Lessons

Lesson Info

Vlogging Tips

Let's go into what I've learned just through my vlogging journey over the last three years. Vlogging can take over. Remember why you started. So vlogging in general can take over. There's been a few times when me and Rachel have been like on vacation, and she's like, you need to put the camera down. And I'm like oh, that's right. This isn't about just shooting content. So you gotta remember that at... She's over there. (audience laughing) Just shaking her head. But yes, there's definitely times where you get so involved and so wrapped up in this, you're so excited because you're hanging out with all these people online. You're communicating. You're talking through all these. You're creating all this content for people that want to consume it. But then you gotta realize that you still have a life. So vlogging can take over. You need to make sure to take a step back and not make everything about the vlog always. You need to have a personal life still. What I would tell myself, think thro...

ugh brand first. And I've talked about this through my travel brand that I started. I wish I had thought through my brand first and what I actually want to create. That's key. Daily vlogging sucks but still do it. It's a great thing to do for a short period of time unless you have the mentality where daily vlogging makes sense for you. There are definitely creators out there who love just shooting stuff all the time and putting videos out there. It's a great way to basically see what you're good at, see what you're bad at, and also just force yourself to produce a movie every day. And it really gets you in the mindset of like what vlogging is. It's more about creating content, putting stuff out immediately, and moving on to the next thing, and learning from your mistakes of the last one. So do it. I started by doing it off and on. For the first year, I was daily vlogging here and there. It sucks, but it's okay. You still gotta do it once in a while. Have a goal short or long term. So what do you want to do with your vlog? What's your goal with your vlog? And then listen to your analytics. So you've gotta dig into your analytics to see what people are watching. Because if you're producing content and it's not getting views. (buzzing) Oh, I hit my steps goal. All this. (audience laughing) Because if you're producing content and it's not getting views, look into your analytics and see which videos are actually getting views. Because those ones, produce more of those. So you always just gotta look at your analytics. Listen to that, and be realistic. Don't think that you're gonna get a million subscribers tomorrow. It's not gonna happen. It takes a long time to grow. It takes a long time to build. But it is very rewarding, and it's a ton of fun, and I enjoy doing it a lot. Some other things to think about. People will criticize you. People will always talk smack. They will be saying the worst things about you because you're putting yourself out there for people to criticize you. Some of that you might take into consideration and just be like why are they talking bad about this video. And you might learn from it. But a lot of times, you might just say screw it. You know, move on to the next one. So, take it with a grain of salt. You know, maybe there's something in there if somebody is... Maybe you did produce something that was not up to par with the rest of your channel. Listen to that, but also don't let haters hate on you. It happens all the time. Community matters. So make sure that you talk to your audience. Make sure that you always communicate. If you guys message me on any of the social networks, I'm gonna talk to you. If you have questions, I'm gonna continue to answer them and chat with you. If you want to hang out and shoot some videos together, I'm going to try and make that happen. 'Cause community matters and community around what it is that you're doing is the most important thing. So you want, if you're gonna do this, it's because you want to be part of this world. You want to be part of this community. You don't want to just put your content out there and think you're gonna make money. The money's obviously good, and you can monetize this, and you can make this a business, and you can actually do a lot of really cool stuff. But what's most important is that you're creating content and that you want to be a part of this community. It's lonely. I sit in my room alone all the time. It's just part of being a vlogger or creator. You're always going to be doing stuff alone. But then you open this world to all these possibilities of collaborating with other individuals and all of that. So just remember if you're sad in your room because you've been sitting there editing for days on end, it's part of it. And we all go through it. Any creator, any vlogger is sitting in their room by themselves editing or shooting. Takes a lot of time to produce and create all this content. Yeah, and then learn from others. Look at other creators out there and learn from them. But don't copy them. So if you're looking at the big guys, the Casey Neistats, the Peter McKinnons, see what they're doing right. 'Cause obviously they're doing something that's driving a big following. And learn from that and create content in your style that might come from ideas that you've learned from them. So always be open to looking at other creators. Don't be afraid to look at what the top guys are doing. And don't be afraid to create similar content. Just don't copy people. And just keep creating. That's one of the things if you ever are feeling like down about your content and you really want to do this, just keep creating and you'll find success in what it is that you're doing. 10 minutes or less. Don't do 20 minute videos. That's just a simple thing that I've learned is that my sweet spot is 10 minutes. I'm starting to do some less. But 10 minutes good. Collaborate, this is a huge thing. And this is what I was saying. I need to do more of this and I am getting more into this. I've been working with other creators and shooting more content. But this is like one of the most important things once you start getting your vlog going is working with other creators because you learn from each other and then you will also share each others' following. So even if person A has a small following and person B has a massive following, it doesn't matter. We're all creators. We're all in this together. We're not against each other. So we should all be supporting each other and helping each other out. And that's where the collaborations come in. You meet new friends, you meet new people. I've been chatting with a bunch of YouTubers down in LA. Once I get back there, I'm gonna start meeting up with them and doing more collaborations. I've met with people here and there. I've hit up a few people up here in Seattle that I might meet up with while I'm here. And it's just one of those things. You gotta always be kinda putting yourself out there and trying to collaborate with other people 'cause that's how you grow. And you gotta be a real person. So this is a quote from Casey Neistat. He's a big YouTuber if you're not aware. But you could either act on ideas or set them free. You don't dwell on ideas. And I think this is important for vloggers or content creators because if you have an idea, just produce it and put it out there. Don't just sit on it forever. Like if you are always sitting on this idea, you're never gonna act. You're never gonna grow, and you're never gonna figure out. Maybe that idea was great but I have a better idea down the road. So, this is an important aspect about being a creator nowadays. You just can't sit on ideas anymore. All right so, I have a video. Let's see, we got 10 minutes left. So I could probably do this video. It's three minutes. And then maybe answer questions if anyone has any. Perfect. This is a vlog I did and it's kind of a combination of everything I've been talking about in this. It's a video I wanted to produce for myself. It's about my mountaineering. I actually got this. This video is a sponsored video. But the sponsorship is gonna come in the tutorial on how I produced this video. So, it's just something I shot the day before I left for here. And I edited it last night on the plane. So hope you guys enjoy. Is it good to play? (footsteps approaching) I'm training to climb the tallest peak in Ecuador. And I have to be in the best shape of my life so I can get to the summit. But let me tell you a little story about this journey. (upbeat music) When I was super young, my parents would make me go to bed early. But I would stay up late reading about far off places. I loved adventure and travel stories, especially about mountaineers. I would get lost all night reading books about explorers on their most extreme adventures. And one day I dreamed of being an adventurer myself. I grew up in Tacoma, which is just south of Seattle. Every day I saw the snow capped peak of Mount Rainier and imagined myself climbing to the summit. When I turned 18, I left for film school in Los Angeles and got lost hustling in the film industry. But I always found a trail to explore or a mountain to climb. I'm currently standing on the top of Santa Monica Mountains and it definitely does not feel like you're in Los Angeles. One day, I finally decided I wasn't gonna wait any longer. I booked a trip to Mount Rainier. But this wasn't any trip. I decided to do a full mountaineering seminar. This was a six day climb including a multi-pitch ice climb. It was the hardest physical and mental challenge that I've ever faced. But we all made it to the summit. And standing on the top is one of the greatest feelings in the world. While climbing, I met Carlos. We became instant friends. And ever since, we have been climbing partners. Each year we meet up and tackle a new peak and a new obstacle. We have each other's backs and keep each other safe. Because mountaineering is not the safest sport. Each mountain we set our eyes on has a new series of challenges, and takes us to new places around the world. Last year we climbed the highest peak in Mexico. It was an unreal experience that challenged us at high altitudes. So this year we decided to tackle a peak that's a thousand feet higher. Ecuador is a beautiful country. Most people only hear about the Galapagos Islands. However, there is so much more to this country. Massive volcanoes, incredible wilderness, and of course the alpacas. We have our eyes set on Cotopaxi at 19,347 feet tall, which is just the warm-up climb for Chimborazo, which stands at 20,564 feet. However, we're not doing this alone. We have two more friends joining us. Jon, I met back on the Rainier seminar and is actually a friend of Carlos. And we have one more with us, Seth, who joined our pack as we climbed Orizaba in Mexico. The four of us are taking on the biggest mountain that any of us have ever faced. And this is why I'm training to get in the best shape of my life. Guys, if you're new here to this channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button. I would love some feedback on this video. Do you guys like this? Do you want to see more content like this video? Leave a comment down below and I'll be sure to check that out. All right guys, I'll see you on the next one. Cool, so. (audience clapping) So this is something a little different for my channel but still kind of follows like the style of content that I'm producing. And this is a sponsored video because I'm working with a stock footage agency and I use some of their stock in the video. So making this video has bought my tickets to Ecuador. So that's great. (audience laughing) Cool, so I guess we have seven minutes left. Any questions? I know I talked a lot. Hey, I have a question about monetization. If you're exchanging with someone and you have a relationship with them for a while, do you try to upgrade them to a paying client? Or like how do you do that? Or do you just see them as like content to advertise yourself for new paying clients? So most of the time if they have been someone that I've done like freebies with and exchanges, I usually keep them on that level unless they ask for something bigger than what they've previously done with them. So this gimbal, for example, I've worked with two of their gimbals now. And each of them I've done for free as an exchange. But if another company comes with a gimbal and tries to work with me, I'd give them my rates right up front. Because obviously this content will do well on my channel. I know it will. It's content that I have seen in my analytics that does well. So it's not bad that I'm gonna do an exchange for free. Like it's still gonna generate some money through ads. It's just gonna bring more people to my channel. But if you are working with someone for free on the front end, unless they're like asking you to do like a big campaign, I would say just keep kind of the same agreement. Unless it gets to a point where you just don't have time. And then you're like well, I ran out of time. Here's my rate if you want me to produce this. Otherwise it's at my discretion. And that's what happens a lot of times for me is I have a lot of people that want to send me products and I have no time. I can't shoot or edit anything for probably another month before I will be able to start working on new products. And I tell people up front. I'm like, it might be November, December that you'll see this review unless you pay me. Then I can put you in front of other people, cool. Thank you for this. This is really awesome to see. Is this whole process as exciting and terrifying? It's terrifying, it is. So on that note though, how do you get comfortable doing this out in the world where you're just talking to a camera, or just even feeling like you know, you've gotta watch hours and hours of footage of your face talking to the camera? Or is this just something that comes totally natural to you? Definitely not natural for me. So when I started, I hated being in front of cameras. And I hate, or I just very much dislike doing this in public. But you kinda get over it the more you do it. So it's one of those things. And that's why I said daily vlogging's a good kind of exercise. Because it forces you to do this, look at yourself, produce it, put it out there, instead of like thinking about it so much. I think the more that you just force yourself to do it, the more that it becomes comfortable. Personally, I do not like public speaking but I jumped up here and did it. And you know, the next time I do something like this, it will be easier than the time I did this. What happens though sometimes, like for example if I don't shoot content for a few weeks, like if I'm busy doing like a shoot with my production company, I'll come back to my camera and I'll be sittin' there swearing at my camera because I'm like why can't I get this idea out? You get a rhythm going and you really start feeling comfortable with it. And once you kind of kick that rhythm, you do have to kinda get yourself back into it. And I'd see it all the time. There's lots of times where I'm just sitting there staring at my camera. I'm just like, why can I not get this out of my head onto camera? But, it's part of it, yeah. Mine's kind of a two part question but they kind of relate to each other. When you're first starting out, do you have some sort of intro video that says hey, this is what I'm gonna be talking about on this particular channel? And then the follow up is, if you're building kind of a story across multiple videos, how do you keep those organized in such a way on YouTube that people know where to go next? Okay, so yes. A channel trailer is a good thing to have on your channel. I need to make a new one. Mine right now is not there. But it's a very good way for when someone stumbles upon your page. Say they find one video. They're gonna click to your page and then you can make a video, the first video that they see. And that's your channel trailer. And make that you. Put yourself on camera. Tell people exactly what they're gonna find on this channel. And give them some samples of what they're gonna see, and do it in like a minute, two minutes. Like make it really quick and snappy. Because that's a great way for people to see who you are, what you're all about, and get a sense of, you know, you're talking on camera. I've seen a lot of channel trailers where you get to it and it's just sexy footage. And you're like, I don't understand what this channel's all about. Like I get that you're doing tech reviews but it's just cinematic footage. They want to see you as a person. So be on camera and just be like hey guys, my name's Jevin. Welcome to my channel. I do tech reviews. I do travel and adventure films. And if you want to learn something about filmmaking, then this is the spot to come to. And then I'll show maybe some B-roll and some snippets from other videos that I have on my channel. That's a great way to do a channel intro. Part two, if you do a series, you can make playlists on YouTube. So I would just put it in. I would say that it's part of a series in the video. So just be like hey guys, this is part of my series on the cannon. I'm gonna review all these different parts about this camera. This is part one. If you guys want to see the rest of my videos about this series, check it out. There's a playlist down in my description. So just always having that communication will drive people to be able to find where all your videos are. Because that is an issue with YouTube is that you're putting a ton of content out there and it gets spread thin across your channel. I have 420 videos on my channel. So if I say I have a video on matching footage, nobody's gonna be able to find that unless they search exactly what my title is, so. Playlists are good and just being in communication with your audience when you're making those videos, cool. I want to go online and then we can go back in the studio audience. This one is from Sierra Marie who was wondering if you could give a few tips for creating engaging hooks. And she goes on to say, do you always start off telling people what the video is about? Or can you start by showing your surrounding scenery for a few seconds. Or how do you do those opens? So I think it comes down to the style of content that you are producing. So if it is a like travel video, then you know, sexy kinda footage of the surroundings, something that really is engaging, that's where you might find that style of an intro works. But if you're doing like a review or a specific idea or concept, the first thing I always do. So let's go back to the gimbal for example. The first thing you'll see on all of my videos, I'll say today I'm talking about this gimbal and I'm gonna tell you exactly why I think that this gimbal is great for getting stable footage. Right there you know exactly what the video's about so that when it goes into the rest of the video, it's an engaging hook where people will continue to watch because they know what they're watching. Engaging doesn't necessarily have to be like sexy, snazzy, like awesome footage. It just has to be a hook where somebody knows why they're clicking on this video. For more like day in the life travel vlogs or any content where it's, you know, typical like vlog running around, that kind of stuff you can get away with doing maybe a sexy footage. Or it's something that's crazy that happened within that day and you put that right at the front as a teaser. So like, maybe you went and did a cliff jumping in Hawaii. Well the teaser would be you running, jumping off the cliff, and then all of a sudden you cut and you start at the beginning of the video. That's a hook where somebody's gonna be like wait, I want to know what happened with that cliff jump. And then it has to relate to the rest of the video. So there's different ways to find a way to grab your audience and bring 'em in. But they just have to be aware of what they're gonna get in the video because you need to be kind of transparent in YouTube. All right, I think we just have time for one more question really quickly. Can we take, give it back there, thank you. Yeah, my question was sort of about your process. How far ahead are you generally working? And are you just doing shoot, edit, post one at a time or are you trying to batch some of those things together? So that depends on kind of my workload for my production company, and the other things that I'm doing. If I have a lot of shooting going on and I know I have a free week, I will batch a few together. So for example, I'm traveling. I came from DC just now. I'm going to Tucson after this and then Kansas City all for productions for my production company and there's about two and a half, three week period where I can't produce any content for my channel. But I produce two videos a week. So before I left, I shot a bunch of videos and I scheduled them out. And so you just have to think through are you gonna have time to produce your content. It's hard to produce more content like that. It's just harder in general to produce content all at once and then stream it out. But there's times where you're gonna have to do it. If I am at home and I'm not as busy and I'm just working on this, then I try to do one video at a time. So I'll try to do like on the weekend I'll do one video that's gonna come out Monday. And then between Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll do another video that comes out Thursday. All right, fantastic. Thank you so much. Any final, final words of wisdom for folks out there, Jevin? I guess just keep creating. Vlogging's a ton of fun. Enjoy the process. Don't get down on yourself. And if you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out. I'm always open to help you guys out in any way that I can.