Social Video Bootcamp: Write a Script for Your Video

Welcome back to the Social Video Bootcamp, where we share tips, ideas, and techniques to help you grow as a video creator and marketer. If this is your first time joining us, catch up with the first six installments in our Facebook group.

This time around, we’re asking you to plan out the content of your video in advance with a script.

Write a script for your video

Writing a script might feel like a time expenditure you can’t always afford, but the real goal is to enter the video-creation process knowing exactly what you want to accomplish.

Once you get into the video itself, it can be easy to get caught up and miss something you meant to include. This is especially if you’re shooting any new clips for your video.

Scripting gives you the time to think things through and figure out what you’ll need to achieve your goals for your video. Once you have that down on paper, you can move on to the next step with confidence.

While far from the only categories of marketing videos, here are some examples of the types of videos that could be improved with a little bit of written planning ahead of time.

Testimonial videos

The best testimonials sound natural, not spoon fed, but you still want to make sure that your customers on camera cover the essentials. Give them a list of topics you’d like them to cover to help ensure that they stay on the mark, and that you get your shot. From there, any other tidbits that they offer are gravy.

Product videos

For videos focused on a product, mapping your messaging out line-by-line ahead of time can ensure that you don’t miss any key selling points. Even if you won’t be including any spoken word in your video, a script will help inform the shots that you’ll need to capture, as well as the text accompaniments that drive your point home.

Announcements

When it comes to announcements, off-the-cuff informality can be ideal, but not at the expense of realizing you forgot to mention a crucial detail. Make a list of the points you want to communicate, or even write it out word-for-word. If it doesn’t seem natural, you have your talking points to fall back on!

We’d love to hear how it goes! Did writing a script help when it came time to create your video? We also encourage you to share your creations in our Facebook group, the Animoto Social Video Marketing Community, and if you have any questions, you can find us there as well!