Tips for Producing Content for YouTube

Over the past decade, YouTube has become the core platform for video and audio entertainment. With the rise of smartphones, just about anyone can create a YouTube channel and upload videos of themselves. However, because the market is so flooded with content, standing out becomes far more challenging than it did in the past. So how does one get an edge over the competition? Is content really king? Or does video production mean more to a viewer than the quality of the content?

Pre-Production Considerations

First of all, your channel has to have a direction, a goal, and a personality that people will want to see. You likely will not get many people watching your content if every video is low quality and uninteresting. Whatever your niche is, you have to add some spice and uniqueness to it. Once you have that foundation, you can start to build your character around it. However, with so much content out there with the same niche as you, even an outstanding performance may not be found and gain momentum amongst the competition.

Production

If there is one thing that should not be overlooked when producing content is its quality. This does not imply that you need to go out and spend five figures on video and audio equipment to beat the competition, but you should make an attempt to buy some decent gear. Doing this provides two vital advantages:

• Your video and audio quality will look as good, if not better, than the competition. Now you are actually in the race as opposed to being written off as cheap or unwatchable.
• You look like you care. When viewers come across your content, they will notice your effort and attention to detail, making them want to watch you.

Hardware and Software

The overall detail not only includes your set but consists of your hardware and software. Think about buying a camera that shoots quality to rival the competition. For example, a 1080p quality video at 24 or 30 frames per second should be expected by today’s standards; anything less would put you at a severe disadvantage. If you have the budget for it, there are websites that offer full video production solutions.

Chances are, your camera will not shoot perfect video quality right to your computer for upload. This is why you also want good video editing software that can adjust the color, contrast, and brightness. The closer you can get to mainstream media quality, the better chance you have at someone paying attention. This also goes for audio. Buying a great lavalier or shotgun mic and some audio plugin software will reduce echo, adjust volumes and EQ, and reduce background noise.

Conclusion

Do not believe for a moment that excellent video production quality will be enough because your content must also be interesting to watch. However, even if the content is perfect, people will likely not stick around and will move on to the next video if it has inferior production quality.

Search YouTube for videos similar to yours, and while doing so, be conscious of why you pick the videos that you did. More importantly, think about why you decided to watch the video as opposed to the competition. Write these reasons down and strive to achieve the same qualities for your content.