Are you afraid of being in front of the camera? Do you want to start creating videos, but you feel too shy or scared to actually get started? Do you feel like your voice isn't good enough? Are you scared to start recording videos because you're afraid of how you'll look and sound? What do you think are the causes of fear in making videos?
Nowadays, having videos on your business website is a must and this is not something new. Videos are an incredible marketing tool that can help you grow your business immensely. But still, a lot of people are also afraid to record videos, especially those who are new to it.
Today, we will answer all of those questions. So, if you're new to making videos or feeling a little lost, confused by the process, and scared, then this is for you.
Listen to the Episode
Atiba de Souza: Hey, welcome to Thoughts On Thought Leadership. And I wanna cover a couple things today. And today I'm gonna dive into some of the statements that you've probably thought yourself. And I'm saying that because these are things that my clients say to me and things that I need to help them get over and, or understand about being a thought leader and more specifically about getting on video. Right? The world is moving to video. Everything is moving to video. Instagram is favoring Reels. Facebook is favoring more video. TikTok is all video. Heck, even LinkedIn wants more video now. So everywhere you go, video is the key and I get it, video can be kinda scary, let me be completely honest with you. Video is even scary for me and I've been doing it now for a few years and it's even scary for me. There are days when I don't want to get on video. Why? Because there are issues. Let's just face it. Okay. One of those issues, what am I gonna look like on video?
Right? What am I gonna look like? So take me, for example, and I decided to do this video today deliberately. Look, I can use a shave. Yep, I can use a shave. Not dressed super well, but I'm gonna get on video and talk to you. And one of the things that we have to learn to get over is the, "How do I look?" Because people don't actually care that much about how you look as much as they care about what you have to say, as much as they care about how real you are and how honest you are. See, be honest with me and yourself for a moment. You don't love all those super polished videos. Like, if it's a commercial, sure. But you're not looking for super polished in everything. You're looking for something that's real. You're looking to connect with real people.
And sometimes connecting with real people means just getting up and showing yourself as you are. And so, we all worry about how we're going to look, I completely get that. Okay. Because yeah, I want to shave, I wanna make sure I'm wearing a decent shirt. I wanna make sure my lighting is right, but it really doesn't matter.
So that's the first thing, worrying about what you're going to look like. The next thing, is what are you gonna say? People worry about what they're going to say. And I'm doing this deliberately because I'm reading. I'm reading my notes. You're worrying about what you're gonna say. Well, guess what? I got notes! I can read the notes. Yeah. You can write notes about what you're gonna say. Okay. But how do I get to those notes, Atiba. Like, I hear you, I can read the notes. Okay. I can convince myself to look down and read and then talk to the camera fine but how do I get to the notes? That's when you have somebody like me in your life.
That's when you have somebody like our agency on your side, because what we are going to be able to do for you is we are going to be able to help you figure out the topics that you need to talk about. What we do for our clients is we create video briefs for them that give them an outline of what they should talk about, making it so much easier for you to know exactly what to talk about. And here's the deal, you are an expert in your field. So I guarantee you, if I just gave you a couple prompts, you can talk, you can share, you can articulate your point. Oh, there's a next one. There's a next one. Did y'all hear that? People worry about that too.
The technology, "Oh my gosh. I'm on my computer. What if my computer makes a noise and there's a notification." I just had a notification on my computer. Guess what? You know notifications happen? And you probably heard that notification. It was a slack notification. If you're a slack user, you probably checked your slack to see if it was your notification big deal.
Big deal. Let's get over that. It's okay. It's alright. It's alright. There's another notification, right? I deliberately did not turn off my notifications doing this recording cause I want you to hear that it's okay. It's okay. Alright. So, what are you gonna look like? What are you gonna say? Some of the technology issues like notifications.
Alright. Here's another one. Here's another one.
I've got to lose some pounds before I get on camera. And I hear you on this. I hear you on this, that you're feeling like you gotta lose some pounds. You gotta lose some weight. You wanna put your best face forward before you get on camera, I hear you. But let me ask you a question, you created your business to help people and to solve problems for people. And if that's the case, if that's truly, truly the case, how would you feel if you learned six months from now, somebody was struggling because they needed your help six months ago, but they didn't get your help because you didn't create a video because you wanted to lose 5 pounds or 10 pounds or a hundred pounds.
Do you really think they care how much weight you have to lose versus the help that you can be to them? There's another one, look, background noise. So not only computer stuff, but y'all hear that background noise. Yeah. I'm in my home studio. That's my wife leaving through the garage. Background noise. It happens.
Get over it, shoot the video. But getting back to I've gotta lose some weight. Listen, I completely empathize with you cuz I've been in the same place and I went through that too. Okay. I went through that too and you know what I had to do? I went on a campaign to lose 80 pounds and I had to shoot video through it and I even talked about the weight loss that I was doing on my videos when I did them.
Yeah. Make it a part of what you're talking about because it's a part of who you are and people want the real you, they don't want super polished and fancy. They want to be able to connect with you and know that you are a human being. Okay. Next one. I, I, I, I keep stumbling over my words when, because I I'm, I'm not confident.
Well, okay. I hear people say this and here's what I'll say to this really bluntly. If you're talking about something that you're an expert in, you're not gonna stumble over your words cuz you're not confident because you know, you know your stuff. You may stumble over your words when you're talking about something that you're not confident in, or you're not an expert in.
But when you're an expert on something, you can talk about it and, heck, even if you stumble or stammer as your naturally gate in the way that you speak, guess what, people want to connect with the real you, they don't want to know that you're perfect. They want to know that you are just like them, just like them.
And that helps them connect with you. Okay. Next one, I can't record because I'm sick or I've got a running or I— something like that. Listen, my allergies are killing me right now, excuse me guys.
Yeah. Have your allergies never bothered you? Have you never been sick? People will understand. I gotta blow my nose, excuse me. Be polite about it. And it's. okay. It's alright. It's not something to be embarrassed about because again, people want to get to know the real you, I can't tell you how many times you'll see a video like that and people then will write, "Hey, are you feeling any better?" Because people care and they want to care and they want to know you. Alright. They want to know you. This is an interesting one, this next one we're gonna talk about and it's interesting for a bunch of different reasons. So, lemme just give it to you.
I get this complaint from people at times, I keep not looking at the camera. I know that's bad in English, but that's what they say. Right. I'm talking and I forget to look at the camera cause I look at my notes or I look away or, you know, it's recording. So I end up looking at myself like I'm over here on my screen, but the camera's over here and I'm looking away or I'm looking at the microphone cause I'm talking to the microphone and I'm not looking at the camera. You know that used to be something that was a really big deal, but something that's happened in the last couple of years during the pandemic because I really didn't see it that much before the pandemic, but something has happened in the last couple of years during the pandemic, this concept of shooting video, when you're not looking at the camera.
And it's like, you're talking to someone over here and the person who's listening is just getting, you know, to eavesdrop a little bit on your conversation with this person over here. Who's actually not even there. They're just talking to the microphone like me right now. I'm talking to the microphone and I'm not looking at the camera.
Yeah. That's become a really big thing. A really big thing. So if your eyes go off and you're looking in other places, you're not looking at the camera, guess what, you fit. You fit. That's the new thing in video recording. So you fit. It's awesome. It's awesome. Then the last one that we're going to touch today in terms of reasons why people are afraid to get on camera and shoot video, I need to rearrange my room and fix my backdrop. Yeah. I get this one and I was in that same place and early on, I was in that same place. And so here's what I did, and my kids used to make fun of me. Man, my kids made fun of me. Okay. Because what I did was I zoomed the camera in so tight that the only thing that you could see was my face.
And they said, "Dad, there's way too much of your face in the screen." Like, yeah. But I don't want anybody to see what's behind me.
It's a really simple fix. Now, beyond that. You can buy a green screen. You see what you're seeing back there? That's a virtual background, guys. It's not real. It's virtual. I've got a green screen back there and that's just an image. That's that— software look, I'm not even gonna try to explain the technology to you, right?
You don't have to understand it. I just told it, use this image as my virtual background and that's what it did. Easy. Easy. Now, you don't have to see what's behind me. Easy.
Guys. I completely understand. It can be extremely taxing on your system, on your mind, on your psyche to create video. I get it. I get it. I do. I remember when I started it. Wasn't easy. Heck, it's still not easy. Okay. I produce two to three hours of video a week and it still takes a lot out of me to do it because there's some weeks I just don't want to.
I just don't wanna go through all this stuff. I get it. But your audience, they need you. They need to see you. And you've got people like me in your life who can help you. My agency can help you figure out what to say and we even help you with the technology side of the equation and taking all of that away from you.
So all you have to do is show up and be an expert. Answer questions, and be an expert, which you are. All the other stuff you don't actually have to worry about it. You don't actually have to worry about it. Because your people want to connect with you. That's what they're looking for. They want to connect with you.
Alright, everybody. I hope this helped because in order for you to become a thought leader, you've got to be able to conquer video and we can help you do that. We can help you do that. All you gotta do, go to our website, okay, go to our website, clientattractionpros.com/quiz. We've got a thought leadership readiness quiz there for you and it will show you, you are more ready to be a thought leader than you think. Bye, everybody.
