How to plan your YouTube videos - getting started.

Are you struggling with your video content?

Do you feel that maybe you should be creating videos, but you're not really sure where to start? Or maybe you've created some videos already, but you don't know what to do with them. 

Or maybe you put them up on your website, or on social media, and nothing happened? 

Well, don't worry. You're not alone in any of that, and actually it's a lot easier to get results than you might think. It just needs a little bit of a plan, and I've got some ideas for you. 

My name is Matt from the Lifestyle Video Company, and my aim is to help businesses not only understand the importance of using video for their marketing strategy, but also to harness the immense power, and bring new leads and new business, by helping businesses get their message out to the world. 

So in this video, I'm going to give you some ideas on how you can get started with creating some of your own videos for your business. 

I've been creating videos for various companies for some time now, and in fact, one of those businesses recently won a £250,000 contract, as a direct result of literally just taking the bull by the horns, and emailing their client base with a link to a series of videos that we created for them.

£250,000 pounds, for just spending one day recording a few videos, and sending out a couple of emails. 

Now, I know it might seem a bit daunting to think of yourself on camera, or even to start writing some scripts for those videos, but stick with me. I promise you, I was exactly the same when I first started with my own weekly video series. 

But, I'm at the point now where my content gets pretty good engagement, and has actually won me some pretty tasty work of my own. You see, I've always been used to creating videos for other people, and not for myself, and whilst it felt awkward and uncomfortable at the start, I stuck with it, and actually now, I quite love it. I feel like I've got a whole load more confidence in front of camera. And what's even better? I now have a heap more practical experience, which allows me to coach my clients, who are now in front of the camera themselves. 

If at any point through this video, you think you're getting value, I would love for you to hit the thumbs up, and hit that subscribe button. It helps me out quite a lot, but it also ensures that you get to see all of the future videos which we've got coming up, which I know are going to be really helpful for you. 

And also, at the end of this video, I'm going to show you how you can get access to a free resource to help you get started with creating your own content, so make sure you stick around for that. 

Now, of course it's not always going to be the case that your first set of videos bring you in a £250,000 contract, if only it were, and in fact my client's videos only worked that well because they had a plan of action in place before we started. 

So I'm going to give you five things to think about, before you even get the camera out. 

Whether you're a business owner yourself, and this is your own business that you're creating videos for, or whether you're charged with doing the marketing in the company that you work for, and it's your job to get the videos done, what we're going to go through now is going to be really helpful. 

Step 1 - Have a Plan. 

Somebody famous once said,

"Failing to plan is planning to fail.”  (Abraham Lincoln, I believe)

So before you even think about scripting a video, you really should be considering how video fits within the framework of your existing marketing strategy. If you don't have any objectives or goals set, then you simply won't be able to measure the success of your campaign, and see whether or not it even worked. 

As an example, one goal might be grow your Facebook following by 10 followers per week for the next six months. Maybe work out how many days a week you're going to post content, and what that content might look like. 

Maybe a full video to YouTube on Tuesday, followed by teaser snippets of that same video to go out to Facebook on Wednesday and LinkedIn on Friday. 

If you have a plan, then the more likely you are to follow a structured and measurable approach, rather than just a pointless scatter gun smattering of random posts. 

Step 2 - Create Content Regularly

It's really important to remember that all of our customers are human, busy, and easily distracted, and they will forget about us in the blink of an eye, unless we give them reason not to. That means creating regular content will have a whole host of different benefits for your business or your brand. 

Now, whilst we're talking mainly about video in this video, your content doesn't actually have to be just video. Blog posts and images, interactive questions and quizzes, are all equally as valid for keeping top of mind for your audience. 

Again, it's all down to point number one, and that all important plan. 

Remember though, don't just create content for the sake of creating content. Otherwise it's just more noise on the internet. 

Step 3 - Script Your Videos. 

I know, it sounds like a complete pain in the bum to have to do this, but I promise you, the value of scripting is immeasurable. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that to appear authentic on camera, you need to be unscripted and spontaneous, whereas actually the reality is usually exactly the opposite. 

Unless you're keen and a regular speaker who really enjoys the camera, or even a professional actor, even a 30 second video can require a script to keep you on track, and get you to the point. 

And the way to appear authentic is literally just to practise, practise, practise, until you almost don't even need to refer to the script. You're the expert on the subject matter, so it doesn't really matter if you stray a little bit, as long as the meaning is the same. 

What you don't want to do is to try and wing it, and end up rambling, and then lose your audience. You need to keep up the pace, and keep it informative or interesting. 

Step 4 - Post Natively. 

So what does that mean then? Well, these days all of the social media platforms are actually video platforms, but they're not all suitable for the same types of videos. 

For example Facebook is best for short, fun, or informative videos of less than two minutes say. YouTube on the other hand is more suited to longer videos, a little bit like this one, and generally people expect to watch longer videos on YouTube. 

Now given that Facebook and YouTube are competitors, what you shouldn't do is upload your video to YouTube, and then share the link to that video on Facebook, because Facebook want you to stay on their site, and not jump over to a competitor site, so they probably won't show your post, which includes a YouTube link, to many people at all. 

So the best thing? Upload the full long video to YouTube, but then edit a much shorter teaser trailer, if you like, of that same video, and post it to Facebook, with a little slide at the end, hinting that there's a longer video out on YouTube. 

Now I know all of this can seem like quite a lot to take in, but stick with it. I've got all of these points written down for you, so don't worry, I'll drop the link at the end, as to where you can go to download that. 

Step 5 - Add Subtitles. 

It turns out that subtitles, or captions, as they're sometimes called, aren't just for people with a hearing problem. Even native speakers sometimes choose to turn on the subtitles, just because we understand better with them turned on, and it's been proven. 

And don't forget, many people watch videos in crowded places, like on the tube, with the sound turned off, so without subtitles, they've got no idea what you're talking about in your video, and so again, you risk losing them, if they can't understand what your video is saying when they have no audio playing. 

Now, there are lots of different ways to get subtitles into your videos, and I'll be doing a video on how to do that in the near future. For now though, Google's automatic subtitle generator is a really good free option. It does come up with a few clangers every now and then, but it's still worth a try, and you can also edit the subtitles as well, if it gets them wrong. 

So as well as the subtitle video I mentioned, I'm also going to be talking more on each of the points I've mentioned here in future videos on this channel, so make sure you're subscribed, and that way you won't miss anything that's coming up. 

What do you think?

Have you tried any of these suggestions already? Did you have any luck? Or, maybe you think I missed something, or hey, maybe you don't even agree with anything I've said here. 

In any case, let me know in the comments below, and let's start a conversation. I'd love to know what your thoughts are. 

There is one mistake that a lot of people make, and that is creating content just for the sake of creating content, with no plan, and with no strategy in place. Or, they do the complete opposite, and they don't create any content at all, because they're confused or worried about what to create. Hopefully though, I've given you some ideas here that will get your creative juices flowing, and give you the impetus you need to get started. 

Now, I promised a downloadable summary of all of these points, and so here it is. You can go to my website, at www.TheLifestyleVideoCompany.co.uk, scroll down a page or so, and there's a form there for you to fill out, and get an instant download of that Ebook, and I'll also put a link in the description down below. 

Please don't forget to hit that Like button, and subscribe below if you haven't done so already, and maybe leave me a comment as well, if you feel that way inclined. 

Thanks so much for watching this all the way to the end, and I really hope you've gotten some useful information from it. 

Remember, it's far easier than you think to get started with creating video content, but just don't do it for the sake of just doing it. You really must have a plan of action for best results, and to be consistent in your approach. 

After all, trust is built with consistency. 

If you have any questions about anything I've said, or need some advice on what to do next, you can contact me via the website, again at www.TheLifestyleVideoCompany.co.uk, or leave me a comment below. 

If you need some ideas on what to talk about in your first videos, then maybe check out my other video, called three things to talk about in your first video. 

A couple of things in there that might give you some ideas. 

Thanks again, and I'll see you next time.