How Runway helps small business owners create video content faster

Hi Mike. Tell us about yourself.

I own a sports bar, a restaurant in Burlington, Ontario. We’ve been locally owned since 1991. We’re a family-friendly sports bar. Our customers are a wide range of people from all denominations. We get adult and kid sports teams, sports fans, families, and regular everyday hard-working people.

Why did you start making videos?

It’s so hard nowadays to reach your crowd on social media unless you’re willing to pay for it. I found that making personal videos got more likes than posting photos.

How long are your videos?

They’re just short videos, maybe a minute.

What success have you had, with your videos?

What I found was that when I did these short videos of myself, my organic reach on Facebook alone, I was getting anywhere from 2500 to 2800 views. What does that mean? I don’t know. But before that, I was getting 80 or 90 on photos. Not just any videos, but personal videos seem to work well. People love personal videos.

How does your video content fit into your business strategy?

As far as our marketing goes, we focus on email marketing, social media marketing, and word-of-mouth. I do post a lot more videos, but my strategy has changed in trying to be more personal and getting the message out through my storytelling about our events, promotions, people and products.

Did you have any background in video editing before?

My video editing background is pretty much zero.

When did you start making these personal videos?

I started a while ago, but I got a little camera shy. I'm one of these guys where unless it’s professional, unless it's perfect, I shy away from it.

What led you to Runway?

I was using a teleprompter, and a green screen. In an office, in a bar, you've got filing cabinets, you've got a bunch of crap. You always have too much stuff.  I thought, that doesn't look professional. But then I found that green screens are a pain in the ass, especially when I'm at my office.

Why didn’t a portable green screen work?

I really think a portable green screen should be geared towards professional film people, who actually have all the gadgets and stuff like that. Whereas if you don't and you're a small business, you just want to pump videos out.

What did you do, instead?

I started to search online saying, I need something where you can remove a background without a green screen. I came across a couple of softwares. Price points were absolutely ridiculous. And to make matters worse, any credit you didn't use, you lost. So that was a huge not happening.

And then some of the other software editing programs, the result was just horrible. We move a little bit to the left and everything gets distorted.

So I did a search on screen alternatives and competitors, and you guys came up.

Were you hesitant to start a new software?

You know, I’m an antsy guy. In other words, I start at eight and I want to be at sea in 10 seconds. I think the blessing here was that we were in lockdown. I had a lot of time to try and perfect this. But with your system, honestly, it's a no brainer.  You upload a video of yourself talking. They click on a couple of little dots, which highlights me, and then bang you hit it. It's done, and then you upload.

So for you guys, the learning curve wasn't high. It was really good. That's credit to your software because a lot of times that stuff's not easy, right? I mean, I guess this thing should be sold to everybody.

What have you learned about making videos for social media?

The one thing I’m really realizing is it doesn't have to be studio ready. The only thing that counts for me, is that I'm happy because I'm putting it out. Otherwise I wouldn't put it out because like I told you, I'm a perfectionist, which is kind of a weakness. I'll be honest with you.

What do you think you’ll do next?

I plan on doing a lot of short videos, personal videos, promoting my weather app, and UFC products.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I credit you guys for allowing small businesses to take advantage of your software. So kudos to Runway. I'm very grateful. Very grateful.