3 Components of an Effective Vlog

Given the market size and degree of competition, the insurance industry is very noisy when it comes to marketing and branding.

A few players spend billions of dollars a year to cast a wide brand net—mainly because it works! As a smaller independent agency, how can you compete with such strength and vast resources?

Our agency has found the answer in vlogging.

A vlog, or a video blog, is the upper echelon of video branding via social media. Vlogging can be extremely effective in spreading your message and remaining top of mind with your clients, referral partners and strategic alliances.

But vlogging requires commitment, dedication and a true desire to be on camera, not to mention a ton of strategy and planning. Interested in launching one? Here are three very important things you need to do well:

Consistency. Most people who get into video on social media have great intentions, but learn quickly that the time and effort required to deliver quality content on a consistent basis is significant. If you aren’t 100% committed long-term to the project, it will be nearly impossible to stick with it.

Make sure your “why” is strong, you set aside time to work on strategy and preparation, and you involve all the necessary people—videographer, editor, caption creator and social media specialist.

If you do it all yourself, great! Just make sure you delegate a lot of what you are currently doing to open the necessary bandwidth.

Content. There are no hiding spots with a vlog—your content is your message, and your message is your brand. If you put out content that doesn’t provide value, you’re projecting a non-winning brand.

Who are you? What do you stand for? What are your core values? Who is your audience and why? Once you’ve nailed that down, you need to ask yourself what kind of content will keep your audience’s attention long enough to get your message through [see sidebar].

Authenticity. The strength of a vlog is that it is real, and real is so much more attractive than $1.2 billion in advertising geckos and cavemen. If you aren’t authentic, transparent and genuine, it will be obvious that you’re acting, not being—and that will lump you in the same category as traditional product marketing.

Make sure you can talk about things that really matter to you—there’s no energy more appealing than passion.

Matt Naimoli and Zack Gould are co-founders of G&N Insurance and co-stars of “Bobble On.”