Brittney Castro’s short videos on topics from tax refunds to maternity leave are pushed across her social media channels, widening her professional network — but also luring new prospects to her door. We asked the founder of Financially Wise Women how she comes up with her ideas, and why she thinks everyone should start shooting their own personal flicks.
“Sometimes my ideas come from what I heard that week with clients or what’s going in in the financial world. Then I write the scripts, get those approved, film and post the video. My assistant and I do it all. We film them at the office and at home, and we’re trying to do more editing because that makes them more engaging to watch. You can’t just talk for a long period of time. You can’t be a bobble head. You have to be clear, consise and get the message across. And the videos are usually anywhere from a minute to five minutes, and even that’s long.
I started putting up videos in September 2011 and it took a good six months to see results but I knew that going in. A lot of advisors want immediate results but like anything it takes times. With the videos I saw a lot of traction. They definitely helped widen my center of influence. And it's easier than doing a lot of writing. You just need a camera. The hard part is staying with it and getting better.
I’ve probably gotten about about ten clients from September to now. Visits have easily doubled. I work with accumulators in their early 30s to mid 40s, high earners. People obviously who are using social media.
I use Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, YouTube. I do them all. But I see them all working hand and hand. Because if I put a blog post up, I tweet about it and put it up on Facebook. It's like an integrataed marketing system. The videos take a few hours to shoot once or twice a month, and I spend about 20 hours a week, 50 percent of my time, on social media and my workshops. But this is how I put my name out there. Marketing should take time.”