Top 10 Tips to Create a Video Post

Technology makes it seem easy to create a video, but creating one that effectively represents you and your message takes planning and effort. Recently someone contacted me to give him feedback about his video posts. He had terrific expertise and messages his audience needed to hear, but his videos didn't represent him well. Based on my feedback to him and others, here are my Top Ten Video Tips.

1. Plan what you're going to say. Don't ramble. People want to know what you're going to talk about and what your main points are to see if they want to continue viewing. Then, they want you to make your points and summarize. You can use my e-book, Painless Planning: How to Organize Ideas for Your Information Product to help you. Contact me for access.

2. Address one topic per video in two or three minutes. Tell what your topic is, give one to three good tips and/or examples, conclude, and you're done.

3. Practice your message and body language over and over until it feels and sounds natural, just as you would a speech. The more you practice, the more you'll relax and add humor and anecdotes. Once you're more experienced, you'll need less practice, but if you're new at this, you'll need a lot of it. Don't skimp on practice. It will show in tension and hesitation.

4. Keep the background simple. Make sure your background is free of clutter, dogs, cats, fish, trees blowing in the wind, and toddlers running. You don't want people distracted by an unprofessional background. You want them focused on you and your message.

5. Keep the background noise down. Make sure that children, dogs, cats, birds, and TV are elsewhere.

6. Set up your lighting. The light should be on you and not in your viewer's eyes. Make sure your lamp or the sun doesn't shine in front of your camera. I watched one person's video where the light shone through trees whenever the wind blew, creating glare in my eyes, obliterating the speaker, and taking my mind off her and her message.

The best light is from the side and slightly to the front--on you and your message. Top light gives you shadows under your eyes and under your chin. Bottom lighting gives you a ghoulish look. Light from in front of you may be harsh.

7. Set your camera so you can look the viewer in the eye. No one wants to see up your nose, over the top of your head, into your neck, or at your waist.

8. Watch your video before you publish it. Watch your body. Are you stiff and motionless or are you natural?  Do you move and gesture too much? Too much gesturing is distracting.

9. Listen to your voice on the video. Do you sound interested and enthused about your subject? Smile in your video. When you smile, your voice automatically sounds better.

10. Re-record until it's right. Your video shows who you are. It represents you as a professional.

11. (Bonus) Practice, practice, practice. This one bears repeating.

Even though today's technology makes video recording and publishing quick and simple, making a video worthy to represent your professional expertise takes time and work. Don't wing it until you can record a great video in your sleep. You wouldn't give a speech to 500 people without planning, setting up, and practicing over and over, and getting feedback. Take the same care with your videos, so your community can appreciate your skills and message.

If you'd like more specific guidance on how to create and upload videos to your website, check out my friend and colleague Ellen Finkelstein's book, How to Add Video to Your Website. Ellen is my go-to person for Internet technology, so I am also her affiliate.

Questions for Reflection and Feedback

  • Have you created, or are you thinking about, creating and publishing videos?
  • If so, which of these tips do you need to act on?
  • What help do you need to create your own videos?

Please share this message on social media, and, especially, with those making videos.

And leave your comments and questions on these Top Ten Video Tips.

4 Comments

  1. Ellen Finkelstein

    Great post! I often do 10 takes before I choose one that's good. People expect video to be somewhat polished, so you really need to practice more than you would for a live presentation. On the other hand, as you said, video should be short, so it really isn't hard to get it right after a few tries. The lighting advice is invaluable--it's really hard to non-professionals to get it right.

    • Holly Genser

      Thanks, Ellen, for your comment. I agree people expect a polished video. An unpolished one is distracting and takes away from one's brand and message. I think that's one reason I haven't rushed in to create one.

      When I was training video producer, we always hired professionals to appear on camera or provide a voice. They actually appeared more real than the experts!

      I do think that we ordinary folks can be authentic on our own videos, but it takes learning and practice. And looking at our videos to see how we can improve--and taking the lesson.

  2. Bill

    Thank you Holly for sharing your wisdom. These are very helpful tips

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