Latest / Influencer Confidential / How to Plan Your First Vlog: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners #222

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How to Plan Your First Vlog: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners #222 · Influencer Confidential

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
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Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
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Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
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Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
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Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the curtain? Well,
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Speaker 1: let's jump in. If you are a creator that is
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Speaker 1: looking for a step by step guide to start vlogging,
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Speaker 1: this is for you because we are going to get
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Speaker 1: into the nitty gritty of how to plan out your
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Speaker 1: first vlog. Now. If you're new to our channel, my
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Speaker 1: name is Nina Zeta and the co founder of Sidewalker Daily,
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Speaker 1: and we feel we are creator's secret weapons because we
0:39
Speaker 1: come from the brand side, so we're able to help
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Speaker 1: creators with that brand side perspective. I was the one
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Speaker 1: that's managed hundreds of thousands of dollars of budget of
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Speaker 1: the brand side, paying creators, bloggers, instagrammers, TikTokers, content creators,
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Speaker 1: all of that. But I also have a community of
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Speaker 1: over one hundred and fifty thousand creators and I know
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Speaker 1: from you guys, I've heard from you that's so many
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Speaker 1: of you want to get into vlogging. So many of
1:02
Speaker 1: you want to get into shooting in public, so many
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Speaker 1: of you want to start making content to help enhance
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Speaker 1: your own personal brands. And I think that's why I'm
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Speaker 1: excited about today, because it's going to give you step
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Speaker 1: by step and the first step before we even get technical, y'all,
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Speaker 1: is to really write it down. If you have to
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Speaker 1: get a pen and paper, you're going to be old
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Speaker 1: school like me at start to ask yourself what is
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Speaker 1: the purpose of your vlog? And I know that feels
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Speaker 1: like an annoying thing. You're like, Nina, let's just get
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Speaker 1: to scripting and shooting and storyboarding. We're going to get there.
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Speaker 1: But before we even get there, we have to remind
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Speaker 1: ourselves the why. What are we doing? Why are we vlogging?
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Speaker 1: So why do you want to blog? Seriously, tell me
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Speaker 1: why do you want to blog? Is it to inspire people?
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Speaker 1: Is it to share certain tips? Is it to entertain others?
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Speaker 1: Is it to document something for yourself? Like again, I
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Speaker 1: want to know the reason why because it's going to
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Speaker 1: help us again put our plan together. And then I
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Speaker 1: want you to ask yourself, who are you blogging for?
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Speaker 1: If it was just for you, you wouldn't be publishing it, okay,
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Speaker 1: So I know it's not for suggest you, it's because
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Speaker 1: you want to share it with the world. So I
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Speaker 1: want to ask you to think a little deeper. Who
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Speaker 1: is the target audience who's going to be watching these vlogs?
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Speaker 1: Are they other travelers? Are they fitness enthusiasts? Are they families?
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Speaker 1: Are they moms with young children? Again, I know these
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Speaker 1: are like the marketing questions that creatives don't want to
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Speaker 1: ask themselves. But if you know who's on the other
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Speaker 1: end of the screen, it makes shooting content so simple.
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Speaker 1: Like I literally know exactly who watches my videos, okay, creators, content, creators, influencers.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes I have some brands that like listen in because
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Speaker 1: they want to hear the advice I'm giving creators. But
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Speaker 1: I know my people and it helps me vlog so
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Speaker 1: simply because I know who's there, and knowing your target
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Speaker 1: audience will just take that lift. It will feel so
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Speaker 1: much more natural and organic when you are creating your content.
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Speaker 1: And then obviously I want to ask you, what is
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Speaker 1: that value that you're providing? Like I said, maybe it
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Speaker 1: is just entertainment, okay, cool inspiration. Maybe there's value you're
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Speaker 1: bringing to the table education. But these are things that
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Speaker 1: you want to consider in the beginning. Now, sometimes people
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Speaker 1: tell me, well, I just want to vlog my life.
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Speaker 1: I just want to blog like the things of my life,
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Speaker 1: to which I always say, bring it back to your
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Speaker 1: anchor your niche. So I'll give you a perfect example. Okay,
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Speaker 1: let's just say I wanted to vlog my day. I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna do it through the lens of like an influencer marketer, right, like, oh,
3:20
Speaker 1: because I work in influencer marketing. Like I woke up,
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Speaker 1: I had to make myself this Like then I went
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Speaker 1: to the studio and then I got some calls. Maybe
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Speaker 1: I'm not going to show all the elements that maybe
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Speaker 1: don't necessarily make sense with my niche of being an
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Speaker 1: expert in this space. But for example, I'm working with
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Speaker 1: a podcaster and she's gonna start blogging and it's gonna
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Speaker 1: be like get ready with me to like get my
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Speaker 1: podcasts up. Or I had a really crazy day today shooting.
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Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna go grocery shopping. Let's go do it.
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Speaker 1: And she's talking about her day and her podcast and
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Speaker 1: like all of that while she's grocery shopping. So I
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Speaker 1: love this idea of just tying it back to your
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Speaker 1: niche because it helps you from getting super lost. Okay,
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Speaker 1: so now we need to get into the nitty gritty.
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Speaker 1: This is going to be your first vlog. So what
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Speaker 1: I need you to do is decide what is this
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Speaker 1: first blog going to be about. I want you to
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Speaker 1: just have one clear message. What is the topic about?
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Speaker 1: Okay one, Remember this is your first blog, so I
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Speaker 1: don't want to overwhelm you. So is it a day
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Speaker 1: in the life? Is it a tutorial? Are you vlogging
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Speaker 1: a specific event, are you sharing a specific story time
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Speaker 1: of something that happened, or maybe it's as simple as
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Speaker 1: just an introduction vlog that you're gonna say why you're
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Speaker 1: gonna start vlogging. But I'm gonna need you to pick
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Speaker 1: a theme. Okay, So like let's just say, for simplicity purposes,
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Speaker 1: you're gonna do like a day in the life as
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Speaker 1: a content creator. Okay, that's gonna be your theme. You
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Speaker 1: now have some boundaries around that, right, Or if you're
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Speaker 1: gonna be vlogging an event that you're going to Okay,
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Speaker 1: now you know what's gonna be just about that event?
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Speaker 1: That's what the vlog is going to be about. I
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Speaker 1: recently was watching this girl's vlog and it was all
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Speaker 1: about movin day. That was the theme. It was moving, moving,
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Speaker 1: packing of boxes, unboxing your home, all of process. It
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Speaker 1: wasn't everything else. It was just centered around the one
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Speaker 1: topic of moving. Okay, so pick a topic. That's step one.
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Speaker 1: Step one is defining your why. Step two is choosing
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Speaker 1: your idea in your format. So what do I mean
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Speaker 1: by format? So are you doing like talking head style
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Speaker 1: vlogs where you are vlogging but literally talking to the
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Speaker 1: camera and you're like, hey, guys, I'm here getting ready,
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Speaker 1: da da dah. Okay, let's go. You go somewhere. Okay,
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Speaker 1: So we just got to the place and we're blah
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Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and then you keep going like what
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Speaker 1: type of log format do you want to do? Is
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Speaker 1: it going to be more like you telling a story
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Speaker 1: sitting at your kitchen table and then inserting b roll
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Speaker 1: into the story to show what happened? So, like if
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Speaker 1: I was doing like, oh my god, you guys today
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Speaker 1: was crazy. I cannot wait to share with you what happened.
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Speaker 1: So I started my day off by going to the gym.
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Speaker 1: B roll of you at the gym and then I
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Speaker 1: headed over to the store. B roll of you at
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Speaker 1: the store, do you get what I'm saying, Like, you
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Speaker 1: have to kind of understand your format what you want
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Speaker 1: to do. Do you just want to sit and talk
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Speaker 1: and tell a story and fill it in with b
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Speaker 1: roll or do you want to vlog an event and
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Speaker 1: sit and talk to the camera at different spaces. Now,
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Speaker 1: of course you can do option three, which is what
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Speaker 1: most people do, which is talk to the camera b roll.
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Speaker 1: Talk to the camera at b role and they're inserting
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Speaker 1: bee roll throughout the entire video to make it really
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Speaker 1: engaging because instead of telling you what you did, people
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Speaker 1: want to see. So instead of being like, Okay, guys,
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Speaker 1: I got to the office today, you want to see
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Speaker 1: me driving to the office and getting out of my car.
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Speaker 1: You want those b roll shots to help the story
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Speaker 1: come to life. That is the importance b role. So
6:32
Speaker 1: choose that format, choose the idea, and again there's a
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Speaker 1: lot of decisions obviously that come to planning a vlog.
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Speaker 1: So if you're someone that has analysis, prolysis, or you
6:39
Speaker 1: just need someone to bounce ideas with, you're by yourself.
6:42
Speaker 1: Being a creator is very lonely. Because we have all
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Speaker 1: these ideas in our head and we just don't know
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Speaker 1: what to do. If you want to talk to me
6:48
Speaker 1: directly or someone on my team, you can go ahead
6:50
Speaker 1: and work with us and we can help you plan
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Speaker 1: out your vlog strategy so that you know the vlogs
6:55
Speaker 1: that you're going to be producing and that you feel
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Speaker 1: clarity around that. Okay, So I will leave a link
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Speaker 1: below to speak to our success manager and she can
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Speaker 1: share with you ways that we can work together to
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Speaker 1: help support you in your vlogging and creator journey. Now,
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Speaker 1: the next thing is once you figure out your format,
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Speaker 1: then you're gonna have to come up with like a
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Speaker 1: mini storyboard. So a storyboard, every single story right has
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Speaker 1: an intro, the body, and the closing. So what I
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Speaker 1: would want you to do, Let's just say you're gonna
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Speaker 1: lolog an event. I want you to think about the introduction,
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Speaker 1: like what's the opening of the vlog? You know, is
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Speaker 1: there a hook to kind of get people in? What
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Speaker 1: are you gonna talk about? You know, what are you
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Speaker 1: gonna do in the body of the vlog? And how
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Speaker 1: are you gonna kind of close it out? So as
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Speaker 1: you're building out your storyboard, this next step that I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna share. It kind of goes into the storyboard because
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Speaker 1: I like to kind of just understand my like my locations.
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Speaker 1: So I'll be like, Okay, I'm gonna do a vlog
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Speaker 1: going to this event. So Location one is in my
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Speaker 1: bathroom getting ready putting my makeup on. Location two is
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Speaker 1: gonna be in the car. I need to get a
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Speaker 1: shot of me in the car because I need some
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Speaker 1: b rule shots, right. Location three is right when we
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Speaker 1: get to the event. Maybe I v log in the
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Speaker 1: car talk about it. Then Location four at the event
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Speaker 1: and I go knowing the b role that I want
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Speaker 1: to shoot, so I'm not with my phone out the
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Speaker 1: entire time, my camera out. You kind of want to
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Speaker 1: go ahead of time and just have those b rule
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Speaker 1: shots prepared, but also including the locations that you're gonna
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Speaker 1: be filming at right, so that you have like this
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Speaker 1: mini storyboard. Again, it gives you a lot of clarity.
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Speaker 1: You just you could even have it on your phone.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be a lot of work. It
8:22
Speaker 1: could just be like six steps, six locations, and how
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Speaker 1: you want it to look, and then include a list
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Speaker 1: of b rule shots that you want to include, Like
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Speaker 1: I don't know, closing your makeup bag or like getting
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Speaker 1: into the car, turning it on. Whatever those b rule
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Speaker 1: shots that you want to also have in your vlog. Now,
8:38
Speaker 1: when you're planning at your locations, you want to take
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Speaker 1: into account like certain things like you know, how's the lighting.
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Speaker 1: You know, is this a daytime event nighttime event? Do
8:46
Speaker 1: you have like the type of equipment, which we'll get into,
8:49
Speaker 1: but like is it audio gonna be if you're gonna
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Speaker 1: be talking, Like does it have to be a quiet place?
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Speaker 1: Are you gonna be miked up so that the audio
8:55
Speaker 1: is good? You know, I always kind of when I
8:58
Speaker 1: plan any sort of shoot, whether it be a blog
9:01
Speaker 1: or not, like I want to have that in mind.
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Speaker 1: So I'm like, Okay, I know I'm going to be
9:05
Speaker 1: like vlogging a little bit in the car, but I'm
9:07
Speaker 1: not going to be talking when I'm at the restaurant
9:09
Speaker 1: because it's like really loud, unless again, you are micd
9:11
Speaker 1: up or if you're at the airport. Let's just say,
9:13
Speaker 1: you may want to mic up so it doesn't sound
9:15
Speaker 1: really distorted. Audio is a very important part of a vlog,
9:19
Speaker 1: and that's why oftentimes you'll see a lot of the
9:21
Speaker 1: b rule shots being done in public, and then the
9:23
Speaker 1: talking stuff is usually done like an acquieter space. Test
9:27
Speaker 1: lighting and test your sound to make sure everything kind
9:30
Speaker 1: of looks good because you want your first blog to
9:32
Speaker 1: feel good and look good. Now we kind of talked
9:34
Speaker 1: about this a little bit right before, but obviously now
9:37
Speaker 1: we need to think of the equipment we're shooting our
9:38
Speaker 1: first blog. Where are we going to shoot it. Is
9:40
Speaker 1: it gonna be on our phone? Is it going to
9:42
Speaker 1: be with you know, a handheld, it's going to be
9:44
Speaker 1: a camera. Like I said about overcoming anxiety, I talked
9:47
Speaker 1: about using discrete vlogging tools, so it's not scary, especially
9:50
Speaker 1: when you're first starting. You know, having that DJA osmo
9:54
Speaker 1: for example. It's a discrete tool that you can share
9:57
Speaker 1: and like shoot and you're not like super scared. It
9:59
Speaker 1: also has a really good mic functionality, so you're able
10:01
Speaker 1: to mike yourself up. I have included this and all
10:04
Speaker 1: the tools that I recommend in my Amazon shop, so
10:07
Speaker 1: I will go ahead and link my Amazon shop. I
10:09
Speaker 1: have all the different blogging tools I personally use so
10:12
Speaker 1: that you guys can have access to those as well.
10:15
Speaker 1: And then you want to think, like, okay, do I
10:16
Speaker 1: need like a little mini light. Do I want to
10:18
Speaker 1: bring that with me? Am? I shooting a natural light?
10:20
Speaker 1: So this is where you kind of think of your equipment,
10:22
Speaker 1: like literally just lighting the camera and the audio. That's
10:27
Speaker 1: kind of like what I always think about when I
10:29
Speaker 1: am shooting. So now you're going to want to start
10:31
Speaker 1: really getting into Now that you have your equipment, you're
10:33
Speaker 1: probably going to start filming soon. But even before we
10:36
Speaker 1: start filming, I know we have our list, and we
10:38
Speaker 1: have the b rule shots that we want, We have
10:40
Speaker 1: the talking to the camera shots that we want. You know,
10:42
Speaker 1: I really want you just to again plant out the
10:46
Speaker 1: storyboard that I mentioned is just kind of like top level.
10:48
Speaker 1: This is now where you're like really having that shot
10:51
Speaker 1: list of what you want. And again for just doing
10:54
Speaker 1: an event, we can keep it really nice and small.
10:57
Speaker 1: So just to remind you, you know, where are you
10:59
Speaker 1: talking to the camera, Like what type of shots are
11:01
Speaker 1: those going to be? What about time lapses? Like do
11:04
Speaker 1: you want to have certain time lapses throughout the video
11:06
Speaker 1: so that it's like okay, showing you in action, showing
11:08
Speaker 1: you do it. You need to have that marked down
11:11
Speaker 1: so on your script, and I don't mean script like
11:13
Speaker 1: something that you recite. I just mean, like your notes,
11:16
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to say, Okay, i want to have
11:18
Speaker 1: a few talking heads where I'm talking to the camera
11:20
Speaker 1: a few times. I'm going to have these b rule
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Speaker 1: shots and these time lapses so that when you get
11:25
Speaker 1: to editing you can put it all together. Now, the
11:27
Speaker 1: thing about vlogging is I don't recommend a script. That
11:30
Speaker 1: is just totally against what blogging is. Blogging is supposed
11:34
Speaker 1: to be you talking to a friend and sharing with
11:36
Speaker 1: them XYZ, and it's supposed to feel really intimate. So
11:39
Speaker 1: I'm team absolutely no scripts, but I am team organized,
11:42
Speaker 1: especially for the new creators that kind of just feel
11:45
Speaker 1: a little lost and a little confused. And here's the
11:48
Speaker 1: thing about vlogging. No vlog looks good. It's not meant
11:50
Speaker 1: to be high quality, high production styles of videos. They're
11:54
Speaker 1: supposed to be kind of raw and edgy, like you're
11:56
Speaker 1: literally vlogging from the car, you're vlogging from your bathroom,
12:00
Speaker 1: you're at the event, you know, you're in the car
12:02
Speaker 1: on the way back, like you're talking. And then it's
12:04
Speaker 1: a mix of storytelling through visuals. So do not feel
12:08
Speaker 1: like it needs to be perfect. And my next tip
12:12
Speaker 1: when you actually start shooting is record in small segments,
12:15
Speaker 1: like little bite sized pieces. Right, even when I do
12:18
Speaker 1: a vlog and I'm doing a b roll shot, like
12:21
Speaker 1: if I'm like, okay, I need a shot of me
12:22
Speaker 1: typing on the computer, that's just like a three, four
12:25
Speaker 1: or five second shot and that's it. It doesn't have
12:28
Speaker 1: to be long, right, So record in segments, even like
12:31
Speaker 1: your little talking head segments. It can be like in
12:33
Speaker 1: little batches if you feel like you get lost or
12:36
Speaker 1: you don't know what to say. Again, I always think
12:38
Speaker 1: it's just the best if you feel like you're talking
12:40
Speaker 1: to a friend, because then people feel that connection with you.
12:43
Speaker 1: But record in small, little segments. So now that you've
12:46
Speaker 1: started filming and you've recorded all those little segments, it's
12:49
Speaker 1: time to put the story together. Now. Vlogging is meant
12:52
Speaker 1: to be chronological, and it's meant to show like multiple
12:56
Speaker 1: steps of a day. It's like a progression of something.
13:00
Speaker 1: But the most important part when you're editing your vlog
13:02
Speaker 1: is to trim out all the unnecessary stuff, the pauses,
13:06
Speaker 1: the extra gunk. You know, like we talked about the
13:09
Speaker 1: camera shaking and moving. You really just want to be
13:11
Speaker 1: able to have like that beginning, middle, and end, because
13:14
Speaker 1: again you're starting off with one topic and we're not overvlogging,
13:18
Speaker 1: we're just getting one topic. So just having that beginning, middle,
13:21
Speaker 1: and end, splicing it up and having certain b rule shots,
13:24
Speaker 1: deciding if you want some music at some points, royalty
13:28
Speaker 1: free music, ensuring that you have you know your time
13:32
Speaker 1: lapses within it. If that's something that you want to
13:34
Speaker 1: share as well, you don't have to make it complicated.
13:36
Speaker 1: This creator was like, I edit on iMovie. That's fine.
13:39
Speaker 1: You don't have to be on Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, pro,
13:42
Speaker 1: edit it on cap cut, edit it on iMovie. Literally
13:46
Speaker 1: the point, it's your first blog, for god's sake, The
13:48
Speaker 1: idea here is just to get it done and to
13:51
Speaker 1: post it, to post it, to shoot it, and to
13:53
Speaker 1: post it, because again that's why you're doing this. You're
13:56
Speaker 1: not doing this for your health. You're doing this to
13:58
Speaker 1: actually post it. So editing in the beginning is obviously
14:02
Speaker 1: just trimming out those spaces and making sure the story
14:04
Speaker 1: unfolds a way that you want it. Now, if you
14:06
Speaker 1: are going to be posting this on YouTube, which I
14:08
Speaker 1: assume you will be, unless you're going to be doing
14:10
Speaker 1: a bunch of short form blogs. You can use the
14:13
Speaker 1: strategy to do short form. You're going to need to
14:15
Speaker 1: come up with the title. You're going to need to
14:18
Speaker 1: have your thumbnail right so that you can have an
14:21
Speaker 1: engaging title that makes people interested in watching this blog.
14:25
Speaker 1: I do think it's important to put the word vlog
14:27
Speaker 1: in the title because it sets the expectation of the
14:29
Speaker 1: type of content, so the person who clicks it will
14:32
Speaker 1: already know it's vlog style, so it's not like a
14:34
Speaker 1: talking head, but it will feel very vlog esque. And
14:37
Speaker 1: obviously having a strong thumbnail. Go on and search some
14:41
Speaker 1: of your favorite bloggers and look at their thumbnails to
14:44
Speaker 1: get inspired, and just making sure your thumbnail stands out. Obviously,
14:48
Speaker 1: these are all things that will help your vlog get
14:50
Speaker 1: seen by the people you want to have it seen by.
14:52
Speaker 1: And lastly, you're going to be uploading it, uploading it
14:56
Speaker 1: and sharing it with the world, putting it out there.
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Speaker 1: Not being validated by views or likes, but being proud
15:02
Speaker 1: of yourself and giving yourself a little clap on the
15:05
Speaker 1: back for getting it done. That's what it's all about.
15:08
Speaker 1: Saying you want to do something and actually doing it.
15:11
Speaker 1: That is the win. The win is this is not
15:13
Speaker 1: the views. The win is not the comments. The win
15:16
Speaker 1: is doing something that you said you want to do.
15:17
Speaker 1: It's a great confidence boost. Guys. Remember of logging is
15:21
Speaker 1: meant to be fun. It is not serious. It is
15:24
Speaker 1: literally you talking and building connection with people on the
15:28
Speaker 1: other side to feel your energy. It is meant to
15:32
Speaker 1: be fun, So please keep that in mind when you're
15:34
Speaker 1: getting your first log out, and remember to remind yourself
15:38
Speaker 1: that it is your first flog and everything will improve
15:42
Speaker 1: and change as you continue to do more of them.
15:44
Speaker 1: You'll be able to review, reflect, see what you would
15:48
Speaker 1: do better, and make those changes in the next video,
15:50
Speaker 1: because every video will get better the more and more
15:53
Speaker 1: you do it. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If
15:57
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15:59
Speaker 1: our show and visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources
16:04
Speaker 1: on all things influencer marketing and social media. Until next time,