10 Simple Steps To Improve Your YouTube Video

Angela Hausman, PhD

In the 21^st century, YouTube videos are a very significant part of an individual’s virtual quest and exploration. This is mostly because of its enumerable uses and benefits.

Whether promotional, informative, entertaining and educational video marketing must be appealing, informative and brief to achieve its goals. Education is very important and should include instruction on the surefire and proper ways of improving videos.

Along with Vimeo, YouTube is the most famous and frequently used video-sharing websites in the whole world. New, streaming video platforms like Periscope and Meerkat slowly penetrate the market; putting pressure on these older platforms.

Competition within various video platforms is substantial — over 300 hours of video are uploaded on just YouTube per MINUTE! Thus, getting your video found on YouTube (or any video platform) is a huge challenge. Add to this the challenge of creating videos that achieve their informational goals and you’ve got some work ahead of you.

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Likely your audience will respond like the pals above if you failed to create a video that is worth watching.

Video creation, editing, and promotion require specific skills and the fast-pace of change means videographers need to constantly update not only their skills, but expensive equipment and software, as well.

The video creation process

The still and moving pictures captured by the camera are the raw ingredients and elements you’ll manipulate, edit, and organize in creating a world-class competitive video. When adding music to the video in post-production, make sure it matches the tone and emotions you want viewers to feel while watching the video.

Post-production easily takes 20-100X more time (and frustration) than creating the video in the first place (but that’s a topic for another day). During post, the editor links scenes and stills together to form a comprehensive story that engages viewers. Once scenes and transitions are added (scenes are very jerky unless you add occasional transitions), music and voiceovers supplement what viewers see on the screen.

Views don’t appreciate the artistry of the video and don’t spread the word about your creation unless the video succeeds in focusing the viewers’ attention on the video. Driving emotional response — anger, fear, happiness — or the successful use of humor (although humor varies across cultures and can be very negative when it doesn’t work) draw viewers in and encourage sharing.

10 easy steps to improve YouTube performance

To get you started, here are 10 easy steps to improve YouTube videos:

1. The owner of the video must identify and establish the purpose or goal of the YouTube video created, including the type and scope of audience that will be allowed to view the video. Identifying the video’s purpose and its audience will help the video creator further enhance the video according to its customer and its purpose. Goals and audience serve as the creator’s guide to achieving the desired output. Creating video is expensive, technically challenging, and time-consuming, so it is a tragedy to produce a video. The absence of a vivid and realistic purpose makes a YouTube video doomed to be nothing.
   
2. Methods for capturing video depend on the nature of the project and its intended audience. In most cases, it’s better to have a video of minimal quality than have nothing — especially when information is highly visual. In the case of fast-moving scenes or when a professional effect is necessary, the video creator may need a state-of-the-art camera. In other cases a screen capture program, like Camtasia (paid) or even Quicktime (free), might produce the desired raw footage. Online interviews might benefit from programs that enhance Skype or Hangouts. I’ve even used Powerpoint animation to create videos, although you’ll need a screen capture program to smooth out the action.
   
3. Improving YouTube views starts with capturing significant and video-worthy shots. Avoid taking long static shots because this can cause the video’s pacing to drag. Thus, your resulting video will look boring and very common. A variety of new and updated camera angle techniques can create a more brilliant and animated video, but, in some cases, it still boils down to the purpose of the video.
   
4. Getting attention in a very crowded internet space requires links outside YouTube — successful social networks on other platforms to help amplify your message. Creators must organize some activities or create more videos that increase his network of subscribers and followers. Subscribers to your YouTube videos and your channel also serve as support systems and can be critics, fans or pure fleeting viewers. Most importantly, they contribute to the usage or viewing statistics of the videos. The quality of the video is clearly reflected in the number of the YouTube views. Therefore, videos with low YouTube views need reassessment to immediately address the specific concerns and errors to promote the improvement of lots of YouTube videos.
   
5. The video owner must practice effective tagging in the form of notes and descriptions. These tags are very important because these serve as index terms in searching for interrelated YouTube videos about certain topics. The tags, notes, descriptions, and the like lead and link the researcher to various interrelated videos providing them a wider and bigger list of options. It is also easier to create short and basic word tags in videos to cater to the needs of the general public.
   
6. The video creator of the video must consider this type of learner – the visual learners. There are nine types of learners. Among them are the visual learners that prefer bigger and more attractive images and pictures as visual aids to grasp the video message. Furthermore, the best quality images and videos must be collated and produced into an awesome video bearing its purpose and targeting a specific group of viewers.
   
7. Embedding videos outside YouTube is an important means of transmitting the content on other social platforms, such as blogs and social networks. YouTube creates several embed options for every video uploaded and users should be sure to link YouTube videos on other platforms effectively. For instance, embedding a product video above the fold on your website is an effective means for transmitting the product value fast and effectively.
   
8. Make sure proper signposts and links are created for the video to be uploaded. This provides a fast and easy access to the videos considering the trend of today’s time that the fastest and the easiest ways are the best. This process is a way of promoting YouTube videos using social media.
   
9. It always pays to be open to criticism to improve further. A quick note of thanks for all feedback is an important tool for increasing engagement, which amplifies your messages and draws new viewers to your creations.
   
10. The YouTube video should share the entire story with the audience. It is never enough to just produce a series of scenes complete with editing procedures without a story. A story is never a story until it is told, felt, and remembered by the viewers.

The videos shared and uploaded in YouTube play a vital role in the education, professional, and personal endeavors of the creators and its viewers. These videos are not only intended to convey a story, but to personally make another story out of the existing one.

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