So How Do I Do It?
Google it. Someone already made an instructional video about it.
But here are a few tips that will set you in the right direction. There are many misconceptions about the equipment you need to make great video. My recommendation is that your phone is enough for video. The cameras in modern smartphones are phenomenal! If you are going to invest in anything, buy audio recording equipment. People will forgive bad video to a certain extent, but bad audio is the number one video creation sin. Your one purpose is to communicate something and if your audience doesn’t understand what you’re saying, you’re wasting your time.
There are microphones available that will plug in to your phone, or you could buy a portable unit with an external microphone. The budget here is from $100 to $1200 for a professional boom microphone. (A good place to start is a Zoom iQ5 or a IK Multimedia iRig Mic Cast.)
What Do I Post?
Here’s your first step: Make a video and tell your families about it.
Upload a video that teaches the memory verse that you are teaching your kids on the weekend. Keep it under a minute, and make sure you are well lit or outside (during the day). Don’t even introduce yourself. Save that for the end. Get right to the content, straight to the point. At the end introduce yourself and the ministry name, then say, “See you next time.”
Play it on a Sunday for your kids. As they are being picked up, put a sticker on each child that says something like “Hillsong Kids is on YouTube. Watch Dave at: youtube.com/hillsongkids.” Tell the kids to bug their parents for their phone on the way home. A massive win is 50 percent of your kids watching.
Winning on YouTube is all about having regular new content, so where to next? Here are some ideas for content.
• Memory verses
• Play video games
• Jokes they can tell Dad
• Preaching messages
• Teaching theme overviews
• Funny promotions for upcoming events
• A weekly series
• Game, book or music reviews
There are two forms of videos on YouTube—short form, which are videos one to three minutes in length, and long form, which are videos four to seven minutes. So make sure you keep your content short and to the point.
The journey of our own channel is all about building subscribers one by one. Here at Hillsong Kids, we started reasonably late in YouTube history, but now have a couple of million views and almost 20,000 subscribers. Our most watched videos include memory verse songs and clips that were a hit at conferences or weekend programs that kids want to watch over and over again.
The sky’s the limit with where you can take your YouTube channel. You’re now creating content that kids can watch at home, watch with their family and share with friends. Your ministry now extends beyond Sunday and into the mission field where the kids are!
Being that this is about YouTube I should really include a video where I talk about just this topic: youtu.be/R7Owq5hina8.
Include a video icon.
This article originally appeared here.
