The Art and Strategy of Short-Form Video Marketing with Dorien Morin-von Dam

Short-Form Video Strategy Across Platforms

Speaker 1 0:00

You still in the two minutes on LinkedIn . You just want to give one tip , one idea . You don't want to give three . But what if on YouTube , shorts can be up to three minutes ? You wanted to give three tips , so you would LinkedIn . You've done one at a time and then you create a different short where you highlight the same three tips but put them all in one .

Speaker 2 0:32

You are listening to Connect , inspire , create a space for women in business to gather fresh ideas , build momentum and discover how growth feels lighter , with clarity and connection . I am your host , carol Keeg , and let's get started . So joining me today is my guest , Doreen Morin-Von Dum . And , doreen , I am really excited to finally have you on the show . Doreen is a seasoned social media strategist with nearly 15 years of experience helping build brands grow through their smart , sustainable strategies that she walks them down that road as a certified social media manager and agile marketer . She also consults on AI strategy for small businesses , showing teams how to use AI in marketing responsibly and effectively . Doreen turns organic content and emerging tech into measurable results , speaks internationally and hosts the Strategy Talks video podcast . You'll recognize her on stage and online by her signature glasses , a nod to her Dutch heritage , a heritage that we actually happen to both share . So welcome , doreen . Thanks for joining me .

Speaker 1 1:56

Thanks for having me , Carol . I am very excited to be here . I hosted you on Strategy Talks a few years ago and somehow we never made it to connect again until recently over something on social media that had to do with podcasting , and I was like , oh my gosh , let's talk further . So I'm very excited to be here today and share with your audience everything I know about short form video and retreat . So I'm ready Wonderful .

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah , let's dive in . I know we have certainly known each other in the marketing world I'm saying certainly over a decade . Yeah , I have absolutely watched you show up creatively with so much energy and just little nuggets that you've inspired me with . So I have to say thank you . And I know LinkedIn has been our big connection , yeah , recently . Fabulous platform that just shows you that it's not all about jobs . And we'll dig in a little more to that whole short form video that you use so well on LinkedIn . But before we go there , I have a quick question for you . Sure , if we were sitting over coffee and I asked you , what lights you up outside of work , what comes to mind first ?

Speaker 1 3:08

My kids , my dogs , my family that's really what's most important . I have adult children that live quite a few states away . I'm in Vermont , I live in South Carolina and I absolutely love going to visit them . Three , four weekends a year I fly down South and I absolutely love that to visit them . You know , three , four weekends a year , I fly down south and I absolutely love that . I also am a runner and I like to cook . I got inspired by becoming vegan over 10 years ago and it's completely changed how I eat , but how I travel , how I shop , and that's also a big passion of mine not necessarily telling people how I do it , but showing and cooking for my family . You know , when I go to a gathering , I don't talk about it , I just bring food that's , you know , edible by vegans , so it doesn't contain meat and dairy , and it's nice to show and tell because a lot of people are confused about what it is , and so , yeah , those are the things that light me up .

Speaker 2 4:09

Fabulous , yeah , lots of lovely , important things . So , just yeah , thank you for sharing . Let's move on to these short form videos that you do so well . So you're known for making these look effortless , and we all know there has to be a lot of thought behind it . So what would you say is the magic behind making short videos that stop the scroll .

Speaker 1 4:35

Well , I want to go back to something that happened this past weekend . I host a real retreat . It's part of the social content retreats that I host and that was my second real retreat . We're small business owners , so mostly women come together and I teach them short form video along with my co-host , and one of the things is I'm looking for that transformation piece .

Speaker 1 5:00

All of us create content , but when do you become a content creator ? It's when you have the ideas in your head and , instead of thinking about it , you create the content . You see the opportunities , and the example I use is you know , it's really funny because I live very rural in Vermont

Meet Doreen Morin-Von Dum, Social Media Strategist

Speaker 1 5:23

and we only have one Target store in Vermont . It's all the way . In Burlington , an hour and a half away , in New Hampshire , there's a Target store , and in New York there's a Target store , but somehow the road I live on is the shortcut for the Target trucks . So every time I pull out of my driveway and get onto the road , I see target trucks , and I've had this idea in my head that every time I see one , I should just have my dash cam record it , because I always say target truck . My son's usually in the car with me and we make fun of that . I'm not creating that content . If I were doing that , I still call myself a content creator . That I still call myself a content creator . But when you have those type of ideas and you put them into action is when you make that transformation from I have to create content to . I want to put this into a story Because this story would be a lot funnier if I had a video showing me in the car with all the you know , hundreds of target trucks I've seen in the last six years , right . So that's kind of the transformation piece that you go through .

Speaker 1 6:32

You have to initially create content . Here's another nugget to that you don't have to publish it , right . That was the other thing that came out of this retreat . There's people who don't want to watch their own self on video , so there's a lot of different kind of reels . You can make point of view reels right , where you point your camera out .

Speaker 1 6:55

But if you want the camera on yourself and you feel kind of cringy , there's a couple of things you can do . But one of them is just not publish the content . Content . So it still will get you comfortable in front of the camera . It still gets you that , hey , I get to know my camera , I get to know the setup , I get to know the staging , because those are all parts of learning how to become the content creator . Because once you're a content creator and you see the opportunity , it's going to take you three to five seconds to set up and do it , and that's a transformation that you go through . When I was teaching my students this weekend , they were struggling with tripods and finding a good place and looking at the sun and you know , like centering themselves , and I literally just held it , I turned on my camera and I made a video , one take . That's the difference when you've done it over and over and over and over , you get to do that . And so there is that transformation piece on just doing it .

Speaker 2 7:57

But I have to , doreen , invite listeners . They have to go back to your LinkedIn channel and look at some of your videos , because you have got so comfortable in what you do and I hear you when your retreat , people are looking for the nuts and bolts and like , how do we do this ? And stepping into , just do it . But you've given us some fantastic little nuggets . You know even just putting the grid in the screen and where your face is . So , as you say , by making those videos and practicing and building in some of those things that you teach , when that time comes to make the story about the target trucks , it all flows and your focus is so on the target truck and creating the story and not how do I look on this video . So I love that . So I know that you're active on a few different platforms . We keep coming back to LinkedIn , where you put most of your content . But do you have a difference that you change up if you are working on Instagram versus working on LinkedIn .

Speaker 1 8:58

Enjoy being active on Instagram as much . I'm much more of a reader than a visual content consumer . So if I were to make reels for Instagram , they would really be more of the and I do that for clients . For myself , it would be like a day in the life of , you know , showing the target trucks , those kinds of things . But for LinkedIn I'm doing clips of podcasts , I'm doing teaching , educational pieces . So , yes , if I were to concentrate on a different platform , I would do that .

Speaker 1 9:29

Now , the platform that I am very active on also is YouTube . Right now I'm a little bit in a hiatus with long form content , but

The Content Creator Transformation Journey

Speaker 1 9:38

different times in my career I've created long form content for YouTube and you really want to stay consistent with that . So you know , I'm telling you to be consistent , even though right now I am not . It's a huge commitment to make a long form video every single week for YouTube . What does go on my YouTube every single week is my podcast , my video podcast . So I am adding every week . But where really what moves the needle is the shorts that are created from that podcast , and so those shorts lead people back to the the big , you know , the big video . So shorts are doing well , really well , there , and that's that . If I was going to put any more effort anywhere , which would be creating more shorts for YouTube and very specific reels for Instagram , but right now I'm focusing on LinkedIn and then repurposing everything anywhere else and that would be the advice to anybody that's listening , that's watching is , if you're creating reels for the first time or short form video , figure out which platform you want to create it for and figure out what is the best length for that platform , what type of videos work best , and create that first . Repurpose it everywhere else and it will still get some traction . Even if it's longer than it's supposed to be or shorter than it's supposed to be or not quite right , it still will get you attention .

Speaker 1 11:00

Once you have that going , then you can create several additions of the same talk . So , for example , on LinkedIn , short form video . You know two minutes is probably a great time . It changes , but right now , two minutes , you still in the two minutes . On LinkedIn , you just want to give one tip , one idea . You don't want to give three . But what if , on YouTube , shorts can be up to three minutes ? You wanted to give three tips , so you would LinkedIn you've done one at a time and then you create a different short where you highlight the same three tips but put them all in one . That's kind of how I would repurpose some of these reels and then on Instagram you might repurpose them as stories or as reels and maybe cut them even shorter so the ideas can be repurposed , even if the original reel can't be , you can just rerecord it and have it set for whatever platform , but always start with the one that gets you really the most ROI . That's the one you create the video for , and then you repurpose it everywhere else .

Speaker 2 12:09

It's so interesting that you shared that . Now Her name has escaped me for the moment , but she is a Pinterest strategist . She's really good in the Pinterest area and she did a short the other day that spoke about 10 cents and $10 . And are you gonna spend your energy on bringing in 10 cents or $10 . And are you going to spend your energy on bringing in 10 cents or $10 ? And what you just shared now is so important . It's like show up , put the effort and do what you need to do where you're connecting with your audience and they're following you and , as you say , repurposing will bring some of the other people along and they'll find you . But some wonderful advice . So thank you for sharing that . So let's move and talk about your retreats . I know that you don't just talk strategy , but I appreciate all that you do share . You have built experiences where people can immerse themselves in it in the gorgeous area of Vermont . I have to ask you are the leaves changing already or not yet ?

Speaker 1 13:00

They are almost done . Don't tell anybody . We're still hoping that people will come in October . It's very early . This year . We're in a drought .

Speaker 1 13:10

Vermont is one of the driest areas in the US right now and normally we have lots of water . We still have streams and rivers . But when there is not enough water for the leaves , they get stressed and so they turned early . We are right now . Today and yesterday it rained , so we are seeing a little bit of red . But what we're seeing is still some green trees , lots of yellow and orange , and we're starting to see bare trees , so you know , trees without leaves . So we're hoping that enough of the maples will turn red , that this will be a good weekend .

Speaker 1 13:42

But come October we might be done , which is very scary because it's our tourist season . Usually the first two weekends in October we have everybody come up and it's kind of sad , you know , but that's nature , you know . You can't Absolutely . People will start asking us in , like July , when are the leaves going to turn ? And we're like we don't know . But if you're planning something in October , this year you I mean , there'll still be some but there'll be a lot more empty trees . But it's gorgeous right now . I look outside and it's all yellow and orange .

Speaker 2 14:13

Just move the trip up .

Speaker 1 14:18

Yeah , it's , it's tricky , and you know , I mean , that's what happens . You can plan the most beautiful summer vacation and you could plan it during a hurricane , you don't know . And it's the same with you know nature can't

Platform-Specific Content Strategies

Speaker 1 14:30

wait and the leaves are turning . So that's what's happening .

Speaker 2 14:33

So I know we spoke about the fact that you had just wrapped up a retreat , but tell me a little bit more about the retreats that you host . What kind of sort of transformation or an aha moment are you seeing happen at your retreats ?

Speaker 1 14:47

Yeah . So I just finished up the second one this past weekend and it was amazing . So the first one we did in May and the aha moments there were some of the moments that I just mentioned , like somebody who really didn't want to be on video but came to the retreat because she knew it's a great way to have a one-on-one conversation with a thousand people , because that's really what a video is . And she had the aha moment when she had recorded a bunch of video and we we watched it . We make all our participants watch some of their own video because we're going to edit . And I just kind of nonchalantly told her I said well , you don't have to publish them , just watch them . And she goes oh , oh , my gosh . I said you're here to practice , you're here to get comfortable with your phone , you're here to learn how to edit , you're here to learn all of these things . But if you don't want to publish right now because you don't feel that you can or that you're ready , you don't have to . And then another one was you know , a lot of people do stuff on their phone , right ? I have found that a lot of the business owners don't know the technical way to get the video on their phone , because we're teaching everything on the phone , from the phone to the computer . So somebody had just bought a new Mac , previously had a PC and were showed her AirDrop . We have this video of her yelling and screaming and go oh my God , the video just landed and like it was an aha moment . Oh my God , the video just landed and like it was an aha moment . So these are not necessarily related to reels , but when you are together and when you are with a group of women in a safe space , you can celebrate those type of aha moments that might've taken you by yourself . You're like , oh duh , I wish I had . No , no , we celebrated that that woman actually came back to the second retreat and was ready to learn more .

Speaker 1 16:35

Another aha moment is you don't always have to make your own reels . You could ask your customers to make reels , because I think this is a big thing , you want to be in charge of them and you want to post them , but you don't always have to make them . So the first retreat we had somebody who hosts food and wine festival and she had all these vendors coming , like 50 , 60 vendors , and I said to her I said well , have you ever asked them why they're coming ? And she goes well , I mean , they want to sell their merchandise . I said , well , are they excited ? She goes yeah , they come from all over new England . I said get them to put that in a video . No-transcript , right ? It's also about the strategy that goes along with creating video and all the different things . So , yeah , that was a huge aha moment for us .

Speaker 2 17:51

And I just I think of all that brainstorming and that energy coming together and then everybody's sharing . So do your participants all live close by or people coming in from outside ?

Speaker 1 18:01

No , we had this past weekend . We had somebody fly in from Iowa , somebody fly in from North Carolina , so no , people are flying in from different places and I mean it's a really great deal , right ? So normally you go to a conference , you sit in a room , you get a bunch of information , but you don't actually take any action . Maybe a three-day conference and it's like I don't know . $1,500 for a ticket , I don't know $1,200 . This is all inclusive . You get to stay in the Airbnb with us , we feed you every single meal and you get to learn and you get to put your hands on all the equipment . So it's a really it's a . It's a really great deal . This last one was $1,800 for three days and three nights four days , yeah , and it's really affordable .

Speaker 1 18:45

And we do these sessions that I call thinking sessions , and I want to explain this because this really helps with everything in business . But when you have a conversation , like you and I have at Carol , it's we're going back and forth , it bounces back and forth . If I toss the ball , if I have an idea , I know it's going to land with you , so you toss it back to me . Maybe you add something . As soon as you add a third person in a thinking session , you don't know where the ball is going to go .

Vermont Retreats and Creative Transformations

Speaker 1 19:17

You don't know where the ball's going to go . You don't know what bounces back at you , because you could go back to the same person or to the other person and that person can bounce it back to you or to the third person . So as soon as you have three or four or five people in the room , the energy changes , and when you start doing thinking sessions with more than two people , it just becomes big . We had an aha moment this weekend where somebody , an herbalist , is creating products . Right , she's got an incredible natural deodorant line and lip gloss and all these things and she wants to get the word out . She goes I'm the best kept secret , like I don't want to be a secret anymore . So we started brainstorming and we started thinking and we were sitting on the couches and everybody had these different ideas and I was like , have you ever thought about an ambassador program ? And she goes no , what's that ? So we started talking about ambassador programs . I told her how I've helped several local small businesses get started with an ambassador program . And then we had another aha moment . I said you know we're all talking , we all have these ideas . Why don't you talk to ChatGPT and why don't you ask them ? You know , put in your website , put in your information and what you're looking to do and how you are to best kept secret , and ask it would an ambassador program work for you ? And then kind of flesh it out . She had never talked to ChatGPT as a strategic thinking session . You know , always just asking a question and getting a straight answer . So she then dove into that for like three hours and had this epiphany about chat GPT and you know I'm saying chat GPT but it could be Gemini , I think she tried out both , but as a strategic thinking partner , because if you don't have somebody in your business , if you're a woman solopreneur , you're just by default very isolated unless you're , you know , an extrovert , and so listening to a podcast , having a community , but now having a strategic thinking partner , is going to be really important . So she actually , during this retreat , fleshed out her ambassador program and I think she wants to kickstart it in like a month , which is very exciting . So that's another aha moment , transformation moment that happens when you're together . It's also a very safe place for laughing and for learning .

Speaker 1 21:23

One of the participants in the first retreat had framed herself . We were outside on location . We go outside , we went to a waterfall , we go up the hills , we go to the rivers , a pond , you know all these beautiful places , and we were at an old quarry and it was very quiet . Obviously there was nobody there . We'd hiked in a mile , and then we get to the top of the hill and she sets up her own equipment . I wasn't paying attention and she did like five or six videos . And then she called me over and she was just hysterically laughing like five or six videos . And then she called me over and she was just hysterically laughing . She had created all these videos and her head was cut off like right here . So , and then there were some that she didn't even have a head and she's like well , it's great practice and so we use that in our blooper film . But it needed to happen for her to understand some .

Speaker 1 22:07

Everybody learns differently . I guess this is one way to say this . Some people just naturally pick up their phone and they know how to create video . A lot of us are not that intuitive and by being together with other women and knowing your learning style you can really make a lot of progress . So she realized that she needed the second person there .

Speaker 1 22:27

But we also taught her how to be a one-woman camera person . Where you put something on the rock , you know you kind of frame it . You go back , you take a two second video , make sure , or a picture , and make sure you're framed right . If you're framed right , you can go back and then remotely start the video if you need to . But we , you know , we teach . We teach both behind the camera and in front of the camera , and then we also get into editing . Of course .

Speaker 1 22:50

Now there's lots of AI tools . We show and tell . We've got a big screen TV , hook up our computer . We show how to do it . We tell people how to do it and then they do it . So people left with edited videos . There was one person here who has a lot of user-generated video and wanted to have an overlay of herself talking about the video . I'm sure you've seen those reels right , they're kind of like reaction videos , but she didn't know the process of it and that was her . That was literally her , her , her . Point of what do you call that ? Her , her , oh , what is the point when you can't move the ? Ah ? Now I'm looking .

Speaker 2 23:27

I can't think of it either . I'm just a drawer to play .

Speaker 1 23:30

Yeah , it's like . It's like when you're stuck in a hole , right You're . There's that friction . So she couldn't , she couldn't move forward . And she had a lot of video user generated video and she's like I don't know how to do this .

Speaker 1 23:42

So we sat together , we figured it out , we tried a couple of things . Then she went into the basement here at the Airbnb is a big game room . She had quiet time . She figured it all out and then she did it and she showed us a video and I said well , now do you have your SOP , your standard operating procedure ? And she's like well , I think I remember I said no , no , no , no .

Speaker 1 24:04

We took the video , put it back into chat GPT and said these are the things that we remember doing to this video . But look at this video and give us an SOP of all the things that you think were needed to create this video .

Learning Through Safe Collaboration

Speaker 1 24:19

And boom , she had . She goes oh yeah , I did that . Oh yeah , yeah , I had to adjust that . It was perfectly right . And now she has . She went home with the thing two videos done , two reaction videos done , but an SOP where she , any time of the day , she can create more and she can outsource and get somebody else in her company to do it as well . So those are the kind of things that can happen at a retreat , right ? It's not just oh , we're sitting here , I'm gonna talk about my products or my next promotion or my expertise , I'm doing educational videos . It's about all these things , that , all these possibilities , and I think that's what comes out . That was a transformation . They went in , as you know , create , creating content , you know business owners , and they came out on the other .

Speaker 2 25:05

All these gifts , yeah , all the inspiration . So on that note , I know I've already asked you no more retreats , and excuse us , while we have the real sound of a dog in the background . That's life on a podcast . It tells me she's not wanting to sit here and wait for me any longer . But when is your next retreat ?

Speaker 1 25:25

Okay , the next one is April 30th or May 3rd of 2026 . That's a 101 . So if you're fairly new to Reels , or you do Reels but you don't really know how to edit add captions , you know what the latest tech is . That's a great one . And then from June 11th through 14th , we're doing a 201 . So we'll have at that point we'll have three classes of people who've gone through the 101 . We're hoping to fill the 201 . But if you're pretty advanced and you're like I just want to get some different type of reels or I want to learn more about you know a little bit longer videos , we're going to dive into that at the 201 . So April 30th through May 3rd and then June 11th through the 14th , those are the next two dates on our calendar of 2026 . Fantastic .

Speaker 2 26:10

And Doreen , if people want to connect with you and ask you questions or just find you , where is the best place to do that ?

Speaker 1 26:17

LinkedIn is a big best place . There's only one , doreen Moore , in Van Damme , so that's pretty easy . If you want to check out the retreats , go to socialcontentretreatscom . That's where the next dates have been announced . I'm still processing all the latest clips from the second retreat , so they're not quite up , but yeah , we're ready to move forward with the next ones . And then my website is moreinmediacom . If you want to check out what I do as far as social media strategy or AI teaching , all that stuff .

Speaker 2 26:51

I love the AI teaching , so we have covered so much in this episode . So , for my listeners , I just want to say thank you for listening to Connect , inspire , create . I know that today's conversation is going to spark some . Where do we go next ? I invite you to share this episode with somebody else who you know would love to put these nuggets into their marketing and their expertise , and invite you to subscribe to my show so that you don't miss any of my upcoming guests . And this week , I invite you to embrace your own way of connecting and inspiring and creating , just like the name of my show Connect , inspire , create . And may your choices bring ease and flow to your week . Are you curious about the patterns that might be holding you back ? I invite you to take my complimentary Insights Into you assessment . You'll find that at carolcleggcom , and I would love to jump on a call with you to explore your results . If you wish to do so , do connect with me on LinkedIn . At carolclegg , you'll find me there .