Start vlogging – get behind that camera

Video blogging or vlogging is the new ‘thing’ to get noticed and market your business. Facebook love it and seems to make sure more people get to see it on timelines – far more than images and text. At least at this time (I’m sure this will change!).

But, and it’s a big but, not a lot of people are doing it. It’s a great tool for businesses – people love to see video’s and will click – some will stay longer than others – but there’s not a huge amount of people that feel comfortable in front of the camera! Like anything new (especially where marketing is concerned) it takes practice. If you’re like me you just don’t like seeing yourself – my face seems to do something quite strange when I know I’m being filmed!

Vlogging turns your words and images (regular blogging) into an audio-visual experience. People get to see your body language, hear your voice and can imagine having a conversation. It is so much more engaging and can really transform the buyer journey as the like-know-trust is escalated ten-fold.

Vlogging Tips

Subject

Where to start – you need to decide on what you are going to say – can be based on your blogs if you are doing those successfully. They should complement your current content marketing – maybe extracting points from a blog and then doing a short vlog on them to post with links to the full blog. You might have a new service and want to use vlogs to promote it. It may just be an exploratory time for your business to see the response from your audience.

Length of your vlog

Keep to about 3 minutes to start with. This is a good length for YouTube and will enable you to get some really good content over to your viewer. If you’re looking at Facebook posts (such as Live) then you might want to consider shorter, more succinct ones of between 1-3 minutes.

Filming

With the fabulous mobile phones these days and inbuilt cameras you don’t need any fancy cameras but it is better to ‘support’ the camera with a tripod, book or even one of the many stands now that you clip to your desk. Try out positions; ie backdrops, height, looking at the camera rather than the screen (!). I think everyone does this at the beginning – so strange to be looking at the end of the camera rather than looking at your image on the screen.

Editing

I believe this is the sticking point – ‘can’t I just point and film and upload’ I hear you say. But with an editing tool you can add effects, titles, sub titles, slice and include an opening sequence and ending contact information. Keeping this constant when publishing enables people to recognise your video as it starts.

Publishing

Once your video is ready it’s time to publish online for everyone to see! YouTube is the platform for video’s and from that you can link from your website, social media platforms and blog. Whilst you’re there don’t forget to include a title and some blurb to help with SEO in the description. There is also the opportunity to use tags to great effect.

Engagement

Lastly, don’t forget to respond to comments and messages – they are all social platforms after all.

What would be your number one tip for people wanting to start vlogging – if you’ve not started what’s your number one reason for not?

If you want to get started; happy to help – Start your vlog and Boost your blog

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