The Socialize Strategy - Vlogging Tips
Welcome to the socialize strategy. Happy Friday. The weeks are going fast. I feel like I just recorded the Tuesday episode, and I'm back already. But I, I'm happy to be here.
Helen:I'm in a little baby blue today if you're watching. I don't usually wear these kind of bright colors, so I'm gonna try and bring more colorful things into my wardrobe. Now I wanna talk about why I've been thinking about this right now and how my work life always blends into my social media learnings. I am teaching a corporate workshop next week. So I have 2 things happening next week.
Helen:I'm gonna be at a conference in Tampa, Florida. So if you're a listener and you're located near Tampa, please come and see me. There's gonna be details in the show notes about where I'm gonna be on February 5th. And I'm looking forward to it because a lot of you are gonna show up that I and I know that live in the area, so I can't wait. It's gonna be so much fun.
Helen:But I am so I am speaking at a conference and that's gonna be fun. But the second thing I'm doing is a corporate workshop shop where I am teaching trainees in a corporation how to create video content. And this is not social media content. This is vertical sorry, horizontal formatted trainer videos for how to do how to apply makeup or how, fragrance is made or whatever the thing is that they have to talk about. It's in a fragrance company.
Helen:Okay. So I'm gonna be teaching a beginner class. I call it a class. It's about 10 people, I think, How to make videos. And when I say from the ground up, I'm gonna be speaking to these people who probably have 0 to very little experience doing it.
Helen:And they're gonna learn with an iPhone. They're gonna learn camera angles, lighting, how to it's very basic, but we're gonna talk about how to make videos from a basic way right through to how to edit them and how to put text on. And we're gonna have a nice, clear beginner lesson on how to make good content for salespeople for promotional things. I'm so excited about this. And why am I I'm even talking about it is and why it connects to my blue shirt is that one of the mod I'm making modules on on things to think about.
Helen:Okay. Good camera angle, bad camera angle, and I'm showing shot I'm showing actual shots, for examples. Good makeup, bad makeup for on camera, and I'm showing examples. Good wardrobe, bad wardrobe, and I'm showing examples. And what I did find in my search for finding good examples, crazy patterns are very distracting.
Helen:I know this from working in the commercial world. This is part of my learnings through the years. It's instinctive to me that when I'm on camera, I'm not wearing loud crazy patterns. Sometimes I'll have a little hint of something like, maybe a colorful scarf. I had one around here somewhere.
Helen:But I had that you know, little little things, but not crazy big patterns that are so distracting that you're trying to show something in a video and you're holding it, and then it's lost because you have so much going on on your shirt that when you're holding it in your hands, it's not even visible. So I am teaching very basic skills. And it came to mind that when I was looking for clothing examples, I was like, oh, look how I found all these nice pastels and different layers where the people wearing a color with another shade over it but all solids. And I said I gotta bring more pastel colors into my wardrobe. I wear a lot of black and white.
Helen:I mean, I live in the city. It's a thing. People wear black and white here. I don't know why. But I don't really pull a lot of color in.
Helen:And I sometimes I don't do it intentionally. I just do it so that everything kind of works, so that I can that shirt will always work with those pants. That will always skirt. Everything's mix and matchy. I have accent things that go over and gold little jackets and things like that.
Helen:But I'm really gonna be try I'm going to be trying to add more color in. I don't know. We'll see how long this lasts. So for today, I'm in the blue. Alright.
Helen:The other thing There's a few things I wanna talk about before I get into the topic today, which is vlogging. And we are gonna get to it, and I'm gonna dive in deep. But before I get there, I wanna say that I have discovered something now. It's going on 2 weeks, and it's because I have friends in European places and other countries now from being on TikTok. And some of these people I'm in contact with in real life.
Helen:We're texting. We're messaging. We're WhatsApping. Whatever. And so because of that, I have more of a bird's eye view on things.
Helen:So when TikTok went dark, I happened to be speaking to a friend, and she was telling me about what happened during that 12 hour period for the for this was in particular people in London. What was happening is they were getting fed different creators. They were still seeing American content, but their FYPs were changing to more European content. And how and she was telling me how peaceful and enjoyable and joyful some of this content was and how people were sharing, like, skating under the stars and things that were just, like, beautiful moments in different countries, and how it was making her feel so relaxed and calm versus the stress and the drama when US TikTok was big on her feed. Okay.
Helen:So I said, oh my god. This is so great. I'm gonna explore myself. And I went down the rabbit hole. And I was in world talk, Euro talk, whatever you wanna call it for a couple of days.
Helen:And I said to her, I would love to share about this in the podcast and in the newsletter. But my fear and I said this to her. My fear is that some people might it the word might get out. It's just like, okay. Wait.
Helen:I'm gonna relate it to this. Is this just like I find a cute little restaurant in the neighborhood here and then somebody makes a video and it goes viral. And suddenly the cute little restaurant, you can't get into it. It's it's busy and you can't get a reservation. It's been, like, overrun with, like because of finding out about it, it's now it's not the same kind of quaint place where you can have, like, a quiet dinner.
Helen:So in the same way, I relate to world talk. I'm like, I don't wanna have if I talk about it and then somebody else talks about it, somebody else talks about it, it goes down the line, like, to and it gets huge just from this domino effect. I don't want it to change world talk. Like, world talk is, like, this enjoyable thing, and in particular, that she was enjoying. And I'm like, I don't wanna wreck it.
Helen:I don't wanna wreck it for my friend. I don't wanna wreck it for people that are actually enjoying it over there. So I said, let me table it. And I didn't really talk about it, but I've been dabbling and looking myself. Well, lo and behold now I've seen 2 viral videos of people talking about how wonderful it is on World Talk and how it's such, like, a really different happy place to be on TikTok.
Helen:And I'm like, okay. Now the jig is up as we say. The word is out, and people are knowing about it. So I think it's safe for me to say it's worth looking into. If you are looking for something more joyful, more, unusual, not so much the news feed of the mania that's happening or the drama between creators in the US and whatever and the or or, like, Blake Lively and Justin Beltran.
Helen:Like, if you're sick of that stuff and you just need a break, world talk is your answer. So you're welcome. Enjoy. I'd love to hear your feedback if you go down that rabbit hole because it really is it's really special. Alright.
Helen:The other thing there's a few more housekeeping things, sorry, that we have to get into, and that is the Jamaica link I put in my previous email was not working and I didn't know that. And now it's it was sent out in the email so I can't change that. It was also in the show notes. I did change that, I think. I should check.
Helen:And I'm gonna put it here again in the show notes and in the newsletter today. So that way, at least you have the right link. And just to give you a little more information about that, I don't really talk about it too much. But if you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur that has been an entrepreneur for a while and you're needing new strategies, new ways of thinking, the woman run running this conference is called the queen of non pushy sales, Erica v. And she really is an expert in the field when I tell you.
Helen:Because every time I get an email from her, I tend to read it because of her subject line. And I'm like, oh. And so it's like, I might be getting a lot of emails from her, I think with, like her sales courses or whatever she she does. But I get the emails and I'm and I'm, like, immediately opening it because of what she said in the subject or however she words it. She is really, really good at it because I don't feel like I'm being sold to.
Helen:I feel like I'm being served. And so that's one of her things that, you know, don't sell. Serve. Like, serve your audience and they will want your expertise, which is kind of what she told me is I'm I'm already doing that by instinct, and I've been doing it for 4 years because I've never was selling anything. So I think there's, a benefit in the time that I spent building my community and having followers that trust me now because I didn't try and sell them something in the beginning.
Helen:I've built loyalty, And there are people who wanna work with me, and I don't have to sell that. It's like, I'm here for you. If you wanna come to the studio and learn, like, we're having a great time in there. But no obligation. You know?
Helen:It's I don't know. It's a win for me. I don't know what to say about it. So that's that on that topic. So if you do wanna experience that, there's a bunch of people that are experts that are in the field.
Helen:And I'm gonna be doing the social media part of the program. And I'm really excited about it because we're gonna do hands on workshops, hands on editing, hands on transition learning, and all of that. So we're gonna be doing that. Plus it's gonna be like a hangout weekend. So girls weekend because it's a women's entrepreneur conference.
Helen:I do believe there are some male presenter no. I know there are some male presenters. And one of them I can't wait to meet because he's a fitness guy, and I already get along with him on the call. So I'm excited for that. But I I wanna say it's gonna be a fun weekend of connection, networking, learning, and also gaining things.
Helen:Like you're gonna have, headshots new headshots taken because she has a photographer coming. I think there's even a makeup artist and a hairstyle a stylist coming. So there's a lot of beneficial things, happening at this conference aside from just sales training. Okay. So there you have it.
Helen:My non sales pitch, if you wanna come and hang in Jamaica. I'm going alone so I'm gonna be hanging, you know, there to hang out. So I don't have any I'm not gonna be running off with, Julie's not able to make it. So I won't be I won't be, hanging with Julie on the side. I'll be hanging out with you guys the whole time.
Helen:I'll be looking for friends. Dance parties will happen. Alright. And then the last thing I wanted to, make sure I made a point of saying is that since I'm doing this corporate workshop next week, if you happen to work in a corporation where you think the service is needed, I am available for this. So I thought I would just put it out there to the universe to say, I now have a corporate workshop model where I'm teaching, people in corporations who have no prior knowledge of how to make videos.
Helen:And there's a whole bunch of people and companies now that need to have their people making video content for whether it's for sales meetings, whether it's for sales, trainings, whatever it is. And I'm gonna be teaching it. So this is like a new I think it's a resume point. It's a new bullet point on my resume. So I'm excited about that.
Helen:So if you know if anybody needs it, you can just, reply to the email or drop a comment here, whatever. You know where to reach me. I'm easy to find. I'm very available. Alright.
Helen:Let's get into it. How to make an engaging vlog. So creating vlogs are a great way to seamlessly integrate making content in your day to day life. This makes it less work in theory. And why I say in theory is a lot of people wanna do it and then they think of it like a job.
Helen:So they're like, I forgot. I went to the next thing and I was gonna show all my my, things that I was gonna do today and I forgot or whatever. So we're gonna share some tips on how to make it better. Okay? And this will help you get through making a vlog.
Helen:And I'm gonna tell you the different ways you can make a vlog. So first you wanna decide, are you committed to do doing this? Because if your day if you're in a moment and you can't take yourself out of it for a minute to say, oh, I have to capture this, you have to kind of embrace the idea that you're going to think about what you're doing and have a moment, whatever that moment is, Take a deep breath before something starts. When you arrive at a thing, take a deep breath before you do something. Maybe it's related to breath work.
Helen:I don't know. But you have to decide that you're committed to this, so each time you do a thing you're gonna take a pause and say, do I need do I wanna record this? And then carry on if it's not part of the day you wanna record. So you need to do it. You just need to to know that you're gonna commit to it.
Helen:That's the first step. Okay. Decide. Because if you're not interested in doing it, you're never gonna be wanting to do it. It just won't happen because you you won't have the the want.
Helen:So the next thing is And Julie does this and I I like this as a strategy. I think it would make me stressed. But set a timer every hour so that your phone goes off and you will stop and think, what am I doing right now? Should I record this? I think that's not a bad idea.
Helen:For me, I I'm not so hourly so I'd have trouble because I do the thing be ringing and then I'd turn it off and I'd forget and I'd go on to the next thing. So that's a way to do it though. You could set a timer or you can make a to do list that you know you're obsessively looking at your to do list. So it's a little box that you have to check off. Did you do Did you shoot your morning your afternoon piece?
Helen:Did you shoot your evening piece? So you just put it on a list. I mean, that's another way to do it. But the timer is a great idea. If you're a person who really can embrace that, I think that's a good strategy.
Helen:The other thing is a lot of people think you have to record for, like, so much content in order to make a vlog. When in fact, you just need like 4 or 5 seconds of a thing that you're doing. So if I wanted to say, oh, I'm gonna vlog my my day today. I would right now in the middle of doing this podcast, I would say, oh, I'm gonna vlog this. So hold on.
Helen:Let me get my camera out and let me just record myself. I'm actually right now recording the podcast and in the midst I'm stopping to make this piece of content. This is my setup. I'm recording and I'm looking at my notes and that's how I do it. It's as simple as that.
Helen:It's so easy. So now I just made a video that tells people how I record my podcast and I'm gonna use that piece of content. I'm gonna post it on my story because that's pretty cool. What a good idea. So you have to be able to think on your feet a little bit and realize that even the most mundane things could be interesting to someone, especially the way you put it together.
Helen:Or maybe you're putting a voice over on it and so instead you wouldn't hear my voice, but you'd see me showing and we'd use that shot and I'd put a voice over. This is me in the midst of the podcast recording a piece of content because I'm a content creator. I can make a joke of it in my vlog. Okay. You get where I'm going?
Helen:It's on the fly. It's living on the fly and living a little bit you're gonna say to yourself, today I'm gonna live the day through my phone. Today I'm gonna live the day through the camera lens. Like, know that you're gonna do that. And what's weird for me, and I think I've talked about this before because I when my son announced he was being, gonna be a dad and him and his wife were showing the little onesie, was like, oh, no.
Helen:I'm not recording. Picked up the phone and immediately started filming. So I am a natural vlogger. I enjoy moments through filming them. But if you are not that person, you just need to decide, today, I'm gonna be like the mothership, and I'm gonna live through my camera lens.
Helen:You know what I mean? Just take a page out of my book for one day, and just that's your vlog day. Or even if it's a half a day or an event you're going to. Just for that time, flip your mindset and say, I'm gonna live this event through my camera lens. So what does my camera lens need to capture to tell this story?
Helen:Oh my goodness. Some of the things I say are crazy, but they're so good. I mean, I know that they're good. It's just a matter of how much you think I'm a lunatic when you hear me. Okay.
Helen:The next thing is successful vlogs are not long, long, long shots. They are quick. They keep the viewer engaged. So you think about how long is it gonna take you to say, and then we went out for a quick dinner. Okay.
Helen:That's about 3 seconds of audio. You only need a 3 second shot of yourself in a restaurant. That's all you need. You don't need ten shots of the restaurant, the food, every little thing, unless you're gonna say, and we went to a restaurant and I ate at such and such a thing. So you wanna think about what you're going to talk about and make sure you have a shot to accommodate it.
Helen:Alright. Now I have to stop for one second to tell you that I have such a genius way. I'm gonna make a tutorial. I I should be honest. I already made a tutorial that I'm going to share this next week in my studio because a lot of people were asking me how to do how to literally do a vlog.
Helen:Now I can just tell you all these points, but then literally how you put it together is what I'm gonna show in my studio. So I've already made that video, and I have such a good plan. And I'm sharing that with them in there. It is too involved for me to get into it here in this podcast. Sorry to say because it would take up more than the whole podcast for me to explain it.
Helen:But when I explain it in the studio, we do an hour meeting and I have a live teaching where I explain how to do a thing. And so that's what's happening in the studio. So if you are really into vlogging, this is your month. Get in the studio now because we're gonna do a whole Then you can get out after the month. Whatever.
Helen:But I'm gonna really really be teaching vlogging in a very detailed style so that it's attainable. So you can do it and you can decide how to work it into your life. Because it's just a matter of these things that I'm telling you, but I'm gonna show you how to put them into practice. So that's where I take it a step further. Okay.
Helen:The next thing is to make If you're making a vlog, you and you just started by saying, this is a day in my life. That's probably not gonna keep your viewers engaged because maybe they're like, I don't care about your day. I'm a busy person and I have my own day. So you wanna think about how your vlog will benefit your viewer. Okay.
Helen:I'm gonna give an example, and I don't have an example here to read in my newsletter. I'm gonna make it up right now. So instead of saying, this is day in my life in New York City. I'm gonna say Let me think. Hold on.
Helen:What would I say something interesting? Here's how I managed to have fun even though I had the most stressful workday in New York. Okay? That tells the viewer, Oh, she's gonna show me something fun. Oh, she was really busy, but she still managed to make this video.
Helen:So that was a random example and maybe not it's not the best example. But the example is, I'm gonna show my viewers something specific that could potentially help them. So I'm gonna show, oh, I could even do that with what I just did with the vlog. Like here Okay. Here's how I managed to still make content even though I had back to back meetings on Zoom.
Helen:And then I could show my moment of recording my thing that I just recorded here while I was talking to you. Okay? So it's like, what can benefit the viewer? What are you sharing with the viewer that might matter to them? Okay?
Helen:And now if you don't wanna do a thing, you could say, here's how I found the best tasting croissant in New York City while I was running from meeting to meeting. And then you might just take a clip of yourself in the I have such a nice croissant store and I'm planning to go to it later. That's why that's on my mind. Oh, boy. Welcome to my brain.
Helen:I think people that listen to this, you either gotta love me or you gotta think I'm a crazy person to to stick with me. But so hopefully it's the first. So hook your viewer. Alright. And then the last part is Well I guess I'm an expert at this, but it's be yourself.
Helen:It's not trying to lie and make your day more glamorous than it really is. Sometimes the best best vlogs are the ones where someone's like, I'm gonna show you how my boring day was still able to turn into a vlog. That's kind of interesting right there. That's a hook that I'm buying into. Let's see what you did for a boring day to make it interesting.
Helen:So it's like, I don't know. It's just trying to find a way to be authentic and be and and be real so that your audience doesn't think they're being duped into watching somebody that's, like, pretending to be an influencer. I don't know. I I know you know what I mean and I'm not gonna throw influencers under the bus because, you know, we love them. We love them.
Helen:Right? Okay. So last lastly for today, gosh, I've gone on more than I longer than I expected because of the opening of this. But my last thing is just if you're interested in the studio, we do still have that challenge 15 code running. So if you wanna try it for a month, hop in it now.
Helen:We're gonna keep that code open at least till the end of January. So challenge 15, you can now join in on the vlog challenge. That's gonna be next week. We are working on YouTube. That's happening already.
Helen:We had a whole live meeting about YouTube. And if you missed it and you are joined the studio, you can actually watch it because we record all the meetings so that if you can't make one, you can always relive it. And I have a couple of the people in the studio that have said, thank you so much for recording. I feel like I'm there when I watch the replay. So it's really, really great.
Helen:That's all I have to say. I don't have to sell. I'm just serving. I'm serving you the answer to your content if you're struggling. I'm serving you.
Helen:I hope it's delish. Have a great weekend. I'm hoping that we will be in the Catskills this weekend. I'm really excited. You know why I liked besides the fact that I get to see my son and daughter-in-law who's expecting and I can see her little baby bump and give her hugs and send and take care of her, make them food, etcetera.
Helen:I bring I always bring bring some baked goods. Aside from that, I always take with me Hold on. My hungry pets. Why? Because it's the perfect weekend when they're all doing things.
Helen:My husband's there sometimes helping them do house projects. I'm not really participating in the hammer hammer bang bang. My son does have a sauna, so I do have some exercise time and it's really fun. But I also take time for myself and I make some content for one of my clients because I'm peaceful and I have time to think, and I can take the hungry pets out into the woods or to a store with me. And then I can have fun making the content for a client instead of it being work.
Helen:So note to self, when you are a content creator and you can make your work fun, you never have to work a day in your life. Gotcha. Have a great weekend. I'll see you next week, and I hope I see you in the studio. Maybe you'll try it.
Helen:Maybe I'll get to meet some new people. I love it. And don't forget, Tampa, February 5th, 5 PM, and the location is called the, oh my god, American Social Bar. Every time I go to say it here, I forget what the heck the name of it is, but it's in the show notes. I think it's called the American Social Club or something like that.
Helen:Okay. I'll see you there. Have a good one.
