Guide to Mastering Mobile Phone Video

Incorporating video into your digital marketing is a powerful way to increase bookings. While we strongly recommend hiring a professional to craft your main website/brand video, you can easily produce ongoing content for your tourism business with your mobile phone camera in 6 steps.

•    According to Google, 45% of leisure travelers booked instantly after watching a video of the travel activity. 
•    72% of business travelers and 74% of affluent travelers booked upon watching a video (Google)
•    62% of travelers want to watch tourism videos, including tours, sightseeing, cruises, hotel rooms, properties and airlines. (Google)

Holding the cell phone

•    Put the cell phone on a flat surface if possible
•    OR brace your elbows against your ribcage to stabilise it
•    OR lean back against a wall/hard object so you don’t move as much

Moving the cell phone

Don’t do it.  When you record, always hold it still! Never move the cell phone while recording to pan around – it makes people queasy when they watch it. Hold it still, stop recording, and then move anywhere to frame up a different view. Then hold still again while recording.  

Recording

You don’t need more than 10 seconds recording a landscape. Don’t over-record! It will keep your storage space nice and open on your phone, and will be faster for editing later.

Framing

Take at least one video clip from further away, which shows the setting of your event/situation. It might be your hotel, or a cruise ship, or a group on tour, but this gives important context to the video.

The rest of the shots of your subject should be closer. This a good distance to keep in mind. You can see the top half of the woman, but she fills the frame. This makes her the focus and draws the audience in to the scene from a more personal level. 

Finally, film a couple of close-ups, showing the details of the experience. It might be a coffee cup, or an ornate detail of accommodation, or a feature of a tour. These little touches often “make” your guests’ experiences, and it does the same thing for the video! 

Editing

Videos can then be edited together in a phone app or transferred to your marketing team or agency (Tomahawk) to edit together for your website and social media content. Social sharing apps frequently have limited editing capabilities as well.

•    FilMic Pro
•    iMovie

Make sure you use royalty-free stock music to promote your brand. It’s not a good look to steal music, and sites like YouTube and Facebook may penalise you for doing so.

•    AudioJungle

Sharing

Always upload your content directly to YouTube and Facebook separately. This makes use of both channels’ search engines, and helps you reach different audiences in your social media marketing plan.