Storytelling With Video: The Journey

Want to use video to help more people know, like, and trust you?

Wondering how to create episodic video content that keeps people watching?

To explore how and why we produce a weekly video documentary, I pull back the curtain on our show, The Journey.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I share my experiences leading up to and then creating The Journey.

You'll discover how sharing the struggles of entrepreneurship has helped my team and business.

I'll share tips for creating your own show.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
Listen Now

Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Storytelling With Video
My Early Storytelling

When I was around 10 or 12 years old, I remember sitting on my neighbor's huge front porch and telling stories to the neighborhood kids. I'd make up crazy, fantastic 20- to 30-minute stories on the fly that involved all of my friends' parents and siblings. I guess I knew early on that storytelling would become important for me later in life.

A proverb says, "Tell me the facts, and I'll learn. Tell me the truth, and I'll believe. Tell me a story, and it will live in my heart forever." The story I'm sharing in this podcast involves facing fear, facing giants, and going on an incredible journey.

About a year ago, we did these NPR-style stories on our podcast and hired Jay Acunzo to do the series. The 5- to 7-minute stories came from Social Media Marketing World attendees and employees at our company, and were very well-produced. From the audio files and some B-roll footage, we then created videos and posted them on social. People absolutely loved the video versions of these stories. There was something magical about showing what was behind the story.

Making a Party an Exceptional Experience

Have you wondered what it takes to make a conference party an exceptional experience?

Go behind the scenes at Social Media Marketing World to discover how we do it! - Erik

Psst...want to join the fun? Learn more here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/world17fbdoc1

Posted by Social Media Examiner on Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Up to that point, with the exception of our live video show, everything Social Media Examiner did was focused on the written word and produced audio content. The emotional response after we turned the audio stories into videos planted a seed inside my brain that would later germinate. I thought maybe we could do something more regularly with video. I had watched Gary Vaynerchuk (DailyVee) crush it with video.

Around the same time, my daughter, who was turning 13, wanted to get into YouTube. It freaked me out, so I decided to see what it's like to create video content. I had this journey of 30 days of live vlogging, calling it an experiment. Because I didn't have time for produced video, I went live every day via my iPhone on a selfie stick so I could learn what having a daily vlog was like.

I hiked canyons, wandered around the Social Media Examiner building, and got comfortable being the authentic me on camera. A lot of crazy stuff happened. I had flies fly into my mouth while I was live. I had trees smack me in the face. I tripped. I had people looking at me weird, like, "What the heck? Who's this guy wandering around with this stick and a phone on it?"

My journey to becoming a vlogger, maybe...

Posted by Michael Stelzner on Thursday, April 6, 2017

I made it to day 25 and quit because I didn't have anything more to say. I felt like I had successfully accomplished something: going 25 days straight, creating on-the-fly content. It was a great experience to be my true self. Prior to this, everything I did was thoroughly scripted, figured out,