How to Organize Your Story So Your Social Video Pops

Before You Hit Record: How to Organize Your Story So Your Social Video Pops

March 9, 2021
By Jason Eisenberg
Community Program Manager for Office Depot

Whether you're a business owner wearing many different hats or a content producer for a company, the one thing we can all agree on is that the 24 hours allotted in a day is just not enough time to get everything done. And with the steady rise of video content dominating social feeds, it's become crystal clear that you will need to include some video in your social strategy. So how do you run your business and develop a full-scale content plan that includes writing, organizing, filming and editing, while remembering to take some time for yourself?

That's why we interviewed Cynthia Velasco, the owner of CynthiaPlans who is a perfect example of the combination between a social video creator during her 9-5 and a business owner after-hours. Cynthia shares how she is able to manage her day job, her small business and her family all while consistently putting out great video content for two different entities. Let's start with the basics.

Planning is Priority

You are not getting anywhere if you are planning video content in your head or on a napkin you had in your pocket when inspiration suddenly strikes.

To have good, consistent video content coming from your brand, you will need to learn to batch your content (creating content in batches rather than on a project-to-project basis) and how to tell a good story. Both of these skill-sets benefit from proper organization and planning.

What Makes a Compelling Story and How to Tell It

Cynthia believes a compelling story has a few factors including surprises and high production value, but the best stories are the ones with a personal element - stories you can resonate with. Some content ideas for businesses include:

A personal anecdote
A change in someone’s life story
A ‘# reasons why *this* can help you solve your problem‘ story

Cynthia likes to work backwards when telling a story, often pinpointing what feeling she wants to leave her audience with at the end of the video. Then she asks what conflict or issue might happen to begin the story and then how is she going to help solve that problem in the middle to get to that feeling at the end. A classic beginning, middle and end which all compelling stories need.

The desired result is that they feel like they accomplished something, or learned something, or found something unexpected.

Getting Your Ideas Down on Paper

Cynthia's process often begins with her sitting down writing on a piece of paper, brainstorming. Like many of us, Cynthia works primarily online and on the computer, so when she is working on something creative, she likes to shift gears a little bit.

"My preference is definitely paper planning. I work in a digital space so when I have a chance to disconnect and unplug and get into a more analog approach, it's always best for my creativity. I think you'll find yourself most creative in a distraction-free setting, just sitting down with a pen and notebook."

Cynthia uses the TUL Discbound Notebook as part of her story building process, which allows her to organize shoots and seamlessly make adjustments as needed.

"If I start working on an idea but I need to switch gears and put something in a different sequence, I can literally rearrange pages from the notebook so I can come back to it later."

Storyboarding

Cynthia’s storyboarding process begins with her notebook, writing down what her idea might look like shot-for-shot, adding scribbles of dialogue or voiceovers that may – or may not happen in the final shoot. This provides a flexible foundation to start with so her and her team can adjust to upcoming obstacles. But remember, Cynthia likes to work backwards so she also has an ending, or goal to work toward.

Once the idea is fleshed out, Cynthia puts the storyboard in a digital format and sends to stakeholders to make sure everyone is on the same page. Then, once everything is ready to go, she plans what days they will be filming where and with who – all the way down to what shots to get by the hour. She likes to color code to keep everything categorized in an easy manner.

TUL helps with sequencing, scene switching and batching content.

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