What You Should Say in Your First YouTube Video

I'm going to start by actually telling you something you shouldn't say at the beginning of your videos. And that's, hey guys, welcome to my channel. So why shouldn't you be opening your videos like that? Well, the biggest reason is because you have three to five seconds to make a first impression on a viewer. And that viewer actually only cares about themselves. So they need to know what are they going to get out of watching your video. Why should they keep watching your video? And by you just saying, hey guys, that's not really enticing or intriguing them to want to keep watching. And the second reason is because one, maybe it's not a guy watching you, and two, it's probably one single person on the other end of the camera and you want to be thinking about talking to that one person. This is especially true if you are filming your very first video because nobody knows who you are yet and they don't care about you. Eventually, if you're at like 100,000 subscribers or more and you've really built a loyal following, yes, you could absolutely be opening like that. But as you're getting started, as you're creating your first video, you really need to be following the steps that I'm about to share with you on what to say in your first video. So now I am going to introduce myself after I've hooked you and tell you my name is Trina. If you are brand new here, and I help women business owners and content creators build their online presence with online video. So let's get back to opening your video with a hook. What should you say in that hook? What is going to grab their attention on your very first video? I know when I was getting started as a mom blogger, this was honestly the hardest part in figuring out how to even open my video. So once, once I've done it time and time again, probably I think my channel here is over 400 videos. I finally have a system and some ideas for you on how to open your video. A great way to hook your audience at the very beginning is to find a way to spark curiosity. So this might be dropping a statistic. Maybe I open this video saying one in four YouTubers don't grow on YouTube because of this. You're probably going to have your curiosity peak because you want to make sure you're not that one in four that's not going to grow, right? So think about a statistic that may grab your viewers attention and open your video with that so that they want to keep watching. Another way to open your video is to start to paint a very descriptive picture. Not like literally paint, but start telling them a very vivid story. Storytelling is huge right now on YouTube. And if you can really start to build your storytelling skills and open it here at the beginning of your video, you're really going to hook that audience and make them want to keep watching to see how that story ends. And maybe if you're in an entertainment channel or you're vlogging, maybe you in that video with the most exciting piece, get them to see what's to come in your video. So they want to see how did it get to that point. So if you are planning your first video, you might be thinking, well, shouldn't I tell them that this is my first video or welcome to my first video? Not necessarily. I would actually open your video and speak in your video like, you've been doing this for years and this isn't your first YouTube video. Here's my reason why. That video can literally live on YouTube for years to come. And if it happens to take off and go viral at some point in time, you already look like you, you're a pro and you're setting that video up for success. And you're not just saying this is your first video, right? Because if they found it six months, a year down the road, they don't need to know it's your first video. All right, so we talked about how to open that video because that is literally the hardest part for me to this day. So let's talk about what to do next. Once we've grabbed their attention in that hook, what piece do we move into next? And that piece is called the Intro. So for me, I introduce myself, right? I make it very short and I give you a reason why you would care about this channel, right? So I. My name is Trina and on this channel, I help business owners and content creators grow organically with online video. So if that is you, that's obviously going to entice you to maybe subscribe and want to watch more content from me, right? This literally needs to be 5 to 10 seconds max. It's really important to have because you want to be seen as that. Go to channel for what? When you're Getting started on YouTube, if you are creating your first YouTube video, it's also going to be easier for YouTube to know who to put your videos in front of. If you become that go to channel for X. Right? That's why people tell you to niche down. Now, it's not necessarily niching down, but you need to make sure that you're putting content out there that YouTube knows who to recommend it for. Does that make sense? For example, since I'm creating videos on how to grow a YouTube channel predominantly for women, YouTube knows who to put my content in front of. Somebody who's potentially looking up how to grow a YouTube channel, how to record videos, what to say in videos, and they also are probably a female and they probably run a business, so they've been looking up other things on YouTube about their business. YouTube knows that's who they should be putting my content in front of. So the more you focus in on what your audience is actually looking for and create videos around that, the easier it's going to be for YouTube to do the hard work for you and put your content in front of the right people. Now you know how to hook your viewer. You know how to introduce yourself. It's time to get to that good stuff, the meat of your content. And you really want to be delivering on this piece of your video with in about 30 seconds. Whether this is your very first video or your 50th video, you need to make sure you're getting to the meat of that content. Again, people want to know what's in it for them and if you pitched a value in that title, what to say in your first YouTube video. I need to really be getting to that part of my video very quickly and tell you exactly what to say in your video. Otherwise you're going to leave and find another video to watch, right? You want to think about that as well for your videos. So remember the hook and the intro about 30 seconds, and then get into the good stuff, start delivery, bring that value. For educational videos like this, which I call a talking head, where it's me just talking to you, it's best to kind of share your content in steps or in tips. So for this video, I'm sharing it in sections on what to say. We talked about the hook, we talked about the intro, now we're talking about the content piece so that your viewer is getting that value in a way that makes sense. When they're done watching their video, they can take action. They get a small win. So when you're done watching my video here, you're going to be able to plan that very first video of yours and know what to say in it, because I broke it down into these sections. In fact, I want to hold you to this. Drop a comment below and tell me you're going to record your next video now that you know what to say. And I want to know, because I want to support you. I know it's very hard to get out on video and figure out what to say on your first video. So let me know if you are now going to take action down in the comments and I'll be there to cheer you on. Now, this part of your video, this value, this me is going to be the majority of your video, right? But there is a very important step at the end of your video that I see so many people here on YouTube miss. And not doing this could actually hinder your channel from growing faster than what it could. So when you're finished delivering all your amazing content and you're ready to finish your video, you really want to avoid telling people your video is over. I'm going to tell you why here in just a second. But you want to avoid things like in summary or in conclusion or that's it. Because what you want to do then is transition them to watch another video of yours. Now you might be thinking, hold up, Trina, just wait, I don't even have another video. I got a game plan for you. Now the reason you want to do this is because YouTube is going to promote videos that get people to watch more content, right? More watch time is valuable to YouTube. So if your video then gets people to watch another video that's valuable to YouTube. So don't just try to end the session time, tell them exactly what video you want to watch next. Now think about it. If you're going to publish your first video, you're probably going to publish new videos weekly. So in your very first video, you could tell people to watch what video is coming next. But here's a little secret. Just deliver your lines like, that video is already live. So let's say next week I'm going to release a video on how to create a channel banner. It's not live yet, but I know it will be next week. So I can actually add that video next week. And it's not really going to hinder your channel, especially if you're just getting started. So I could end this video saying, now watch how to create your own channel banner to make sure people are wanting to subscribe to your channel. It's on your screen right now. Click it and I'll show you exactly how to do that. You don't have that video yet. You could on your video have a space holder that says coming next week. Then when you release that video, you can just go back to that first video and add that clickable end screen over that text and nobody will know after that first week, this allows you to set up that first video for success. That allows you to set up that first video to get people to watch another video and another video from you. You're not just getting one viewer to watch your video and then go to somebody else'. You are causing a viewer to potentially watch video after video from you. So this last piece of what to say in your first video, you really want to think about what video you're going to send them to next. What is that next video that you're going to create that you can tell them to click on and watch next, then you can add it once it's live. Now, if you're a business owner and you have an email list, you can absolutely send them to your email list or your freebie or your opt in at the end of your video as well. But same rules apply. Don't let people know that your video is over because they're instantly going to start leaving before you give them that call to action and you can tell them the link to your freebie. So for example, I have a YouTube launch roadmap. If you want that roadmap, you can go to the description box below and there's a link for you to sign up for that. You can do that as well. As a business owner here on YouTube now, I want to actually show you what my filming area looks like so you can get a sense of what does it look to set up equipment. But before I do, I want to share a couple things you shouldn't worry about in your first video. The first thing is don't worry about having a perfect strategy in place when you get started. I know you may be a type a person and you want to know how the strategy all plays for you on YouTube, but just start creating videos here on YouTube. You don't need a perfect strategy to set your channel up for success. You just need some content. Once you start getting content on YouTube, you're going to get a lot of analytics in the YouTube analytics area that are really going to be able to help you craft a strategy based on data. The next thing not to worry about is getting too fancy. Fancy equipment, fancy editing. I know you probably don't have a whole lot of time to edit, so don't worry about fancy editing when you get started. Also don't worry about fancy filming equipment because these things, these phones are a great option to start recording on. In fact, I vlogged a couple weeks ago and it was so much easier for me to vlog from this than to Grab my camera. And nobody even knows the difference of what parts of those videos I vlogged with my professional camera, which I vlogged with my phone. So just get started with your phone. You don't need anything fancy. I was really struggling with this one today when I was recording these videos. Don't worry about perfection. I know it's easier said than done because, like I said, I'm struggling with it here today. But don't worry about needing to have everything perfect, especially if this is your first video. Your first video is unfortunately going to suck. In fact, my first 50, 100 videos, I feel, are pretty cringey. But the more you do it, the more you show up, the more you practice, the easier it's going to get and the more comfortable you're going to film. And along with perfection, don't worry about having the perfect background, because what I'm going to show you here in just a few seconds is that you're only seeing this square and you don't actually see everything that's on the floor in the kindergarten class that is over here to the side of me. So just think about what is in the screen right here. I grew my channel 300% in front of a plain, blank, yellowish wall and a tiny apartment that we were in. So don't worry about that as well. All right, let's go vlog style. And I'm going to show you exactly how I have my stuff set up. So we're going to move over here. So you can see that I sit on this chair right here. And I have my computer up there with my script. So I'm reading my script and delivering it to my camera, which I just had sitting on my desk. I then have a ring light and I have a soft box light to kind of make the shadows from behind here disappear. And honestly, this is what the rest of the room looks like. There are some boxes down here. I have blankets down here to really help the sound because this is like a tile floor, so the sound really echoes. Then if we keep moving on over here, I won't blast you with the softbox light. But with virtual schooling, because of the pandemic, I also have a kindergarten class right here. So this is my daughter's desk and all her kindergarten garden work that she needs. So, honestly, you don't need super fancy specific place to get set up for YouTube. Now, if you want that roadmap that I talked about, it's literally 15 pages of everything to do to set up your YouTube channel for success. Plus, my script template. Everything I talked about here today is all broken down on a worksheet for you. Head to trina little.com forward slash roadmap. I will also have the link for you right now on your screen to just click on and go get. It's going to give you everything that you need and video tutorials along with it. Now, if you want to learn all the best tips and tricks that I have for Getting your first 1,000 YouTube subscribers, click the video that's on your screen right now. My friend Morgan and I did 10 tips to help you get your first 1,000 subscribers. Click on it and you'll get them all.