When it comes to video, I want to talk about four things:
You need to know who your audience is. Who are the people who would want to hear what you want to talk about? Conversely, if you’ve been doing this for some time and already have some people who watch your videos, what do the people who are already watching you want or need to hear?
For example, my YouTube channel is about real estate. My target is real estate agents. And maybe some people who are looking for information about real estate—either they are thinking of buying or selling a house, or they want to know whether it is worth entering the industry. But mainly, it is real estate agents.
Since I’ve been doing YouTube for some time now, I already have an audience established. This is where I can dive deeper into knowing who my audience is. I know I want to attract real estate agents, but what kind of people DID get attracted to the videos that I posted? That way, I can see where my room for growth is.
All social media back ends provide you with analytics on demographics. You can see how many views your videos have, where they are coming from, what their ages are, and whether they are male or female.
This is important data. In my case, most of my viewers are from LA because that is where I am based. This gives me insights and ideas like, “Maybe I should make some local real estate video content” because I have a lot of audiences in LA. I also know, from my analytics, that my audience is around 35 to 54 years old. Those age groups make up the bulk of my demographic.
Lastly, my viewers are mostly male. This gives me insight into what opportunities I have to grow my channel, because according to statistics, around 60% of real estate agents are female (more or less 40% are male), and my analytics show me that I need to reverse it. Now I can focus on “What videos should I be making that will attract more female real estate agents?” It points me in the general direction of where I can go from here, simply by knowing who my audience is.
And by "reconnaissance work," I mean research. Go out there and ask people questions. Go on Google and look at what other people are doing with videos about real estate. It could be as simple as typing in “real estate videos” in the search bar and looking at the top videos that appear there. Google even has this feature that helps you narrow your search some more: they group some of their top results based on categories like fun, drones, etc.
Find a topic or idea that inspires you to make a video.
One of our biggest problems when it comes to video is that it can be quite scary to shoot one. I still freak out sometimes. If you think I love shooting videos or that I am not scared, that's why I could do it. That’s not true. I still freak out.
The way I can help myself freak out less is by outlining the stuff that I want to talk about. Having an outline by my side while I am shooting a video (1) helps me keep the content flowing smoothly, (2) gives me a sense of preparedness to ease my nerves, and (3) ensures that I get to talk about everything I wanted to talk about in that video.
Another thing you can use is by preparing your script ahead of time and using a teleprompter. For desktop, you can use something like cueprompter.com, and if you are using your phone as a teleprompter, an app like Prompt Smart Pro could be the perfect fit for you.
Not everyone can think up what to say on the spot, and you don’t have to if you are shooting videos. Having your script in front of you can help ease any speaking anxiety that you might have.
Lastly, show up. Find a way to be consistent in doing your research, making your outlines, shooting your videos, and putting them up on social media.
One way you can do this is by finding a specific time in your day or your week where you find it most convenient to shoot a video. For me, I do most of my videos around 5:00 to 5:30 pm, PST, which is around 8:00 PM Eastern Time. I chose that time slot because that is around the time when most of my businesses wrap up and I can devote my attention and focus to shooting the video.
I hold myself accountable by setting up an alarm.
For research, whenever I scroll through IG or TikTok or YouTube, if I see an interesting video that inspires me, I will copy the link to that video and text the link to myself, with a note that says: “This is an interesting video idea.” Boom! Done.
I do that because I make it a habit to check the messages I send to myself. You can also put that on your notes, or wherever you find it convenient and works for you.
But you have to show up consistently.
These are the four tips I have on how to make videos. I hope it helps you finally get started on doing yours.
