3 tips for better videos for political and advocacy campaigns
YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels are dominating social media.
If you work in the political or advocacy space like me, you’ve seen people like Pierre Poilievre explode in popularity with high quality video content.
Why is he so successful? What can you do to emulate his success?
Here are three tips (plus a bonus!) for producing high quality video content to change public opinion and win elections.
Tip #1 — Make compelling content
If you wouldn’t watch the video you’re producing, I doubt anybody else wants to.
The first thing you should ask yourself is: what am I interested in watching?
If you can make content that you would find interesting, chances are there’s a bigger audience for it.
Content should fit into one of three categories: educational, emotive, or entertaining.
Are people learning something?
Are you talking about something that people truly care about and get excited about?
Are you doing something funny or interesting or different that will capture someone’s attention?
If you can’t answer yes to any of those questions, go back to the drawing board.
Give people a good reason to watch.
Tip #2 — The most important part of your video is the hook.
Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
If you start your video with something like “my name is Dean Tester and I’m from testerdigital” — guess what? Your viewers are GONE.
You need a compelling hook if you want your audience to stick around. When I say you’ve got a split second — it’s literally a split second.
People scroll through Reels and TikToks with zero mercy. And on YouTube your title and thumbnail are competing with a dozen other videos at any given moment.
You have to be compelling. Say something interesting immediately to get people to stick around.
Tip #3 — Storytelling is everything
When Pierre Poilievre talks about housing, he’s not filming in front of a green screen and talking about the economics of the housing market.
He’s marching in front of houses people can no longer afford and talking about the real impact the housing crisis is having on Canadian families.
When you tell personal stories and share anecdotes you make your content relatable and interesting.
If you want people to watch a video from start to finish, tell a compelling story from start to finish.
Bonus Tip #4 — Start today
The biggest barrier most people face when starting to make videos?
We make the perfect the enemy of the good.
Do you have the perfect lighting and set up? Is your hair perfect and did you nail your delivery? Do you feel like your content is so perfect and so great that it’s definitely going to go viral?
The answer to all those questions — even for the best video content producers in the world — is almost always no.
But the only way to improve your videos and get better over time is to practice making content.
Start today. Publish what you have. Your first ten videos might get zero traction. But learn from them and keep going — it’s the only way to grow.
