How To Start A Vlog (And Supercharge Your Engagement!)
What do you suppose is the biggest question in digital marketing?
Is it “How can you find new clients?”
“How often should you email your list?”
Or, “What should you charge for your services?”
Believe it or not, the question I see asked most frequently by digital marketers and online entrepreneurs isn’t about clients, email, or even money, it’s about engagement.
“How can I improve my engagement?”
This question is so prevalent that even I ask it on a regular basis. In fact, only a couple of months ago I was pondering, ‘How can I improve my engagement on Facebook?’
Engagement is the hot topic of choice for a very good reason: without it, none of your other marketing works.
It doesn’t matter how many potential clients you find, if you don’t engage them they’re never going to convert.
The answer that frequently pops up to meet the eternal question of engagement is video marketing. Entrepreneurs the world over are solving the problems of engagement, and reaping a massive number of additional rewards, by doing one simple thing:
Vlogging.
Before you totally freak out at the concept (and believe me, I understand it’s a daunting notion!), take a minute to absorb the massive benefits you’ll gain by creating a vlog for your business:
- Supercharge your engagement
- Boost your SEO
- Stay ahead in the marketing game
- Get maximum bang for your buck in terms of ROI
- Easily create multimedia content
- Connect to your ideal clients in a relatable and authentic way
Starting A Vlog Will Supercharge Your Engagement
I’ve been banging on about engagement and this is why. It’s by no means the only benefit to creating a business vlog, but it goes at the top of my list because a boost in engagement has such a huge knock-on effect in every other aspect of your marketing.
The level of engagement you will see on a video is generally a lot higher than a written post containing exactly the same content. People are more likely to comment on and share videos. They’re more likely to subscribe to a YouTube channel than they are to subscribe to your email list, and once they’re following your YouTube channel they’re more likely to convert (either by signing up to your list and eventually buying, or skipping the bulk of your conversion process and buying directly).
Add to that the huge boost in organic reach you will see by uploading video to social media, and you really can’t underestimate its value.
For Facebook alone, the addition of vlogs natively uploaded to your Facebook page will give you a massive boost in both engagement and reach at a time when Facebook engagement is at an all-time low.
Vlogs Are A Powerful SEO Boost
If there’s one thing I love more than a great trick for improving engagement it’s a fantastic hack to boost your SEO.
Blogging is already incredibly powerful when it comes to ensuring your site ranks highly in search engine results pages (SERPs), but embedding vlogs in your blog posts, in addition to the written content, supercharges an already high-powered weapon in your SEO arsenal.
72% of people choose video over text when given the option.
Search engines seek to present their users with precisely what they are looking for. People are increasingly searching specifically for videos that meet their criteria, with around 62% of all searches on Google including video content.
By adding a vlog to your content marketing strategy you’re greatly increasing your chances of ranking highly on SERPs.
Video Is The Future
YouTube isn’t just a dominant video platform, it’s an incredibly popular and powerful search engine in its own right. That’s not only good news for your SEO, it’s an indication of the direction digital marketing is heading in the future.
With over six billion hours of video getting devoured on YouTube every single month, and more than 92% of viewers on mobile devices sharing their videos, it’s hardly surprising that 74% of online traffic in 2017 was in the form of video.
Simply including a video on a landing page can boost your conversion rate by 80%.
With a popularity curve surging at such a steep rate, it seems inevitable that all businesses will turn to video eventually.
The sooner you start vlogging, the sooner you gain traction with it, and the less competition you will face while your vlog is in its infancy.
Vlogging Yields Maximum Content For Minimum Effort
Part of the huge appeal of video is that it adds another form of media to your content marketing strategy.
People like choices, options, the ability to decide for themselves how they prefer to absorb content. They may like reading blog posts, but what if they don’t? What if they prefer to watch their content or listen to it?
By providing your content in multimedia form you ensure there is always a way for people to access it that they prefer, and you give them a choice.
Video is the best format to choose to create your content in because it gets you the maximum amount of content for the minimum amount of effort.
Once you have something in video form it can be easily converted to any other format you need — transcribe it for a written post, convert it to audio format for podcasts, bundle your videos together to create eCourses and saleable products, and use excerpts to create images, infographics, and social media posts.
Better still, video is extremely easy to create in terms of the resources you physically put into your vlogs.
Vlogging is also a great solution to your content issues if you struggle to write. You can script your videos, and it’s a good idea to do so, but if you’re more comfortable explaining yourself verbally, talking directly into the camera completely cuts out the need to write.
You’ll still end up with a written post, thanks to the transcript of your vlog, but you won’t have to write it!
It’s Incredibly Cheap And Easy To Start A Vlog
All you really need to start a vlog is a smartphone. Yes, you can create higher-quality videos if you have proper equipment, but given how good the cameras on phones are these days, ‘proper equipment’ is a relative term. As long as you have something capable of recording video, a means of keeping your camera stead (ideally a tripod, but a stack of books works too!), a way to perform basic editing, and a way to upload your content, you can start a vlog.
So vlogs don’t require a greater investment than blog posts in terms of equipment (certainly not when you’re first starting out!), and in many respects they are an easier method of content creation. A lot of people find that once they’re ‘in the zone’ and recording they can batch a massive amount of video content very quickly.
Video Is Highly Relatable And Authentic
Vlogs aren’t just easy for you to create, they’re easy viewing for your tribe. Modern audiences demand content that can be absorbed as quickly and easily as possible. Video provides that, allowing them to take in all your valuable information without having to read a lot.
It may be they don’t like reading, they’re looking to relax and wind down without thinking too much, or they only have time to absorb your content if they can do it while simultaneously doing something else.
It’s difficult to read a blog post while washing the dishes, doing the ironing, sorting out and tidying up, but you can easily have a video on while you’re doing chores.
For a lot of people the inability to multitask while reading your blog will simply stop them from reading. Video solves this problem.
Even better than that, however, video is instantly and highly relatable, and immediately demonstrates your authenticity.
Seeing your face, hearing your voice, and getting a clear visual on everything that comes with the information you present lends you instant credibility.
Your audience are more likely to trust your content if it’s in video form because they can see and hear you deliver it. They get a sense of your sincerity and whether or not you genuinely understand what you’re talking about, or are simply parotting information you’ve heard other people say.
So often we know nothing about the companies we buy from. Yes, we can read their About pages, look at their brand photos, and follow them on social media, but that’s all incredibly impersonal, even if they have personal branding.
It’s flat, static, and lacks the human factor.
A vlog may not put you directly in the room with someone but it’s as close as you’re going to get, especially if you run an exclusively online business.
Vlogging may have the huge benefit of being simple and easy to do, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a daunting prospect. You still need to have a strategy in place and approach it in a sensible manner, to ensure it’s a genuinely effective form of content marketing, and brings you the maximum return on your investment.
Even if you’re not investing in fancy equipment and software, all content requires a time investment, and we want you to get the most out of it.
Expect Some Challenges
Like any new endeavour vlogging is bound to come with teething problems. You’ll need to get used to recording content in visual form, you’ll have to adjust to the technology involved (even if all that includes is a smartphone), and there will be practicalities you don’t expect that take a few tries to get right.
Here are two really common challenges you’re going to run into (forewarned is forearmed!):
- You batteries will run out — recording video is a terrible juice sucker, so fully charge your camera before you start, and if you can, get a spare battery so you always have a fully-charged backup.
- You’re going to go wrong — as you’re speaking into the camera you’re bound to lose your way, say the wrong thing, or get tongue tied. A super-easy hack to avoid this being a major issue is to pause and smile at regular intervals. Don’t go more than a few sentences without doing this. The pause only needs to last a couple of seconds, but if you do screw up it will give you an easy point to cut your video, allowing you to redo only the bit you messed up, rather than having to start all over again!
Be Yourself
It’s tempting to put on a show for the camera, but resist that temptation! Remember, authenticity is one of the huge benefits of recording videos. If you play a role, or hide behind a mask or character, you’re not being transparent and authentic, and people will (ironically) see right through you.
If you’re feeling self-conscious at the thought of getting on camera and just being you, don’t worry about it. We are all our own worst critics — whatever hangups you may have, whether it’s your voice, or accent, your weight, the fact you’ve not got the right clothes or a fancy set, it really doesn’t matter.
I guarantee you nobody will think any less of you for it. In fact, 99% of people won’t even notice the thing you’re so worried about.
So get in front of that camera and just be yourself. Your viewers will respect and trust you for it, and it will get you infinitely further than any number of personas and shows you might put on for the sake of your audience.
They don’t want fake, they just want you!
Be Consistent
As with any aspect of content marketing, consistency is key. For a vlog to be successful it needs to be consistent. That means releasing your videos on a regular basis.
How frequently you release them isn’t nearly as important as ensuring they are regular. Whether it’s once a week, once a fortnight, once a month, or once in a blue moon is far less important than ensuring you establish a rhythm that your audience can predict and follow.
Be Strategic In Your Topic Selection
One huge mistake I see vloggers making is getting in front of the camera and simply waffling. There’s no rationale behind the topics they’re sharing, and the subjects they discuss seem very random.
Just as it’s important to plan your overall strategy for your blog, you need to have a clear plan for the topics you choose.
Every video should have a very clear purpose. If you’re simply recording a video version of your blog, that should already be the case, because every blog post you write should have a clear objective. But you’re likely to record other kinds of videos, and there’s a lot of value in doing so providing you do so with purpose.
If you’re unsure what kinds of videos you can record for your vlog, and what their various functions are, download my FREE Vlog Topics Superlist — it’s packed full of great ideas to get you started.
Steady As She Goes
I mentioned this briefly earlier but it bears repeating: keep your camera steady while recording.
Nothing will ruin the quality of your vlog more spectacularly than using a shaky camera. Get a tripod, even if only a cheap one, or at the very least create a tower of books and securely prop your camera on it. Whether you’re using a smartphone, a webcam, or the latest digital camera, it needs to be level, and it needs to be steady. If you can, angle it down slightly as this will give you a more flattering shot.
In addition you need to consider lighting. You can buy photography lights nice and cheaply that will enable you to get a really professional quality, but all you really need is a big window and bright sunlight!
Pro Tip: Always have your camera pointing away from the light source!
Get A Good Editing Tool
If you’re good at recording, editing will be a simple process of chopping off anything at the beginning or end that is superfluous. And if you’re going to be super-professional about it, you can get a nice video intro created for your business that includes your logo and business name.
Whatever you do, you’re going to need an editing tool. I really recommend you edit them before uploading them to YouTube, especially if you also want to upload them to Facebook and other platforms that allow you to host native videos.
There are some great free options you can use, like Easy Movie Maker (windows store) or Lightworks, as well as many online and downloadable tools you can get with a lot more functionality.
Just Keep Vlogging
Much like blogging and any form of content marketing, vlogging requires persistence and perseverance. It’s going to take three months to start seeing those rewards, and at least six before you start to see the huge and ongoing benefits of vlogging kick in.
Keep vlogging!
It will take time but it will happen, so keep your eye on the prize and remember all the huge benefits you will ultimately reap from vlogging:
- Supercharge your engagement
- Boost your SEO
- Stay ahead in the marketing game
- Get maximum bang for your buck in terms of ROI
- Easily create multimedia content
- Connect to your ideal clients in a relatable and authentic way
The biggest mistake people make is to vlog for a few weeks then give up because they have hardly any views, and have yet to sell anything off the back of a video. Instant success is possible, but it’s highly unlikely. You’re far more likely to build up to a successful vlog slowly, with consistent, concerned effort.
The good news is, success achieved this way is considerably more sustainable, and the SEO benefits of your vlog exist instantaneously and only increase with time!
If you need a little more inspiration to get you started, don’t forget to download my FREE Vlog Topics Superlist below.
And when you’ve got your first vlog live pop a link in the comments below — I’d love to watch it!
Originally published at optimiseandgrow.online on March 20, 2018.
