GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Getting traction on youtube is harder than it’s ever been, as we’ve talked about. There are more content creators than ever before and the barrier to entry is basically zero. Anyone with a smartphone can start cranking out videos with ease. So what is one to do when they are making great videos that actually take time and effort to create? How do we compete with folks making throw away content with their iphone? Let’s discuss. 1.)THUMBNAILS: The thumbnail is the one thing that people will see which will or will not pull them into your video. I sorta hate this about youtube, but it’s just how things work. So grabbing them with a thumbnail is one way to get them inside the tent and give them a reason to watch one of your videos. Some folks try to create a graphic banner that they use on each thumbnail, some folks try fancy text, some folks try to create color/lighting consistency on all their thumbnails and some folks try to make each one different and specific to the video they are for. This is something each creator has to work out based on their audience and what works. Experimentation is your friend. 2.)VIDEO QUALITY: I”m not talking about content quality, just sheer quality of the image and the resolution it lives at. Some videos on youtube are done at very low resolution and they just don’t look great on smart phones with nice displays. These days, 4k video is not uncommon. It’s a bit overkill, but it can look great. For most vids, HD is plenty. 1920x1080 since many phones can't express much more resolution than that. Beyond resolution, using simple 3 Point lighting or even a single ring light, is a good way to make sure vids are not to dark. Beyond that the sky is the limit in terms of production.
3.)FINDING WHAT HAS WORKED: Take a quick inventory your recent videos and see which ones did the best. Even if it’s just a bit better. This can indicate something in the content that is worth looking into further and perhaps something that merits more videos along the same line. You don’t want to make the same video over an over of course, but it’s a good idea to look at what has worked in the past, and find out why it worked and try to replicate that success in future video content. 4.)LOSING EYELINE: This is a small detail, but one worth noting. Youtube is about contact and as such, if you look away from the audience, or if it looks like you are looking away, you can lose them. If your camera is directly in your eyeline, this is not a problem. However, if your having to look away from the camera to check a monitor off to the side to make sure your still in frame, the audience can feel they have lost connection with you and just click to the next video.
This is part 1 of a 2 part article on what to do when your youtube channel stops growing. Join me in part 2 for the rest of the tips and tricks to get your growth going again. It’s tricky to be sure , but it’s not impossible.
