How To Make Videos Like A Pro
YouTube has over a billion users and is still growing. People watch a variety of videos on YouTube every single day. There are many YouTube channels that are raking in a lot of money. It is very easy to create a channel but the difference between a good video channel and others is the professionalism that can be seen in them. If your video looks as if it is made by an amateur then the chances are the video will not be seen much, people will not talk about it. Though there have been instances of amateur videos going viral, it will not happen always. If you want people to talk about your videos and share it then it has to look professional. Making a professional video is easy nowadays with many tools available. So let’s jump in and learn how to make professional videos:
Planning and creating the video:
The first step is to plan the video. Firstly you should know why you are creating the video. There are many types of videos such as the ones that are aimed at teaching something, most ‘How To’ videos fall in this category. Another option is to make videos that you believe will go viral. You want more likes and shares and you want people to talk about it. Once you have decided the reason to create the video, everything else will fall into place easily.
Put your thoughts on paper. Write down what you believe your target audience would like. Plan your script based on that. Write down the budget that you have for the video. Ensure that you do not go over the budget. Get the actors, set the stage and equipment and record the video.
Editing the video:
Creating the video is the easy part; the difficult thing to do is the editing. You have a lot of information in video format and you need to edit it to make it compelling for the viewer. You should be prepared to remove unnecessary content, never use content just for the sake of it. If your video is crisp and concise it will have a better impact, rather than a lengthier one.
Importance of a good intro:
A good introduction is very important as it essentially hooks you and makes you want to view the video fully. Many people however, overdo this part. A viewer who comes to view the video after looking at your video title would generally wish to directly dive into the main part of the video. He or she would not like a long drawn intro which does not speak about the relevant subject. Hence, ideally you should have a good intro but it should be short and let the viewer view the main content easily. People have short attention span; they will just close the video and move to some other video if the intro is lengthy. That does not mean that intros do not play a part, a good intro can have a big impact on the viewer. Nowadays there are many websites that provide an intro maker. You can use these websites to create the perfect intros which will have maximum impact.
Build your brand with a neat logo:
Your video should prominently display your logo. If you want to build a brand then you should have a neat logo. You can get your logos designed by experts or better still you can create logos on your own. There are many websites where you can create a logo design. Create a wonderful logo and make sure that it is everywhere in the video right from the intro. Logos have good recall value, once your logo is embedded in the minds of people, they will be able to relate to it easily. For example, the Nike logo is embedded in our minds and the check mark immediately conjures up images of Nike shoes.
Why templates should not be avoided:
Although your videos need to be unique, it does not mean that you should not use a given template. A template is actually a starting point for your video; you can format it to suit your requirements. Many successful videos use the same templates in a different way. If you are making a video which has a slide show, then templates can be very useful. There are many websites which provide slideshow makers, so use them.
Common mistakes to avoid while making videos:
The most common mistake is to have poor audio, always make sure that the audio is good because people tend to move to another video if the audio is not good. If you have a slideshow and if there is no voiceover but music, then make sure that the video is not too loud. Too loud music or music that does not complement the video will make the viewers click on the next video.
Another common mistake is to create content according to the trend. Many people create videos based on the videos trending. It is a good option for the short term but in the long run when you need to stand out from the crowd, you should show that you are different from others. Original content will add value to your brand too. Never infringe on another person’s copyright.
I recently went to a seminar where a self-proclaimed expert was telling the audience ways to appear on top of YouTube results. His common refrain was that you should do what others are doing. His mantra was copy the Title, Description, Keywords etc., from the top rated video in your niche. Though it has some value, it will not always provide the required results. For example, if the top video in your niche is something called, “The Diet that made me lose 10 pounds in a week” and you created the same title, others in the niche also created the same title, you would have literally hundreds of videos with the same title and they all will be competing for the same top spot. What are your chances of topping the niche in this scenario, it is literally very less. However, if you made some changes to the title, if you created a unique description and if your keywords also included other keywords that people would normally search for, your chances of reaching the top increases. So never blindly follow the leader in your niche, use your creativity and come up with new ideas to grow. However, most people do not use their creativity and like to copy others to succeed and this is where they fail.
Some people keep adding tons of videos on their channels but they do not get subscribers or views. I happened to meet one such YouTuber who had a lot of videos on his channel but views were in the hundreds or lesser. The reason his channel was not getting views was because of the recurring theme and because they were of low quality. His argument was that he would get a lot of subscribers on his channel based on volume. He felt that if 100 people subscribed to his channel from one of his videos and if he uploaded 1000 videos he would have 100,000 subscribers. It broke my heart to tell him that it does not work that way. People subscribe only when they are happy with the video and want to view videos by the maker again. They also tell others only when they like a video. A video goes viral because people who see it love it and want their friends and family to enjoy it too. After making him understand this I told him that creating one quality video using a good video maker will get you more subscribers than making hundreds of below par videos. After a month he called me to tell me that one of his videos about gaming was topping YouTube and he had hundreds of thousands of subscribers. So do not keep making videos just for the sake of it, add videos to your channel regularly but make sure that they are good quality videos that provide value to the viewer.
To be successful on YouTube you need to build your social media presence too. Social media is all interlinked, someone liking a video on YouTube posts it on their timeline in Twitter, which is then shared by someone else on their Facebook wall and it appears on your Whatsapp group and so forth. This incredible power of social media needs to be harnessed by all video creators. Most creators take time to create the video, create the title, the description, the keywords etc., but forget to create a social media profile for the channel. You should create accounts in all the top social media websites. Once you have the accounts ready in social media websites, make it a point to add the links to your social media accounts in the description box of your video. A clickable link to your Twitter or Facebook account will enable viewers of the video to connect to you personally. They can tell you what they liked or disliked, you can ask what they want to view next and create videos based on personal feedback, the options are many. The operative part in the sentence above is clickable link because people do not have time to copy and paste your links in the browser, they just have time to click.
A very common mistake that most video creators do is to not have a subscribe button at the end of the video. One of my friends had a very successful video that was watched by many, in fact, it went viral and there were millions of views but the number of people who subscribed to his channel was negligible when compared to the number of views. After doing a little research we found that he was not asking the viewers to subscribe to his channel. If you see successful videos you will find that all of them have a subscribe button embedded in their videos. Some have them throughout the video, while some show them at the start and at the end. Sub-consciously we are trained to accede to such requests and when we see the subscribe button at the end we tend to subscribe. The main goal of creating videos is to have good subscriber base and if you do not state it clearly, you will not get them. Remember that if you want to be an influencer you need subscribers. A good influencer makes good money too and you need not worry about monetizing your videos with Google ads etc.
Another mistake that amateurs do is that they often overact. Behave like a professional and act accordingly, do not try to be like others, do not try to copy their acting style, create your own style. Even while giving voice overs do not try to sound like a celebrity, sound like you normally would, it will have a better impact.
Many people make the mistake of not updating their skills. To continue making professional videos, you need to work on the craft of video making. You need to read books about the craft. If you learn a lot about video making, it will be easy when it comes to setting the right lighting, camera angles etc.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we can state that creating a video like a professional is easy because you can get all the tools needed easily. Do a proper research of your requirements, do not follow others, create your own unique style, take help when needed, collaborate with professionals to make it better, in short do whatever you have to do to succeed. Remember success will not come to you in a day or for that matter in a week or even a month, it may take months or even a year or two but if you steadily create professional videos and build your image as an influencer in your niche, you will find success.