Is a video channel more your thing?

Maybe your expertise is better shared through a video channel? If your skills are best when you show or demonstrate things to people then this may be the perfect channel option for you.

I’m not going to insult you by explaining what a video is, but let’s talk about a few things related to a video.

Do you have to be in the video?

This is probably the first question that can worry people.

The honest answer is no, but it’s been shown that having you on screen, even if it’s just your hands, shows that you’re a real person.

If video is the best option to showcase your knowledge and experience but you really don’t want to be on camera, you don’t have to be.

Long Form vs Short Form

Who’da thunk that this would be a question a few years ago?

Then it was “record a video” – end of story.

Now today we’ve got a selection of platforms to share videos on, but some are for specific lengths of videos.

Short Form

Generally it’s agreed that short form is 60 seconds or less.

Being so short they need to be ‘bite-sized’ specific videos.

It’s this type that is (at the time of writing) taking off in a bigger way – from YouTube Shorts, to TikTok, to Instagram with a quick stop at Facebook.

Just to confuse things, depending on the platform, a short form video can be up to 3 mins.

For example, YouTube Shorts are a max of 60 seconds. TikTok is 3 mins. But both are short-form videos.

Always check for your preferred platform!

Long Form

Of course that means that anything over 1 min is long form video.

Your video can be any length you want; Although do think about how long someone will want to sit and watch your video.😊

Another thing to consider: You can break the longer videos down into 1 min snippets, making them into short form videos.

Oh, and another consideration – short form videos are recorded in portrait quite often on your mobile phone. With long form being whatever you want.

Quick or Complete?

Now that you know the main difference, you need to ask yourself one question:

(Tip: It’s not “do you feel lucky”)

Based on your ‘zone of genius’, can you fit things into 60 seconds or does it take a bit longer?

What do I do?

Well, if you’re wondering about my choice…

I’ve gone for ‘complete’.

As a computer coach, I’m recording my computer screen – which is landscape – and I want to show you the whole process. Yes, I do have my camera on recording me as I explain things.

I’ve recorded just me – sharing wise words (or experiences or thoughts) – on my mobile phone for short-form content. But it’s not the best for my content.

Recently, I’ve discovered how to take snippets of my videos to make them into YouTube Shorts – all on my smartphone.