The Art of Online Business

Want To Grow Your Business with Video (No Trends Required)? Do THIS! Featuring Natasha Pierre

• Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie • Episode 942

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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.

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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!

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Watch the previous episode on YouTube, "Six Figures Doing Done For You Video Content With Natasha Pierre"


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Please click here to give an honest Rating/Review for the show on iTunes! Thanks for your support!



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Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:




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Natasha's Links:

Speaker 1:

Have you ever wondered how your videos could be better and work better for your business? I'm talking like add more dollars to your revenue or a lot more followers on social media though that is a vanity metric it is, but it feels good when the followers are coming in. Dig it. On a serious note, though, we have a video strategist with us for this episode. Her name is Natasha Pierre, and if you didn't listen to the previous episode, that is linked up in the description below, but you're going to want to listen to what she has to tell you about how to make video that works, because, well, let's see.

Speaker 1:

I mean, how does a little over 2,000 extra subscribers for her YouTube channel in less than two months sound? Or how does the fact that, like meta you know, like mark zuckerberg's company of all folks sought her out to do some well-paid video partnerships based off of her personal brand that she had built on instagram and youtube? Antasha, she's the host of the Shine Online podcast and a video marketing coach for small businesses, so through her signature group programs and educational content, natasha helps you build your brand with a confident video marketing strategy that ultimately grows your business community and impact simultaneously, and in this episode. We're going to talk about what she has seen personally and for her clients, because she runs an agency too work really well and that is video series, so we're going to dive into it. Natasha, thank you for being here again, welcome.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty gritty on this one. Welcome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm excited we're getting to the nitty gritty on this one. There's a lot that goes in to video. Jamie, I frequently tell when I'm like a guest on other podcasts and they'll say, like, well, you know, is it what's working best for Facebook and Instagram ads? Is it video? Because I hear that, you know, we all hear that right. Or graphics, and I'll say you know what, to begin with, just make yourself some graphics, because actually video has so many different variables that you have to get right to have a good video. And so, natasha, please talk to us, yes, about the video series, but first just give us like a very impactful compacted, if you want to have a solid video on Instagram like what components do you need to practice and get good at?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love this question because, even though I am, like, totally not a pro at ads at all that is absolutely both of you but there's a lot of similarities on what works organically often works well with paid and vice versa, and every little element, as you mentioned, really makes a big difference. And so a few things that I'm noticing make a big difference on how videos perform. I think the first is how you talk about your idea or your topic. I think a lot of times people talk about it how they would talk about it as the expert and they forget to speak in the person, that they're trying to reach language of how they would actually talk about things. So you don't need a lot of jargon, you don't need a lot of lingo, you don't need to make it sound really fancy for it to do well. In fact, doing that is probably going to repel or completely go over their heads. So I think how you're talking about and positioning your topic is one really big thing.

Speaker 3:

Another thing that I mentioned is actually how you structure your video. So we often hear have a strong hook to your video, and that is very important whether people are scrolling on their feeds or if they're seeing an ad pop up. Those first few seconds are so valuable, they're the most valuable ones. So, yes, you definitely want to hook 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 action or kind of like the final bow of your video? I think people don't think about every second and they're more worried about how long should it be and what audio should I add, when in fact, I'm like how are you actually structuring the topic, the idea, the concept, that actually plays a bigger role. And then I think kind of the final thing to keep things concise because I probably could talk about a lot of things is really like the extra touches to your video. So a few of these things look like adding text and closed captions for things like talking videos.

Speaker 3:

Texts are great for adding context, for highlighting main points, for having call outs for those really big mic drop moments or things like that, but it also can give context to maybe text overlay, b-roll style videos, right. So I think text overlay is underutilized. And then closed captions are key for not only accessibility but also for different consumption preferences. I think those are things people should focus on more in their videos. Framing is a big one. People are either too close to their camera and there's not really room for edits, or they're too low, they're too high, they're off-centered. Off-centered is always the worst. So framing is a big one, like rule of thumb, like make sure you're at the center of your frame, whether it's the B-roll that you're filming or anything like that, and when in doubt, film farther away versus closer away, because you can always bring in a video. You can never take it out once you're too close.

Speaker 1:

When in doubt, film far out.

Speaker 3:

Yes, there we go. That should be on like a car bumper sticker or something. But yeah, I think all those little touches make a big difference. Edits don't make great videos, but they definitely do finish them, they do like put that final touch on them. So you don't want to overthink it, you don't want to put too many edits in, but I think the right ones can make a big impact.

Speaker 3:

As simple as doing like a jump cut where your, your, your frame is just regular and then you like bring it in just a little bit when you're bringing, like saying a main point or something like that. Or even just to bring like, if you have a simple text overlay, b-roll video, play around with the timing of your texts. You don't have to put all this big blob of text on at once, like people are going to get overwhelmed and not read it. Like, have each paragraph or each sentence, have its own second on the screen and also make sure can people read it when it's on the screen. That's like my other big pet peeve of like. You see a video and I'm like I there's no way I could have read all that text in five seconds. There's no way.

Speaker 3:

So yeah those are a few of mine. I'm sure we could go on and on, but I think that'll keep it short and sweet there, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I guess I did read into this question by talking about how complex video can be. I feel like that was a very compact masterclass in all the things that we should have to get a video doing what it should be doing growing our business. Don't worry, listener, I'm going to help you out. All right, natasha, you have your biggest paying client ever and you do have two video editors on your team, right, yes, okay, cool. So your biggest paying client ever for your agency contract is signed, deposit has been paid, both of your video editors just resigned a day ago and you have got to do all the editing yourself. What are the two things that you're just going to fall back to to get the best results for your client regarding video? Because I know the listener is like good lord. I can't do all this myself. One and two. That is so funny.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I will say we actually not that situation, but a similar situation. One of our clients is a podcast and they had Gabrielle Union like Gabrielle Union, like the mega celebrity on the podcast, and that editor that was assigned to that client was out sick. That editor that was assigned to that client was out sick. So I actually did need to go in and edit that very high stakes episode and it ended up going like 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 have an actual, tangible example of literally this just happened. And this goes back to a few things I already mentioned. Especially when pulling from something long form like a podcast and pulling it for social content, I picked the very most important, best moments that could stand alone, even if you didn't know the episode had Gabrielle Union in it and even if you didn't know what the podcast episode is about. So what are those moments where, when someone listens to it, they're thinking differently, they're like getting something valuable from it, they're laughing, they're like entertained, whatever it is. I really focused on that and I got all the fluff out of it, and especially for something long form. There's um, people talk a little slower. There's conversations. I got rid of all of the fluff to really keep it where it's as concise as possible, because I care a lot less about video length than I care more about. Is every single second of the video actually making it a better video or is it distracting from the good part? So that was definitely the first thing that we did.

Speaker 3:

The second thing was very simple edits. We did closed captions. The second thing was very simple edits. We did closed captions, but just to make it a little bit extra interesting, we used a brand font versus native text. So something very small everyone can use in a tool like Descript that's my favorite desktop editor where you can upload your fonts but even something like CapCut or InShot on your phone you can do the same thing.

Speaker 3:

And what I also did is not just like all of the closed captions be the same. We had a few call outs or really dramatic moments that we wanted to bring attention to, where we either did two things. We did a jump cut, which I already mentioned, so just bringing the frame in just a little bit to like really bring attention to it, or we would change the text a little bit for that closed caption, so maybe it'd be all caps, maybe it'd be a different color, maybe it'd be a different color, maybe it'd be above the head versus below the head, and that was it. So, just to summarize, we focused on what were the most important moments that needed to be in this video to make it the best video it could be. And how could we just like emphasize that with very simple edits, jump cut, closed caption and brand font and a few call out moments that we had in like a different font, and that was literally it.

Speaker 2:

All right, I love the scenario delivered.

Speaker 1:

This is already been a super valuable episode. And we haven't even gotten to what the title is about, which is video series, but you're seeing 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 the listener, is using mini chat to link up with great reels on Instagram and then have somebody DM and continue the conversation and have them opt in to something inside of the DMs. What's going on there?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So let's give some context of what a series is and then I'll kind of give an example of how you can actually use it to drive DM automation. So a series is exactly as it sounds. You're essentially creating your own Netflix show based on your video content idea and instead of overstuffing your video where you're sharing a million tips on how to do X, y and Z, which is overwhelming people, they're not getting takeaways from it and you're also putting all your ideas in one piece of content. So now you're always trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, you're going to take a really great topic, a theme, and you're going to do multiple episodes on it. So instead of just talking about it once, you're going to really touch on it in multiple episodes. So overall, the structure of each episode is going to be similar. That's what makes it signature. That's what makes a series really cohesive and on brand. But every single video is going to be touching on a different topic around a specific theme.

Speaker 3:

So, to give a specific example, one of our clients actually does like calligraphy education, so it teaches people how to do calligraphy. They've like never done it before, and so she had gone on maternity leave, not posted any content at all for a year, literally a year and so when we started with her, like we do with all of our clients, the first thing we do is a video series, because not only is it really great for nurturing your current audience, it's one of those things that's really great for reaching a new audience and actually turning them into followers, not just views. And so naturally, as someone who's not an expert at calligraphy, I'm like I think we should just do a calligraphy one-on-one series, like how to learn, like you want to learn, calligraphy. Here's what you need to get started. That was literally the concept of the series, and so I think it's such a great example of what are the frequently asked questions you're getting, what are like the core topics or strategies or things that you talk about in your business. That probably should be a series. It could be a really great series topic.

Speaker 3:

From there, we got four episodes we essentially outlined and scripted for our client of what to actually say at the beginning, which is really important of so you want to learn calligraphy. This is the toolkit that you need, or so you want to learn calligraphy. Actually, how you do the basic strokes is way more important than words. And then here's how to do it. So then she kind of got into it.

Speaker 3:

But kind of the key here is we built this series around one of her free courses, which not only was geared towards building her email list but also was geared towards actually upselling them into something else paid. So it was like her main driver of where we wanted people to go from social media, and so for every single episode we had that free course as the call to action, something that she said at the end of the video and we've supported with text overlay, but also something that was in the caption of the video of like so you want to learn calligraphy, you can learn all of this and more in my free mini course. So we tied it in so seamlessly. We're like, if you love this one episode of the series, going to the free mini course, a no brainer, such an easy decision to make.

Speaker 3:

And from that four part series. One of the videos did go viral.

Speaker 3:

I had like 1.4 million views so many comments, saves shares, like the whole series did really well. But a more valuable metric is it had over 2000 DM automation runs, because not only people were loving the series, but they were ready for that next step and it was like pre-qualifying them. They were interested, they were learning and they were like, of course, the mini course feels like a next step. So I think that's really the key to if you want to drive applications, if you want to build a wait list, if you want to sell your offer, if you want to promote a freebie, whatever it is, make sure that you're choosing 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 to action is, the more it is the next step. So hopefully that can give people a few ideas on how that could look for themselves in their own offers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure. I've been over here typing and taking notes, because this advice is super applicable to what I do and listener, like, listen up. I'm literally typing down things that I'm going to tell my clients when they ask me. The question that they usually ask me, which is do you have any ideas for videos that I should make in ads?

Speaker 2:

Well, there you go.

Speaker 3:

So like yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm taking notes.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and I think to that point I, like I said, I am not an ads pro at all, but I just think there's so much overlap of a video series could be such a great thing to run ads to, because if someone is loving 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're keeping them engaged so much longer, which we all know. Attention retention is very hard to get a short form content, even long form like I can share more results on how this looks for long form too. It can apply to both. But I think it's such a great way for that new, fresh audience because you're able to go deep, you're able to like, get them that win.

Speaker 2:

You're able to show so much value while them wanting more, so it's such a win-win okay oh, you want to ask I had one quick question what's question 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:

Yeah, the great thing about a series is it's actually very customizable to not only what feels good for you but also for the topic and for the format, so it could be as simple as a four-part series. I feel like that's a really good foundational series, where maybe it's a whole month dedicated to a series, a specific topic, and one drops every week. That's a really great example of like a very standard form. But series can actually mean a lot of different things. An example of a series that you could do is maybe every month you do like reporting what was working on ads this month, like literally that could be a series like the monthly ads report what was working, what didn't work, what we're trying next month, like literally this like news report that happens every month, and so in a lot of ways series can actually be continuous. They don't have to have an end. It can almost be a theme that's happening all of the time.

Speaker 3:

And a lot of like influencers, which I always love to use as examples, is like a lot of food creators, for example. They almost always have series runnings. Maybe they have a series for fun spring recipes and then they have a fun series of like picnics to bring during the summer, or it's almost like a continuous thing. So, while it can be a certain amount of episodes that are set on a certain amount of dates, it can also be a continuous part of your strategy, which will very much so help with, just like consistency gives you structure as a creator, which I 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 a video?

Speaker 1:

marketing coach before. I ask the question that I had, which is actually, in my mind, super important for making a series, and I'm going to take notes because I'm asking for myself, because I want to come out with a video series that grows my business and brings more of the right people. You know who I was meant to serve into my business ecosphere.

Speaker 1:

But before that, before I ask this next question, which to me is like how do I make a video series right without getting the answer to this question? So thank you in advance for answering it for me, natasha. What is this DIY, your Signature video series thing that you're running right now, and can you break it down for the listener, because I think they're going to want to join?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 3:

When I was doing my 2025 predictions for this year, a signature video series was at the top of the list, and it's something that I think is really taking off and I continue to see as a really great way to get all those results that you already mentioned.

Speaker 3:

So I decided to do an entire workshop on this. I've done this privately for my clients and they've absolutely loved it. It's a DIY your, your own signature video series workshop, so not only we go over what your workshop should be about, or what your series should be about how to create it, how to structure it, how to format it episodes, everything like that how to edit it but I also talk about different conversion strategies. So I'm sure we'll talk about this more in this episode, but I was able to grow my list by a thousand subscribers, and so I'm actually sharing the workflow and how I actually set that up in this. So lots of resources for you to essentially execute what we're talking about today. So definitely like, join it live while it's happening in April, or, of course, you can access the replay and get just as much value from it.

Speaker 1:

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 doing it yourself, take? You want it to work for the reason that you created it, so that's, that's. That's my pitch, listener.

Speaker 1:

Go ahead and click down in the show notes and below and sign up for Natasha's DIY your Signature video series. Now that question that's burning in my mind you probably answer in the workshop. But if I'm going to make a video it needs to get results. How do I balance, strategically and technically, having somebody click through or watch the next video in the series versus having somebody do the call to action on the video so they end up DMing me and coming into that DM automation? How do I pull that off? That's a good question.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, great question. I think naturally, as you display your series as a series like maybe you name it, maybe you share that the next episode is coming in a week, like however you kind of package it, as I say your series so people know it is a series that naturally will imply that there is a future or past episode for you to binge. So I often don't spend a lot of time promoting the next. It'll often be as simple as, like we already talked about this in the series, but now we're going to talk about that or, if you love this, like we're actually going to be talking about this the next time. So it's often just very quick mention, 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 action.

Speaker 3:

So it is a little bit of a balancing act. I think they both can coexist. But I think if you package and present your series as a series and if people can go to your profile easily, find it easily, binge it, you're posting at the same time every week or maybe it has a specific name or it doesn't have to have all those things, but at least if one of those elements. It means you can spend more of your time on the actual call to action and keeping in mind the goal of a series could also be just like having some great organic growth and getting your engagement up if maybe you haven't posted videos in a long time so you can kind of cater how you hit that goal based on what elements you include in it. So hopefully that gave you a good answer.

Speaker 1:

yeah yeah, it did it did. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you wow, that's I mean my brain thinks in youtube and instagram and so like my mind was like, oh, of course I want to have, like, the series linked up in one of the instagram highlights, or of course I want to make reference to, if I'm doing this on youtube, a youtube playlist that has the series, or just link up previous episodes in the show notes below.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely All the above. Cross-linking, having similar covers or thumbnails, all of those things are really easy ways to make sure people know it's a series pinning them to the top of a profile, maybe like the first episode to the top of a profile, even on Reels a simple thing of doing like a Reel replies. So if you get a comment on one of the episodes of like love this or have a follow-up question or can't wait for the next episode, you can go into that comment. A little like camera icon will show up. You can select that and then essentially it'll have you reply as a video to a comment so you can essentially post your real reply. It's called a real reply.

Speaker 3:

I have a video that I've done on it a little while ago but essentially it kind of links your videos, kind of similar to how it works on TikTok but you can do it on Instagram. So essentially if someone went to that comment in one episode, you could, they would. Essentially that next video would be linked in the comments. It's it's very hard to talk about video things without showing it. Well, I guess I could probably like kind of show it, like hold up my phone and show it.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, look at that I did not know that Instagram did that. I just well, you're talking and I'm looking into my comments, but yeah, I hit reply and I hit the little camera button and I can select a video from my camera roll, which, but that real replies to my stories, it looks like. Or is this just the next thing to make the reel and then that actually ends up posting as a reply to a comment?

Speaker 3:

Yes, it'll post it as a reply to a comment and it'll post the reel not only to your feed but it'll also kind of link a preview of the video in your actual comments of that video only to your feed, but it'll also kind of link a preview of the video in your actual comments of that video you did the reply to. So it's kind of a simple way you can kind of link videos to videos when creating a series.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I'm gonna have to experiment with that. Very, very cool. This is what a technical and very practical episode. Yeah, speaking of not having any fluff, I don't think there was any fluff in this episode.

Speaker 2:

I took a lot of notes and I couldn't even get all the notes that you said. We'll have to go back and listen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, really, this makes it to the short list, and the short list is not. It actually is short.

Speaker 2:

It only has three episodes on it, but the list of episodes where it's like I need to go back and implement stuff that you've said in my business.

Speaker 1:

There is a short list and you are now on it.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, lovely.

Speaker 1:

Yay, for sure Love it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Is there any final thought that you would like to share on someone who is starting?

Speaker 1:

I don't know, maybe not starting video, obviously, but like somebody who's got a goal to their social media or or get a certain, if they're not just going to look for vanity metrics to get a certain number of leads from videos and DMs Like what would you say to them?

Speaker 3:

Final thoughts from videos and DMs, like, what would you say to them? Final thoughts yeah, I think I would really focus on like connecting and creating for, like, a very specific person. I think that's where a lot of people get video and social media wrong is they're trying to like cast the wide net of speaking to everybody versus thinking of a very specific, ideal person they want to work with and creating video content for that person. And not just creating content for that person, but making sure you're actually connecting with that person. Oftentimes, a lot of my clients will mention like, oh, what's your favorite brand of matcha? Or oh, like, what are you doing with the dogs this weekend? Or what was your favorite trip? Like, they don't just ask me about video, they ask me about that personal brand element which I know we talked about in the previous episode together, and so I think making sure you're building that connection I think really goes a long way to actually turning into a conversion.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful.

Speaker 3:

Very good.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. It's time to sign off. Yes.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for being with us today, Natasha, and for the listener until you see us or hear from us next time, be blessed. And for the listener until you see us or hear from us next time, be blessed. And we'll talk to you soon All right. Bye.

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