Ok, so creating videos to market your dance studio and liven up your internet presence sounds great, but who has the time? It seems overwhelming, right?
Things will be MUCH more manageable with a dance studio video plan. There are two free printable worksheets at the end of this post, but before we get to that, a few tips:
Decide which types of videos will work best for you and your studio
Your criteria might be which videos would be easiest to film, which would create the most buzz in your studio, or which would best invite newbies to join your dance family.
Check through the list of the 14 Best Types of Dance Studio Videos, and make note of your top few choices. You’ll use those in the printable worksheets.
Set yourself up for success
If you plan to use a hand held video camera or phone to take studio videos, practice with it so you are comfortable when the time comes.
If a friend or employee at your studio is knowledgeable and interested, ask them to be the studio videographer for your informal videos.
Use studio events as an excuse for video takings
Ask a trusted friend to unobtrusively take behind-the-scenes shots at your recital. See if one of your girls will come an hour early to Nutcracker rehearsal, so you can quickly film short videos teaching basic dance steps.
Open houses, studio picnics, and local performances are all great times to take videos.
Plan to film in batches
This one tip can make the difference between failure and success. Filming in batches allows you to video a number of segments quickly and easily.
For example – Having an open house soon? During the event, spread the word that you’d be grateful for any parents or students willing to give a testimonial. If you’ve previously set up one corner as your ‘video testimonial space’, this will be super easy and quick for them as well as you, and you’ll be able to film a number of video testimonials in one afternoon.
For best results, do a test with a teacher prior to the open house, in order to make sure the lighting and sound quality is decent.
Create A Video Posting Schedule
Once videos are done, it’s tempting to pop them up to YouTube and be done with it. Instead, create a video posting schedule. It feels sooo good to create a juicy batch of content and then schedule it out in advance.
Think about it – if you create a batch of short, fun videos by interviewing each of your 8 dance teachers and then schedule them to be released every other week, you’ve got 4 months of video content ready to go!
YouTube makes this easy, by allowing you to schedule a private video to go public at a later time. So upload all your videos at once, mark them as private, and then schedule them to go public one at a time as per your posting schedule. Voila!
In addition to scheduling out your videos, remember to post them in more than one spot and embed them onto your website. It’s an extra step that can pay off big, but it’s a step that most people don’t take.
Uploading video content on a regular basis helps build momentum, keeps dancers, parents, and prospects engaged, and helps with your SEO. If you’re serious about using videos to help market your dance studio, make a plan!
To help you with this process, here are two printable worksheets for you:
Best wishes,
Stacey
P.S. This post is a part of the Dance Studio Video Marketing Handbook. Check it out for lots more juicy content & actionable tips! Or you can head to the next video in the series and learn how to Set Your Videos Up for Social Success.