It’s no secret that video marketing has been a hot topic for a while now. In fact, we know that we, as humans, know that people enjoy digesting content in video format as opposed to spending the time reading it, it’s that simple. Did you know that mobile video consumption on YouTube increases by 100 percent every year?
Not only that, but 92 percent of mobile video viewers are highly likely to share a video with others?
With that type of exponential growth, schools should be looking into adding a new format to their blog, and consider blogging in video format!
Why don’t you consider transforming some of your best content pieces into video?
Here’s the lowdown on how to create a video blog.
Step 1: Do a Content Audit
Before we knuckle down and get into the nitty-gritty of how to become a video content superstar, let’s talk about the content that you already have.
You can turn blog posts into videos right from the get-go.
Start by doing a full content audit. We’re talking about your website, social media, and other digital platforms.
Have an in-depth look at the content that you already own and have already published. Look at the number of views per piece, dig into your Google Analytics and have a look at which pages your website visitors spent their most time on.
Look at your social media, try to see what types of content got the most traction through engagement rates, this means how many people interacted with your content.
If you look at your training pages and services, you’ll be able to see which of your lines are the best sellers and the ones that people seem most interested in.
When you put all of this information into a full-blown audit, you’ll already be equipped with a good list to start transforming into videos.
To take it a step further from this, you can put subheadings onto each piece of content. For example, you may have posted an article on your blog about Electrical Training which performed exceptionally well. Now, you can branch out from that. Draw up a list about different training options or certifications, their benefits, and setbacks, you may find that now you have a further four or five more topics you can convert to video.
Step 2: Get the Right Equipment
Now that you’ve got a great starting list for content, the last thing you want to do is create videos that don’t come across as professional, or at worst, don’t do your content justice.
Your next step in the process of starting an amazing video blog is having the right technical setup.
First, invest in a professional microphone.
There’s nothing worse than bad quality sound in an instructional or educational video. A professional microphone is going to help you get around this challenge.
The great thing about having great audio is that you can repurpose the audio at a later stage, use it be a voice over for an important presentation or even consider putting up a podcast!
Secondly, you’re going to need good lighting.
This point is very important, particularly if you’ll be filming your videos in a static location, as it can help you achieve a professional setup so every, single one of your videos is of a professional standard.
With great lighting, you’ll be able to put the focus on the most important part of your video, the content. So if you’ll be talking about a specific product, people will be able to clearly see it. Or perhaps you’ll be showing a tutorial or instructional video on how to use this product, once again, perfect lighting will be key.
Lastly, and most importantly, you’re going to need a reliable, sturdy camera.
You’re going to need a good camera, does this mean you have to spend crazy amounts of money? No, it doesn’t.
Just factor in the things that matter most to you, depending on where and how often you’ll be filming your videos.
Are you going to be filming on location a lot? Then you’ll need to prioritize longer battery life.
Are you going to be filming longer videos? Then you’ll need enough memory space to store all your footage before you get to editing it.
Step 3: Add Captions and Subtitles
Well, 85 percent of the videos on Facebook are watched with the sound off. You need to be prepared for this.
The only way around this is to ensure that every single on your videos has captions and/or subtitles.
The fact is, people will be consuming your videos in different environments, they may be in an open-plan office, at school, at work, or any place where they don’t want to disturb the people around them.
Captions are your way of making sure that they can still watch your video on the spot, and you get to grab their attention right away.
Step 4: Learn Your Scripts
You may think that you know your content well enough to be able to simply wing it on camera, but this is not a good idea.
You need to draw up, at least, an overview of your script and the points that you want to cover.
There’s no harm in including some improvisation in each of your videos, but if you’re new to the video blog world, you may find yourself taking longer to get points across than what is necessary.
The longer you take to deliver your content, the more likely you are to lose a watcher.
People watch videos to get information. If you’re spending your time saying, um, and using three sentences that can be shortened to one, your watcher may leave before getting to the end of the video.
On each of the content topics that you’ve created in step one, create a script for each and take the time to include everything that you want to cover in each video. This is a good time to add onto your content too, one or two things may have been updated or evolved since you posted that article, use your video script to update the content so that it is entirely relevant and not out of date.
Step 5: Be Professional
This may seem like a moot point. But, even if only your hands will be showing in your video, or only your head and shoulders, you need to come across as a professional.
Make sure that your hair is done, and your hands are well-groomed.
With so much video content out there, this is how you’ll stand out.
Do your hair, do your make up and wear a professional outfit.
This way, if glimpses of your outfit manage to sneak into the camera, you won’t have to worry that they might see your discolored yoga pants or your favorite holy sweater.
This also translates to the way you speak and the way you carry yourself. Your video blog is about your business. Yes, you may be known for being down to earth and having the mouth of a sailor, but you don’t need your online audience to see this side of you just yet.
So focus on maintaining the professional, courteous language. Steer clear of derogatory terms and filthy speak. Stick to the content you’re trying to ‘sell’.
Step 6: Have a Strategy
You’ve got all these pointers, and this one probably should have appeared earlier in the list, but here it is anyway!
You need to have a comprehensive video strategy in place.
Video marketing and having a video blog is about having that strategy and planning prepped weeks, if not months in advance.
You don’t want to be waking up each week and thinking, “What am I going to film this week?” The type of pressure to come up with videos on a whim is exhausting.
But the strategy is about more than the ‘topics’ you’ll be talking about in your videos.
Your strategy is going to be how you include your brand in each video, what is the style, the tone of each video. Where are you going to post your video? What are the best platforms for your brand? Who is your target audience, and how are you going to make sure that they watch your videos?
A Video Strategy is high-level, but it does go hand in hand with your content, each should speak to the other fluidly.
Step 7: Choose Your Editing Software
There are many editing programs out there that can help you edit your video footage. It’s time to knuckle down and choose one.
Depending on the style of video, and your desired ‘end-look’, you’ll want to look into your video editing options and eliminate those that won’t work for you.
Do you want to be able to perform seamless transitions from products to face and back again?
Or do you want to have iconography play a large part in your instructional videos?
Do you need to include diagrams at some point in your videos?
When you begin the process of researching your video editing software, make sure you have a full list of your requirements at the ready, this way, you can reference it as you read the reviews on each of your options.
How to Create a Video Blog
Well, at this point in the article you have some great tips to get started. Now how do you translate this all so that you can begin to create your blog?
Well, start recording and start posting!
It’s really that simple.
If you’re still asking yourself why you need to move to content video marketing, here are some statistics that you need to read:
- Having a video on the landing page of your website could increase your conversion rate by 86 percent.
- Advertisers spent approximately $10 million on their video advertising in 2018.
- 45 percent of Facebook and YouTube users watched more than an hour of videos per week.
- Every day, 500 million hours of video are watched online.
- Marketers who’ve used Instagram videos have reported an 88 percent success rate.
Now that you’re absolutely 100 percent convinced that video is the way to go. Where do you go from here?
Pick Your Platforms
You may think that there aren’t that many platforms to choose from, so why choose at all? Well, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet, so this is probably a good platform to start with.
But is it right for you?
If you’ve gone ahead and taken our strategy advice above, then you’ll have a good understanding of your desired target audience. This is how you should make your platform decision.
If your desired target audience is in the demographic that hangs out more on Instagram, then this should be your focus. If your ideal target audience would spend most of their time on LinkedIn, then this should be your focus.
Yes, of course, you can post onto your first choice platform and then encourage people to share from there, but it’s a good idea to have your ‘home base’ set up somewhere. This is where you will encourage people to subscribe, sign up and stay up to date with your videos.
Video Blog Success: It’s a Journey
Knowing how to create a video blog is one thing, you’re already there.
Now you to need to stick to your plan and strategy, have an amazing content plan and strategy in place, use your equipment correctly and create incredible videos that stand out from the crowd.
Remember though, that creating a video blog is going to take time and dedication. You need to know that you’re not going to see overnight success, your videos need time to ‘live online’ so that people can find them, watch them and then share them with others.
Most importantly, make sure that you have everything in place so that its performance is measurable, otherwise, how are you going to know if your video blog is doing well?
Are you thinking of your first explainer video? You need to read this.
Still feeling unsure? Well, we at Local-Finder can help you with your video blog content, get in touch with us today to see how.