Lighting
Some videos are filmed off the cuff of your cat sticking their head in an empty paper towel roll. This type of content is typically more forgiving, because people will understand that this wasn’t planned and surprised you as much as it surprises the Viewer. However, this type of content is not reliable for long term growth. Eventually, people will become suspicious, or even concerned, if your cat is constantly getting into trouble. Which could get you into trouble with Viewers. We don’t want either of those things to happen. I’ll provide other content ideas later on.
A reliable source of lighting is standing in front of a window in your room. Mid-day, this can provide some wonderful, free lighting for content production.
Audio and Captions
That means, their view on your content doesn’t even count as a real view towards your video. This should be very, very important to you and in the front of your mind as you’re creating content, and before you hit publish. One of the best, and easiest, solutions is adding captions to your video. At first this may seem like a hassle, but I promise you, it’s very much worth it.
View and like counts increase dramatically, into the thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions, just for the simple 1-5 minutes you take out of your day to add captions to your video. Think of it like this: many people watch content in work, in school, on a bus, a train, or around family members. Many people also can’t be wearing headphones at those times.
Viewers want to know what you have to say, but if you don’t provide that information to them in captions, then they will quickly scroll onto the next video.
Privatize Old Videos
Maybe it’s not relatable anymore, or the tips don’t solve a problem now. Maybe the topic is completely irrelevant now. Privatize it. When you have content like that on your page, it distracts potential Viewers and followers from clicking on your better and newer videos, and typically they end up overwhelmed and going back to the For You Page. You don’t want this to happen.
Make it very easy for people to binge-watch your content, even if that means having significantly less content on your page.
And please, for the love of everything good, privatize the embarrassing, old high school selfies and group photos. You want your brand to appear polished and relevant today.
Create Playlists
Take Notes
What could you do to make your content better than theirs? Do you have better lighting? Check. Can you add captions? Check. Can you cut out weird pauses? Check. Before you know it, you will be teaching yourself what you need to do in order to improve your content.
Bookmark Content
Learn SEO
Think about it. When you want to find someone who has good style, where do you go? You no longer look on Google for someone’s blog. You search it on your preferred social media platform. Where do you go when you need interior design ideas? You go to Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube… In order for your content to come up in the search results when people look for content like yours online, you have to optimize it to where people can find you.
You can use websites like Wordstream, Keyword Tool, and Google Trends to search popular keywords to use in your titles, descriptions, and videos.
Prevent a Shadowban
It can be as as “simple” as recounting an experience you had where someone else treated you in a way they shouldn’t have. That could turn into a shadowban. I know, in many instances this doesn’t make sense. If you want to be able to continue to turn your online presence into a career, it’s important to keep all of this in mind ahead of time.
Even if you don’t agree with the policies, you have to abide by them in order to grow your accounts. If a social media notices that you're posting content like this too much, they will shadowban you. You can typically find out if you’ve been shadowbanned if your content goes from 10,000 likes on average to 200 on average.
Once you’ve been shadowbanned, it’s pretty difficult to get that ban reversed, since social media platforms are not open about doing this. If the shadowban lasts too long, where it’s hurting your business, then it’s recommended to start a new account and encourage your followers to follow you on there. I know, the numbers won’t be the same at the beginning.
Over time, though, if you upload content that is now within the Terms of Service, you will be able to reach a much larger audience again. Continue promoting the new account until you’re ready to fully switch over, and take down whatever content got your main account shadowbanned in the first place.
Plan Content in Advance
Listen to Your Audience
If you’re getting tons of positive feedback on a particular style of video, consider creating more content like that. If you’re getting tons of criticism on a video, consider that maybe your style, or content, needs changing. Commenters are very forward about what type of content they do and don’t like. Listen to them.
You don’t have to change everything because 5% commenters say you do. But, if over 50% of people are suggesting you do something other than what you’re doing in your content, consider that. They will really let you know what they want to see. Sometimes, you just have to ask them! Use an Instagram, or YouTube poll, or create a whole separate video and ask your Viewers to comment their feedback.
Sometimes, people are just upset about something going on that has nothing to do with you. They might even take it out on you. At that point, if you feel like taking down your video, consider reposting it on a later date.
About the Author:
Eliza Rose has been professionally working on social media for over 10 years. Her niches have spanned across beauty, fashion, lifestyle, music, and business. She now dedicates her time to teaching what she's learned through the process, to help other people turn their business and personal goals into a reality.