How to learn to love creating explainer videos (or despise it less than you do now)

First if you're just here to see the tutorial of how to do a 2 strand twist into a side braid move forward straight to 1:14

Nobody likes doing video. It’s not particularly fun to watch yourself and it takes mammoth self restraint not to focus on all your insecurities.

But by far it’s the best way to get engagement online (especially when you pair it with a blog article to help with SEO for your website). So it’s a mountain well worth scaling.

In this video I actually make an explainer video of my own for how to do a 2 strand twist with a side braid. It’s my go-to hairstyle in the summer and it looks super fancy but takes no time.

My challenge to you is to create and post your own explainer video in the next 2 weeks (or if you’re seeing this when it initially goes up in December then you have 4 weeks).

Step 1: Think of a topic to explain

If it’s for your business a good place to start is one of your FAQs. Not only will be a resource you can share with future clients but if many people are asking about it, it’s highly likely many others are searching for it.

Step 2: Write an outline

I often put this on post it notes and put them below the camera so I can reference them. An outline will help you get clear on what you want to say so you can be more concise in the filming.

Step 3: Start recording

For my recording set up I was using my new mirrorless camera, a tripod, and my professional lights, but your setup can be far simpler (or you can choose to work with me and not have to worry about the equipment). A tripod for your phone and some good natural light will work just fine.

Use your outline and just start practicing. For this video it took about 10 failed attempts until I got the part pre-explainer video the way I wanted it. Tricks are to just keep the camera rolling and film it in sections instead of trying to get it in one take. Yes you’ll have to learn some basics of a video editing software but there are so many that are super user friendly (imovie and Wondershare filmora are 2 I recommend) that you’ll have the hang of it in no time. PLUS the filming process will go a whole lot faster.

Step 4: Edit the video

I primarily use adobe premier pro for editing my videos (which I DO NOT recommend for any beginner) but some good options for a beginner are Wondershare Filmora and iMovie.

Step 5: Post it and write a blog post

The blog post might seem like a silly step but videos don’t help with your SEO and blog posts do. You already have the outline for the content because you just filmed it so the blog should be the easy part. You can also use this blog post when you post the video on FB, Instagram, Youtube or Linked In. You can even use it for great newsletter content (basically the newsletter is a preview of the blog and they can click through to your website for more).

Once you’ve created this explainer video you can repost it over the next couple months every 4 weeks or so to really get a lot of mileage out of it, and you can even use it in Facebook ads.

So you can see by overcoming your aversion to the camera the benefits are HUGE and you can generate a ton of content and greatly increase the engagement you’re getting

If you struggle with this please reach out to me (Karissa.meyers.consulting@gmail.com) and I would be happy to have a conversation about helping you out with filming and/or editing.