Ahoj! In one of my latest videos I asked you if you can comment below the video and let
me know what you need to improve to grow your YouTube channel. Well, the comments were all
very different. The most important thing is you your charisma, how you express yourself,
how you talk to your camera. Everything about you. Whether you are just starting out
or you already have a successful YouTube channel. And you need to kind of improve
or you haven't started yet out of the fear, in today's video I've got 7 tips how to feel
more confident and talk to the camera so you can attract more subscribers and grow your channel.
For the new faces, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula. My channel is all about photography and
video so if that's something you're interested in, consider subscribing. Let's face it.
You are not afraid of the camera, it doesn't bite. You're afraid of the people you are going to reach
through the camera. You're afraid of what they are going to comment and you are afraid what
they are going to think about you. Well, and here comes the tip number 1. First of all, when you are
just starting out, only very few people are going to see your video and that's a good thing because
that will give you enough time to warm up to the camera. Who is your best friend? Imagine
him or her instead of the camera as you are just having a simple and plain conversation if your
goal is to be authentic and real without sounding like a commercial or without sounding like you're
actually reading a product manual then you really need to keep in mind that you are talking to your
friend. If you are one of the people who just grabs a camera and can talk for hours and hours
and hours, good for you because majority of us and I'm saying us, cannot do that. When I was starting
out here on YouTube, I had everything written word by word. I could not even deliver one sentence,
I was reading most of it and when you look at my first videos, you can tell. I was very nervous.
So if you are in that position, writing a script might be a very good idea. You might even consider
getting a teleprompter but I don't recommend it because if you know that the person is using one,
you can tell. The eyes are kind of moving, the movement is there
and the authenticity, the feeling is just simply not there. It's like when you're reading news.
Use it maybe two, three times and then put it away because once you get into that habit, it's gonna
be very difficult to break it. What would be much better thing to do is read two or three sentences,
put the paper away and then try to deliver it to your friend, your camera and think,
listen to yourself, does it sound like you're talking to your friend? If not, do it again.
There are a few reasons why you should be responding comments below your YouTube videos.
First of all you will create a connection with your audience, you will get to know your audience,
you will make new friends. All this counts as engagement and YouTube algorithm really likes it
and brands love seeing it. For you as a youtuber the most important thing is to create a connection
video audience. I try my best to respond to every single comment below my videos and truthfully
I know a lot of my subscribers by name and now I know what kind of people most likely they are.
I know that maybe Jaine from New York might be watching this video which has a cooking channel
or Frank and Joanne from Bobcageon or Violet from South Africa or Rajkumar from India. By
talking to your subscribers you are creating the friendships and it will be more clear to you
that you are talking to your friends on the other side instead of the lifeless
camera. You will start feeling excited and you will be looking forward to create the next video
because you know that you're going to be reaching all those people, you're talking to all of them.
Put yourself in the situations where you feel the most comfortable. Don't start vlogging
in a public in a busy places to begin with. Start maybe in your home or go to the park or somewhere
where you will feel uninterrupted. I'm one of those people which doesn't feel very comfortable
in front of large crowd so I choose to film early in the morning and I go to the places where I can
be almost alone and it's quiet. If you feel comfortable, you will look relaxed in front of
the camera. Plan videos which you can handle. Don't over plan so you don't stress yourself
out. Don't plan all these crazy b-rolls and drone shots and many different locations because you're
gonna be stressed and it's gonna show. Plan what you can truly handle, what you can do in that time
frame you give yourself. And the same goes with your gear. Don't bring all the gear in the world.
Especially don't bring gear which you don't know even how to use yet. Play with it when
you have a time off and once you know what you're doing, then include it in your kit.
Let's talk about our own insecurities. We all have them. When I started this channel, my biggest
insecurity was obviously my English and accent. One of the biggest compliments I got was last
week from my friend which said that I sound very different now than I sounded when I started this
channel.... last 12 years I spent on the other side of the camera as a professional photographer
focusin my work on glamour, fashion, stock and weddings... English and accent is something which
can be improved. You can work on it. Every time I record and every time especially I edit my videos,
I listen to myself over and over again and if I see the mistake, if I hear the mistake,
I try my best to fix it the next time and if I don't know how to pronounce something then I
simply pull up google and I look it up. How to pronounce this or how to pronounce that.
When I watch other English YouTube channels, I listen to them very carefully. I pay attention
to the pronunciation. I pay attention to the stress in a word, the accent and all that.
Sometimes however this can be your advantage. On the other hand I have many people begging me
not to lose the accent because I guess it makes me stand out from the crowd. My insecurity right now
is my weight. Before all these lockdowns I was very
active. I was doing a lot of figure skating and I was training every single day so I was burning all
those calories. That was all taken away from me and as my subscribers grew, my body too.
To most of you or to a lot of people I might look completely normal but I don't feel normal,
that's not me. I know how I felt before, I felt way better before. It was really hard for me to
show the clips of myself in a bathing suit when I was talking about the insta360 go2 camera.
I made sure I'm all in the water. That's why I bought the elliptical machine and I'm trying to
do everything possible to go back to where I was before but it's a little bit tricky in this age.
Whenever I lose some weight and if I stop for a little bit, it goes back up like this
but I'll keep fighting. As you can see, we all have insecurities. The best thing is to really
put them aside. After all, your subscribers can really nicely surprise you in the comments.
Whenever you get positive comments, it will push you to work harder. I'm going to say 2 sentences
2 different ways. This is the version number 1. Don't rush, slow down, breathe,
don't be afraid to get lost in your thoughts and share your video audience. Just be yourself.
Now here's the version number 2. Don't rush, slow down and breathe. Don't be afraid to get last
in your thoughts and share with your audience. Just be yourself. Did you notice the difference?
The first version was just like a reading news. The second time I really meant it. I slowed down,
I was taking breaks, I felt like it was really coming from inside, being delivered to you. So
when you talk to your audience, really mean it. Try to feel it, be confident, stand by to what
you are saying. Give it thumbs up, subscribe to future videos and let me know in the comment
section below what is your biggest challenge right now besides just talking in front of the camera.
Let's chat or you can just say hello and I'll see my friends in the next video... Cau... Ahoj...