If you’re going to be including video in your B2B social media strategy (and you probably should!) then you need to do it properly. The entire B2B community is now your biggest critic, they’re more likely to watch your video than read your website, so don’t screw it up! I’m always amazed by how many companies will carefully and painstakingly build their reputation through PR and marketing initiatives, but then trample all over it in an embarrassing corporate video (view and nominate some of the most cringeworthy corporate videos on the Facebook page run by the B2BSocialMediaGuide.com).

When it comes to producing video content, many business managers feel lost – with very little experience in video production, they are at the mercy of the producers, cameramen and directors they appoint, and therefore have absolutely no control over quality. But fear not, the B2B Guide is here to help take you through the process of developing a successful B2B video.

Step 1: Choose your production team

There are hundreds of thousands of production companies out there and the quality they produce varies enormously. Choosing your supplier is therefore not always straightforward. In my experience, when it comes to video production, you get what you pay for, so the decision is really one about the quality that suits your company. If you’re going for a high-level audience, you have to produce something at an appropriate standard. Ask for references, look at previous work and find out how well they understand your company.

Step 2: Agree your objectives

Why are you doing this in the first place? Are you trying to showcase your company at its best? Or is this a training video? Is your product or service complex? Can you make it easier to understand by explaining it in a video? Is this video to sell? In that case you need a call to action.

Step 3: Develop your content

Referring back to the fundamental cliché of B2B social media – Content Is King – please do not skip over this process. Generating ideas in-house is great, but I highly recommend getting an external producer involved at some stage to bring you back down to earth (and tell your CEO that his/her sense of humour is not to everyone’s tastes!).

Step 4: The filming process

This is where most people tend to feel a little lost. They have no idea how to define quality. The video accompanying this post should help, but my advice is to stay involved – don’t leave the filming entirely up to the production team. Have a reliable member of your own team accompany them on the shoot to make sure they stay on track and to add valuable insight where necessary – trust me, loads of questions will pop up on the day and you want to make sure that the crew gets the right answers.

You’ll probably sit with the editor during the edit too (again, highly recommended). Be brutal in your editing as most people won’t give your video more than a couple of minutes – keep it short.

Step 5: Distribution

Of course, you will have the content on your site, and you will probably post it on a video sharing site such as YouTube as well. Make sure it is mobile-viewer-friendly too. Embed it on your company blog, Tweet about it, send the link to your friends, family and colleagues, make it known on Facebook.