Welcome back to the Creator Classroom and today we're talking about all things vlogging, okay? Grab your seat. Classes in session. So there's no beverages allowed in this class, okay? Today we're talking about vlogging 101 because people are not watching your vlogs. And I'll tell you why. Your vlogs are boring. There's no two ways about it. I'm sorry, I hate to break it to you, but your vlogs are boring. I know a lot of people like to say, no, people only engage with big accounts or big creators or whatever. Not true. I have seen smaller accounts get more engagement on their vlogs because of how they framed their vlog. If your vlog is boring, no one's gonna watch it. I don't care who you are. Sometimes I make a boring vlog and it doesn't do well, as it should. I'm here to fix the vlogging problem and help you become the vlogger of your dreams, okay? I'm gonna start us off with the five S's of vlogging. The letter S. S number one is the start. Every vlog needs an introduction. Every vlog needs a beginning. If you can't introduce to us what we're doing, where we're going and why I should spend time watching your video, there's multiple ways to do this. Either bring in a certain or something interesting from the middle of your vlog and bring it to the beginning. Or you can clip up different times of your vlog together, make it a tiny little intro like that, just to give people like a trailer of what's gonna happen in your vlog or what they should expect. A very good example of that intro is something that I've done in the past and I continuously do. The past days to have a multi-faceted day and then I would go about my day showing how I am multi-faceted. Or I would say, welcome to a day in the life of a Malawian master's student studying data science in Scotland. Or people are like, we know this, we know this, we've seen this before. Give us a start. What are we doing? Are we spending the day with you? Or are we going to the gym? Or something like that. But there has to be a start. Of your vlog. It shows that you put thought into it and there is a beginning. Second S is show. You need to show us, not tell us what's happening. This is where your vlog and your voiceover come together into the mix. You need to show us different angles. There's no reason why 30 seconds of your vlog is you making the bed. There's no reason why you just put your phone in one spot and you're just doing the one thing. I'm bored. I'm not gonna watch that. Make sure that you're keeping us engaged by switching angles. Showing us the top view, the bottom view, the side view. But don't tell us, because we're not dumb. Are you calling me dumb? Like why are you telling me what's already on the screen? I can see what's going on. That's when your storytelling comes into play. So, show. The next S is speak. Your vlogs are not gonna do well if you're not speaking to us. Some of your vlogs are just gonna be voiceovers, which is what I do primarily. I record and then I chip it up together, make a video and I put a voiceover under that. Sometimes I make a vlog where I am talking to the camera. Those vlogs tend to do well. And they're like a big thing on TikTok right now. Where people are not really putting music or they're not really putting a voiceover. They're just, you know, going with the raw footage as it is. Flip your camera. Hey guys, look at my hair. It looks horrible. We're gonna go out to do my hair. More you're talking, it feels like face-timey, you know? It feels like I'm right there with you. And you kind of build a relationship with your audience, which is exactly what you want if you want to build a community. A very good example of a creator that does this and has it to the T is Nashira. I never skip her vlogs. It's two days before my brother's wedding. So we're going to get her hair done. She has this down to the T. She will take us to her skincare appointment. She will take us to run errands. She is talking to us, giving us the illusion that we are right there with her. We've been to her brother's wedding. I wasn't there, but I was there. If that makes sense. Switch. The next S is switch. And this is kind of similar to the show aspect of it. Don't just show me angles of you walking from the top. Show me your feet, okay? Prop your phone up somewhere and show me your full body walking down the street or walking into the corridor. This just creates a certain type of realism that gets people hooked. That's what social media is all about, getting people hooked. So you do that. For the vlog that you have, make sure that you're using those features. If it's got a zoom feature, zoom in, zoom out. Zoom in, zoom out. Make sure that you're using all of that. Storytelling. The last S is storytelling. Tell a story. Your vlog needs to tell a story of some sort. Otherwise, there is no point. The fact that you traveled out of the city. That is a story. But the way that you tell it to us, if it doesn't sound like a story, I'm not interested. Make sure that you have a beginning, the middle, which is the climax, and it should have an end. Make sure that your vlogs are not just, you know, just leaving us. Like, what did I just watch? I don't know. I'm not really good at this. So like, you guys are just gonna have to bear with me. So, it's the fastest scroll of my life. So, you have it. That is vlogging 101. I'll probably make a part two because there's so much more to vlogging than meets the eye. If you have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comments. And I love you guys. I'll see you in the next class session. Bye.
