How to double your content engagement levels on Linkedin with only 60 second videos.

Jim: 0:00

Welcome to this episode of the unnoticed show today. I'm delighted to have GJ van Buseck. Who's joining us all the way from a Harlem in not New York, but Holland who David welcome.

GJ van Buseck: 0:11

Thank you very much, Jim. Very nice view to ask me and have me on your show. Not going to be here.

Jim: 0:16

I only wish people could see you because we're going to talk about video and you've become a bit of an expert in making videos. So GJ, you've had a fascinating career and you've moved from entrepreneur employee during COVID, you've built yourself back up and now you've become a bit of a thought leader and influencer in creating video. Tell us your story and how other people that are unnoticed can get notice. Using video.

GJ van Buseck: 0:42

it's a good question, Jim. I I was I'm a sales manager on an energy company until 2018. And then I decided to make a completely change of career and do a study to become a documentary maker. So filming. Video, the last of the year and I will have the way the course we all were surprised by COVID. I also had to stay home and I couldn't do the things that I hadn't had in mind. I finished the course, but then I have to reconsider my future for what to do sitting at home, being quarantined and not being able to go anywhere. and then decided to be more active on LinkedIn, which was a platform for me that I hardly used. sometimes you just browse around, but I didn't actually use it very much. And then I met a, an American Alex B Sheridan who at that time was really busy on making content and he really inspired me. And then I thought maybe I should also start. Competent creation making content that will help others get ahead. and he really pushed me in a pleasant way to use or at least to start using videos. And what I did that as scary as I, as it was on a Sunday morning in September, I recorded my first 60 seconds of video. I just put my mobile phone in front of. I started recording and I, I, it a message that I thought would be interesting for other people do listen and to watch, and I posted it on LinkedIn and it was, I don't wanna say it was a really scared. you're expecting the most worst reactions and responses. And what really happened was nothing. there really been anything. some people were surprised but nobody gave me the criticism that I thought was going to come up on me. people were really surprised and I decided if I can do one, let's do another one. So I. Started building up, a routine of putting out little videos of, let's say a sixties, 90 seconds on a regular basis. And I grew my my my connections, my network who were, who was like 700 at the time, September, 2020 up to like almost 1800 now. People that not only were invited by me, but also people who sent invitations to me, people that are following me because of the content that I make. And yeah, I think at this moment, I can say that I'm some sort of an expert on using video on LinkedIn in order to, get into the picture. That's actually what it says in my profile, get in the picture. make yourself. known out there. And what better way to do, to use video?

Jim: 3:24

Yeah. There's a few things in there that I'd love to ask you to share a bit more. First of all, who are you making the video for? Because there's all the theory now about knowing the audience and the avatar. Just talk us through that first video. Did you have someone in mind or a particular profile or do you just something you wanted to share?

GJ van Buseck: 3:47

S I M as I started the first time I had nobody in mind and the whole world, I've thought that whatever's telling I'm saying. What could be interesting for anybody? anybody would listen to, would watch it. At that time I was only giving a short message. my view on on the way LinkedIn developed, where it used to be a platform for recruiters and people seeking jobs. It now became a platform for content creators, sharing knowledge and helping others to get better giving the way that the things, in order for somebody else to use it and improve themselves, which is at this moment, I still think. how LinkedIn is developing. but then again later on besides all these messages, I just, I realized that I had to focus more on the use of video. So I, I started making videos in order to show people that it wasn't that difficult to make a video that you have a camera in your pocket, you have your phone. That's all you need. You don't need expensive equipment. You don't need a green screen. You don't need lamps or lights. all you need is the knowledge that is inside you, your switch on your camera, put it at yourself and share whatever it is that you know with the world.

Jim: 5:03

GJ. That's a very liberating message. So often now we're given a kind of a huge kit list to be professional. Tell us you were sharing about how you're making a pendulum out of your camera and using daylight. Can you just share with that glide answer? Fantastic idea.

GJ van Buseck: 5:23

There's always excuses. why not? When you're not going to do the things that you. Say you like to do, but I miss this, I don't have that. What do I know about video? actually you don't need to know all that much. What you do is you have your camera, that's in your modern smartphone, just stick with a bit of duck tape to your window. and you have beautiful daylight. Falling over you and just press record. That's all you need. And if you want, if you don't want to stick the tape through your phone, you can actually maybe dye it with a little piece of a rope through a window, stick it through the window. But daylight is the most beautiful light that you can use the most, even light that you can use just to make a short movie. we're not talking about a feature film here, outwards. it's not like a three hour movie that you're making, but if you have an interesting message. and I think the ideal time is like between one and two minutes. and it's gotta have something that, invite others to keep listening to it. Yeah. That's long enough then you have then that's all you need. They light. Okay. The camera in your pocket. That's it.

Jim: 6:24

Okay. That's essentially a very positive message for everybody, especially in. Countries where access to many of these things is not possible. And tell us then, in terms of the amount of content that you're creating GJ, are you suggesting people do this kind of daily, like a thought for the day or once a week or just as I would call an opportunistic

GJ van Buseck: 6:46

Okay.

Jim: 6:46

posting? Help

GJ van Buseck: 6:47

And you all have to find your own rhythm. I have when I started in in September I was so enthusiastic about making short movies. I started posting several times a week, but you can overdo it and you also have to be, you have to give people with time to digest it and to if you're gonna, if you're gonna make a movie every day it's taking a lot of time. You have to record it. And most of the time you find the first time, it's not good enough. So you recorded the second time. Maybe you have to do a little bit of editing which is in my opinion, not really necessary if it's a good message, put a little black in the front and a little black. And it's okay. You don't need titles and ship titles. And, but if you improve over time, you can add that. but in, in the beginning, just start, that's the most important message that I can give. Just pull out that phone during it on and share your knowledge with the world. everybody has something that is interesting for somebody else. Share it you don't have to worry if it's like if you have only 10 views or 10,000 views, it's like, if there is only one person that finds value in it, then it's done. It's worth doing.

Jim: 7:56

That's a really wonderful message. And Are you posting it into your feed? Or are you putting it into groups?

GJ van Buseck: 8:03

Groups are also always limited to the number of people that are a member of it. you can put it in groups if you have a special group and you want to, I have one group that is limited to people that have followed the course with me. Then I invite them to the group. They can actually think that there's no extra to me, on a more private way just to ask me extra questions, but based on normally all my videos are. our posted in in my profile or however we roll it in my feet. So it's accessible too.

Jim: 8:30

Okay, so that's another useful tip. Isn't it? You mentioned about the basic camera. What about your editing? Are you doing that on your phone or are you transferring the content onto your desktop to top and tailored?

GJ van Buseck: 8:43

Yes. I tell everybody that is just starting out there. There are apps, free apps that you can use in order to edit on your phone. having done a course in documentary making filmmaking, I have professional editing software. so I transfer all my, all the materials that I record to my software and edit it in there because I hate working on the little tiny phone.

Jim: 9:07

Yeah. Yeah. Cause you can make on a, on an iPhone, you get I movie for free. And I used to edit the kids holiday movies, just using iPhone on the plane or on the iPad. So it is possible.

GJ van Buseck: 9:20

Yeah. But there's so many apps you're going to have you have, for example, in short, I've tried several of them InShot, which is a great app. You can add stickers, you can edit it and then you can just upload it to anywhere you want to. But YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever you like. But I just, I'm not really fond of using my finger on my phone. I transferred to my two final cut pro, which is actually the same as I movie, but then I am more expensive or more professional.

Jim: 9:48

Yeah. Yeah. The Adobe cloud editing software is now available on subscription that $8 a month, which is really quite liberating as well. And what about backgrounds? Because there's going to two schools of thought about whether one should have a green screen and a branded instead of backdrop, or just make it authentic and just be where you are. what's your view on that?

GJ van Buseck: 10:12

depends on the sort of movie that you make. I have I've made I'm not sure if that's the right word, but a video column every week, since the beginning of January, just the beginning of this year, a weekly one, and I was based in theatre which is of course, just a background that I edited into my movie. but I filled up in front of a green screen, but you can sit in a park and be careful with sound by the way, it's just in the park, lot of birds, wind and everything, but you can actually sit it apart. It's about the message that you have. the story you tell the, that is what is interesting. if you. Need backgrounds to make your story more interesting then maybe I still have to reconsider your story.

Jim: 10:53

That's a really good point. Isn't it? That a, the content should carry itself. And then in terms of response and knowing what to post next, what are you doing about sort of measurement and looking at what's working and what's not, or are you just carrying on with what you feel is the best thought you've got in this particular week?

GJ van Buseck: 11:16

I make series so I like did the video call, which was like every Friday I had a look back on the week on the news and everything. And I I do standup comedy as well. So I made some jokes about that. in a two minute, two and a half minutes column Now I am doing the video cost, which is a combination of video and both costs, where I place myself on the Playa Del video where I have a, a background as if I'm somewhere on a holiday resort, which is, yeah. And in that one, I tell people about how you can make videos and I highlight the subject. So all of the subjects are the ones that I think fit in that, the range or that series that I'm making. and if I find that people are interested in new subjects, then I'll make a new scenery. and I'll in a specific format.

Jim: 12:05

That's a good idea. This perhaps comes from your cinematography course. Making a series of what, six or eight episodes around a theme, makes it into something that the audience can get to. And what about language? I obviously you're in Holland. we speak in English. Are you working in obviously Dutch and English or just one? Tell us

GJ van Buseck: 12:28

I w I don't want done only one of my video calls in English. as I, I wanted to honor my, my foreign connections and I hope that if they were responding point on that all the world would see. too bad. They didn't. but now it's, my market is Dutch. it's my, it's a niche audience, so I do it in Dutch. and I can tell you something about responses if this engagement is, but, I'm looking for, I I use the shield app. Do you know. Oh, it's a great app. It's an independent app. That's the only one that actually measures your results on the link. if you're over 5% engagement on LinkedIn, that's very good. My average engagement on LinkedIn is 6.6%. which is the ratio between, comments and likes and shares versus fuse times hundred. so that's all the five is good. I'm on an average at 6.6, but this is the average of all my content. Which is also sliders and written content with pictures and everything. I'd like to show you, why video is doing so much better. if I look at my videos, the average engagement rate on my video is 11.3%. And my late and my latest series, the average engagement rate is almost 14%. So you have you have less views than the written content, but the engagement rates are much higher.

Jim: 13:56

And from what you're saying, actually the production time for your video is actually shorter probably than for your written content, but it's giving you better engagement.

GJ van Buseck: 14:07

no, you have to put in a lot of them a lot time. You have to put in a bit of time. I, I tell people that if you, once you find the rhythm. And you know what it is that you're going to talk about. Then maybe you can fill, let's say for a couple of subjects or topics that you want to touch on. And make several short clips from that. So you're going to actually do the filming in 1, 1, 1 bit for my column, I had to actually re record everything every week. and I was pretty fixed for myself. I, there was no way I could pronounce something with a mistake. Once one word wrongly pronounced. I had to rerecord everything. because that's what I thought belonged a, in a column, you don't make a big mistake, no editing in the call. It my new series, I just edited all the, an OS and I have a hard cuts and it's fun. It's like junk goods, whatever. But yeah, writing is if it's fiction less time than filming, but the feedback and and the engagement are so much more hot, so much higher, but I'd recommend that if you want to actually get in the picture, filming is the way to do.

Jim: 15:17

And if people would like to find out from you how to do it, GJ van Buseck how do they find you? Because I've already learned just in 19 minutes, a huge amount from you. how do people get hold of you?

GJ van Buseck: 15:31

wherever you are in the world and wherever you're listening to this podcast please contact me on LinkedIn. Any question you like on video making and I'm a really happy to help you?

Jim: 15:40

That's very kind. Thank you so much for joining us, GJ all the way from Haarlem just over the water. Let's not talk about the football,

GJ van Buseck: 15:48

You're real welcome, Jim. I was happy to be here and I hope that this will be informative.

Jim: 15:54

It absolutely has been. You've been listening to the unnoticed show with Gert-Jan van Buseck over in Harlem in Holland. And I think a couple of key takeaways. One is get video, make video, get in the picture. And the second is that you don't need a huge amount of kit. You need your phone, a little bit of courage and then press play and enjoy. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the unnoticed show.