Great Ideas to Plan Your Videos for YouTube

Guest Blog by Sheri Barbera & YouTube Bootcamp

Plan Your YouTube Videos & Start Shooting Today

Follow these simple tips to get comfortable filming videos right now!

Video Planning & Design

• Your content:
  What is the goal of each video
  Who is the target audience
  What is their question or concern and how do you solve it with a story (script)
• Filming your videos:
  Use your cell phone
  Use a microphone for good sound
  Use natural light or whatever lights you have at home/office
  Record your video in small segments
  Use the rule of 3rds
  Share your videos on social media & your website/blog
  Read your Analytics, Learn, Tweak and Repeat!

Plan Your Video Content

Start with a plan for your YouTube channel.

What is your reason for making videos? Is your goal to make more money in your business? Sell more products or services? Build your Brand recognition or just create a Brand? Acquire new customers and clients? Increase your authority as a teacher, trainer, coach, speaker, crafter, creator, artist, writer, or any type of professional?

Maybe you need to find new volunteers for your non-profit or get more donors? Or spread the message about your business.

When you’re a Business YouTuber, many of the questions above relate to you. And those are all excellent reasons to have a YouTube channel and make videos. Plus, as a YouTuber you always need new subscribers to grow your channel reach. 

And increase your watch time.

What can your videos be about? Maybe you’re going to teach a lesson in each video? Or sell a product or service? When you know the reasons, you’re making videos you can start planning the content. 

When you have a goal and a purpose for creating videos, it’s easier to make them instead of randomly picking some topic for a video and then making that. Plus, when there’s no real focus to your channel, there’s no reason for anyone to show up or subscribe.

This is why you have a plan, a purpose and a benefit for the viewer. Plan your videos to give your audience a reason to show up, watch the entire video, subscribe, like and comment on the video.

Background

Ok, you know what your channel is about and what your videos will be. Where will you shoot them? Inside? Outside?

It’s important to set up an easy place to film.

When it’s easy, it’s easier to stick to your goal to film videos for your business.

If you set up a place to film consistently, and it’s there for you to film anytime, it’s possible to create a schedule and stick to you.

Keep it simple and do-able and you’ll do it!

Cell Phone Camera

Everyone has a camera in their pocket, a mobile phone. Manufacturers are making the cameras on cell phones 1080p on both front and back of the phone now, so you can use either side to film yourself.

If you use a selfie stick to hold the phone, you have a more angle and interest options for filming:

Unscrew the top of the selfie stick and mount it on a tripod and voila! Your phone is stable to film hands free

Film yourself looking way up at your phone for a unique perspective

Hold the phone down by your ankle for a dog’s eye view

An app for your phone to make it look more like a DSLR camera is Filmic Pro

Microphone

The number one thing people click AWAY from a video for – is bad sound.

You always want to have clear, even, moderate sound when you create your videos.

Not crackly, or too soft or too loud. The way to get good sound is to use a microphone.

There are inexpensive mics that plug right into your phone and clip onto your shirt.

Buy the one that words for your mobile phone and always use it when you record.

Lighting

If you’re filming inside, you can sit by a window or table light and look good.

Natural light at the right times of day looks soft and beautiful and will make your videos more cinematic looking.

Use any lights you have already: desk lamp, floor lamp, overhead lights (recessed) piano lights are good, reading lamps, just light yourself up.

If you want to film outside there are three conditions that are the most effective for lighting:

Outside on a cloudy day
One hour after sunrise
One hour before sunset

Short Video Clips

To create manageable files and keep your viewers interested and watching, make short clips.

It’s easier to re-shoot something you aren’t 100% happy with if it’s only a few minutes.

Plus, downloading and editing is faster with short clips.

So, try to keep your videos to 3-5 minutes or less.

Frame and Compose

Simple ways to make your videos look better to the eye (when they’re being watched) is to remember to use these three tips:

Divide your video ‘frame’ into thirds and place you or whatever you’re filming within the third or at the intersecting point of a third (see the red dots)

If a person is in the shot don’t have too much space above their head. But don’t cut off the top of their head either!

If you’re doing a close up and you need to cut off part of the head to fill the frame, only cut off the TOP of the head, not the chin.

Great Ideas to Plan Your Videos for YouTube

Digital Marketing

YouTube makes it easy to market your videos using the ‘share’ button right underneath your posted video.

Right from the video you can copy the ’embed code’ and put the video right on your website or in a blog post.

There are also options to share to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Mix, Blogger, Reddit, Tumblr, LinkedIn, a few others and even email.

The best time to share your videos is right after you post it.

Then share it again a day later. And possibly the next week.

Video content is always there once you post it, but if no one knows it’s there, how can they watch it?

Give them multiple ways to find your videos by sharing your content.

Google Analytics

Now that you’re filming, editing and posting videos, the next step is to go to YouTube Studio, the back end of your channel, and look at your analytics to learn:

1.) Where your viewers are coming from.

2.) Who your viewers really are (age, gender, etc.).

3.) Which videos they’re watching.

4.) Where in the video they stop watching.

5.) When they’re watching and what they’re watching on.

YouTube provides you with a wealth of free information to help you figure out how to make better videos. Go through your analytics and learn where to share them more frequently, how to make them better and why people are clicking away.

Practice  

YouTube wants you to succeed.

This is why the platform is free and so are the tools to improve your videos.

When you study your analytics and learn where and when viewers stop watching, you can improve the next videos.

It could be your sound, picture quality, content, noise interference, pacing in your video…there are many reasons why viewers click away from a video.

You want to know why so that you can keep them watching to the end, and then wanting more.

Learn from your analytics, tweak the next videos, film, edit, post and then read your analytics to see how much you’ve improved.

Great Ideas to Plan Your Videos for YouTube

This was a guest blog by Sheri Barbera. She runs YouTube Bootcamp with her husband Sal.

We have written many articles on Website, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing that you might be interested in our Best Website Solutions Blogs. 

Great Ideas to Plan Your Videos for YouTube

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