Out of all the types of video content out there on the web, ‘how-to’ video content is definitely one of the most popular styles. As its name implies, it is content that focuses on informing the viewer ‘how to’ perform a particular task or perform a certain problem.
Although how-to videos have a certain natural appeal as they inform and educate viewers and help them solve problems, if you want to create one you should make sure you follow these four tips:
- Choose topics that your audience wants to know about
Research is important when you’re choosing topics for a how-to video. While these videos are innately appealing, going the extra mile to find out what topics the people in your niche are interested in and creating videos accordingly will help. Market research in general will help in this regard, as will keyword research.
- Keep each step short and focused
One of the problems with some how-to videos is they tend to go off-point and end up entirely too long. Try to make sure that you avoid that by structuring your how-to video as a set of step-by-step instructions, and then explaining each in a succinct and simple manner.
- ‘Show’ how each step is performed
The advantage of how-to videos as opposed to written content or images is that you can show the viewer how each step is performed. That is an invaluable edge that you should take advantage of, as people will expect to be able to see what is happening and then mimic it themselves.
- Make sure the voiceover narration is clear
Having a voiceover narration that guides and explains each step to the viewer is important – and it must be clear. Try to make sure you record the voiceover someplace where there is as little background noise as possible – and use a good microphone.
One way to start creating how-to guides is with the help of Movavi Screen Capture for Mac (www.movavi.com/mac-video-recorder/). It is an easy-to-use screen recorder that is perfect for creating guides involving anything Mac-based.
Not only will Movavi Screen Capture for Mac let you fully control the recording parameters such as the capture area, frame rate, and audio source – but it also has some other useful features. In particular it will let you highlight your mouse cursor to make it more visible, capture keyboard actions, and set up a custom ‘click’ sound.
Suffice to say you should be able to grab video footage directly from your screen along with a voiceover – which is essentially what you need in a how-to guide. Because of how intuitive Movavi Screen Capture for Mac is, all that shouldn’t take long – and if you start now odds are you’ll be able to record your first video guide in minutes.