Win at Social Media Videos: 3 Features Your Content Needs in 2025 | S2 Ep13

EPISODE QUESTION TO ANSWER:
Are you team IN APP EDITING or team EDITING SOFTWARE like Capcut?

Join Jonathan’s VIP Status Newsletter
https://sunny-builder-4038.kit.com/efd6f6bbe4 

Winning at social media! Doesn’t that line just feel so good to read?! 

I think we can all use a little bit of that energy in 2025. In this episode of Coffee Social, the podcast all about social media and business, we share 3 key content features you shouldn’t neglect in your videos. These 3 have been our tried and true and have lasted throughout all of the changes Instagram, YouTube, TikTok has brought our way. 

We’ll give you one right now because you’re actually reading the show notes! Thank you!

1 Key Feature to Use: CAPTIONS! Add captions. A lot of people watch videos without the sound on. It’s weird, but it’s true. CAPTIONS!

Okay, now, go listen to the episode, grab a cup and enjoy!

DID YOU LOVE THIS EPISODE A LATTE? 😂
Give the podcast 5 STARS & write an awesome review! It helps your hosts so much! 

PS: Mimi loves stars

FOLLOW YOUR COFFEE SOCIAL HOSTS
Instagram: @coffeesocialpodcast
Jonathan: @jonathanrhoward
Mimi: @mimilangley_

WATCH THE PODCAST
YouTube: @coffeesocialpodcast

ADDITIONAL BUSINESS RESOURCES (our sponsors for today)
Signature Membership (Instagram, Storytelling, Signature Style)
bit.ly/signaturemember

Signature Style Playbook (examples of ways to make you standout in your social media & business)
https://sunny-builder-4038.ck.page/9a29bc2df4 

*  Podcast Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. We may earn a commission from the links listed in this description.

Transcript

Content Features for Successful Videos

Speaker 1 0:00

At nighttime when I'm scrolling my phone, which is not the best habit. It's on silent usually. So, I look forward to the captions.

Speaker 2 0:08

Yeah, yeah. And if it doesn't have captions, guess what I do? It's like it's Coffee Social, the podcast, all about social media and business. And now here are your hosts, jonathan Howard and Mimi Langley.

Speaker 1 0:24

Hi, everyone Hi.

Speaker 2 0:27

Jonathan Howard. Hello, Mimi Langley.

Speaker 1 0:30

I was really trying to.

Speaker 2 0:33

I have a cold. She still has a cold.

Speaker 1 0:42

It's been 27 years I mean 27 years and she still has this cold. It's ridiculous. Real quick, Real quick. Okay, there was a kid who was on Jay Leno this is way back in the day the Tonight Show when Jay Leno was hosting and he could not stop hiccuping for like almost a whole year. Like what? Poor kid.

Speaker 2 0:56

Anyway, I mean how my ribs would he'd have abs.

Speaker 1 1:00

I know, but I'm just saying that's a micro exercise pulling in your abs every few seconds. Poor kid man. I'm going to start hiccuping. He needs to get scared like really badly. That will stop those hiccups. I don't know why I remember that you could probably YouTube a clip.

Speaker 2 1:15

That is a random thing to remember.

Speaker 1 1:17

Yeah, but we can't talk about anything because this is a micro episode.

Speaker 2 1:20

This is a micro episode, that's right, mimi. We're going to talk about one thing, one thing only, which is actually three things. But yeah, what are we talking about, mimi?

Speaker 1 1:32

So we're talking about, especially in 2025, if you haven't done these three things for your videos, you need to do them. These are three content features that you should be having in your videos, and I think some of them could qualify for long form video as well. So if you're doing like YouTube, yeah, I mean some of them qualify for blog posts.

Speaker 2 1:48

And all of that because they're such key, especially when we talk about structure. They're so key to a successful video blog post anything.

Speaker 1 1:58

Agree, agree. Okay, Tell people real quick who you are, just in case it's their first time here at Coffee Social.

Speaker 2 2:04

Yes, my name is Jonathan Howard. I'm the owner of Success on Social and I help successful female coaches reach their ideal clients on social media by developing a signature style. Over to you, mimi.

Speaker 1 2:14

Jonathan, I still have a meetup on. I don't have an intro. Hi, my name is Mimi Langley. Yeah, tell them.

Speaker 2 2:20

Tell them who I am, my name is Mimi Langley, and I help female coaches, female entrepreneurs, business owners, do something. I'm not sure what I'm going to help them do yet, because I am in the process of pivoting. Yeah, there we are. There we go.

Speaker 1 2:35

I'm multifaceted, right? Yes, any multifaceted people out there let me know. Okay, I know I'm not the only one.

Speaker 2 2:41

Soon to be published author.

Speaker 1 2:43

I know, okay, I know I'm not the only one Soon to be published author.

Speaker 2 2:46

I know no bestselling New York Times children's author. Yes, okay, we can always hope.

Speaker 1 2:53

That's who I am, but really I still do teach about audio marketing. If you want to get into audio only content, that's what I can help you do, so let's dive into it, jonathan.

Speaker 2 2:58

Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 1 2:59

Three content features your video should always have.

Speaker 2 3:03

Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 2 3:07

First features your video should always have. Yes, ma'am, first one, captions. You need to add captions. Please add captions. And you think it's silly, because everybody's listening to. You know Instagram and it's all there and it's kind of like a multimedia platform. It's not.

Speaker 2 3:19

Think about everybody who's watching your reel while at work, when they're supposed to be working. Everybody who's watching your reel while at work when they're supposed to be working. Think about everybody who's on the subway trying to hear what you're saying, but they can't, so they're reading what you're saying. Or you know the kid who's watching your reel underneath their covers, trying to hide from their parents. None of them can hear what you're saying. Captions are required. So make sure you have captions, make sure that you correct your captions. You may not want to use the Instagram app to create your captions, because it's probably the worst when it comes to actually being right, although it's getting a little bit better. But I would even use like CapCut or something, and it does auto captions for you and you can edit them and do all the things. So I would that's what I would recommend, but you got to have captions.

Speaker 1 4:09

And I'm one of those people Believe it or not. I don't know about you, jonathan, but I rarely listen to videos At nighttime when I'm scrolling my phone, which is not the best habit. It's on silent usually. So, I look forward to the captions yeah.

Speaker 2 4:19

Yeah, and if it doesn't have captions, guess what I do Swipe.

Speaker 1 4:22

You got to keep going because I can't turn the volume up.

Speaker 2 4:25

Yep, I don't have time, patience or energy to turn the volume up, especially at night. Yeah.

Speaker 1 4:30

So here we are Captions. Same thing with YouTube videos. I don't know if they have an option to automatically add them.

Speaker 2 4:36

I have to see, but even for us they do they do, because I remember even when we first started with short form video on Instagram, or even long form when they had IGTV. Anybody remember that? Oh my gosh, yes, you would go and get the video captions from YouTube.

Speaker 1 4:53

Okay, okay. So even YouTube, don't neglect putting captions on your long form videos, you guys Okay. Second one have a hook and have a call to action. We're combining, Yep.

Speaker 2 5:04

We're combining and this is into one idea the structure of your video and, like I was saying earlier, the structure of your posts, the structure of anything. You need to have something that's going to grab their attention and pull them in, and that's your hook. Now, on videos, especially short form videos, you need to have a visual hook. You need to have a verbal hook. You need to have a hook on screen. There's a lot of stuff that needs to go into that first two seconds. So paying attention to that hook is really, really important. Then you talk about whatever it is you want to talk about.

Speaker 2 5:33

Sometimes people put a secondary hook in there or a primary call to action. Whatever it is you want to do. However you want to structure it, you still have to give value. There has to be something in the middle of your hook and your call to action. There has to be some reason why they're going to want to follow you or do something with you. So there's got to be value in the middle and then that call to action at the end, and that is asking them to do something, encouraging them to follow, asking for them to comment a word to get a free resource. Whatever it is you want to make sure that you actually include that in your video. And don't forget. And your call to action should be verbal, should be on the screen, should be in your caption, all the places.

Speaker 1 6:14

All the places, because not everybody reads your caption. Let's just be honest.

Speaker 2 6:19

Not everybody's listening to your video.

Speaker 1 6:21

Exactly Treading into the habit of doing that. And you know, give yourself some grace. I know it doesn't always come easy at first, but you have to just kind of build that habit. Gosh, I forgot. Oh yeah, I was going to say something. Do you want to go into a commercial break for this? Let's go into a commercial break.

Speaker 2 6:35

We got a quick commercial break for you, right, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 6:38

We ready to go? We have one. We have one. We'll come back for the last content feature you need Last content feature.

Speaker 2 6:45

And maybe even a bonus hack.

Speaker 1 6:47

Oh, I'm here for it. Yeah, we'll be right back.

Speaker 2 6:50

Oh wait, I didn't press the button. Oh my gosh, are you tired of not having the time, not having the clarity, not having a clue what to post or what trends are even important on social media? There is a solution out there, and that solution is the signature membership. The signature membership will help you by providing you a strategy showing you how to remain consistent, always having ideas on what to post and having clarity in your content. Overall, it's even going to help your visibility and your ability to make money on social media.

Speaker 1 7:20

Well, super quick. That's it, Jonathan. That was a super quick commercial, thank you, ma'am.

Speaker 2 7:25

I found the button. We're back.

Speaker 1 7:29

We had a little bit of a sip of our coffee. We are having a good time over here. We have the last content feature, and then Jonathan's going to throw a bonus one at us, something new for 2025. The third one on our list is it's not technical, it's something everybody can do, and that is add personality, don't be, boring exactly lame don't be doing the same thing.

Speaker 2 7:53

Everybody else is doing the same way.

Speaker 1 7:55

Everybody else is doing it so that there's no interest in it, because people are going to get bored and don't necessarily just sit there and talk to the camera, although you can, but like you got to give them something, because people I mean imagine yourself I always say put yourself in the viewer's position, right, and there's a difference.

Speaker 2 8:13

Yeah, yeah, would you swipe away? There's a difference between this. Hi, I want to talk to you about the best way for you to actually create your videos and, hey, I want to really jump into how we can talk about what you're doing on video and how you're doing it, so that you can have a better experience when you're creating your videos.

Speaker 1 8:32

Right Like. The second option pumps me up as a viewer yeah.

Speaker 2 8:35

And the first one is like oh my God, I want to turn this bitch off, yeah. So there's that yeah, personality is important important.

Speaker 1 8:45

Personality is really important and I know I know a lot for a lot of people who are just getting into video. I mean, you teach all about this, jonathan, about confidence on camera. We'll put all jonathan's links below because this is really his wheelhouse and it doesn't come easy to everybody. But don't be afraid to add a little bit of who you are, because people fall in love with that. You know that's. That's what it's about.

Speaker 2 9:05

So a lot of it, go with a lot of it. That's what I say. A lot of it. It's your signature style, it's you, it's who you are, and people will either love you or hate you. And guess what? You love and hate people too, so it's okay if they hate you.

Speaker 1 9:19

Well, we don't like to use the word hate, okay, anyway.

Speaker 2 9:22

Okay, but it's true.

Speaker 1 9:23

Anyway, I want the bonus Okay.

Speaker 2 9:26

So, bonus wise, we were talking about the hook before, and hook is one of the reasons why people will watch your video or not watch your video. So Instagram recently rolled out trial reels, which means you can put out a reel to not your audience but others' audiences and see how they do. Your audience would skew it, obviously, and if you're testing different content, you don't necessarily want your audience to see what you're testing. So you can put out a trial that will only be shown to a select audience and you can see how it does. Now, if it doesn't gain any traction, more than likely you need a better hook. So you can not post that to your main feed and bring it back and change out the hook and post another one. You can either post it as a trial and see how it does, or you can just post it with the new hook as a regular reel. It's a great way to test out different things and see what's working and what's not working.

Speaker 1 10:20

Okay, I feel like we need a whole episode on this whole trial thing. It's given me different vibes. It's given me like a small group, watching a movie and giving feedback at the end. It's also given me like ad vibes. Where are you selecting the people?

Speaker 2 10:33

You don't select who it goes to. Instagram does select. My personal feeling is Instagram knows that it's not the algorithm that's causing your reels to not do well, but they're providing you with tests so you can see that it's not the algorithm, it's your shitty reel oh well, we'll see all about that, we'll see right and I'm sure not everybody has this yet.

Speaker 2 10:55

So if you don't see it, it rolled out and they said it was going to be a pretty universal rollout. So in december we'll see if it's february. Now, if you still don't have it, I would you know it might be gone like yeah, exactly maybe gone, who knows? Okay, well, that's something to look at that's okay and stick.

Speaker 1 11:15

I'm sure jonathan will make a whole reel about it, you know, if do you have it no, I haven't made a reel about it because everybody's made a reel about it, so far this week and it's kind of like over saturated well, if we can find a nice like a good resource for you guys, we'll link it below. Yeah, and hopefully it will be jonathan's reel we'll do something yeah okay, all that is it. I feel like we didn't talk too fast, Like I feel like we did a good job.

Speaker 2 11:38

I always talk fast. Yeah, I know you do.

Speaker 1 11:41

I have a team thing. But if you want to tell people real quick about giving us five stars and then I'll have our question, A team thing, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 11:49

Yeah. So if you haven't already, make sure that you head over to wherever you listen to our podcast and give us a rating, give us some feedback. That rating should be. That's exactly right, mimi, five. Mimi's just going to whisper five, five, five, five behind all the time. I say this because we're not supposed to say what we want. But you know, we want five stars. But if you don't love us and you gave us four stars, still give us five, still give us five. And with that I have a dog knocking on my door, so I'm going to throw it over to Mimi and if you want to let people know where they can find us.

Speaker 1 12:25

Well, we're all over. I mean, if you want to watch us, we're on YouTube and I think a lot of people do like the video portion. We're going to probably be putting video on Spotify, if not already. Apple's also a podcast. They're also encouraging video, so you'll see a lot more video from us. We're also on Instagram, which is where we like to communicate with you guys, so don't be afraid to DM us, especially if you have any requests for future episodes.

Speaker 2 12:41

I have to see all the craziness of me on video.

Speaker 1 12:45

Yeah, it's pretty wild. It's a wild page. It probably should be rated. Maybe, definitely PG, Okay, or G Anyways.

Speaker 2 12:54

PG, at least definitely PG, okay, or G, anyway, it's PG, at least Maybe PG-13.

Speaker 1 12:57

PG-13. Maybe, but I have a really important question. Yes, ma'am and that is, and I already know this about you, but I'm curious what you guys do, so let us know in the YouTube comments or Instagram us. Are you team in-app editing or are you team editing software like editing?

Speaker 2 13:19

Editing we'll call it editing applications. Yes, okay, Cap cut. Are you in-app?

Speaker 1 13:25

I like in-app. It depends on what it is, but I really do like Instagram. I use Instagram stories to edit a lot of my reels, like adding captions in there and stuff.

Speaker 2 13:35

Well, you know, you can add captions in the reels tab as well, of course.

Speaker 1 13:39

I can, but you know. I like to have the long workaround.

Speaker 2 13:45

And they actually did just add some new features in the reels editor, including removing silence. So, like if you pause, they'll actually like if you pause and they'll actually like if you pause in your. That's pretty cool, you can click the button and remove it, which is automatically done on CapCut Like as soon as you enter the captions on CapCut, but you can do it on Instagram.

Speaker 1 14:07

Okay, well, there you have it, folks. What are you? Do you like to edit an app or are you a third party apper to get your video done? Third party apper iMovie all the way, baby.

Speaker 2 14:19

Okay, we'll get her past iMovie one of these days If you enjoyed yourself and you want more Coffee Social.

Speaker 1 14:26

we have a ton of episodes in our Coffee Social library. Check it out on Apple or Spotify or YouTube or anywhere else you listen. And, Jonathan, we'll see you in the next one. Will you be the next one? Will you be there?

Speaker 2 14:35

See you in the next one.

Speaker 1 14:37

No, Bye everyone.

Speaker 2 14:40

Bye Jonathan, bye Mimi Langley, I can see you, I can see you, I can see you, I can see you.