really fancy for it to do
(03:18):
well.
In fact, doing that is probablygoing to repel or completely go
over their heads.
So I think how you're talkingabout and positioning your topic
is one really big thing.
Another thing that I mentionedis actually how you structure
your video.
So we often hear have a stronghook to your video, and that is
very important whether peopleare scrolling on their feeds or
if they're seeing an ad pop up.
(03:39):
Those first few seconds are sovaluable, they're the most
valuable ones.
So, yes, you definitely want tohook people in, but what
happens after that hook?
How are you sharing the ideas,the story, how are you ending
things off with a call to actionor kind of like the final bow
of your video?
I think people don't thinkabout every second and they're
(04:00):
more worried about how longshould it be and what audio
should I add, when in fact, I'mlike how are you actually
structuring the topic, the idea,the concept, that actually
plays a bigger role.
And then I think kind of thefinal thing to keep things
concise because I probably couldtalk about a lot of things is
really like the extra touches toyour video.
So a few of these things looklike adding text and closed
(04:23):
captions for things like talkingvideos.
Texts are great for addingcontext, for highlighting main
points, for having call outs forthose really big mic drop
moments or things like that, butit also can give context to
maybe text overlay, b-roll stylevideos, right.
So I think text overlay isunderutilized.
And then closed captions arekey for not only accessibility
(04:46):
but also for differentconsumption preferences.
I think those are things peopleshould focus on more in their
videos.
Framing is a big one.
People are either too close totheir camera and there's not
really room for edits, orthey're too low, they're too
high, they're off-centered.
Off-centered is always theworst.
So framing is a big one, likerule of thumb, like make sure
(05:09):
you're at the center of yourframe, whether it's the B-roll
that you're filming or anythinglike that, and when in doubt,
film farther away versus closeraway, because you can always
bring in a video.
You can never take it out onceyou're too close.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
When in doubt, film far out.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yes, there we go.
That should be on like a carbumper sticker or something.
But yeah, I think all thoselittle touches make a big
difference.
Edits don't make great videos,but they definitely do finish
them, they do like put thatfinal touch on them.
So you don't want to overthinkit, you don't want to put too
many edits in, but I think theright ones can make a big impact
(05:45):
.
As simple as doing like a jumpcut where your, your, your frame
is just regular and then youlike bring it in just a little
bit when you're bringing, likesaying a main point or something
like that.
Or even just to bring like, ifyou have a simple text overlay,
b-roll video, play around withthe timing of your texts.
You don't have to put all thisbig blob of text on at once,
like people are going to getoverwhelmed and not read it.
(06:06):
Like, have each paragraph oreach sentence, have its own
second on the screen and alsomake sure can people read it
when it's on the screen.
That's like my other big petpeeve of like.
You see a video and I'm like Ithere's no way I could have read
all that text in five seconds.
There's no way.
So yeah those are a few of mine.
I'm sure we could go on and on,but I think that'll keep it
(06:26):
short and sweet there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I guess I did read into this question by talking
about how complex video can be.
I feel like that was a verycompact masterclass in all the
things that we should have toget a video doing what it should
be doing growing our business.
Don't worry, listener, I'mgoing to help you out.
All right, natasha, you haveyour biggest paying client ever
(06:51):
and you do have two videoeditors on your team, right, yes
, okay, cool.
So your biggest paying clientever for your agency contract is
signed, deposit has been paid,both of your video editors just
resigned a day ago and you havegot to do all the editing
yourself.
What are the two things thatyou're just going to fall back
(07:14):
to to get the best results foryour client regarding video?
Because I know the listener islike good lord.
I can't do all this myself.
One and two.
That is so funny.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, I will say we actually not that situation, but
a similar situation.
One of our clients is a podcastand they had Gabrielle Union
like Gabrielle Union, like themega celebrity on the podcast,
and that editor that wasassigned to that client was out
sick.
That editor that was assignedto that client was out sick.
(07:44):
So I actually did need to go inand edit that very high stakes
episode and it ended up goinglike mega, mega viral, like we
were picked up on the shade room, like the today show.
It got over a million views.
So I actually feel like I havean actual, tangible example of
literally this just happened.
And this goes back to a fewthings I already mentioned.
(08:07):
Especially when pulling fromsomething long form like a
podcast and pulling it forsocial content, I picked the
very most important, bestmoments that could stand alone,
even if you didn't know theepisode had Gabrielle Union in
it and even if you didn't knowwhat the podcast episode is
about.
So what are those moments where, when someone listens to it,
(08:27):
they're thinking differently,they're like getting something
valuable from it, they'relaughing, they're like
entertained, whatever it is.
I really focused on that and Igot all the fluff out of it, and
especially for something longform.
There's um, people talk alittle slower.
There's conversations.
I got rid of all of the fluffto really keep it where it's as
concise as possible, because Icare a lot less about video
(08:49):
length than I care more about.
Is every single second of thevideo actually making it a
better video or is itdistracting from the good part?
So that was definitely thefirst thing that we did.
The second thing was very simpleedits.
We did closed captions.
The second thing was verysimple edits.
We did closed captions, butjust to make it a little bit
extra interesting, we used abrand font versus native text.
(09:10):
So something very smalleveryone can use in a tool like
Descript that's my favoritedesktop editor where you can
upload your fonts but evensomething like CapCut or InShot
on your phone you can do thesame thing.
And what I also did is not justlike all of the closed captions
be the same.
We had a few call outs orreally dramatic moments that we
wanted to bring attention to,where we either did two things.
(09:31):
We did a jump cut, which Ialready mentioned, so just
bringing the frame in just alittle bit to like really bring
attention to it, or we wouldchange the text a little bit for
that closed caption, so maybeit'd be all caps, maybe it'd be
a different color, maybe it'd bea different color, maybe it'd
be above the head versus belowthe head, and that was it.
So, just to summarize, wefocused on what were the most
(09:54):
important moments that needed tobe in this video to make it the
best video it could be.
And how could we just likeemphasize that with very simple
edits, jump cut, closed captionand brand font and a few call
out moments that we had in likea different font, and that was
literally it.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
All right, I love the scenario delivered.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
This is already been a super valuable episode.
And we haven't even gotten towhat the title is about, which
is video series, but you'reseeing video series work well.
Yes, tell us about video series.
As a driver for DM automations,I would personally like to know
that, as someone who, like thelistener, is using mini chat to
(10:42):
link up with great reels onInstagram and then have somebody
DM and continue theconversation and have them opt
in to something inside of theDMs.
What's going on there?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
So let's give some context ofwhat a series is and then I'll
kind of give an example of howyou can actually use it to drive
DM automation.
So a series is exactly as itsounds.
You're essentially creatingyour own Netflix show based on
your video content idea andinstead of overstuffing your
video where you're sharing amillion tips on how to do X, y
(11:13):
and Z, which is overwhelmingpeople, they're not getting
takeaways from it and you'realso putting all your ideas in
one piece of content.
So now you're always trying toreinvent the wheel.
Instead, you're going to take areally great topic, a theme,
and you're going to do multipleepisodes on it.
So instead of just talkingabout it once, you're going to
really touch on it in multipleepisodes.
(11:33):
So overall, the structure ofeach episode is going to be
similar.
That's what makes it signature.
That's what makes a seriesreally cohesive and on brand.
But every single video is goingto be touching on a different
topic around a specific theme.
So, to give a specific example,one of our clients actually does
like calligraphy education, soit teaches people how to do
(11:55):
calligraphy.
They've like never done itbefore, and so she had gone on
maternity leave, not posted anycontent at all for a year,
literally a year and so when westarted with her, like we do
with all of our clients, thefirst thing we do is a video
series, because not only is itreally great for nurturing your
current audience, it's one ofthose things that's really great
for reaching a new audience andactually turning them into
(12:18):
followers, not just views.
And so naturally, as someonewho's not an expert at
calligraphy, I'm like I think weshould just do a calligraphy
one-on-one series, like how tolearn, like you want to learn,
calligraphy.
Here's what you need to getstarted.
That was literally the conceptof the series, and so I think
it's such a great example ofwhat are the frequently asked
questions you're getting, whatare like the core topics or
(12:39):
strategies or things that youtalk about in your business.
That probably should be aseries.
It could be a really greatseries topic.
From there, we got four episodeswe essentially outlined and
scripted for our client of whatto actually say at the beginning
, which is really important ofso you want to learn calligraphy
.
This is the toolkit that youneed, or so you want to learn
calligraphy.
Actually, how you do the basicstrokes is way more important
(13:02):
than words.
And then here's how to do it.
So then she kind of got into it.
But kind of the key here is webuilt this series around one of
her free courses, which not onlywas geared towards building her
email list but also was gearedtowards actually upselling them
into something else paid.
So it was like her main driverof where we wanted people to go
(13:23):
from social media, and so forevery single episode we had that
free course as the call toaction, something that she said
at the end of the video andwe've supported with text
overlay, but also something thatwas in the caption of the video
of like so you want to learncalligraphy, you can learn all
of this and more in my free minicourse.
(13:44):
So we tied it in so seamlessly.
We're like, if you love thisone episode of the series, going
to the free mini course, a nobrainer, such an easy decision
to make.
And from that four part series.
One of the videos did go viral.
I had like 1.4 million views somany comments, saves shares,
like the whole series did reallywell.
(14:05):
But a more valuable metric isit had over 2000 DM automation
runs, because not only peoplewere loving the series, but they
were ready for that next stepand it was like pre-qualifying
them.
They were interested, they werelearning and they were like, of
course, the mini course feelslike a next step.
So I think that's really thekey to if you want to drive
(14:27):
applications, if you want tobuild a wait list, if you want
to sell your offer, if you wantto promote a freebie, whatever
it is, make sure that you'rechoosing a series that is very
specific to that call to action.
So it feels like a no brainer.
I binged all these episodes.
I want more than this call toaction is, the more it is the
(14:48):
next step.
So hopefully that can givepeople a few ideas on how that
could look for themselves intheir own offers.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah, for sure.
I've been over here typing andtaking notes, because this
advice is super applicable towhat I do and listener, like,
listen up.
I'm literally typing downthings that I'm going to tell my
clients when they ask me.
The question that they usuallyask me, which is do you have any
(15:14):
ideas for videos that I shouldmake in ads?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
So like yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I'm taking notes.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, and I think to that point I, like I said, I am
not an ads pro at all, but Ijust think there's so much
overlap of a video series couldbe such a great thing to run ads
to, because if someone isloving one episode, what do you
want to do on Netflix?
When you're loving an episode,you're already ready for the
next one.
So it really means that you'rekeeping them engaged so much
longer, which we all know.
(15:41):
Attention retention is veryhard to get a short form content
, even long form like I canshare more results on how this
looks for long form too.
It can apply to both.
But I think it's such a greatway for that new, fresh audience
because you're able to go deep,you're able to like, get them
that win.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You're able to show so much value while them wanting
more, so it's such a win-winokay oh, you want to ask I had
one quick question what'squestion so in a series about
how many videos are you doing,or does it depend, or is there a
minimum?
Love this question.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, the great thing about a series is it's actually
very customizable to not onlywhat feels good for you but also
for the topic and for theformat, so it could be as simple
as a four-part series.
I feel like that's a reallygood foundational series, where
maybe it's a whole monthdedicated to a series, a
specific topic, and one dropsevery week.
That's a really great exampleof like a very standard form.
(16:37):
But series can actually mean alot of different things.
An example of a series that youcould do is maybe every month
you do like reporting what wasworking on ads this month, like
literally that could be a serieslike the monthly ads report
what was working, what didn'twork, what we're trying next
month, like literally this likenews report that happens every
(16:58):
month, and so in a lot of waysseries can actually be
continuous.
They don't have to have an end.
It can almost be a theme that'shappening all of the time.
And a lot of like influencers,which I always love to use as
examples, is like a lot of foodcreators, for example.
They almost always have seriesrunnings.
Maybe they have a series forfun spring recipes and then they
(17:18):
have a fun series of likepicnics to bring during the
summer, or it's almost like acontinuous thing.
So, while it can be a certainamount of episodes that are set
on a certain amount of dates, itcan also be a continuous part
of your strategy, which willvery much so help with, just
like consistency gives youstructure as a creator, which I
(17:39):
found very helpful.
So, yeah, great question.
Long story short, it can depend, but a four part series is a a
good starter what are you avideo?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
marketing coach before.
I ask the question that I had,which is actually, in my mind,
super important for making aseries, and I'm going to take
notes because I'm asking formyself, because I want to come
out with a video series thatgrows my business and brings
more of the right people.
You know who I was meant toserve into my business ecosphere
.
But before that, before I askthis next question, which to me
(18:10):
is like how do I make a videoseries right without getting the
answer to this question?
So thank you in advance foranswering it for me, natasha.
What is this DIY, yourSignature video series thing
that you're running right now,and can you break it down for
the listener, because I thinkthey're going to want to join?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, absolutely so.
When I was doing my 2025predictions for this year, a
signature video series was atthe top of the list, and it's
something that I think is reallytaking off and I continue to
see as a really great way to getall those results that you
already mentioned.
So I decided to do an entireworkshop on this.
I've done this privately for myclients and they've absolutely
loved it.
It's a DIY your, your ownsignature video series workshop,
(18:53):
so not only we go over whatyour workshop should be about,
or what your series should beabout how to create it, how to
structure it, how to format itepisodes, everything like that
how to edit it but I also talkabout different conversion
strategies.
So I'm sure we'll talk aboutthis more in this episode, but I
was able to grow my list by athousand subscribers, and so I'm
actually sharing the workflowand how I actually set that up
(19:14):
in this.
So lots of resources for you toessentially execute what we're
talking about today.
So definitely like, join itlive while it's happening in
April, or, of course, you canaccess the replay and get just
as much value from it.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Right, do it please.
I mean, it was.
It's kind of a no brainer,because how much time does
editing a video, if you're doingit yourself, take?
You want it to work for thereason that you created it, so
that's, that's.
That's my pitch, listener.
Go ahead and click down in theshow notes and below and sign up
(19:48):
for Natasha's DIY yourSignature video series.
Now that question that'sburning in my mind you probably
answer in the workshop.
But if I'm going to make avideo it needs to get results.
How do I balance, strategicallyand technically, having
somebody click through or watchthe next video in the series
versus having somebody do thecall to action on the video so
(20:11):
they end up DMing me and cominginto that DM automation?
How do I pull that off?
That's a good question.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Yeah, great question.
I think naturally, as youdisplay your series as a series
like maybe you name it, maybeyou share that the next episode
is coming in a week, likehowever you kind of package it,
as I say your series so peopleknow it is a series that
naturally will imply that thereis a future or past episode for
(20:39):
you to binge.
So I often don't spend a lot oftime promoting the next.
It'll often be as simple as,like we already talked about
this in the series, but nowwe're going to talk about that
or, if you love this, like we'reactually going to be talking
about this the next time.
So it's often just very quickmention, not anything I'm
spending too much time on,because I'd rather spend much
more time on the next step,which is often your call to
(21:02):
action.
So it is a little bit of abalancing act.
I think they both can coexist.
But I think if you package andpresent your series as a series
and if people can go to yourprofile easily, find it easily,
binge it, you're posting at thesame time every week or maybe it
has a specific name or itdoesn't have to have all those
things, but at least if one ofthose elements.
It means you can spend more ofyour time on the actual call to
(21:24):
action and keeping in mind thegoal of a series could also be
just like having some greatorganic growth and getting your
engagement up if maybe youhaven't posted videos in a long
time so you can kind of caterhow you hit that goal based on
what elements you include in it.
So hopefully that gave you agood answer.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
yeah yeah, it did it did.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you wow, that's I mean
my brain thinks in youtube andinstagram and so like my mind
was like, oh, of course I wantto have, like, the series linked
up in one of the instagramhighlights, or of course I want
to make reference to, if I'mdoing this on youtube, a youtube
(22:03):
playlist that has the series,or just link up previous
episodes in the show notes below.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Absolutely All the above.
Cross-linking, having similarcovers or thumbnails, all of
those things are really easyways to make sure people know
it's a series pinning them tothe top of a profile, maybe like
the first episode to the top ofa profile, even on Reels a
simple thing of doing like aReel replies.
So if you get a comment on oneof the episodes of like love
(22:32):
this or have a follow-upquestion or can't wait for the
next episode, you can go intothat comment.
A little like camera icon willshow up.
You can select that and thenessentially it'll have you reply
as a video to a comment so youcan essentially post your real
reply.
It's called a real reply.
I have a video that I've done onit a little while ago but
(22:52):
essentially it kind of linksyour videos, kind of similar to
how it works on TikTok but youcan do it on Instagram.
So essentially if someone wentto that comment in one episode,
you could, they would.
Essentially that next videowould be linked in the comments.
It's it's very hard to talkabout video things without
showing it.
Well, I guess I could probablylike kind of show it, like hold
(23:15):
up my phone and show it.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
But yeah, look at that I did not know that
Instagram did that.
I just well, you're talking andI'm looking into my comments,
but yeah, I hit reply and I hitthe little camera button and I
can select a video from mycamera roll, which, but that
real replies to my stories, itlooks like.
(23:37):
Or is this just the next thingto make the reel and then that
actually ends up posting as areply to a comment?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yes, it'll post it as a reply to a comment and it'll
post the reel not only to yourfeed but it'll also kind of link
a preview of the video in youractual comments of that video
only to your feed, but it'llalso kind of link a preview of
the video in your actualcomments of that video you did
the reply to.
So it's kind of a simple wayyou can kind of link videos to
videos when creating a series.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Okay, I'm gonna have to experiment with that.
Very, very cool.
This is what a technical andvery practical episode.
Yeah, speaking of not havingany fluff, I don't think there
was any fluff in this episode.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I took a lot of notes and I couldn't even get all the
notes that you said.
We'll have to go back andlisten.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, no, really, this makes it to the short list,
and the short list is not.
It actually is short.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It only has three episodes on it, but the list of
episodes where it's like I needto go back and implement stuff
that you've said in my business.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
There is a short list and you are now on it.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Thank you, lovely.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yay, for sure Love it , yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Is there any final thought that you would like to
share on someone who is starting?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I don't know, maybe not starting video, obviously,
but like somebody who's got agoal to their social media or or
get a certain, if they're notjust going to look for vanity
metrics to get a certain numberof leads from videos and DMs
Like what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Final thoughts from videos and DMs, like, what would
you say to them?
Final thoughts yeah, I think Iwould really focus on like
connecting and creating for,like, a very specific person.
I think that's where a lot ofpeople get video and social
media wrong is they're trying tolike cast the wide net of
speaking to everybody versusthinking of a very specific,
ideal person they want to workwith and creating video content
(25:31):
for that person.
And not just creating contentfor that person, but making sure
you're actually connecting withthat person.
Oftentimes, a lot of my clientswill mention like, oh, what's
your favorite brand of matcha?
Or oh, like, what are you doingwith the dogs this weekend?
Or what was your favorite trip?
Like, they don't just ask meabout video, they ask me about
that personal brand elementwhich I know we talked about in
(25:51):
the previous episode together,and so I think making sure
you're building that connectionI think really goes a long way
to actually turning into aconversion.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Wonderful.
It's time to sign off.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Thank you so much for being with us today, Natasha,
and for the listener until yousee us or hear from us next time
, be blessed.
And for the listener until yousee us or hear from us next time
, be blessed.
And we'll talk to you soon Allright.
Bye.
Have you ever wondered how your videos could
be better and work better foryour business?
I'm talking like add moredollars to your revenue or a lot
more followers on social mediathough that is a vanity metric
it is, but it feels good whenthe followers are coming in.
Dig it.
On a serious note, though, wehave a video strategist with us
(00:21):
for this episode.
Her name is Natasha Pierre, andif you didn't listen to the
previous episode, that is linkedup in the description below,
but you're going to want tolisten to what she has to tell
you about how to make video thatworks, because, well, let's see
.
I mean, how does a little over2,000 extra subscribers for her
(00:42):
YouTube channel in less than twomonths sound?
Or how does the fact that, likemeta you know, like mark
zuckerberg's company of allfolks sought her out to do some
well-paid video partnershipsbased off of her personal brand
that she had built on instagramand youtube?
Antasha, she's the host of theShine Online podcast and a video
(01:05):
marketing coach for smallbusinesses, so through her
signature group programs andeducational content, natasha
helps you build your brand witha confident video marketing
strategy that ultimately growsyour business community and
impact simultaneously, and inthis episode.
(01:25):
We're going to talk about whatshe has seen personally and for
her clients, because she runs anagency too work really well and
that is video series, so we'regoing to dive into it.
Natasha, thank you for beinghere again, welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty
gritty on this one.
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty
gritty on this one.
There's a lot that goes in tovideo.
Jamie, I frequently tell whenI'm like a guest on other
podcasts and they'll say, like,well, you know, is it what's
working best for Facebook andInstagram ads?
Is it video?
Because I hear that, you know,we all hear that right.
Or graphics, and I'll say youknow what, to begin with, just
(02:07):
make yourself some graphics,because actually video has so
many different variables thatyou have to get right to have a
good video.
And so, natasha, please talk tous, yes, about the video series
, but first just give us like avery impactful compacted, if you
want to have a solid video onInstagram like what components
(02:31):
do you need to practice and getgood at?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, I love this question because, even though I
am, like, totally not a pro atads at all that is absolutely
both of you but there's a lot ofsimilarities on what works
organically often works wellwith paid and vice versa, and
every little element, as youmentioned, really makes a big
difference.
And so a few things that I'mnoticing make a big difference
(02:55):
on how videos perform.
I think the first is how youtalk about your idea or your
topic.
I think a lot of times peopletalk about it how they would
talk about it as the expert andthey forget to speak in the
person, that they're trying toreach language of how they would
actually talk about things.
So you don't need a lot ofjargon, you don't need a lot of
lingo, you don't need to make itsound really fancy for it to do
(03:18):
well.
In fact, doing that is probablygoing to repel or completely go
over their heads.
So I think how you're talkingabout and positioning your topic
is one really big thing.
Another thing that I mentionedis actually how you structure
your video.
So we often hear have a stronghook to your video, and that is
very important whether peopleare scrolling on their feeds or
if they're seeing an ad pop up.
(03:39):
Those first few seconds are sovaluable, they're the most
valuable ones.
So, yes, you definitely want tohook people in, but what
happens after that hook?
How are you sharing the ideas,the story, how are you ending
things off with a call to actionor kind of like the final bow
of your video?
I think people don't thinkabout every second and they're
(04:00):
more worried about how longshould it be and what audio
should I add, when in fact, I'mlike how are you actually
structuring the topic, the idea,the concept, that actually
plays a bigger role.
And then I think kind of thefinal thing to keep things
concise because I probably couldtalk about a lot of things is
really like the extra touches toyour video.
So a few of these things looklike adding text and closed
(04:23):
captions for things like talkingvideos.
Texts are great for addingcontext, for highlighting main
points, for having call outs forthose really big mic drop
moments or things like that, butit also can give context to
maybe text overlay, b-roll stylevideos, right.
So I think text overlay isunderutilized.
And then closed captions arekey for not only accessibility
(04:46):
but also for differentconsumption preferences.
I think those are things peopleshould focus on more in their
videos.
Framing is a big one.
People are either too close totheir camera and there's not
really room for edits, orthey're too low, they're too
high, they're off-centered.
Off-centered is always theworst.
So framing is a big one, likerule of thumb, like make sure
(05:09):
you're at the center of yourframe, whether it's the B-roll
that you're filming or anythinglike that, and when in doubt,
film farther away versus closeraway, because you can always
bring in a video.
You can never take it out onceyou're too close.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
When in doubt, film far out.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yes, there we go.
That should be on like a carbumper sticker or something.
But yeah, I think all thoselittle touches make a big
difference.
Edits don't make great videos,but they definitely do finish
them, they do like put thatfinal touch on them.
So you don't want to overthinkit, you don't want to put too
many edits in, but I think theright ones can make a big impact
(05:45):
.
As simple as doing like a jumpcut where your, your, your frame
is just regular and then youlike bring it in just a little
bit when you're bringing, likesaying a main point or something
like that.
Or even just to bring like, ifyou have a simple text overlay,
b-roll video, play around withthe timing of your texts.
You don't have to put all thisbig blob of text on at once,
like people are going to getoverwhelmed and not read it.
(06:06):
Like, have each paragraph oreach sentence, have its own
second on the screen and alsomake sure can people read it
when it's on the screen.
That's like my other big petpeeve of like.
You see a video and I'm like Ithere's no way I could have read
all that text in five seconds.
There's no way.
So yeah those are a few of mine.
I'm sure we could go on and on,but I think that'll keep it
(06:26):
short and sweet there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I guess I did read into this question by talking
about how complex video can be.
I feel like that was a verycompact masterclass in all the
things that we should have toget a video doing what it should
be doing growing our business.
Don't worry, listener, I'mgoing to help you out.
All right, natasha, you haveyour biggest paying client ever
(06:51):
and you do have two videoeditors on your team, right, yes
, okay, cool.
So your biggest paying clientever for your agency contract is
signed, deposit has been paid,both of your video editors just
resigned a day ago and you havegot to do all the editing
yourself.
What are the two things thatyou're just going to fall back
(07:14):
to to get the best results foryour client regarding video?
Because I know the listener islike good lord.
I can't do all this myself.
One and two.
That is so funny.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, I will say we actually not that situation, but
a similar situation.
One of our clients is a podcastand they had Gabrielle Union
like Gabrielle Union, like themega celebrity on the podcast,
and that editor that wasassigned to that client was out
sick.
That editor that was assignedto that client was out sick.
(07:44):
So I actually did need to go inand edit that very high stakes
episode and it ended up goinglike mega, mega viral, like we
were picked up on the shade room, like the today show.
It got over a million views.
So I actually feel like I havean actual, tangible example of
literally this just happened.
And this goes back to a fewthings I already mentioned.
(08:07):
Especially when pulling fromsomething long form like a
podcast and pulling it forsocial content, I picked the
very most important, bestmoments that could stand alone,
even if you didn't know theepisode had Gabrielle Union in
it and even if you didn't knowwhat the podcast episode is
about.
So what are those moments where, when someone listens to it,
(08:27):
they're thinking differently,they're like getting something
valuable from it, they'relaughing, they're like
entertained, whatever it is.
I really focused on that and Igot all the fluff out of it, and
especially for something longform.
There's um, people talk alittle slower.
There's conversations.
I got rid of all of the fluffto really keep it where it's as
concise as possible, because Icare a lot less about video
(08:49):
length than I care more about.
Is every single second of thevideo actually making it a
better video or is itdistracting from the good part?
So that was definitely thefirst thing that we did.
The second thing was very simpleedits.
We did closed captions.
The second thing was verysimple edits.
We did closed captions, butjust to make it a little bit
extra interesting, we used abrand font versus native text.
(09:10):
So something very smalleveryone can use in a tool like
Descript that's my favoritedesktop editor where you can
upload your fonts but evensomething like CapCut or InShot
on your phone you can do thesame thing.
And what I also did is not justlike all of the closed captions
be the same.
We had a few call outs orreally dramatic moments that we
wanted to bring attention to,where we either did two things.
(09:31):
We did a jump cut, which Ialready mentioned, so just
bringing the frame in just alittle bit to like really bring
attention to it, or we wouldchange the text a little bit for
that closed caption, so maybeit'd be all caps, maybe it'd be
a different color, maybe it'd bea different color, maybe it'd
be above the head versus belowthe head, and that was it.
So, just to summarize, wefocused on what were the most
(09:54):
important moments that needed tobe in this video to make it the
best video it could be.
And how could we just likeemphasize that with very simple
edits, jump cut, closed captionand brand font and a few call
out moments that we had in likea different font, and that was
literally it.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
All right, I love the scenario delivered.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
This is already been a super valuable episode.
And we haven't even gotten towhat the title is about, which
is video series, but you'reseeing video series work well.
Yes, tell us about video series.
As a driver for DM automations,I would personally like to know
that, as someone who, like thelistener, is using mini chat to
(10:42):
link up with great reels onInstagram and then have somebody
DM and continue theconversation and have them opt
in to something inside of theDMs.
What's going on there?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
So let's give some context ofwhat a series is and then I'll
kind of give an example of howyou can actually use it to drive
DM automation.
So a series is exactly as itsounds.
You're essentially creatingyour own Netflix show based on
your video content idea andinstead of overstuffing your
video where you're sharing amillion tips on how to do X, y
(11:13):
and Z, which is overwhelmingpeople, they're not getting
takeaways from it and you'realso putting all your ideas in
one piece of content.
So now you're always trying toreinvent the wheel.
Instead, you're going to take areally great topic, a theme,
and you're going to do multipleepisodes on it.
So instead of just talkingabout it once, you're going to
really touch on it in multipleepisodes.
(11:33):
So overall, the structure ofeach episode is going to be
similar.
That's what makes it signature.
That's what makes a seriesreally cohesive and on brand.
But every single video is goingto be touching on a different
topic around a specific theme.
So, to give a specific example,one of our clients actually does
like calligraphy education, soit teaches people how to do
(11:55):
calligraphy.
They've like never done itbefore, and so she had gone on
maternity leave, not posted anycontent at all for a year,
literally a year and so when westarted with her, like we do
with all of our clients, thefirst thing we do is a video
series, because not only is itreally great for nurturing your
current audience, it's one ofthose things that's really great
for reaching a new audience andactually turning them into
(12:18):
followers, not just views.
And so naturally, as someonewho's not an expert at
calligraphy, I'm like I think weshould just do a calligraphy
one-on-one series, like how tolearn, like you want to learn,
calligraphy.
Here's what you need to getstarted.
That was literally the conceptof the series, and so I think
it's such a great example ofwhat are the frequently asked
questions you're getting, whatare like the core topics or
(12:39):
strategies or things that youtalk about in your business.
That probably should be aseries.
It could be a really greatseries topic.
From there, we got four episodeswe essentially outlined and
scripted for our client of whatto actually say at the beginning
, which is really important ofso you want to learn calligraphy
.
This is the toolkit that youneed, or so you want to learn
calligraphy.
Actually, how you do the basicstrokes is way more important
(13:02):
than words.
And then here's how to do it.
So then she kind of got into it.
But kind of the key here is webuilt this series around one of
her free courses, which not onlywas geared towards building her
email list but also was gearedtowards actually upselling them
into something else paid.
So it was like her main driverof where we wanted people to go
(13:23):
from social media, and so forevery single episode we had that
free course as the call toaction, something that she said
at the end of the video andwe've supported with text
overlay, but also something thatwas in the caption of the video
of like so you want to learncalligraphy, you can learn all
of this and more in my free minicourse.
(13:44):
So we tied it in so seamlessly.
We're like, if you love thisone episode of the series, going
to the free mini course, a nobrainer, such an easy decision
to make.
And from that four part series.
One of the videos did go viral.
I had like 1.4 million views somany comments, saves shares,
like the whole series did reallywell.
(14:05):
But a more valuable metric isit had over 2000 DM automation
runs, because not only peoplewere loving the series, but they
were ready for that next stepand it was like pre-qualifying
them.
They were interested, they werelearning and they were like, of
course, the mini course feelslike a next step.
So I think that's really thekey to if you want to drive
(14:27):
applications, if you want tobuild a wait list, if you want
to sell your offer, if you wantto promote a freebie, whatever
it is, make sure that you'rechoosing a series that is very
specific to that call to action.
So it feels like a no brainer.
I binged all these episodes.
I want more than this call toaction is, the more it is the
(14:48):
next step.
So hopefully that can givepeople a few ideas on how that
could look for themselves intheir own offers.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah, for sure.
I've been over here typing andtaking notes, because this
advice is super applicable towhat I do and listener, like,
listen up.
I'm literally typing downthings that I'm going to tell my
clients when they ask me.
The question that they usuallyask me, which is do you have any
(15:14):
ideas for videos that I shouldmake in ads?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
So like yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I'm taking notes.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, and I think to that point I, like I said, I am
not an ads pro at all, but Ijust think there's so much
overlap of a video series couldbe such a great thing to run ads
to, because if someone isloving one episode, what do you
want to do on Netflix?
When you're loving an episode,you're already ready for the
next one.
So it really means that you'rekeeping them engaged so much
longer, which we all know.
(15:41):
Attention retention is veryhard to get a short form content
, even long form like I canshare more results on how this
looks for long form too.
It can apply to both.
But I think it's such a greatway for that new, fresh audience
because you're able to go deep,you're able to like, get them
that win.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You're able to show so much value while them wanting
more, so it's such a win-winokay oh, you want to ask I had
one quick question what'squestion so in a series about
how many videos are you doing,or does it depend, or is there a
minimum?
Love this question.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, the great thing about a series is it's actually
very customizable to not onlywhat feels good for you but also
for the topic and for theformat, so it could be as simple
as a four-part series.
I feel like that's a reallygood foundational series, where
maybe it's a whole monthdedicated to a series, a
specific topic, and one dropsevery week.
That's a really great exampleof like a very standard form.
(16:37):
But series can actually mean alot of different things.
An example of a series that youcould do is maybe every month
you do like reporting what wasworking on ads this month, like
literally that could be a serieslike the monthly ads report
what was working, what didn'twork, what we're trying next
month, like literally this likenews report that happens every
(16:58):
month, and so in a lot of waysseries can actually be
continuous.
They don't have to have an end.
It can almost be a theme that'shappening all of the time.
And a lot of like influencers,which I always love to use as
examples, is like a lot of foodcreators, for example.
They almost always have seriesrunnings.
Maybe they have a series forfun spring recipes and then they
(17:18):
have a fun series of likepicnics to bring during the
summer, or it's almost like acontinuous thing.
So, while it can be a certainamount of episodes that are set
on a certain amount of dates, itcan also be a continuous part
of your strategy, which willvery much so help with, just
like consistency gives youstructure as a creator, which I
(17:39):
found very helpful.
So, yeah, great question.
Long story short, it can depend, but a four part series is a a
good starter what are you avideo?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
marketing coach before.
I ask the question that I had,which is actually, in my mind,
super important for making aseries, and I'm going to take
notes because I'm asking formyself, because I want to come
out with a video series thatgrows my business and brings
more of the right people.
You know who I was meant toserve into my business ecosphere
.
But before that, before I askthis next question, which to me
(18:10):
is like how do I make a videoseries right without getting the
answer to this question?
So thank you in advance foranswering it for me, natasha.
What is this DIY, yourSignature video series thing
that you're running right now,and can you break it down for
the listener, because I thinkthey're going to want to join?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, absolutely so.
When I was doing my 2025predictions for this year, a
signature video series was atthe top of the list, and it's
something that I think is reallytaking off and I continue to
see as a really great way to getall those results that you
already mentioned.
So I decided to do an entireworkshop on this.
I've done this privately for myclients and they've absolutely
loved it.
It's a DIY your, your ownsignature video series workshop,
(18:53):
so not only we go over whatyour workshop should be about,
or what your series should beabout how to create it, how to
structure it, how to format itepisodes, everything like that
how to edit it but I also talkabout different conversion
strategies.
So I'm sure we'll talk aboutthis more in this episode, but I
was able to grow my list by athousand subscribers, and so I'm
actually sharing the workflowand how I actually set that up
(19:14):
in this.
So lots of resources for you toessentially execute what we're
talking about today.
So definitely like, join itlive while it's happening in
April, or, of course, you canaccess the replay and get just
as much value from it.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Right, do it please.
I mean, it was.
It's kind of a no brainer,because how much time does
editing a video, if you're doingit yourself, take?
You want it to work for thereason that you created it, so
that's, that's.
That's my pitch, listener.
Go ahead and click down in theshow notes and below and sign up
(19:48):
for Natasha's DIY yourSignature video series.
Now that question that'sburning in my mind you probably
answer in the workshop.
But if I'm going to make avideo it needs to get results.
How do I balance, strategicallyand technically, having
somebody click through or watchthe next video in the series
versus having somebody do thecall to action on the video so
(20:11):
they end up DMing me and cominginto that DM automation?
How do I pull that off?
That's a good question.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Yeah, great question.
I think naturally, as youdisplay your series as a series
like maybe you name it, maybeyou share that the next episode
is coming in a week, likehowever you kind of package it,
as I say your series so peopleknow it is a series that
naturally will imply that thereis a future or past episode for
(20:39):
you to binge.
So I often don't spend a lot oftime promoting the next.
It'll often be as simple as,like we already talked about
this in the series, but nowwe're going to talk about that
or, if you love this, like we'reactually going to be talking
about this the next time.
So it's often just very quickmention, not anything I'm
spending too much time on,because I'd rather spend much
more time on the next step,which is often your call to
(21:02):
action.
So it is a little bit of abalancing act.
I think they both can coexist.
But I think if you package andpresent your series as a series
and if people can go to yourprofile easily, find it easily,
binge it, you're posting at thesame time every week or maybe it
has a specific name or itdoesn't have to have all those
things, but at least if one ofthose elements.
It means you can spend more ofyour time on the actual call to
(21:24):
action and keeping in mind thegoal of a series could also be
just like having some greatorganic growth and getting your
engagement up if maybe youhaven't posted videos in a long
time so you can kind of caterhow you hit that goal based on
what elements you include in it.
So hopefully that gave you agood answer.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
yeah yeah, it did it did.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you wow, that's I mean
my brain thinks in youtube andinstagram and so like my mind
was like, oh, of course I wantto have, like, the series linked
up in one of the instagramhighlights, or of course I want
to make reference to, if I'mdoing this on youtube, a youtube
(22:03):
playlist that has the series,or just link up previous
episodes in the show notes below.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Absolutely All the above.
Cross-linking, having similarcovers or thumbnails, all of
those things are really easyways to make sure people know
it's a series pinning them tothe top of a profile, maybe like
the first episode to the top ofa profile, even on Reels a
simple thing of doing like aReel replies.
So if you get a comment on oneof the episodes of like love
(22:32):
this or have a follow-upquestion or can't wait for the
next episode, you can go intothat comment.
A little like camera icon willshow up.
You can select that and thenessentially it'll have you reply
as a video to a comment so youcan essentially post your real
reply.
It's called a real reply.
I have a video that I've done onit a little while ago but
(22:52):
essentially it kind of linksyour videos, kind of similar to
how it works on TikTok but youcan do it on Instagram.
So essentially if someone wentto that comment in one episode,
you could, they would.
Essentially that next videowould be linked in the comments.
It's it's very hard to talkabout video things without
showing it.
Well, I guess I could probablylike kind of show it, like hold
(23:15):
up my phone and show it.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
But yeah, look at that I did not know that
Instagram did that.
I just well, you're talking andI'm looking into my comments,
but yeah, I hit reply and I hitthe little camera button and I
can select a video from mycamera roll, which, but that
real replies to my stories, itlooks like.
(23:37):
Or is this just the next thingto make the reel and then that
actually ends up posting as areply to a comment?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yes, it'll post it as a reply to a comment and it'll
post the reel not only to yourfeed but it'll also kind of link
a preview of the video in youractual comments of that video
only to your feed, but it'llalso kind of link a preview of
the video in your actualcomments of that video you did
the reply to.
So it's kind of a simple wayyou can kind of link videos to
videos when creating a series.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Okay, I'm gonna have to experiment with that.
Very, very cool.
This is what a technical andvery practical episode.
Yeah, speaking of not havingany fluff, I don't think there
was any fluff in this episode.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I took a lot of notes and I couldn't even get all the
notes that you said.
We'll have to go back andlisten.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, no, really, this makes it to the short list,
and the short list is not.
It actually is short.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It only has three episodes on it, but the list of
episodes where it's like I needto go back and implement stuff
that you've said in my business.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
There is a short list and you are now on it.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Thank you, lovely.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yay, for sure Love it , yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Is there any final thought that you would like to
share on someone who is starting?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I don't know, maybe not starting video, obviously,
but like somebody who's got agoal to their social media or or
get a certain, if they're notjust going to look for vanity
metrics to get a certain numberof leads from videos and DMs
Like what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Final thoughts from videos and DMs, like, what would
you say to them?
Final thoughts yeah, I think Iwould really focus on like
connecting and creating for,like, a very specific person.
I think that's where a lot ofpeople get video and social
media wrong is they're trying tolike cast the wide net of
speaking to everybody versusthinking of a very specific,
ideal person they want to workwith and creating video content
(25:31):
for that person.
And not just creating contentfor that person, but making sure
you're actually connecting withthat person.
Oftentimes, a lot of my clientswill mention like, oh, what's
your favorite brand of matcha?
Or oh, like, what are you doingwith the dogs this weekend?
Or what was your favorite trip?
Like, they don't just ask meabout video, they ask me about
that personal brand elementwhich I know we talked about in
(25:51):
the previous episode together,and so I think making sure
you're building that connectionI think really goes a long way
to actually turning into aconversion.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Wonderful.
It's time to sign off.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Thank you so much for being with us today, Natasha,
and for the listener until yousee us or hear from us next time
, be blessed.
And for the listener until yousee us or hear from us next time
, be blessed.
And we'll talk to you soon Allright.
Bye.
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