Occasional Vlog
Adding such a clip to the beginning of your vlog makes it look a lot more professional and sleek. 8) Keep your video steady, not shaky. Shaky video is something that stops people from watching your video longer. The occasional shake when walking down a path is fine, but a video that that constantly jerky is bound to put people off. Occasional vlogs following the exploits and adventures of our family. Aint no summer holidays gonna beat me. I finally got around to doing my infamous summer holiday planner but my goodness it looks empty. How are we going to fill it.???
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Vlog is a video blog that is published on the internet on any social or interactive platform. The term “video blog” is a combination of video and blog, which many people know that these are two different things. A video is a recorded footage or a clip, whereas the blog is all about writing and publishing content online.
The Vlog (pronounced as wa-log, people also pronounce it as vee-log, which isn’t appropriate) is a video that gives you a platform to talk, discuss, and share you have got to share. The coolest part is that it all starts with the internet and technology. You would need a camera or smartphone to record it and then basically the internet to upload to a video platform like YouTube. (You will read a lot about YouTube, later on, on this blog).
What is Vlogging?
Now, if you’re clear on the vlog, let’s move forward to vlogging. Obviously, when you begin to create your vlogs and upload to the online platforms, that’s called vlogging. Some people might not differentiate vlogging and video making (for YouTube). In fact, both vlogging and video making are slightly different, however, you make videos in vlogging too, but let’s say, in technical YouTube terminology, the vlogging is kind of different from regular video making. I will go deeper into the characteristics of a vlog that will help you understand that what the vlog actually is, but before digging deeper, I want to tell you three elements of vlogging.
3 Element of Vlogging
1. Platform: This is probably the basic one. It’s something where you put your vlogs online. Most probably, it would be the YouTube because it’s the biggest videos website and second most popular search engine in the world. In fact, it provides lots of features that help video creators manage and portray their video content.
2. Purpose: The purpose is your WHY. What’s the reason that made you a vlogger? What’s the biggest reason of making videos? Why would you want to make vlogs? Find that purpose and make sure it helps others because if it is helping others, that would be the success key for you. All top YouTubers and successful video makers started their YouTube channels with a reason behind their back and they got huge success.
3. Style: This is something that will make your voice unique. Standing out from the crowd is the most important thing to do. The most valuable advice for being a vlogger could be opting your natural style instead of mocking someone else’s style or choosing something that doesn’t belong to you. The style is something that differentiates you from others. It includes your cinematography, speaking, content (that you talk about), areas you film, lessons you share, and value you deliver. Everything that you present on the regular basis is your style. It would be better off if you choose more natural style because people would find it anyway either you are being genuine with them or not. For instance, Casey has a unique filming style. He vlogs while he is on a boosted board, he films at his office, he regularly records his vlog during traveling. Roman Atwood is more a family vlogger. He vlogs mostly at home as well as while they are driving, at friends & family meetups and dinners etc.
6 Characteristics of a Vlog
Let’s dig a little deeper into the characteristics of a vlog. These characteristics will help you understand that what will eventually make your vlog stand out from the crowd:
#1: Mission behind it
There must be a goal, mission, or a strong reason behind it. Alex Ikonn started his YouTube channel when he was fired from his job and he decided to create something of his own. Then he got an idea and now he has turned his channel into a full-fledged business. Alex and his wife Mimi got an idea about hairstyling, so they created their brand Luxy Hair. Now, they’re quite popular with their business as well as YouTube channel. So, what we learn from this story is that if you’re not passionate about something, don’t start a channel about that because you would end up disliking it anyway. I’d rather suggest finding that one special thing that you won’t quit and will always love to do in life. (Mine is blogging, by the way. No matter how many entrepreneurial endeavors I do, I’ll always be sticking to it)
#2: Value it delivers
The value is the message that people take from it. If a vlog is a bit pointless and there isn’t any specific story around it, then people might not be able to get your point. Vloggers know storytelling. They always share their stories, personal life plans, married life, and business goals — because it makes an attachment between the audience and vlogger. In addition to that, vloggers try to maximize their sharing so that people find it helpful and useful, this is how they deliver value to their audience. In fact, people either want to get entertained or learn something from vloggers. If the vlog successfully does either of them, it generates traction and people start getting attached to it. Roman Atwood always tells about his past that he worked at his father’s factory for 10 years and then he pursued his filmmaking career and ended up getting a huge success on YouTube, but that didn’t come suddenly, it took more or less 5 years to reach the level where he has around 9 million subscribers on prank channel and almost 7 million subscribers on daily vlog channel.
#3: Niche in which it stands in
When you define the mission of your vlog, it shows you understand what you want to achieve and when you try to choose your niche, it shows that you’re figuring out your target market. Because your target market is the audience that will be interested in your content. For instance, if you’re a businessman and you think you should make vlogs on entrepreneurship guidance, you may be filming your personal activities, but somehow everything around your vlog would be related to business and entrepreneurship, so whenever you would think to give an advice, it might be related to the entrepreneurship. It’s actually good for a vlog because a vlogger starts getting a specific audience that is interested in that sort of content. Fashion and Beauty YouTubers and vloggers have a female audience which is specifically interested in the beauty and fashion line. Take Sydney Alexandra, for example. She does all that makeup, beauty products, and fashion outfit reviews. She does occasional vlogs too. Your hobbies could help you find a niche, in fact, most of the times, it’s a hobby that drives your whole vlogging strategy.
#4: Type of Audience it targets
Think about this. Get off your bed and think who should you target. Who are the ones that should be listening to you? Idealizing the audience you want to meet is something that will keep you on track. You won’t miss out the point. For instance, Roman Atwood is more a family vlogger now, although, he is known as a prankster, but, since his vlog channel is growing rapidly and he films with his sons, girlfriend, dog, friends, and family, so he has a mixed audience but most of the subscribers could be between 8 to 20. Every time he meets his diehard fan, he or she turns out to be a school kid.
#5: Cinematography style it follows
Your vlog must have some cinematographic effects and specialty which could become a trademark for your vlog. Nikki Phillippi is known for her small clips (to explain the whole routine/day/process) and voiceovers in her videos. Casey Neistat is known for his different camera gear usage and filming his every tiny step during the process. You should get inspiration from other vloggers and YouTubers and try to come up with your own style.
#6: Innovation it brings
Speaking of innovation, nothing could bring it better than being natural. Innovative approach while having an inspiration could trigger the creativity and you may end up creating your own style. It’s extremely important to create your style from a success standpoint. People don’t like someone who is a copycat and imitates others. There is a clear difference between impersonating and getting inspired. When you get inspired by someone, you passionately work on something of your own. That’s the innovation you should bring into your vlogging. For instance, Adam Saleh is a popular YouTuber and vlogger. He has a certain style of giving his vlog intro by saying a certain dialogue “Hey Guys, What’s up? I hope you’re having an amazing day, Because I’m having an amazing day, so if I’m having an amazing day, so you all should be having an amazing day”. What I’ve seen in past few months, some newbie vloggers have started impersonating him with the similar kind of vlog intro dialogues. The point is, bring something new, something of your own.
Conclusion
Vlogging is getting huge in 2016. It seems that it will be the next-big-thing on YouTube. Since the video has got so much attention in 2015 and brands and influencers are confident that video is the most important audience building and engagement strategy for 2016 and the years to come, that’s why they’re leaning towards vlogging or video making so quickly.
Occasional Vlog Youtube
It’s a fact that vlogging is incredibly important, which is why YouTube Creator Academy wrote a bunch of best practices as well as a PDF guide for vlogging. This vlogging.pk’s article + mentioned resources will help you understand vlogging. If you’re new to this concept, head over to the YouTube Creator Academy page and find out more about it. You can find a bunch of vloggers on YouTube. Go check out their channels and see what they do in their vlogs. That’s how you will learn more about vlogging.
What did you learn from this article?
Tell me in the comments below.