Photo by Sam McGee // CC0 1.0
The blogging boom over recent years has left the web saturated with online content, meaning that it’s more difficult these days to get yourself noticed. Filming a regular vlog to add to your online profile helps you to stand out from the crowd. For every person that likes to sit down with a cup of tea and scroll through a lengthy blog post, there are five that would more readily engage with video content.
Therefore, vlogging is a great platform for content creators to use if they want to connect with their audience. In what can sometimes feel like a depersonalized online world, nothing beats face-to-face contact even if it is still through a screen!
Professionals as diverse as social media consultant Sunny Lenarduzzi, healthy eating advocate Ella Mills and pro poker player Jeff Gross use vlogging to offer advice and tips to their fans, as well as a glimpse into their own lives.
So, what are the key points to remember when starting a vlog?
Remember, the aim here is to engage a bigger audience by delivering content that appeals to a wider cross-section of people. A long-winded monologue to camera from you is not going to keep many interested, so it’s better to keep your vlogs short and sweet.
Think of them like a pop song: best received in three minutes or less.
You want to get your message across quickly and succinctly without allowing time for your audience’s minds to wander. Author and philosopher Alain de Botton has this down to a fine art over on his YouTube channel, The School of Life. He manages to get across tricky philosophical concepts in an easily accessible format, available to all.
Have you ever noticed that it’s much easier to watch TV presenters who are genuinely excited about their topic?
There’s a reason why David Attenborough is one of the best-loved documentarians of the age, and a lot of that is to do with his enthusiasm for his subjects. If you’re not interested in the theme that you’re filming a vlog about, then why are you doing so in the first place?
Ideally, you should pick subjects that you have a true passion for around which to center your vlogs; however, this isn’t always possible or advisable. You just need to learn to make the best out of what’s right in front of you.
If you’re making a ‘day in the life’ vlog, concentrate on those parts of your life that you’re really proud of or that bring you the most joy. If you want to speak to your viewers about something that can be a fairly dry topic, like packing tips or visa applications, find the fun in that subject and exploit it.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of vlogging to focus on is ‘watchability’. You might think that you’ve managed to put together a fantastic vlog, detailing your chosen topic in just three minutes with plenty of different camera shots, location changes and music to keep the viewer enthralled. What you’ve actually managed to hash together is a confusing, blurred whirlwind that it’s difficult to keep up with or derive any meaning from.
Whilst it’s a great idea to include different shoot locations, make sure that they are suitable to your purpose i.e. well lit, not too noisy and fitting to your theme. Music can greatly enhance a vlog too but pay attention to whether it matches the tone of your post and isn’t going to distract your audience from the content. Changing the camera angle and using different types of shots can keep the viewer engaged, but it can also alienate them. Just be mindful of this when you’re both filming and editing a vlog.
Your vlog posts should be the easy option. They should represent a handy way for those who are interested to be able to access your content quickly and effortlessly. Vlogs present your audience with a bite size version of you and your content; enjoyable to consume and easy to digest.
As long as you keep this in mind, you’re sure to find your engagement numbers swelling in no time.
