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Welcome to the socialized strategy. Happy Friday. It was a really good week. I hope you had a good week as well. Lots of progress over here.
Helen:The socialized studio is launched. We had our 1st live FaceTime meeting where it was face to face Zooms. Got to meet a lot of you who probably already listen here, and it was just so much fun to get to connect with people in person. I love it. And now I can't wait for the next one because I have already have plans on how we're gonna make each one better and better.
Helen:So let me just start by saying that some questions came up and in the studio, because I am now taking the time to answer people's comments directly about their problems with their content and the struggles they've had, I've started to scroll and look at people's videos and say, how can I how am I gonna help these people? How am I gonna advise? What kind of advice do I have? And in doing that, it just came so clear to me that I need to talk more about speaking videos. So it's perfect that this is today's newsletter because it's gonna feed into what I'm doing in the studio in greater depth.
Helen:But I'm gonna give you the highlights here on how to make your speaking videos better because it's time to talk about it and get in deep and I'm gonna be completely honest. So it definitely can feel intimidating to talk to the camera. I know that. And posting content where you're putting yourself out there, it can be you can be judging yourself. You might be tripping over your words like I often do, and then I have to edit things out.
Helen:Sometimes I let it go, like just then when I tripped over my words. But it's such a good exercise and it takes practice. Just like anything that you're doing when you start an exercise program, when you start a new DIY project, the more you do something, the better you're gonna get at it. So to think that you're gonna post one video every once in a while speaking and you're gonna sound perfectly authentic and the fact is you're not because you're not used to doing it. You're not used to speaking to the camera and it doesn't feel natural.
Helen:So the first thing is really obvious that you're gonna have to do it over and over again to really to really dig in. But let's go through and we have 7 tips for you today of how to create confident speaking videos that are effective and good. So the first one is the most important one, and I spent last night I was up until probably almost 2:30 in the morning scrolling through some of the studio crew people that have joined the studio. I've been go looking at their content, and it was so amazing to me that a lot of these people have been following me for so long. And yet when I watch their speaking videos, some of the very basic things that I talk about all the time were forgotten, and they just aren't thinking about it when they're making the videos.
Helen:So we're gonna be practicing that a lot in the studio. But what I'm gonna tell you right now is that you have 3 seconds to hold someone on your video. 3 seconds. That's it. And if you don't catch them in 3 seconds, forget about it.
Helen:You're not gonna hold them for the rest of it. So 3 seconds are important and then the rest of the content is equally as important. But I watched so many videos last night where the person was pressing the record button. There was a big pause, and sometimes the pause I counted. It was 3 seconds.
Helen:And then sometimes I saw somebody say, hi, guys. Oh, I haven't and, you know, today is a great day and da da da da da. And then get to the point. Forget it. Most people that are watching on social media will have scrolled before you even get to what your video is about.
Helen:So a better strategy is if you need to record that and get yourself in the zone, do it, But then go to the edit. Go to the edit app and chop off the beginning. Let me give you example. If I started my video and I I needed to feel like I was saying hello to people and I need to do that to make myself feel more in the zone, I might say something like, hi guys. Oh, it's a great day here in New York.
Helen:My God, the weather's beautiful. It's a little crisp, but it's great. Today I'm gonna show you how to make a something out of a something else. So the right there, I can listen to my video later in the edit and I can chop off the whole beginning and start with, today, I'm gonna show you how to blah blah blah blah blah, or today we're gonna blah blah blah blah, or if you wanna know how to blah blah blah blah. And so then you can go back to the newsletter about the hooks and you can pick some hooks.
Helen:But the point is, if you need to get yourself in the mood, if you need to get yourself feeling like you gotta say hello, you can do it when you're recording, but take it off before you post it. And trust me, you're gonna thank me later because people are gonna have you have a higher engagement, you'll have a higher stick around, possibility. The problem is that if you don't keep it tight beyond that, you might lose them after a few more seconds. So with every bit that you can keep people interested, you have a better chance of having people watch your video all the way through. So that's why even though sometimes people tell long, drawn out dramatic stories, if they've set the drama upfront, then they can hold people for the long winded story.
Helen:Like I woke up this morning and I know my house is haunted. Guess what? People were sticking around for the rest of that story even if she had big long pauses in between things because the stage was set for people who love that kind of content and they're gonna stick around for it. But if you're doing something where you're trying to promote a product, for example, and if you start with, I'm gonna tell you why I like such and such a thing. That's another trick for you.
Helen:I'm gonna start why I like such a thing. Your audience might not care what you think about a certain certain thing. They might they wanna know how it impacts them. So you would switch that around and say, you wanna know what you're gonna love if you try this product? Blah, blah, blah.
Helen:You wanna know what you're missing out on if you don't have this product? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it's turning it from the I to the you and starting it by grabbing people in, by being presenting yourself like you care about what they think. Oh my gosh. It was a long winded way of saying you need to have a good hook, But hopefully, it taught you something about sales too where you flip the voice, flip the voice.
Helen:So that is what you wanna do in the beginning of your video. You definitely want to hook someone in. Another way of hooking someone in, we did a whole newsletter and podcast on hooks a couple of weeks ago. So go back to that and grab some of those hooks and listen to that podcast because I tell you about the hooks. But, like, starting at the beginning, showing the finished product of something that you created and then showing the process, showing a new puppy that you got.
Helen:And I talked about that last week. Showing the new puppy first and then the process of how you got the puppy. So grabbing your audience is such a key thing on a speaking video, but the speaking video, again, it has to start with something that an audience would want to listen to. So cut off your beginning, cut off your hello, do it to make yourself feel better, but don't start with it. And then point number 2 is to be concise.
Helen:So I've already sort of said that that once you hook your audience in, you wanna keep it concise. Keep organized your content. Do the thing. I have the tutorial. How to shoot a speaking video?
Helen:Take a pause, get your next thought together. Take a pause, a mental pause, get your next thought together and then have your big long string and then edit out your pauses. It's very, very easy basic editing to do that. And that is not something that you need a lot of high end editing skills to do. You don't need an app that's You don't even pay pay for any features in an app to do it.
Helen:You just The basics of an app, chop, chop. So easy. One zero one editing. You got this. Okay.
Helen:I'm gonna put the tutorial in this bullet point. I'm gonna type it in so I don't forget. Add tutorial link. So that way in the newsletter, when it goes out, you can find the link and in the show notes, you're gonna have a link too. Good point for speaking videos is to focus on authenticity over perfection.
Helen:It's much better if you make a mistake and show the mistake. If you show that you're not perfect. If you're maybe your hair isn't perfect. Make I don't know. I don't even look at my outfit today isn't even that great.
Helen:It's like I threw on a t shirt to go to a doctor's appointment. Whatever. The that that's not the important thing. The important thing is just be yourself. Get on there, say what you wanna say, talk about the thing, think about 1 person if that helps you to think about 1 person.
Helen:A lot of times it does help me to think about 1 person. I think I've always thought my phone is my imaginary friend, so maybe that's my person right there. But it's really about trying to figure out how you can break down the wall and not feel like you're recording for a large audience so that you're not speaking like you're on stage, just bringing it into a more personal side. And sometimes just adding a simple anecdote or telling a story that even if you edit it out later, it'll get you in the mood to be more personal. So if, like, you wanna say something and you go, oh, that was too personal.
Helen:No one's gonna care about that, then you can edit it out even though people probably do care. But you could always edit it out. So say the things. Say the things. Let your thoughts flow like you're talking to a friend and know that you can cut out the things that you maybe decide later that you don't wanna share.
Helen:It's just gonna be helpful to be honest and put yourself out there. It's easy. Just be silly. Be a goofball. Take a page out of the mothership's book because really I've just become such a goofball on here.
Helen:Sometimes I scare myself. Alright. The next one is to work on your on camera presence. And I like to think that this is just by doing it day after day after day. The more that you do it, the better you're gonna get at it.
Helen:Make sure you're looking directly at the camera. You're not looking at yourself. Wait. Let me look at myself in the lens. If you're watching this, now I'm looking at myself.
Helen:This looks absurd. I have to look at the camera. That way I'm looking at you. So do the same thing. Don't look at yourself, especially in the vertical frame, because then it looks like you're looking down.
Helen:I'm horizontal, so I have to look to the side, which seems weird, but it's almost better in a way because I'm not obsessing on my eyebrows or my bangs or something. You know, I'm not really looking at that. I'm looking at the camera, so I'm not paying attention to it. So practicing good posture, good eye contact, and looking directly at the camera. Also, trying not to act in your videos like this is not a dramatic stage performance.
Helen:Sometimes I get a little dramatic, but that's just how I am in real life. So funny. I met with someone that I met on TikTok that came to the city because her podcast, her name is Suzanne Rico. I think she might be listening. Hi, Suzanne.
Helen:She came to the city because her podcast was featured in a billboard in Times Square. Now I have to have that standard set that this podcast has to go on a billboard in Times Square. I mean, you know, this one probably doesn't isn't worthy of a Times Square billboard, but hers is. And so she came to the city to see her billboard and then we ended up getting together. And I forgot why I was telling you this.
Helen:Hold on a second. Oh, oh, I know. She actually said to me when she left me, she we, like, hung goodbye. We had a great time. We had a quick drink at a at a really cool restaurant that I love.
Helen:And when she left, she said, you're you're like one of those rare people that's better in person. And I was like, I don't know if I should take that as a compliment. No. Of course, I took it as a compliment. It was so funny and it was so sweet and it was like I don't know.
Helen:That just might tell you a little bit about me because I'm this times times 2 in real life. Okay. On we go. Don't overact. Just be yourself because I am a crazy person, and I guess I am extra in real life as well.
Helen:Next one, use captions and visual aids. So by making your videos more accessible, you can reach a larger audience. I do agree with this, and I don't put the captions on there. There are the animated dramatic captions. I let the app just do the captions.
Helen:That way, if someone wants to read them, they can read them. I've thought about doing dramatic captions, but I also my issue is when I'm teaching tutorials and people are having to read the text on the screen while I'm showing things on the screen. I think it's just too much. So, since I'm demonstrating and I'm my content is already visual, I don't put the put dramatic captions on that are animating and blinking and lighting up. But if you are just doing a speaking video and you have and you don't have anything that you're demonstrating on the street the screen, those animated captions could be fun and they could be something where I think your audience it keeps your audience's attention even though you're just a talking head.
Helen:So ponder that. Ponder that. I think that's a good tip. I like that Julie put that in here. And it does also help when you're watching and scrolling, like, late at night in bed if you don't don't have headphones in and you you can just read things.
Helen:Sometimes you're just in a scenario, whether it's in a public place or whatever, where you wanna whip out your phone and take a take a peek at some content, but and you don't have headphones in. So it's that's a really good opportunity to to to capture someone who might read your captions. So I don't know. I think captions are helpful. I just don't I should probably should make more use of them, but not always on tutorials because I think there's enough going on on the screen.
Helen:Okay. The other thing is which stays under use captions and visual aids is putting text on screen. So if you're not using captions, sometimes highlighted text for the subjects that you're hitting or things that are happening, it's a good way to number 1, I do it when I put my website on the screen. Hellosocialize.com/workshops for the free workshops or hellosocialize.com/studio to get to the studio if you wanna join the studio. So I use I use that kind of thing on my videos, and here's a hot take.
Helen:If you put that text on the screen and you don't want the social media platform to realize that you're putting something on that's like a word like podcast or a dotcom or something that's sending people to another platform. So I don't know that the social media apps necessarily like that. I don't really know for a fact if you get penalized, but putting that type of text on in an edit app is a a way of kind of hiding it from the algorithm. So if you want the algorithm to find it and to know what the text what the video is about, you wanna put the text on in the app because then it will help to categorize your video. But if you wanna put something on and you go, oh, if I put this word on, my video is gonna get flagged because I'm talking about a podcast or something like that.
Helen:So that's the type of text that you might wanna put on in another app so that when you post it, it's already attached to the video and the algorithm isn't necessarily picking that up. So that's just a little tip, a little side tip for you. Now, paying attention to audio and video quality. You know that I'm an audio snob because I talk about it all the time. I hate when it's like echoey audio or crackly audio or far away from the phone stuff when, you know, these, fashion people are like, the phone's really far away and they're shouting at their phone.
Helen:That's just my personal thing. I don't love it. That doesn't mean everyone cares. That just means that there's a portion of people who might be annoyed by it and it might cause them to scroll. Not everybody, but a few of us, let's say.
Helen:And a few of us times millions of people is could be a thousands of us instead of just a handful. So ponder if you think you could handle getting a microphone so that your content has good audio and that you're heard and then there's no noise. In the middle of this earlier, there was a siren going by and I didn't even stop the the video. I just figured, well, let it be. Hopefully, this microphone isn't making it so prominent.
Helen:So that's that. Next and last is to end with a call to action. This is what I wanna say about call to action. So let me just back up for a second. You'll notice that a lot of creators, number 1, they start by introducing themselves.
Helen:Don't do that. Number 2, they put it in the middle of the video. I'm also going to say don't do it. Don't do it every time if you do it once in a while, okay, but if you're a creator that puts that every single time in the middle of your video, your regular viewers will start to get annoyed. And I noticed this because I watch a creator who on every video, she hooks people in, and she says, I'm so and so so and so so and so and so, and then she continues with the video.
Helen:And I wanna say, like, okay. I've watched so many of your videos. I know who you are. So every time that comes up now, it's kind of become a pet peeve and I stopped watching the videos. So I think that you should ponder this as the thing.
Helen:You know, if you're growing and you wanna do it on a few videos and you're trying to let people know who you are, fine, I'm not gonna say don't do it. But if you have a regular following and they're seeing your videos, can you imagine if every time I did a tutorial, I'd say, I'm gonna show you how to do such and such. I'm Helen Plisey, the TikTok teacher, and I do tutorials, blah, blah, blah, blah. Are you kidding me? I think that would be so annoying to people who watch my videos regularly, so I wouldn't do that.
Helen:What I do do, and here's the hot take, is place whatever that information is at the end. This way, you've given out all the information that someone that is a loyal follower that is a part of your community. They they're sucking up the information. They wanna hear from you and then they can just say, okay, goodbye before the ending. If you start to say, and for the all the things you're looking for help with social media, just go here and I point to my website and I do my ending, whatever my ending is.
Helen:The main part of the video is done. So I'm not annoying the viewer who comes to my content regularly to learn about what I'm sharing. Hopefully, that makes sense. So you don't have to say this is the be all the end all, and in certain cases on certain people's content, you might, as you're growing your account, want to introduce yourself on a few of your videos here and there. I'm just saying don't do it on every single one because your loyal followers will start to get annoyed by it.
Helen:Right? It's only logical if you think about it. So just think about if you put it towards the end, then all your loyal people, they can watch your whole video and enjoy it and have a chuckle and maybe they even will stick around for the ending just to see if you're saying something different at the end or whatever. And a lot of times I change it up. I don't always say go here.
Helen:Sometimes I'll talk about a workshop. Sometimes I'll talk about a podcast thing that I did, whatever, but I don't. But my call to action is always towards the end so it doesn't annoy my viewer and that is just my preference. So think about what you want your preference to be. And also I'll just add this one more thing is your call to action does not have to be follow for more this or, hit the like button or hit the share button or telling people what to do because a lot of people get annoyed by that.
Helen:And I did a poll once on one of my videos asking if people get annoyed by that and I got a lot of annoyed answers. Maybe the most annoyed people are the only ones who commented, but the better thing is to say, and I'll be sharing more tips or share this with a friend that might need it too, or don't forget about sending this to someone who might find it interesting or something like that. Like a way to prompt engagement without telling people what to do. Because I do find that in social media people are ruthless. Boom.
Helen:You'll find out if you don't know already. Okay. I'm gonna take 2 quick questions because I've gone way longer than I normally do on these things. Number 1 is how can I manage the data on my phone? I'm shooting constantly and it's full of video content.
Helen:Okay. Let me tell you, I have 2 phones and I still struggle with this. It is so difficult in this digital age to keep the phone purged. It's so difficult. So the first thing I'll say, because someone did mention if on one of my videos that I said just record and don't hit the stop button, just keep recording and then cut out the pauses.
Helen:They were like, yeah. Then you have this gigantic file on your phone. No. The point is once you edit it and you have the edited version, then you just delete the big long file of you just talking and talking and talking. So you just need to be diligent about what you're holding on to.
Helen:And maybe you have a system where it's like, set your trash to not empty for 30 days. There's definitely times that you can set your if you trash something on your photos and your videos that you have 30 days to retrieve them. So if you know you have 30 days to retrieve them and you think, oh, what if I need this in a next week or something? Give yourself space to, like, delete it and know that you have 30 days to get it back. That's number 1.
Helen:Or number 2, you can set a day to do it once a month where you're gonna go back through the month of November and back through the month of October, and you're gonna just quickly do a scroll. That way, it's manageable month to month where you're deleting, deleting, deleting. And then the last piece of the puzzle is what do you wanna save and how do you wanna save it. And this is where I have a system where I airdrop things to my computer and then I file them in a Dropbox so that I have a different off-site storage. And then every year, I take my Dropbox and I back it up to a hard drive.
Helen:So that's like my January cleanup and I put things on a hard drive. So it's just about setting up a system, and I'm not always great with systems. I will be perfectly honest with you. If you look at my email and Julie will look at my desktop, she's always making fun of me. It's kind of a shit show.
Helen:It actually isn't that kind of a shit show. It is a shit show. So it is really hard for someone like me to stay ahead of it, but I have to do it. It's like the one thing that I just try really hard to go back through, delete, delete, delete, delete, airdrop, airdrop, airdrop. A lot of times it's helpful when I airdrop my tutorials because I do airdrop them to post them on YouTube because I post with my laptop.
Helen:So then I get them there. And then once I get them there, I put them in a folder. And then once in a folder, then once a year, I can back them up. So that's the process. Sorry to say, but that's the world which with with which we live in, the world we live in.
Helen:So you do need to figure it out because it's just gonna get harder and harder to keep up with if you don't set up a system. Last question, and then I'm leaving you. As a beginner, what equipment do I need to make my videos? I'm actually gonna do a whole newsletter dedicated to this, but I'm gonna tell you if you are a beginner, do not go out and invest in tons of fancy equipment. I have this rinky little tripod.
Helen:I'm gonna grab it right now and show you. This little tripod, this is a selfie stick topper. This was like $20. We're not talking expensive. I can use this for all my videos.
Helen:I have a couple of other ones, cheap tripods like this that I got for different reasons. I don't spend a lot of money on that. I don't I use natural lighting. I don't spend money on lighting. I have a tiny little light in case of an emergency kinda thing, so you don't need fancy equipment.
Helen:But what I am gonna say is if if per this video, if you are doing speaking videos, get yourself a microphone. You will be so happy with how much improved your content is if you have great audio, and you don't need to spend a lot of money on a microphone. Matter of fact, I will put a link in the show notes and in the newsletter for where I go to get my microphones. I think it's like a $29 wired microphone. They also sell wireless ones.
Helen:I have a discount code for 10% off. You can use my discount code or go somewhere else and get a microphone. It doesn't have to be my affiliate link. It just so happens that I got a discount code from this company because I love their microphones. So, of course, I'm gonna share it.
Helen:Alright. That's it for today. I am just gonna go have a weekend. I need one. I'm gonna be scrolling in my studio to see what my crew people need, help with my core creators.
Helen:I'm so excited. If you are one of the people in my studio, I wanna thank you again. I'm gonna just thank you again and again for trusting in me with your content journey that and knowing that I can help you. I because I am so committed. I am gonna give you 200%.
Helen:You can count on that. So if you're interested, we'll put a link in the show notes. And I will be back here next week. So I'll see you on Tuesday with some trends and some updates from the weekend scroll. I'll see you then.