I picked up a video creation project and here are my experiences –
On April 17th, a group of my marketing friends and I decided to take on the #30Days30Videos challenge ๐
We started with a whopping 241 enthusiastic participants, all eager to dive into the world of video creation ๐โโ๏ธ
Now, let me take you through the rollercoaster ride this challenge turned out to be ๐ข
Within the first week, the number of active participants dropped to a mere 41 ๐
Can you believe it? But hey, that’s how challenges go, right? ๐
As the weeks went by, I found myself left with only 2 or 3 other brave souls who occasionally posted their videos ๐ช
And in the end, it was just me (oops!). There were days when I felt like I was talking to myself, as my videos seemed to be the only ones popping up in the challenge feed ๐คช
I learned some valuable lessons along the way, and I thought it would be great to share them with you.
๏ปฟLessons from the challenge –
๐ Interested people are always way too higher than those who even start.
๐ Weekends are momentum breakers for everyone. I saw people being active on weekdays and then almost giving up on weekends (including me!).
๐ Video creation boosts confidence exponentially. Talking in real life and talking in front of a camera are polls apart.
Lessons from my video creation journey –
๐ Video creation is the hardest form of content creation. You need to take care of everything – wordings, audio, video, lighting, and literally all senses work together.
๐ I traveled twice in those 30 days. So I scheduled videos in advance. I missed my 2 editions of newsletters but not the videos.
๐ Shorts were low-hanging fruits because I barely needed footage of 1 minute.
๐ Instead of taking retakes multiple times, the best practice is to record in one go and then cut out the unnecessary parts.
๐ Itโs extremely tough to face a camera every day because our mood is not always energetic and camera-friendly. There are bad days and we simply feel to give up.
๐ I used to record 4-8 videos on a single day and then edited them. Thatโs the reason why I am seen in just 3 T-shirts in my 30 videos ๐คซ
๐ I never focused on fancy editing. I know I could explore a lot but that was simply unnecessary at that time as long as my message is going out. Speed > Perfection.
๐ No scripts. Just pointers.
๐ Storage is a real challenge for video creators. I have files of around 200 GB!
๏ปฟLessons from YouTube –
๐ YouTube Shorts (< 1 minute) get extreme exposure from YouTube.
๐ If you make your video longer than by even a second, YouTube will still keep the vertical format but itโs no longer a short video and wonโt be pushed by algorithms like Shorts. Plus you canโt even change the thumbnail.
๐ YouTube Shorts has better content than Instagram Reels in general. Particularly, because Reels are full of forced background music and that ruins the experience. Most Reelers are terrible at music selection.
๐ Using popular tags gives you more exposure. This is contrary to what works for long-format videos where less-competitive tags work to fill the gap.
TODAYโS ACTION ITEM FOR YOU
I urge you to record a video describing your side project idea and send it to me. It can be a short 30 seconds video.
Videos are extremely powerful to deliver your message because of your personal connection.
I have just been through that phase. I will understand you ๐ค
BTW here are the videos that I published during my challenge ๐
WHAT I DID THIS WEEK
I created a greeting for my mother for Motherโs Day. I brushed my artistic skills after years. Just a poorly designed greeting with a customized message and 2 roses made my momโs day ๐น๐น
Interesting how our beloved people simply get happy with the efforts that we put in. Even if I buy 100 ready-made cards, they can never replace the handmade greetings.
Apart from that, I kept playing around with AI designing tools. I am already loving to design some amazing paintings ๐จโ๐จ
BOOK I AM CURRENTLY READING
I am 85% done with โThe Growth Hacking Bookโ and I am seriously taking notes. It is full of different lessons from 30 marketing experts. Of course, some case studies are outdated now because marketing changes so rapidly ๐
Rohan Chaubey (the same dude who initiated #30Days30Videos challenge), the author of this book, shared an amazing term.
GrowthSet = Skillset + Mindset + Toolset ๐ฅ
He further elaborates on the formula – Acquire the Skillset. Install the Mindset. Employ the Toolset.
Overall, it has been a good insightful read ๐
AROUND THE WEB
Since this is email is all about videos, let me share some basic video editing tools that I personally use for my video content creation journey ๐ฅ
Windows = ClipChamp
Mac = iMovie
Android = VITA
No doubt, all of them are free.