Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast. And I’m your host, Kayla Das.

Have you considered creating videos for your social media accounts, but not sure where to start?

In today’s episode, Abbie Aragon, social media marketer and owner of Abbieshares Digital, will provide video recording tips for social media success.

Hi Abbie, welcome to the show. I’m so happy to have you here today.

Abbie: Hi, Kayla. Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

Kayla: I am too. And social media marketing is– the question that I get asked all the time, do I need to start here? What do I do? How do I do it? There’s all these fears that come up with regard to social media marketing. So, I’m so glad that you’re here to provide some of these tips and some strategies so that listeners can just take it away and then start feeling confident and comfortable on social media.

Abby, before we get into today’s episode, though, please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about you and what you do.

Abbie: Sure. So yeah, my name is Abbie, A-B-B-I-E for the spelling and I’m from Manila, Philippines. So, through my digital marketing agency called Abbieshares, my team and I get to help mental health professionals stand out on Instagram. And on the side, we also do brand design, new websites, and even copywriting for our clients. So, we’re kind of like a one stop shop for therapists. But we focus a lot more on Instagram and social media in general.

And apart from running the digital marketing agency, I am also a graduate student, so I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in clinical psychology to become a licensed psychologist locally here in the Philippines.

Kayla: That’s amazing. So, you have the social media marketing experience, but you’re also gaining that clinical experience to enter the world of therapy.

Abbie: Yeah, I think that’s the unique selling point of Abbieshares is that when therapists work with our agency, they get to work with locally licensed mental health professionals here in the Philippines. So, we have this licensure called Registered Psychometricians here in the Philippines. We get to have this psychology background. And we get to use this for different careers, like human resources. But we kind of make it pivot to get to work on digital marketing. So yeah, it works.

Kayla: Amazing. So, let’s get into today’s episode. So why should therapists consider creating video content, specifically for their social media business pages?

Abbie: For mental health professionals and practice owners who are looking to getting their name there and be more seen in the digital scene, I see video content as a non-negotiable. Especially now more than ever, social media users are more effectively captured through quick video content that adds value to their lives. And adding value to someone else’s life and helping other people comes naturally for us in the mental health industry, right?

So, for therapists, considering creating video content will allow them to showcase just that. Their expertise in mental health, their personality, how they can help others through their practice, which will build trust and in return, get their names out there and make them more visible.

Kayla: That makes sense. Something that I’ve noticed through videos specifically is that people begin to see you before seeing you. So, they actually get that feel of how is Kayla showing up in the world? What is a therapy session going to look like with her? Because they hear your voice. They see your face. They’re able to kind of put two and two together and feel that connection with you.

So, what are some fears or challenges that therapists face when being on camera?

Abbie: So, whenever I onboard a new therapist as a client, the typical first question is, “Are you ready to be on camera for content?” That’s what I typically ask them. And most of the time, they would say yes. But the concern or fear or challenge is that it’s a yes but I don’t know what to talk about.

Or it’s a yes but I don’t know how to film or act or do I even have to act in front of the camera.

Or it’s a yes, but I don’t know what comes next after filming. Like, what do I do next? And you know, Kayla, these fears or concerns are all valid, as our work does not really involve cameras, at least most of the time, except for telehealth sessions.

So, when we work with therapists, we try our best to really get them into the process so they understand what is needed from them, what to expect, and the next steps.

Kayla: So, Abbie, you mentioned that therapists, have difficulty knowing what to talk about and I know that I’ve heard from my clients, whether it’s blogs podcasts video content. It’s like how do I create any of this because I don’t know what to talk about. Do you have any guidance on identifying topics for videos so that therapist can create content and develop some of these topics that they want to talk about.

Abbie: Yeah, actually that is so true. I feel like sometimes thinking about your next content takes a lot more time than actually creating it.

So, in identifying topics, especially for your video content, my step one typically would be learning who the videos are for. So, who do you want to help through your videos? For instance, if I’m an eating disorder therapist, I would want my videos to help people struggling with ED or someone who’s in their recovery journey.

So, now that I have identified who, my next step is to dig deeper and really get to know the kind of audience you want to see your videos. So, you can start by asking what are their goals? What are their problems? What are their challenges? And once you know this information, that’s when we start thinking about the specific topics for your video.

Through your videos, you can share your valuable insights in relation to their challenges, their problems, or tips on how to help them get to their goals faster, solutions to some of their problems, practical techniques and strategies, and having this video content topics gets you in a position where you are a knowledgeable and trustworthy source for the people you want to help.

So yeah, thinking about the topic always starts with going deep with who you want to help through your videos.

Kayla: I love that you said that because we want to think about the ideal client or the person that you want to work with, what do they want to hear? Because we might want to talk about a lot of different things. And some of that might be encapsulized into the content we share. But even though it has to be what we like to talk about, but do people want to hear it?

So let me give you an example, now I don’t do videos very often, but of course as we know, we’re on a podcast. And people ask me all the time how do you come up with so many topics that you can come out with an episode every Tuesday. And it’s because I know my ideal client very well and what they want to hear about. And with that, obviously it’s stuff I love to talk about.

Sometimes I have guests like yourself here. Now, depending on what kind of videos you’re doing, you might not be able to have a guest, especially if it’s more for marketing purposes. But sometimes you can, right? And you don’t necessarily have to be the expert in everything to be able to create and share amazing content with the world.

Abbie: Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that because sometimes there is also this tendency, especially for us in the mental health industry, that we feel like we want to help everyone. And that tends to get difficult in real life since you don’t really get to help everyone. Sometimes you really just have to have that hyper focus on who do you really want to benefit, not only in your content, but also in your practice. So, it really makes sense to have that kind of focus. So yeah.

Kayla: So, what’s the process that you go through when you’re filming and editing video content for social media?

Abbie: Okay, so if you’re a therapist who wants to get started with creating video content for your social media account, I typically only have two rules for that. Number one is when there’s a spark of inspiration. Don’t let that spark go to waste by procrastinating. And number two schedule a regular time for filming, whether there’s spark or not, just to get yourself used to filming in front of the camera. And this will always depend on the person, but, Personally, I always recommend preparing a script before you get started since this will save you lots of time and energy, especially if you’re a beginner at creating video content. It’s very similar to podcast recording, actually. And there are actually teleprompter apps that you can download on your phone, so reading the script will look a lot more natural and flawless.

You would also want to have your video to be as high quality as possible. I would suggest finding the best lighting for your setup. It could be a ring light you can buy off of Amazon. But personally, my number one choice is natural sunlight, like, I typically recommend to my clients to sit in front of their window, or if not, film outside. And lastly, I think it’s important to find a good spot to place your filming device, like your phone. It would be nice if you have either a tripod or a sturdy place to position it instead of holding it yourself. So yeah, that’s for the filming process.

So, when it comes to editing the video, the number one goal that that should always come to mind is to make sure that your viewers will watch your video until the very end. It must be that interesting. So, how do we do that? So, number one is we omit all the filler words like ums and so’s and all the dull moments in your video. Number two, we also try to put the most important, controversial clip of your video at the beginning of the video. What we want to do is to hook your viewers into watching the rest of the clip or the rest of the reel. Number three, another non-negotiable for when we edit videos for social media is that we include subtitles. Because most of the time, these videos are not played with an audio in it. So yeah, this day’s editing is a lot more accessible, even for those who are not very tech savvy, like, for my clients, we use and recommend CapCut, Canva, or even the In-App Editor on Instagram.

Kayla: Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be too costly because for podcasting, and I know that people can’t see the behind the scenes of my podcasting. But I have a $100 mic, which you don’t need, by the way, you can even use earphones. So, I love that you highlighted that. So, you do not have to go out and buy expensive equipment.

Another thing I love that you shared, and this was kind of about the filming aspect, is not letting inspiration go away from you. Because when I first started the podcast, it took me a full year. I had my name picked out. I was procrastinating. Even though I wanted to do it. That inspiration didn’t hit. I was similar to some of our listeners, I feared judgment, I feared, am I going to have enough content to put out there. So I had all of my information for a year. I even thought to myself, someone is going to have my name used by the time I actually get to create a podcast. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

But then I was on someone else’s podcast. And it just inspired me. And that same day, I did everything and I had my podcast set up in 45 minutes. 45 minutes and it took me a year to do.

Abbie: Wow. Yeah, you know, that’s also the reason why you’d always see this on my Instagram. I always repost this own post of mine where I say that an imperfect post will always beat an unpublished draft. So you have to really get started. No matter how imperfect it might look like right now, I promise it will get better. So, it’s all about taking that first step.

Kayla: Oh, 100%. I agree with you. I really appreciate that. So, do you have any additional advice, insights or tips for listeners about creating videos for social media?

Abbie: I guess my final advice would be to set the mood for the video filming process so you can show the most confident version of you in front of the camera. I’d say, for example, some of my clients would schedule their recording sessions on their glam day wherein they’re all glammed up, or they’re wearing their favorite shirt or they’re wearing their favorite lipstick. This kind of practice will make the whole process a lot more easier and enjoyable for you. Something that you look forward to and something that you can consistently do every week for your practice.

Kayla: Great tips. Abbie, you have a free resource that you’d like to share. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is and how it can help listeners?

Abbie: Sure, so earlier we just talked about identifying who you want to help through your video content. So, you can come up with content topics, and we have the questionnaire just for that. So, I use this questionnaire when onboarding our therapist clients. It’s called the Ideal Audience Avatar Questionnaire, and I’m happy to share this to listeners who would want to kickstart their content creation journey.

Kayla: Amazing. So to sign up for Abbie’s Ideal Audience Avatar Questionnaire, check out kayladas.com/abbiearagonfreebie

That’s kayladas.com/abbiearagonfreebie

Or simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Abbie, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today to discuss therapist video recording tips for social media success.

Abbie: Yeah, thank you Kayla for having me and I’m so excited to see more video content from therapist listeners all over Intagram, TikTok, and other social media channels.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s episode and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

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