Reading and writing may be the backbone of most successful blogs, but if you want your content to get shared more often, it’s a good idea to make some video posts from time to time. These are short clips of you (or an associate) discussing a topic instead of writing about it, and they don’t have to be fancy or overly involved to be effective in their communication. When done well, a video blog post can attract and retain visitors and offer you and your business more visibility.
There’s just one small hitch: many of us don’t like recording videos of ourselves! It’s awkward talking to a camera, especially when the image of your face is reflected right back at you on your phone, tablet, or computer screen. Playing it back can be equally uncomfortable: we focus in on our flaws and imperfections, hang on every flubbed word, and cringe at the sound of our voice (do we really sound like that?).
Still, in our short attention span world, videos are great at pulling in viewers, which makes creating them a necessity if your blog (and, by extension, your business) is to stay competitive. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to be more confident and comfortable in front of the camera. Here are five things to do to help you make your next video blog post your best one yet.
- Practice with the camera. Before you try a take of your actual blog post, record a minute or two of yourself talking about things you know. Chat off the cuff about a friend of yours, something that’s on your mind, or the great dinner you had last night. Then, watch and assess. How does your voice sound? How’s your speed and volume? Are you using your hands too much or not enough? Pay attention to what you look like on camera, making a mental note to fix anything that seems off and giving yourself a pat on the back for things you’re doing well.
- Have a plan. Notice that this doesn’t tell you to have a script; you certainly don’t want to be reading from a piece of paper while the camera is recording. However, keeping a quick outline in front of you as you record will help keep you on topic and prevent you from forgetting what’s next.
- Be concise and well informed. Nothing sparks confidence like knowing what you’re talking about! Try to choose a video topic that you’re know a lot about and are extremely comfortable discussing. Do any necessary research to make sure you’re well informed. Additionally, avoid too many tangents to keep your video from running too long.
- Practice without the camera. Before you click record, go through your outline out loud, making sure the ideas flow logically. Make any changes that you think are necessary.
- Avoid going in with the mindset that you can do as many takes as you need. OK, yes, you technically can do a lot of takes, but you’ll find your energy level goes down significantly with each one. Musicians will tell you that when they’re in the recording studio, the energy of that first take is often the best. The same holds true for recording blog posts: that first take is likely to be your best in terms of energy and performance. If you flub a line immediately, then absolutely start over. However, if you’re ten seconds from finishing and you trip over a word, calmly correct yourself and consider keeping the whole thing. Matching the vivacity of that first attempt won’t be easy.
- Just do it! Sit down, take a deep breath, and start recording. You know what you need to do to speak well, you know what you’re talking about, and this is going to be great.
Perhaps the best thing about recording lots of video posts for your blog is that the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes. After a few posts, you should find that talking in front of the camera isn’t a big deal at all.
Do you have any other tips for recording a great video blog post? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!