Video has been and likely always will be king on social media. We knew this to be true before but with Instagram officially announcing that it will favor video content, it has caused many users to panic. Video can be intimidating and some people aren’t ready to overcome that fear. There are a few ways to still use video without actually showing your face on camera. Though, physically showing up on your social pages will increase trust between you and your followers. So please at least try to work on this fear!
Idea #1: Use a voiceover and illustrate your point
If you’re an artist or can show your point without being on camera, this is going to be your favorite type of video. In Instagram Reels and via video editing apps, you can add a voiceover on top of a video. It’s just like when someone shares their screen on Zoom and you can see what they are doing but only hear their voice. You’re making a short-form video version of that.
Idea #2: Get a friend to help and ask for video testimonials
Maybe you have a business partner or friend who is more comfortable being on video. Ask them/pay them to help you bring your video ideas to life. Again, this doesn’t replace you but it’s a temporary solution. If you have testimonials, ask the customer to make a short video of their testimonial so you can share it.
Idea #3: Repost other accounts’ video content with credit
This point might be a bit controversial. Reposting content has been a standard practice forever. There are many pages that are exclusively for reposting content, and it totally works. The controversial part of this is whether or not you need explicit permission from the creator in order to share it. Generally speaking, the answer is no. It’s not common practice to get permission before sharing because you are giving proper credit however necessary (in the caption, comments, tags). However, if you personally feel that you want permission before sharing, do it. If you share something and the original creator asks you to take it down, then take it down. This rarely happens.
My argument as to why I think reposting is okay: As a creator, I love it when people repost my content *with proper credit* because it’s essentially free advertising in front of an entirely new group of people. It might not pay the bills when it’s posted but it will later when new followers turn into customers and I’m good with that. Plus, it’s nice to know my content is resonating enough that someone else wanted to share it with their audience too. I’d prefer someone to share my Instagram post in their feed with hashtags because it will get more views than if they were to share my post only in their stories.
If you have a fear of video, I’d love to help you work through it! Message me via this contact form or on Instagram and tell me what’s holding you back.