117: Tips for Creating Video Content

 

In many ways, writing your second book is easier -- although that doesn't mean it's always smooth sailing. This episode covers my own experience with writing my second book plus what lessons you can take with you from other things you've written. 

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TIPS FOR CREATING video content

Hello, and welcome to your big creative life. This is going to be an episode that was inspired by a conversation that I was having with someone in my DMs based off of be creative pep talk episode that we did a few weeks ago back in January. And on that episode I talked about, like kind of claiming your desire for 2020, for putting it out there and saying, This is what I want, this is what I'm working towards. And then I was like, if you want to just, you know, message me what you're working towards and what you're claiming for 2024, then go ahead and do that. It's like a smaller way of claiming your desire, as opposed to, you know, posting it publicly or really publicly, like putting it out into the world.

And I had someone messaged me, who said that they wanted to start creating social media content that they had a new account, and they wanted to start it in 2024, which I thought was so awesome. And I've been creating video content on Tik Tok and Instagram for probably, I don't know, three years maybe. And so I was chatting with her a little bit about, you know, creating video content and then thought, Okay, this is actually a great topic for a podcast episode because there's a lot of mindset things that I think can hold people back from doing video content. And there certainly, there was a lot of mindset stuff. For me when I first started creating video content more so even than just regular kind of static Instagram posts, like a picture or a graphic or some you know, something like that a text post. And so I want to dive into it, I want to talk about like, Okay, if you are a beginner to creating video content, if you want to be posting on Tik Tok on YouTube, YouTube shorts, reels.

But either you're not really doing it because you've kind of feeling you're feeling blocked or unsure or you just haven't started yet. This is this is for you, I've got some tips. Okay, I'm gonna look at my little list here. This is, by the way, this is like not a totally comprehensive guide in terms of like how to actually record a video, this is more just tips that I have found helpful, especially when you're first getting started. And this can feel like a really big deal. And okay, actually, before we get into the tips, let me just say, no matter what you were, no matter what your goal is, with your writing, or the things that you're creating, there's a good chance that you're going to need social media to be a component of that, unless you are someone who just wants to write a book as a creative practice, and you maybe will share it with a few people in your life. But you don't really care to do anything beyond that. If that's you, then you know, you don't need to share anything on social media.

But if you are going to indie publish, if you are self publishing, if you are working with a small press, if you are working with a hybrid publisher, if you are querying, if you get traditionally published, in all of those instances, you have to do some marketing yourself, it is not even with a traditional publishing deal. You can't just you know, ghost and not be online, because even in traditional publishing, like things have changed, you are expected to do some legwork in terms of marketing and promoting yourself. And it's also just a great way to connect with readers like if you think about future readers. So it's definitely something that is helpful and valuable for authors and just anyone who wants to put any sort of creation out into the world and engage with people, you've got to be doing it. And we've all heard about, you know, changes to the algorithms and like Instagram, for example, how they for the last year or two, or maybe even longer, I don't know, have really been prioritizing reels.

Not to say that other content isn't important, like regular, you know, text posts on Instagram, or photo carousels, like those are all important. But there's something really engaging I think about instant or video content in particular. So that's why we're talking specifically about that in this episode, although a lot of these things that I'm sharing, actually could probably apply to, you know, because social media content overall. Okay, tip number one, when you're starting out with creating video content, it's a good idea. And it's helpful for you to have good lighting. This does not mean that you have to buy one of those massive ring lights, you can if you want but you don't have to buy anything, just sit in front of a window like I'm the way that I'm positioned right now. I'm actually recording this in the bigger room outside of my office as opposed to my office today. I'm trying it out.

So you can see that if you're watching the YouTube video, but I have my camera position like what is it like six inches or a foot maybe from a window and it's mid afternoon and there's a good amount of natural light that's coming in. And I do have a tiny little light next to me next to the phone I mean, but for... I have my tik toks. In my reels that I do, I just record in front of a window, like not even like standing directly in front of it, I just have the blinds open, and then I'm, you know, sitting on the couch or something. Not all of them. I mean, I do some videos that are in my office where I don't have a window. So it's not like a requirement, but I just find that it helps me feel more competent. And it definitely made me feel more confident in the beginning, when I felt like I don't want to say I looked good, because but I guess that is part of it, I felt confident like, okay, the light is at least going to be flattering. I've never, I don't use filters at all. So at least I've got the natural lighting. And it's just, it's just easier to see like, just from a practical common sense perspective, people can see you, they're probably going to be more likely to watch your video as opposed to like if it's really grainy and dark and the quality isn't very good. So good lighting, just standing in front of the window close to a window, that can help immensely.

Tip number two, okay, when you are recording a video, I want you to act as if you were talking to one person. When you record a tick tock or real or YouTube video, you're not talking to all of tik tok, all of Instagram, all of YouTube, because that's not all of those people are going to see it. And that's also extremely overwhelming to think about. So you want to think about one person, on the other end watching that video. This can be FaceTime, like, imagine that you are FaceTiming with one person, I'm gonna give you a tip that really helped me get comfortable and confident with talking on camera. Because I wasn't always this way. I wasn't always comfortable doing this. But about Fumi, six years ago, my best friend who lives in a different city, and I started using this app called Marco Polo. And we would just send video messages to each other. And it was a really cool way to stay up to date with what was going on in her life and just keep her in the loop about stuff going on in my life.

And for us to like check back and forth and we'd send messages, I don't know, a few times a week. So I got used to seeing myself on camera on my phone kind of in that format. Because I would have the phone number I would open the app, I would press record and I would talk to her. And then I would send a message and it was like a five minute message maybe, depending on what we were talking about. Sometimes it was longer. But that got me used to seeing my face on camera, and just getting used to talking. And I remember this urge when I first started doing it where I wanted to, I was like I look so weird. Or I said I said that weird. And I wanted to delete it. And it was a message to my best friend like it didn't matter. But that really helps. So if you want to think about that, when you are creating video content, and if that's helpful for you to just think about talking to one person do it.

And it's also going to create the kind of energy that people can feel like I think there's something really personal and intimate about acting as if you were talking to one person as opposed to like everyone on the internet. So try to imagine, again, that you're talking to one person. And if you are someone who's really not used to seeing yourself on camera, and the idea of it is just kind of like you don't love the way that you look, or there's, you know, it just feels kind of jarring to see just practice on FaceTime practice on Marcopolo. So that you kind of get used to it and I promise it gets better. That's really the case with any sort of content. But it gets it gets so much less cringy and awkward and you feel less weird putting content out there, the more that you do it.

My next tip is actually something that I heard myself mentioned when I was talking about last tip, which is act as if this is where that confidence piece comes in. If you are just starting to make video content, or you haven't started yet, and this is something that you want to do April probably feel weird, it will probably feel like you are cringy it will probably feel maybe even like embarrassing. And so the act as if piece is like okay, act as if you are an account that already has like 100,000 followers, act as if you have followers who are super engaged and they want to know your thoughts and opinions and tips and your stories and all of that. Not that you have to share you know every detail of your life. But the point is just that that you're acting like you have confidence and like people want to hear what you have to say they're waiting for your next video to come out. That's how tune in and excited people are about you about your account.

So even though that's not the case, if you're just starting out like act as if you Um, I... And I don't say that because I think the goal of doing this is to get 100,000 followers or to grow a massive audience. That's not it, it's more just about harnessing the energy of someone who has been doing this for a while and is confident, comfortable and confident in front of the camera, and just posting content for people who really want to see it. So the more that you can sort of, like, take that confidence on and really embrace it, the more that that energy is going to show up in your videos. And it's it's going to make people want to consume your content, because if you get on a tick tock are real, and you have a really quiet voice, and you're like, not looking at the camera, and you just, and you open your video, and you say like, sorry, I look like this, like, I know, it's this, I just woke up and sorry, there's clutter in the back.

But um, I just like, I wanted to come on and like, share that, like, you know, like, if you do that, then people are probably not going to want to watch your video. So embrace, like your confidence self, even if it's acting as if you have that confidence and you don't yet because again, like I just said, it comes back to like repetition and practice, the more that you do this, the better that you will feel when you're creating content, and also the better that your content will be. And you can't get to that massively confident, comfortable place immediately, you have to work towards it. So opposite.

My next tip is, uh, what is it? Oh, look at the camera. Okay, look at the camera, not yourself. This is a tip when you are. If you're recording on your back camera, then obviously you can't see yourself in skirt in the screen. But if you are recording on your front camera, like in the Tick Tock app, or reels are just on your camera on your phone, if you're recording a video, and you can see yourself, make sure that you're looking at the camera and not at yourself, because this is something that it's like a little pet peeve of mine when I see tiktoks, where people are very obviously looking at themselves. Now I'm recording, if you're watching the YouTube video, I'm recording with my back camera. So you, I don't know that I can really do this. But to show you exactly what I mean. But there's just such a difference.

When people are like looking at themselves, you can see they're not making eye contact with you, the viewer, the person who's watching the video, they're looking down, and it just creates a disconnect. I think this is just my opinion, that it creates a slight disconnect when the person is not looking at you, like in the video. So I just think like to close that gap. And to make it feel more like you are talking directly to one person, look at the camera. And that's going to mean that you maybe can't see your yourself like your you can see, you know, your peripheral, not peripheral vision. What am I trying to say? Like you can kind of see yourself on the camera, but not exactly because you're not making direct eye contact with yourself. You're looking at the camera, but that's okay. Like the focus of the video is not what you look like. So just try to talk to the camera as opposed to yourself. U

Um, okay, my last tip that I have is to cut Deadspace and pauses. I know I said at the beginning of this episode that I wasn't going to talk about specific like how to actually record video content. But this is just something that I wanted to specifically mention because it falls under the umbrella of the confidence piece. And the acting as if and just getting comfortable on camera. If you open your video with the millennial pause, which is something that I think we're probably all familiar with, that I used to be guilty of for sure. And I have to I'm still guilty of it actually. The millennial pause is like this cultural thing. A lot of people make fun of millennials because when they go to record a video and they you know, they press the record button, they'll pause to make sure that it's recording before they start talking. So it might look like or sound like this. So they're tapping the screen. And they go Hi, so I wanted to record this is awkward pause.

So cut that out if you do that, which again I do that not as much as I used to but I still do that's still my natural way of speaking. When I'm recording something I have to cut that off cut that dead space especially if it's in the beginning. Like if the first three seconds of your video Are you pausing you that's three seconds that you've wasted. I don't believe in giving all of our power over to the algorithm I think as as people who create content online there's, there's more to it than that we are energy is key are the topics that we're talking Talking about our key like, it's not all the algorithm. But that plays a role in how many people see your video and what the engagement in your video is going to be.

So I think it's just one of those things where if there's a few little tweaks that you can make to your video to help it perform better than why not do those things. And yes, make sure your energy is good, make sure you've got good lighting, like all those things, too. But cutting off that those those pauses and that dead space is going to help your video do better. So I think it's a good idea to do to do that. I've also seen people on Tik Tok making fun of millennials for starting their videos with like, Hi, um, so I just wanted to come on here and say that, like cut that out, just get right into the topic of your video. And I think that's a good tip, whether you're doing just a 32nd or a 15 second video or a longer video, you know, maybe like a three minute tick tock or a 10 minute YouTube video. Just getting right into it, I think is is a good tip. So yeah, cut the pauses and the dead space. And well, what do I What else do I want to say? I didn't have this written down.

But now as I'm thinking, I want to add a what number are we on? Six, a six tip for you, which is an identity kind of mindset piece, I want you to embrace the identity of like being a content creator. This does not mean that you are dedicating yourself to posting twice a day every day and that you are doing brand deals and that you are growing like an influencer. That's not what I mean. What I mean is you have to start identifying as someone who creates content, because if you post online, guess what you are creating content. And I think sometimes people who use social media as a way to promote, you know, books, or their creative works or themselves in some slightly different way, as opposed to just being an influencer. I think sometimes people are hesitant to take on that identity, because it's like content creation isn't what they want to do full time, they're using social media as an avenue to do something else, which is all great and fine.

But it's like, if you are if you have so many negative views and negative associations with people who create content or content creators, but you are trying to post online and you're trying to become one of those people that it just creates this like cognitive dissonance and you might experience a lot of resistance to it. So embrace the identity like I am a content creator, I create content online, I post tiktoks online, I post YouTube videos online, whatever it is, this is a part of who you are, this is part of your creative practice. This is part of your practice as a future author or an author already, if you've already published something, this is just part of who you are. And this is something that you do. That's it. So really embrace that identity. And don't shy away from it. Because there really is something creative about making content.

And if you haven't been posting on social media already, you know this, but if you haven't, it's a great creative expression. Like I think that's part of why I loved Tik Tok, especially so much in the beginning is because I found it really creative. It was a good outlet for me, like yes, I have writing, of course, which is, you know, huge creative expression for me. But creating videos was also a way that I feel my creativity. So it's, it's, I think it it works kind of in sync with, with us being writers and authors and creatives. It's like a natural extension of that. So embrace that identity like you are someone who creates content, you are a content creator on social media. So embrace it.

Okay. Practice makes not perfect, but better with video content. I can't tell you how much I have grown over the years that I have been doing this again, like I mentioned in the beginning, it was so cringy it was so awkward. It was so hard for me to like, be vulnerable and post a video. Even if I wasn't sharing anything about myself in the video, even if it was like just a writing tip. It felt so scary and so vulnerable. And I just want you to know that it gets so much better it gets so much easier to do it. I'm in a position now where I don't give a shit what I look like, I don't look at myself when I'm recording. I don't you know if it's a longer video, like I'm looking at myself and I'm editing it but I don't use filters. I don't care what I look like. I would rather just like get my message out there. And it's it doesn't feel cringy anymore. It doesn't feel cringy to post content online. Maybe some people think I'm cringy i don't know i don't really give a shit.

Yeah, I guess that's what it is you just get to this place where like you don't you genuinely don't care what people think. And that's really freeing. Now, I will say that in a spirit of transparency and honesty, honesty, I do still have some hang ups around, sharing more like vulnerable stuff, more personal stuff, even though I really want to, not everyone does. Some people don't ever want to share anything personal online. And that's totally fine. You don't have to, you can just share about your work and progress or your books or whatever. But I get that urge to be more personal and vulnerable. And sometimes I don't post things because I'm afraid of what people will think so that I guess there is a little bit of that still, that I'm working through as it's as it relates to other content. But when it comes to like posting a writing tip, or sharing something, you know, about my business, or trying to think of what else doing a blog like those for me, I don't care what people think. And they're so easy for me to do.

So. I guess that's my next hurdle is getting comfortable with, you know, being more vulnerable online. But yeah, so practice makes better. And promise. Good luck with your videos. You've got this just a few. What another thing you can do real quick. One last tip, if you're still kind of feeling overwhelmed with this is record videos and don't post them like just keep them in your drafts folder, or on your phone like in your camera app, just as an exercise for you to get comfortable with it even if you're not ready to post them yet. But do post eventually like don't do that for too long. Because you want to put yourself out there, you want to start creating. Okay, thank you for listening, and I'll see you next week.

Katie Wolf