Posted by
Dan Passante on
Aug 25, 2022
Being fun on TikTok in an Hour
Depending on how many teenagers you have access to, it could be less than an hour
Before we can hope to understand why a video where people roll quarters across a table into the prongs of a fork can help your business, let’s take a step back.
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Why would anyone want to make a video like this? Many brands already have an online presence through social media, and if a brand has a social media, it will definitely have a website. Why do brands need to make these videos?
Because it’s fun.
Don’t you want to be fun? The answer is yes, because otherwise, you’re not fun. Consider this a PSA, sponsored by your friends at Akullian Creative: Don’t be not fun. Young people don’t want to work for companies that aren’t fun.
Young people also like platforms like Instagram and TikTok. We could get into that, but instead, check out this blog that does a deep dive on the “why” related to TikTok’s popularity.
For a combined hour of your time, you can be fun on social media. Trust us, video is our forte. Today, we’re focusing on this video from Tottenham Hotspur. Let’s walk through producing this video, step-by-step, minute-by-minute, quarter-by-quarter.
5 Minutes: Watch Examples
Let’s not re-invent the wheel. If you see a format that you like, do it yourself. You will not be brought up on plagiarism charges for doing something funny you see on social media, people do it every single day. Be familiar with the video that you are looking to create, know what happens from beginning to end for your purposes. In this example, in essence, people are rolling quarters into the prongs of a fork and having fun doing it. That is your mission.
5 Minutes: Prep
Largely, this is inconsequential time in the grand scheme of your production. Grabbing the quarters out of your cup holder in your car, grabbing a fork from the office kitchen and finding people to be in the video are underrated steps, but it needs to be done.
After you find people, send the video to those who are interested in being featured in it. They may have some fun ideas that can be used in the video, make sure to ask them.
5 Minutes: Practice
The day before, or even a few minutes before you film, make sure you do a practice run yourself.
Set up the camera and record yourself trying to roll the quarters. Make sure it looks good, solely for practice purposes (but if it’s funny, and you’re okay with it, there’s no reason why you can’t put it in the video). Maybe you realize you need to balance your phone on a shoe to get the right angle, or use a different table that’s easier to roll quarters on. Any insight you gain through practicing briefly will save time later.
15 Minutes: Production
If it’s funny, you want it in the video, so make sure you’re recording.
Set up your phone, press record and let it go. Watch the phone the entire time and monitor what you’re recording, for no other reason than to make sure you’re recording.
If your footage is 30 minutes, it’s 30 minutes. It’s better to capture all the funny moments and some unnecessary footage than to miss some laughs. These moments are going to make your company fun!
Disclaimer: When you’re doing something like this, it’s going to be awkward at first. Keep the camera recording, people will loosen up. Encourage them to have fun and be themselves.
20 Minutes: Editing
If there are any teenagers you have access to, you should definitely make sure they are a part of this process.
Make new clips out of the long video you have on your phone. If this is your first time editing a video, you will use all of the 20 minutes you allotted yourself for editing. Make sure you get enough clips to make a short video. Show the reactions, the funny failures and all the moments that make your video engaging.
5 Minutes: Approvals, Captions
Once you’ve cut the clips, put it into TikTok and/or Instagram and make something you can send out into the world, send it to the people in the video. They knew what they were signing up for, but they will want to see how they look before everyone else sees it. Just like before, they may have some good ideas to improve the video, so make sure you ask.
Writing a good caption can feel like capturing lightning in a bottle. It’s not necessarily a sentence or a paragraph, but it’s always something that fits your video. During the discovery phase of your production, make sure to take note of some captions you like. A good rule of thumb: if it makes you laugh, put it in the caption.
5 Minutes: Post it
The moment we’ve all been working toward: time to post. Post it and immediately check it. Make sure there are no mistakes within the first few minutes it’s out there. It’s better to make the changes within the first few minutes before everyone has seen it than to delete it and repost it a day after.
Once your video is up, let everyone know! You worked hard on this, share your work. People in the video, company or beyond may want to engage with the video on their own personal accounts: you should encourage this. They’re promoting your company on their account, essentially cross promoting your brand. Let them have fun and repost you if they choose, but don’t make it mandatory.
If you have interns, put them to work. Young people are TikTok fluent by nature. They can be the Strategic Director of Social Media Content within your company, something for the resume if nothing else. They will have opinions on hashtags to use in the caption, angles for the camera and using music in the background, if that is something you choose to do.
For more on TikTok and other social media content, visit our blog at akullian.com. Visit our TikTok and our Instagram accounts to see some content we’ve created for our brand.
Good luck with your video! We know you can do it!