Vlogging, an amalgamation of the words video and blogging. It has caught the internet by storm in the last few years. The visually engaging and captivating narrative provided by a vlog entices most audiences across age groups and demographics. A vlog is also much quicker to consume than a traditional blog. Today, there are vlogs about every single topic under the sun, yet the most popular type or channel is still YouTube vlogs. Choosing the right video maker still remains of paramount importance to the most novice and experienced vloggers.
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Step 1: Choosing a Topic
The first step to starting a vlog and becoming a YouTube vlogger is choosing a topic to vlog and speak about. This may sound simple, but most vloggers report this often being the most difficult step, as there are so many potential options. This makes it hard to narrow it down to just one focused topic.
We recommend keeping it very simple and choosing a topic that you think you would be able to spend hours vlogging and talking about without running out of content or becoming repetitive. It may also help align this topic with your own interests and passions, rather than pick a current online trend, as trends tend to change very often.
Choosing a topic will also help you plan out and map potential vlogs and stories, including what actors and artists to use, what storylines to implement, and what locations to shoot in. This will also help you have a better idea about the kind of investment in time, energy, money, and materials your vlog will need.
Step 2: Research and Target Audience
After choosing a topic, the next step would be to research your topic thoroughly so that you know exactly what angle you want to approach it from. This might be easier said than done, as you would also have to decide on the purpose of your vlog in this step. For example, do you want it to be purely for entertainment purposes, or would you like it to be informational or instructional as well? An example of an instructional vlog could be a “How To” vlog series, and it can revolve around tech topics, DIY projects, business topics, and much more.
You need to also carry out considerable research about your target audience and market and what their likes and preferences are. This will help you streamline your content into something that they will find useful and enjoyable, as well as instructional if that is your motive. Some tact and caution need also to be employed at this step, as vloggers need to be sensitive to their audiences’ different cultures and dynamics. It may be easy to offend unintentionally. Thus, you can find out more about these nuances and know-how to avoid these vlogging faux-pas with the appropriate research.
Step 3: Shooting the Vlog
It goes without saying that the actual vlog shooting is definitely one of the most important steps of vlogging, where all your research and planning culminates into an actual video. There are several details that you need to keep in mind when shooting for the video.
Choosing the right actors and artists is paramount here, as they will be the ones deciding the fate of the vlog and its popularity with the target audience. The right actors can strike the right balance and equation with the audience, who then become loyal subscribers and fans.
The vlog’s storyline is also equally important, as that is the main feature required to capture an audience’s interest and keep them coming back. Thus, make sure you have a strong, relatable, and easily followable storyline, which sticks to the topic, and does not drag on for too long.
Other technical details such as the shoot’s location, the lighting, props, and so on also need to be kept in mind and balanced accordingly for the vlog to be a success, as the viewers can spot the minute discrepancies. This may affect your reputation and credibility as a YouTube vlogger as well.
After editing is very crucial, using a suitable editor will provide you with a professional-looking video. Choose InVideo, is the best in the market. It has all the features to cater to every audience; it has an extensive gallery of pictures, videos, and music that you can utilize in your video.
Step 4: Marketing and Outreach
Once the vlog has been shot, you now have to decide what channel or platform to upload and make it available for viewers. You would have to use video marketing to know how to leverage your content on all platforms. YouTube is still the most popular platform for this, mostly for its ease of use and incredible reach to millions of viewers and subscribers.
This step is when you need to build up a subscriber and fan base who are familiar with your content and interested in knowing more. This can be done through a variety of online and digital marketing campaigns. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can be used to promote your vlogs and build up a viewer base through your friends and followers.
Some vloggers also choose to release snippets of their vlogs on these social media sites to spark interest, leading to the entire vlog being viewed on YouTube. This is a good strategy, as well. However, you need to be careful of content theft, which can be fairly common on these platforms as well.
Step 5: Future Plans
Once you have a stable viewer and subscriber base, viewers can start thinking about their vlogs’ future scope and plans. This includes deciding whether to add new types of content or whether to carry on with the current genre. This can also be the phase where vloggers get complacent due to a constant subscriber base, and content starts becoming repetitive, which eventually loses your subscribers.
A good way to avoid falling into this pattern would be to constantly keep things dynamic, mostly by taking feedback and opinions from your viewers about what they would like to see next or know more about.
This also makes sure that you keep broadening your horizons as a vlogger, and learning new techniques and new ways of creating content, and using tools. This is also the phase where you could be thinking about increasing your marketing scope and campaigns to reach a broader base.
Conclusion
There can be several in-between steps to starting a vlog and becoming a YouTube, but these are the most important ones that you absolutely need to think about. It would also be beneficial to learn more about and educate yourself about video researching, through which you can reach out to a much broader viewer base and make sure your videos are targeting the right audiences.
