YouTubers have taken the world by storm—with over 37 million YouTube channels as of 2020, is there any more room for aspiring content creators? The answer will always be yes! As long as you know the ropes of effective content creation, you can successfully secure a spot in the vlogging world. With that said, you could use some vlogging tips to jumpstart your own YouTube channel.
What is vlogging?
A vlog is a form of video blog with the purpose of entertaining, informing, promoting, and advertising to viewers across social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
In this digital generation where everyone has their eyes glued to their mobile phones, making a career out of social media is just irresistible. For one, you could earn as much as $855-$1,425 a month in your early days; two, you could establish a name in the online communities; and lastly, you can expand your earning income potential when you hit the sweet spot of your audience. Additionally, you can consider creating your own video blog website to complement your YouTube channel and expand your online presence. A video blog website can serve as a central hub for your content, allowing you to showcase your vlogs, provide additional information, interact with your audience, and monetize your videos through various means. By having a dedicated website, you can enhance your brand identity and reach a wider audience beyond the confines of social media platforms.
How to start vlogging
So how do you get into the vlogging scene? The first thing you should do is create your own channel on a video blogging platform like YouTube—the second most visited site across the globe. Then sign up for the YouTube Partner Program to start monetizing your content.
Here’s how you get eligible for being a YouTube partner:
- Adhere to all of the YouTube monetization policies.
- Reside in a country or region where the YouTube Partner Program is applicable.
- Earn more than 4,000 valid public watching hours in the past year.
- Have a subscriber count of more than 1,000.
- Secure your Google AdSense account.
Vlogging Tips for aspiring vloggers
Here are some vlogging tips to keep in mind to carve a successful career as a vlogger:
1. Be meticulous in choosing your vlog niche.
In choosing your vlog’s niche, you have to consider your personal interests, the potential market, and the existing competition. Remember to be genuinely passionate about your content to ensure you are truly invested in growing your channel. Research everything you need to know about your niche and competition to know what’s working and what isn’t. This way, you are not creating another channel that is redundant to others—making you stand out.
2. Stay true to yourself.
A lot of online personalities make it big in the industry because they are genuine with or without the camera. The online community is very critical of all details of content—they get nosy with the video quality, your personality, your way of talking, or even what brand of clothes you wear! So it’s easy to spot if you are only sugarcoating things and pretending to be something you are not.
3. Ensure the quality of your content.
What will make your content stand out among the sea of other videos is having a topic that is presently relevant. In order to get ahead of your competition, make sure you are updated with the trends of your niche. Also, ensure that you are producing visually pleasing content that will lure your subscribers to hit the notifications “on” for your next vlogs. Keep your content digestible, engaging, humane, and relatable to garner positive feedback and continuous engagements.
4. Create an outline of your topic.
You may find yourself torn between filming your content scripted or spontaneously. While having a script ensures you are on track, it just seems so inauthentic and fake if you have your dialogue memorized. Improvisation, on the other hand, seems genuine and personal—but, it makes you more prone to ramble and forget what to say.
What will save you time on re-filming content is creating an outline of what you want to include in your video. Familiarize yourself with your outline and improve your speaking skills before hitting the record button. These will make you seamlessly ace your own content sans the ramble, stutters, dead air, and more awkward scenarios!
5. Invest in good vlogging equipment.
To produce high-quality videos, you need to be equipped with the right tools and shooting equipment. It might be hard for a budding vlogger like you, but you have to remember that a good quality video is a factor in getting more engagements as it adds a more serious note. Who would watch a low-quality or pixelated videos with bad lighting, noisy background, and unstable movement? No one.
You can be as resourceful as much as you want to save costs, but here are some of the equipment you need to produce high-quality videos:
- A good camera
- Tripod
- Ring light and other additional lighting setups
- Noise-canceling microphone
- A soundproof creative space for shoots
- Laptop for video editing
6. Apply catchy edits on your content.
Being up-to-date with what kind of video content and edits are trendy these days will play to your advantage as videos consisting of these are highly engaging. Most up-and-coming vloggers edit their own video themselves so you should learn how to edit yours—you should check out this Adobe Premiere Pro video editing course.
Hiring a video editor might cross your mind, but if you want to be cost-effective, learn to do it yourself. After all, you will have the ability to edit your videos according to your taste.
7. Cross-promote to other platforms.
Establishing a name in the online community means you have other social media platforms to represent your channel. Make use of your official pages on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and more to promote your newly-released vlogs and provide updates on what you’re up to next. This lets you maintain a relationship with your followers and keep them updated with your vlogs.
8. Set a regular publishing day.
Vloggers set particular days where they post their new vlogs and you should too! This way, your subscribers won’t have to guess when you are going to release your next vlog. You can try publishing two videos per week with release days of Wednesday and Sunday—whichever day you think is best for your audience. Having regular posting days also contribute to the optimization of your video which makes it rank high on YouTube.
9. Connect with your subscribers on the comment section.
Vlogging is all about establishing a relationship with your audience. Make sure you engage with them in the comment section to know them personally. It is also a good platform to receive constructive feedback you can learn from. Your subscribers are your lifeblood in the industry—if you don’t get along with them well, how can you thrive as a vlogger?
10. Collaborate with brands and other content creators.
One indicator of finally making a name in the vlogging scene is having to collaborate with brands and other vloggers for a project. It just shows that your channel has relevance in your niche and brands are actually recognizing you for it! Collaborating with sponsorships and fellow vloggers open up tons of possibilities that will boost your vlogging reputation.
Habits of highly successful vloggers
If you want to know the secret to being successful in vlogging, here are some well-proven ways to carve a name in the industry:
1. Treating your vlog like a business.
Get serious with what you do. If you yield good results, you should invest the effort to make your vlogs worthwhile. This means you should set goals, apply marketing strategies, amp up your social media presence, and more.
2. Listening to your audience and engage with them.
Your audience is the lifeblood of your vlog venture. Their post engagement means so much to your YouTube channel as it dictates your payability scale. That’s why you need to understand what they want, how likely they will engage, and when they are active. You also need to improve your engagement with them to develop that viewer relationship.
3. Developing a consistent publishing schedule.
You might notice that most established vloggers have a set schedule for their vlog releases. They establish this schedule to allow their viewers to know when to expect an upcoming post. And you should too. When viewers know when you will publish a new vlog, they’ll know you have something for them. And it doesn’t need to be every day; as long as you are consistent with your schedule, that’s good enough.
4. Collaborating with brands and other vloggers.
As mentioned, collaboration is a surefire way to expand your reach. While it requires you to have a reach of your own, collaborations are effective in driving more viewers to engage with you. You may reach out to brands to ask for sponsorships or ask other vloggers to do a project with you. Most of the time, these are foolproof ways to bolster your following in a short period.
5. Continuing to improve your content.
There will always be room for improvement when it comes to your content. And you should always on the lookout for these things. Remember, you can’t be complacent with what you already know. You should explore more angles, trends, strategies, and more to diversify and improve your content.
Proven ways to become a successful vlogger
In addition to knowing the habits of successful vloggers, here are some other tips to start a vlog.
- Always be interesting to the eye of your audience.
- Watch out for trends that you could incorporate into your content.
- Brush up on your verbal skills.
- Add cool transitions to your vlog edits.
- Use a captivating video intro and outro that will serve as your vlog trademark.
- Don’t use clickbait titles.
- Be creative with your banner and logo.
- Invest in an HD video camera and shooting equipment.
- Review your analytics obtained and derive strategies from there.
Ready to jumpstart your career in being a successful vlogger? Take this YouTube Vlogging online course with you on your journey to penetrate the world of vlogging and pick up a couple of valuable vlogging tips that will help you grow your channel.
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