Excerpt from The Ultimate On-Camera Guidebook: Hosts*Experts*Influencers by Jacquie Jordan
(@TVGuestpert) & Shannon O’Dowd (@theshannonodowd)

From camera roll to phone screen, Instagram is the thriving hub of sharing and viewing photos from all over the world.

A quick visit to a page will provide an inside look at a company’s brand, celebrity festivities, or just an everyday person meandering about her day. It’s true what they say: a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Where we expect storytelling to go on social media platforms and as a service we provide through TVGuestpert is the concept of sharing micro-movies instead of just moment to moment captures. This means that future branding on social media will be preconceived in advance to tell a certain story over a period of time to specifically engage the viewer, and the content is cut or edited into micro stories to hold the daily attention and engagement while rolling out a storyline.

Enhancing one of the best, or worst, guilty pleasures to exist on social media is the increase of your followers to your pages. Sure, there are people that say don’t get upset about how many followers, likes, or comments you have. And that’s perfectly reasonable and understandable, but when you want to showcase your expertise and see that people are genuinely interested in what you have to say and offer, those things kind of do matter. They show that there’s something unique about you and that people are really looking to your page for advice on a better life. This is where the catch is. By now, you have been bombarded with tons of facts not only about social media, but also about on-camera time cues, content, body language, and much more. There is one thing you need before you hit the ground running: your message and story.

Let’s take what we learned from the earlier articles in this magazine. We prepped you for your on-camera appearance, but why? Simply speaking, you were seen as someone who can help a producer with a segment on a certain topic—a certain expertise. You’re an individual who knows practically everything and anything about your topic. Your niche is the very same thing you will be asked to talk about on your future (and hopefully successful) television appearance. Use the social media platform to express a larger story than just sharing a photo of a cup of coffee you are drinking that afternoon.

We can take all the terms we learned and tailor them to what it would look like in the social media world. Your opening sound bite would very much be considered those little videos simply introducing yourself to whoever comes across your page. A great tip would be to post these “opening sound bites” methodically, introducing a little fact about you as your presence and platform grows. Take-home information is of you talking about any tips you have for the day, what your product is about, or anything you want your audience to know. This could be captured in a photo and further explained through your caption or for Twitter users, through your tweet and photo attached below. It is a piece of information learned through the expertise you are so willing to share. Finally, the message behind who you are and why you’re here should be prominent throughout your portfolios on social media. Whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, visitors should easily be able to spot your message. In other words, the “who am I, why I’m here, and what I’m plugging.”

About the author

Jacquie is the founder and CEO of the 15-year-old cutting-edge, media and content development, promotions and booking platform, TVGuestpert that offers full-service promotion, marketing, business strategy and media services for her clients, partners and collaborators, TVGuestpert Publishing – a NY Times Best Selling publishing house, and The Guestpert Academy – an online program offering visibility, media training and TVGuestpert On-Camera Training. She is also a two- time Emmy nominated TV Producer, three-time author and the host of Front & Center with Jacquie Jordan, a broadcast podcast.