Creating Social Video Content for Your Business on a Budget

Are you incorporating more social video content into your social media strategy in 2025? Whether your social media goals are to inform, entertain, or inspire your audience, social video is a great way to do so; in fact, users will retain 95% of a message watched on video as opposed to only 10% read in text.

While video content can be a time- and budget-intensive process, your brand or business doesn’t need to have a blockbuster film budget to create video content for social media purposes. Here are some things to consider that will help you create compelling social video content — without breaking the bank.

Equipment

The first step toward successfully creating social video is ensuring you have the right equipment to get started. It may be tempting to look at the audio and visual equipment that large influencers use, but in almost cases that equipment is a luxury, not a necessity. The basic equipment you’ll want to consider includes:

Camera: There’s no need to go out and buy a brand new camera — your smartphone is perfect for social video purposes. If you are looking for a DSLR or video camera, check out places like Facebook Marketplace or other second-hand stores in your area for more affordable options.
Tripod: Tripods are helpful, but are usually not entirely necessary. If you’re creating social video on a budget, you can use almost any stable surface to act as a stand, or you can simply hold your device with a firm hand.
Microphone: Most cameras have built-in audio capturing, but if you want clearer sound (or are recording video content in a noisy environment, like outdoors), a Bluetooth microphone works wonders. (At Scooter Media, we invested in a plug-in mini microphone for social video purposes and cannot recommend it highly enough!)
Lighting: Oftentimes, you can use any available lighting to light your video appropriately. If you need to brighten the shot, cancel out shadows, or create a color effect, simple LED panel lights with colored gels can inexpensively do the trick.

Editing Software

While you can film and edit your social videos directly in their respective app (such as TikTok or Instagram), especially for more complicated videos it can be easier to edit within an external software. There are many options to choose from, but we have found that these best serve our purposes for editing social video:

A Man Sitting in Front of a Computer while Editing a Video

Canva: The popular design suite offers both free and premium options that work well for basic video editing. (If you end up going this route, be sure to check out our “5 Tips to Improve the Quality of Videos in Canva” blog post!)

iMovie: If you have an Apple computer, iMovie is a free software that offers basic editing tools and is easy to learn.

Adobe Premiere Pro: While this is a more expensive alternative, Adobe Premiere Pro offers a plethora of audio, visual, and graphic design options. If you will need to color correct, edit your audio, or add lower thirds in many of your videos, Premiere Pro is a worthy investment to consider.

Talent and Props

For small businesses, hiring actors and finding props to feature in your videos isn’t going to be in the budget. In this case, we highly recommend enlisting the other members of your business to take part in the social video creation process. For example:

Actors: Ask around the office to find teammates who are interested in participating in social videos. TikTok and Instagram Reels trends are not just a proven way to generate engagement on social media — they’re also a great way to build company culture and get people throughout your organization involved. Filming these trends doesn’t have to take a whole afternoon, either; often, all you’ll need is five minutes of their time.

Props: More often than not, you don’t need to go out to your local theatre store to find props for your videos, as you can simply use what is already available to you. Think of ways you can use everyday objects to elevate your social videos. (Coffee cups are a staple prop in many of Scooter Media’s social videos, for example!)

Check out this TikTok of some of our team members participating in a trend using props we have around the office:

@scootermediaco

When the Scooter Media crew is feeling the 2 o’clock slump, all it takes is a little afternoon coffee to get us feeling gleeful! ☕️🎤 #10NightsOfScooterMedia #ScooterMedia #SocialMedia #PR #PublicRelations #Cincy #NKY #WomenOwnedBusiness #FYP #Glee #RiverDeepMountainHigh

♬ original sound – Julián Sarmiento