With video content surging, let’s see how you can kickstart your vlogging game with these simple—but essential—strategies.
Video content is on a surge. As TikTok makes a play to become more like YouTube, Instagram is moving in on TikTok’s turf. Never has there been a better time to think about how to incorporate vlogging into your social strategy.
If you think vlogging is simply bashing a few clips together and calling it done, you’re wrong. Vloggers spend a lot of time and money on creating beautiful, immersive content with seemingly unbelievable production values.
As big as content and kit, however, is strategy—that is, the elements that make up a top-class vlogging experience, the behind-the-scenes parts, if you will, that hold a piece together.
So, let’s kickstart your vlogging game now!
Vlogging Strategies
1. Don’t Treat People Like Numbers
Social media has conditioned us all to think like marketers. Individuals preen their personal brands, companies pour over metrics and statistics. But, as important as likes and follows and engagement numbers are, at the end of the day vlogging is about connecting with people. One thing people hate more than anything is to be treated like a number.
To ensure you don’t fall into the trap of following only the numbers, a little thought towards personalization will never go amiss. People, especially if you’re enticing them to buy something or subscribe to something or go somewhere, are going to want to feel like you’re speaking directly to them. Whenever the camera is rolling, you’re talking to one person. The best way to think of it is to pretend that the camera lens is a single person, and you’re conveying your story to them, and only them.
Doing this means you won’t fall into the trap of greeting people with “Hey, guys,” or referring to your audience in the third person. Be direct, and speak as if you have an audience of one. Your followers will thank you for it.
2. Be Authentic
This one isn’t specific to vlogging, but given the medium, it will become self-evident quickly if you’re pretending to be something that you’re not. The most successful vloggers realize that authenticity is their calling card, the thing that has people coming back over and over and over again.
Ensure whatever story you’re telling comes from the heart. One of the things that beginners struggle with is understanding how somebody would be at all interested in the story you have to tell. So, they embellish or change the facts. Don’t fall into this trap, as it can be all too obvious just from body language alone.
Your story is unique, so by default it’s worth telling.
3. Quality, Not Quantity
This is an adage as old as time, but with vlogging, it has particular prescience. Putting out a load of quick and dirty content might have some short-term gains, but over time, those low-quality videos are going to stack up, ultimately overwhelming anything of higher quality. Things live on the internet for a long time. Once it’s out there, it’s out there pretty much forever, so make sure you’re building your brand, and your reputation, on solid foundations.
What quality looks like will entirely depend on what type of content you’re producing, as every niche is different. Your best bet is looking to those at the top of whatever niche you’re entering and seeing what the hallmarks of quality are from their perspectives. Make a list of the things you pick up on, and then think about how you can add your twist to make your experience truly unique.
4. Be Clever with Your Social Game
It’s easy to dismiss social media as a place where your target audience never ventures. You could say that social media isn’t the place for Forex traders or accountancy or painters and decorators. The truth is, although there might not be a direct link to those groups of people, in their personal lives at the very least, they are interacting with social media just as much as anybody else. It may not be obvious where you need to invest your time, but understanding the patterns that people follow on social media is the single best trick to making your vlogging platform a success.
Secondly, don’t be afraid of inserting yourself in a conversation if you think you have something to offer. Social media dispensed with traditional social etiquette a long time ago, and some of the best interactions on social have come from an entirely left-field conversation that has banded entire groups of people together who otherwise would never have met.
Find your tribe, get talking, and you’ll soon find that trickle of visitors becomes a torrent.
5. Be Clear with Your Calls-to-Action
It’s easy to dismiss vlogging as pure entertainment—or the ramblings of over-sharers—but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Vlogging, when done well, is pure marketing. Its entertainment value is the draw, but when it comes to wanting your audience to do something, you have to be implicitly clear on what it is that you’re asking them to do.
It’s why, as annoying as it can sometimes be, the “Don’t forget to like and subscribe” phraseology is so prevalent—maddening as it may be, it’s clear, concise, and actionable. Coming up with less exasperating alternatives will always be appreciated!
6. Not Customers—Fans!
As important as making your followers feel like they’re the only one, is the idea that your followers aren’t just mindless entities that will do whatever you say. If you think about it, customers buy from you, which is awesome, but the relationship between you and a customer is only ever going to be transactional. To really elevate your offering, the goal should be to convert a proportion of those customers into fans.
You see, fans are the secret sauce to any vlogging strategy. Rather than simply tuning in each week, they’ll go out and advocate for you, bringing in new viewers on your behalf. Over time this will have a snowball effect on the reach of your content.
Converting followers to fans takes time and patience. You’ll only really develop once you’ve got a firm grasp on the needs and expectations of your audience. So, don’t try to jump right in thinking everybody who listens is a dedicated fan. However, if you follow all the other strategies we’ve discussed today, fans won’t be far away.
Tip: If you notice regulars returning again and again, one way to build fans is to offer those individuals a little more. This could be in the form of previews, additional content, or a WhatsApp thread for only the most committed. It doesn’t have to be the earth for it to go a long way.
Just Start
I started this article by suggesting that there are a lot of production values that go into vlogging, and that’s absolutely the case. You should already be thinking about how to produce your content. However, remember that even those at the top of their game started somewhere—yes folks, it’s a journey.
The beauty of vlogging is that vulnerability, and creating content that’s straight from the horses mouth, is always going to come across well, as it feeds directly into the authenticity of your message. For example, if you’re nervous about fronting it, then say that on camera. Your audience will love the insight and some may even comment with words of encouragement. It could even be the perfect way to break the ice and kickstart a conversation with your followers.
So, pick up your camera, dust off that selfie stick, and get creating!
Need a bit more vlogging inspiration? Dive into these articles:
- Gimbals: The Ultimate Smartphone Filmmaking Accessory
- 5 Small, Budget-Friendly Lights for Any Camera Setup
- A Guide to Creating High-Quality Run-and-Gun Vlog Videos
- How to Make an Engaging Playlist for Your YouTube Channel
- How to Successfully Build Your Place on the Web in 2021
Cover image via GoodStudio.