Video marketing and artificial intelligence (AI) are two of the hottest trends shaping the future of marketing. Seven in 10 marketers (71%) (Generative AI Statistics for 2024 – Salesforce) expect generative AI to help eliminate busy work and companies using AI to create videos are already saving up to 80% of time and budget compared to traditional video production (50 Video Statistics You Can’t Ignore In 2024 | Synthesia.io).
As these two powerful forces converge, marketers are exploring innovative ways to leverage AI to streamline and enhance their video marketing efforts.
In this article, I will share my ongoing experience creating video content since 2019, building my YouTube channel to over 2.9K followers, and how I use free AI tools to speed up my video creation.
I also share how video marketing influenced my corporate work (both positively and negatively).
My personal brand building journey using video marketing
I published my first YouTube video back in 2019 as an experiment. After reading multiple video guides online, I was itching to try out all the strategies and tactics.
Turned out, it was more complicated than I thought.
The first 3-minute video I created got less than 50 views in the first month. Yikes.
Luckily for me though, I started the journey with a growth mindset that every video published is a learning opportunity.
Today my most popular video has over 123,000 total views and my YouTube channel gets more than 4,500 views and 107 hours of watch time every month.
Apart from using my personal YouTube channel as sandbox to test new ideas, the fact you get to monetise it is a bonus too.
For those interested to monetise their YouTube channel, the eligibility thresholds are:
- 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or
- 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
How I use AI for video production
I use free AI tools for content ideation, scriptwriting and editing.
For content ideation and scriptwriting, a great place to start is the free Copilot on Bing browser. You can use it to generate engaging script outlines and talking points before reviewing and refining it.
Here is a link to HubSpot’s 230 ChatGPT Prompts Marketers Should Use (hubspot.com) to get you started.
For editing I recommend using CapCut’s AI subtitle generator to caption all your video and its AI Shorts Maker to transform your long-form videos into multiple engaging short videos.
This approach ensures content remains accurate while significantly reducing the time and effort required.
“ It’s crucial to remember AI should be seen as a powerful tool to augment human creativity and expertise, not as a complete replacement.”
How video influenced my corporate work
Creating videos has helped me represent my ideas and deliver stories in an impactful way words alone cannot achieve.
During the year when my company underwent transformation, I took personal time out to create this augmented reality (AR) video and amplification video to express myself creatively.
“You have gone above and beyond to deliver some outstanding work… I’m hugely grateful for your commitment and positive attitude”.
I was surprised and delighted when I received the appreciation email (and mall voucher) from my top management that year.
This year I set a goal to publish at least 1 short video per week on my LinkedIn.
A few interesting things happened due to those videos:
- I was featured on our global intranet story as our global communications manager saw my video post(s).
- I was invited to write this article for the Financial Marketer.
Now, I do have negative experiences too.
On some of my videos, I do get nasty comments about how they disliked the way or content I presented. It can be quite hurtful to receive such negativity.
One way to handle it would be not to take it personally or get defensive. Understand the motive of the comments – Is it constructive feedback or just nefarious?
When we let go of the things we cannot change it frees up the energy to focus on changing the things we can.
The Future of Video Marketing and AI
As AI technology continues to evolve, its applications in video marketing will become increasingly sophisticated and widespread. However, it’s crucial to remember AI should be seen as a powerful tool to augment human creativity and expertise, not as a complete replacement.
In the dynamic world of marketing, where staying ahead of the curve is paramount, embracing the intersection of video marketing and AI could be the game-changer that sets us apart from the competition.
[**Full disclosure: The views and opinion expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not reflect the views or opinions of any organisation or entity.]
