Videos are a lot to manage. Planning lets you make decisions ahead of time, leaving you the mental space to add value and entertainment during filming.
Whether you make scripted content or freeform vlogs, it’s best to do a little planning before you start filming. A plan adds structure that helps you make sure that your videos attract viewers, that you have space to showcase your personality, and that you don’t ramble away from your intended message.
In this post, you’ll learn 3 reasons why planning your videos can boost your views and engagement (and your sanity).
1. You Can Craft Your Story
You want your video to be entertaining and useful from the first second. You do that by designing a clear path through a story or message in your video. When you don’t, your viewers will get to the end of the video and wonder what they were supposed to get from it.
The main reason for planning your videos is to make the two key decisions in crafting your story: what it is you’re trying to say and how you’re going to say it. Then, you can dig into how you want to share it visually, verbally, and with other elements like music.
Don’t wait until you’re filming to figure it out. It’s too easy to ramble on and on as you try to work it out, and by the time you get there, your viewers will be gone. Talking aloud is a useful tool to get your ideas out and shape them until you find something to stand on, but it’s best to do that with a trusted friend or advisor off-camera. Save your camera’s storage for the real thing.
2. You’ll Cover What You Need To
It’s easy to say that you’ll remember everything when you’re filming, but talking to a camera isn’t always how you imagine it will be.
When you’re talking to a camera, you don’t have the instant feedback that you normally get when talking to another person or speaking in front of a crowd. Many creators struggle to talk off-the-cuff without that live feedback; they either talk aimlessly or their brain goes completely blank (i.e. me the first time I filmed a video).
As you get comfortable talking to an inanimate object, talking without a plan can still bring up ideas and tangents that you couldn’t have anticipated ahead of time. Sometimes these moments are genius and you should follow them. But when that sidebar runs its course, you don’t want to be stuck wondering what you were saying to get you there. That’s how you end up forgetting important information or neglecting to end the video with a strong message.
This has happened to me countless times on my YouTube channel Broke for Beauty. I get nervous knowing that my camera is rolling, and I’ll blank out or go off on a tangent until I’m babbling without a point. When I finally pause, the pressure of the live camera and microphone makes it impossible to calmly think through what I was saying and where my thoughts are leading. When I review the footage later, I’ll often think of things that I forgot to mention or explain thoroughly. I know this about myself now, so I try to start every video with at least a bullet point list of what I want to share, especially if I’m reviewing a product and need to share some “data points.”
Your strengths and weaknesses might be different from mine, but anyone can benefit from having some sort of plan. A bullet list, some written-out talking points, or even a full script is the best insurance against straying too far and forgetting key points that help you share your message or story.
3. You Free Your Energy for Your Personality
Any time you’re on camera, you’re performing. If you’re trying to come up with words or remember the way that you phrased something before, your focus is on the content, not on your performance.
When you’ve settled the details ahead of time, you free up your mental space for delivering your message in a way that fits your personality. This may sound self-indulgent, but it’s actually for your viewers. Your personality, energy level, and overall vibe are how your viewers connect with you.
Let yourself think past the content and decide how you want people to feel when they watch you. That makes for a much more entertaining video for them, and they can truly get to know you and like you. That can go a long way in building trust and engagement.
Plan Your Way to Successful Videos
Videos have a lot going on for you to manage, like visuals, your delivery, the information, the lighting, the sound quality, and more. Planning helps you figure out some of that stuff ahead of time so you can make your videos more valuable and entertaining as you film them.
Craft your story, cover everything that you need to cover, and make some room for your personality. Your content is about serving your audience, so make your videos useful and fun to watch.