3 Things to Look for When Hiring a Video Producer

You are ready to take the next step in your business: hiring a video producer for your content.

You posted ads on Indeed and LinkedIn and across your social media platforms. You’ve spent hours combing through applications but still haven’t found the right fit.

As the lead video producer for BAM, I understand the frustration. I go through a lot of resumes, portfolios and interviews whenever we expand our team—and I’m sharing with you exactly what I look for when we hire video producers and editors.

I recently posted a video on YouTube with valuable tips for videographers who want to improve their resume and stand out in the job market. As an avid reader of BAM material, it’s likely you’re looking to hire a skilled video producer instead of get hired as one. But don’t stop reading just yet—these tips are also relevant for you. By learning about the key skills and attributes that make a great video producer, you’ll be better equipped to identify the right candidate for your needs.

Here are the most important skills to look for when hiring a video producer.

#1 – They Can Identify and Implement Trends

First up, any candidate you consider hiring must be dangerously good at being able to identify what trends are working in the broader content creation space. In other words, not just what other real estate creators are doing.

Let’s turn the clock back a couple of years here to the digital Don Draper himself, Gary Vee. He invented this style of clip:

 

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A post shared by Gary Vay-Ner-Chuk (@garyvee)

Pretty soon after, you saw everybody else trying to hop on this train of subtitles on the screen, maybe a little progress bar across the bottom and a title on top. In fact, entire businesses were started to help content creators create this exact style of clip much more easily and way more efficiently.

And the Gary Vee thing is not an isolated example. Go ahead, scroll through your YouTube homepage right now, and I guarantee you’ll see a pretty common theme among all the highest-watched videos, whether it is:

• A big, overly saturated, crazy expression thumbnail,
• People holding a lav mic and interviewing people, or
• Dynamic reactive subtitles that everybody loves putting over their podcast clips.

If a video producer shows they are able to take a step back and look at the broader content creation space to determine what’s working, what isn’t working, and what the upcoming trends are, they’re worth a closer look.

#2 – They Create to Convert

If you’re talking about straight up sales, conversions happen when you take a lead or prospect and convert them into a paying customer.

But when it comes to applying this in the social video world, it can include more than that. Think about all the CTAs you’ve seen on social:

• Click a subscribe button
• Click a like button
• Join an email list
• Leave a comment
• Reply to a story
• DM a specific word or phrase to the creator

Having an actionable point within your video helps people become accustomed with your brand and really gets them snared into your brand’s ecosystem.

So, what should you look for to determine if a videographer knows how to convert?

Ask them these questions:

• Share two videos you created for social media. What action did you want people to take when watching them?
• Did those posts get the desired action? How do you know?
• Tell me how you adjust or edit a video that is not receiving the desired action from viewers.

You want a videographer who understands their content must make people want to take action rather than someone who creates just to create.

#3 – They Become a Chameleon When Creating Content

Creating a unique voice for your videos is essential to building your personal brand. So, when you hire a videographer, you want someone who can identify and pull out your message, your style, and your overall motif.

Your video producer must be able to capture and communicate your message in a way that’s authentic to your voice. Being able to identify a brand’s voice and speak in it authentically is one of the most important skills of a video producer.

If a videographer has a solid portfolio and you want to move them forward in the interview process, give them a sample task. Provide them with a short video and ask them to create a 15-second clip. This will show you whether they can capture your brand (and if they can follow directions—which is always a plus).

Hiring new team members is always a big job. And your video producer needs to be able to showcase your brand (or your team) how you want it to be seen. When you take your time with the interview process, and look for the skills above, you’ll find the right fit for your team.

Need some video gear to go along with your new hire? Download BAM’s free guide: Video Gear for Every Budget.