Top 3 Tips for a Successful Video Blog

In the era of now, video is king.

Why? Video productions:

• Save time
• Present information in an engaging way
• Are an efficient way of communicating with large groups of people
• Can incorporate a range of assets and key messaging in a single format
• Are accessible – they rely less on text and language, and therefore, interpretation

…and much more.

And with video the king of communications, where does that leave blogging?

Video blogs are, in fact, more popular than ever. When 60% of businesses use video as their key marketing tool (Biteable 2021), how wil you utilise the power of video in 2021?

Enter our ultimate guide to video blogs in 2021!

1. Don’t forget to purchase a high-quality video microphone

 Audio? Really? I bet you thought this was a video blog post!

In fact, audio is one of the most important elements of your video production. If you’re producing video for social media, marketing or other business-related purposes, the research consistently shows us that if the audio’s poor, people will switch it off.

We do, in fact, have only 4 seconds to capture someone’s attention before they’re likely to click off your blog!

If you’re recording video for yourself, for the first time, sometimes your video quality will waiver. It’s better to accept that now! Remember, though, that if you invest in great-quality audio, at least you might be able to salvage the audio recording for an alternative format – like a podcast.

Sure, your computer has a built-in microphone, but we’re certain you can do better than that.

With lots of different microphones available, it can be a good idea to reach out to those on content creators on social media who you admire and respect, asking them if they can recommend a particular microphone to you.

If you’re keen on looking further abroad for tips, check out Musicradar’s list of the 12 best podcasting microphones this year.

As for our tips? Go for the highest-quality microphone that you can reasonably afford.

2. Ensure you’ve considered a proper lighting situation

 As a video production company, lighting is one of the things we get asked about most often.

Of course, sometimes you’re filming intentionally low-quality video content on-the-go. Perhaps you’re recording a few stories for Instagram or a quick, to-camera update to colleagues back at the office.

But if a lof of your video blog content is going to be filmed outside, at home, in an apartment or any other work-from-home situation when producing video for social media, it’s incredibly important to give proper consideration to how you’ll light the setup.

Time to get use to three terms:

• Key light
• Fill light, and finally:
• Back light

The key light is your brightest and most major source of light. Generally, it’ll be places to the left of the camera and situated at approximately three-feet above your eye level. Try to angle it down to create a natural-feeling, sun-like exposure.

Your key light will create a shadow. So – you guessed it – it’s time to fill that with a “fill light” on the opposite side of your key light.

With the two lights in front of you or the subject, you’re going to need to balance this out with a light behind you – the back light. Try to safely diffuse your backlight with a cloth or other cover – your back light will be the least bright of the three sources.

Of course, you should use the sun to your benefit if you’re filming outdoors – video productions, and high-quality video blogs and videos for social media are best filmed in a variety of settings to keep your audience enticed and engaged.

Mix it up, of course, but remember one thing… keep your lighting perfect!

And finally:

3. Don’t forget to add captions to your videos

 Did you know that 80% of consumers are more likely to watch an entire video – all the way through – when captions are available? (Amara 2020)

Not only this, but captions are also incredible important to high-quality video productions, video blogs and videos for social media given the accessibility benefits to everyone – not just those who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

How often have you gone to watch a video on public transport then realised it doesn’t have captions? You could risk playing it out loud and having everyone get annoyed at you – or you could find one with captions.

What’s it going to be?

Of course, if you need assistance, we can help.