With the advent of new technologies and easier access to internet, vlogging (popularly known as video blogging) has spread its reach far and wide. While as compared to a blog or a photo post, it is easy to communicate your message through a vlog, it is equally tricky to make your niche into this segment.
Presenting here 9 basic steps for an effective vlog creation and publishing –
1) Select your niche – Unlike a picture post, vlog or a video blog needs to have an in-depth research and planning for every content that goes online. It is essential to select your niche for vlogging i.e. whether you want to make videos around travel or food or fashion or any other topic. Selecting a niche keeps one focused towards their content which ultimately results is quality posts.
2) Create content/story to be shared – In comparison to a static photo post, a vlog should always have a thought or a story or an idea to share. Not anything and everything can be posted as a video blog. Videos attract the audience and therefore one need to create a vlog which excites the audience and pulls them over and over again to the channel. A vlog should be educating and entertaining at the same time, otherwise your audience might end up skipping it.
3) Can start with phone camera – Don't have a DSLR or a professional camera to shoot your videos? Worry no more! Gone are the days when mobile phones had 2MP camera. With the advent of technology, now mobile phones have camera that are as brilliant as a DSLR. Now shoot whenever and wherever you want as per your convenience. The key is to start small and grow gradually.
4) Microphone is a must - Using a microphone for recording is a must because while recording a video, there is a lot of background noise that gets recorded too which ultimately results in making your own less audible and not clear or distractive. With a microphone you can record your voice clearly without any clutter, thus making an impactful video.
5) Tripod for stability – It is a common understood fact that while making/shooting our videos, there has to be a static motion throughout. Any bump or shake in video will make it look very unprofessional and might irk the viewer. Therefore, it is advised to always shoot video on a tripod for stable video moment and transitions.
6) Lighting – Lighting is a mood setter for any video or photo shoot and plays a very crucial role while shooting. Too harsh light/sunlight can totally ruin your product or video. Similarly direct light or dull lighting can also spoil the whole vibes of the video. It is recommended to shoot in day light and use natural light or ambience light for shooting.
7) Edit and create a thumbnail that attracts – It is to be noted that you cannot use every shot that you have shot for the video. One need to edit as much as possible to make an impactful video unless needed to keep it raw. Edit to see which clip should go next and which transition to use where. Editing your video is very important to give it the final shape that you have imagined. After editing, create a thumbnail that best represents your video and would be used across all the social media platforms. Now your video is good to go online i.e. ready to be published.
8) Optimize keywords for search – Online world is a game of keywords. Right keywords can make you reach your right target audience. Optimizing keywords is necessary to attract visitors to your profile. Similarly, one should always give a caption/tagline that suits best to the video. Your caption or tagline should not be misleading to the video otherwise all your work will go in vain.
9) Provide share options – After all the hard work, it is now time to share your work with people out there. Use all your social media platforms to share your work. Make sure you interact with your audience as much as possible because they are the one who approve and disapprove your work. It is vital to understand what they want to see on your channel which ultimately helps you grow in your work of art. Work on their ideas too; it will be a welcome change to you too.
In nutshell, it is important to understand how and where you want to go with your video blogging. Selecting a niche is vital to keep you focused to your work and it is completely okay to start with your phone camera first and progress as you go. Remember to keep your ideas in mind as you shoot and use right lighting to uplift the whole mood of the shoot. Similarly, while in the post processing phase, remember to edit the clips in order to give it a final output as you thought and share with your audience with right keywords.