Content Creator Kickstart: Recent Episodes
Rued Riis
Kickstart your career in Content Creation! No matter if you're an employee, freelancer, YouTuber or anything in between, the skillset of content creation is the ultimate enabler of success. Subscribe now!
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Those are the 4 components of the AIDA framework known from the marketing world. But. There's a whole lot video makers, educators, and explainers can learn from marketing. And this funnel-framework is the perfect foundation for a strong video structure.
In this episode, I'll give you a concrete example of a video on Cyber Security. Imagine this is a corporate training, and the video is the first of many, so it needs to pique the interest of the viewer, get their attention, make them desire to watch more, and finally take action.
Watch more episodes here: https://www.ruedriis.com/podcasts/content-creator-kickstart
Learn more about scriptwriting: https://www.ruedriis.com/strong-scripts
TikTok is the new shiny video platform that every expert wants you to jump on - the sooner the better. But is it always a good idea to jump on these new opportunities? Or should you take a step back and decide whether it's right for you, your audience, and your business?
In today's episode, I share my experiences with TikTok, the learnings I take away, and why I'm not going to go all in on TikTok, but stay loyal to my core platform, YouTube.
How to Explain Things Better It's a golden skill to be able to explain things better - with more clarity and understanding. Especially if you're the expert and you are trying to explain something to a beginner.
But there are some ways to loosen up the explanation so it becomes more digestible for the listener to consume.
In this episode, I teach you how to research how the questions are asked, so you can answer them better. How to progress more logically through your explanations. And how to be super concrete using facts, numbers, stats, quotes, stories, and analogies.
I hope this podcast episode inspires you to become a better explainer. If you want to invest even more into that skill, check out my Explain Academy: https://www.ruedriis.com/academy
5 concrete ways to start a video It's super important to get off to a good start with your video. Therefore, I thought I'd share some concrete ways to start a video in an engaging and interesting way.
- “We all know” Analogy.
Example: We all know what a cinema is. Oculus Quest is like a cinema, but for your eyes and ears only. A wearable cinema you put on like a pair of ski goggles. - Shortest pitch / “Wiki”Example: Oculus Quest is a virtual reality headset that can run immersive games and videos.
- “Forest before the trees” Context
Example: Long before Facebook changed its name to Meta, Mark Zuckerberg knew that the digital world, or Metaverse, would become a bigger and bigger part of our lives. In 2014, he bought Oculus for $2 billion, and since then they’ve invested heavily in creating the best VR headsets on the market. - “PPP”. Preview, Promise, Proof.
Example: In this video, I’ll talk about different ways to start your videos. You’ll learn concrete methods to make sure you get off to a good start. Actually, I’ve used these tips to grow my own YouTube channel to 10.000 subscribers. - “What, Why, How”
Example: What are the best ways to begin a video, why does it matter so much to start strong, and how can you use opening templates to make your own videos more engaging? That’s what you’ll learn in this video.
These are 5 ways I use myself and shuffle between. Try out an intro template and apply it to your video. I hope you'll get inspired by my approaches and find better ways to start your videos off better.
7 Tips for filming yourself It's not easy to film yourself (at all), but you get better in time. These are some of the things that I keep reminding myself of before I hit record.
- More light on your face and body (face a window if you don't have lighting gear)
- Less space above you (move closer to the camera until your torso and head show)
- Place camera at eye-level (Put your camera/computer on a shoebox)
- Sound quality matters a ton (Get a USB microphone or use a newer phone/laptop)
- Move away from the wall (Create depth in the shot by having more of your space showing behind you)
- Lock exposure (This can be done both on phones and cameras)
- Simple editing (Cut out dull moments, and add subtle music)
If you tick off all 7 tips before you upload your next video, I'm sure you will be very glad to see that the result comes off much more professional than before. Good luck with the shoot!
What's a T-shaped content creator? The T-shape symbolizes a generalist skillset with one deep-dive; a skill that you've honed and are great at.
In this episode, I'll dive into the importance of supplementing your expertise with other skills to give your expertise utility. In order to convert what you know into something valuable to others, you have to add a few things to your toolbox, like business, marketing, WordPress, SEO, and more.
Thanks for listening, rating, and reviewing this podcast. Much love!
Rued
In this episode, I've gathered the most frequently asked questions about Explain Academy. As this is a premium program, where you learn communication and content creation over the course of 6 weeks, it's also something more complex than a simple course.
So of course (no pun intended), this raises more questions about the program and whether it's the right thing to join for you specifically. The questions I answer are:
- What if I’m already decent at Vyond?
- What if I don’t have the time?
- What if I’m in a different time zone?
- What if I’ve already bought something?
- What if I don’t have the money?
If you want to learn more about Explain Academy, I've made a cool little video about it - and written a ton more on what it is, what it isn't, and how you can join if you'd like: https://www.ruedriis.com/academy
Hope to see you inside,
Rued
It's important to structure a course the right way — depending on the topic and student. I've created my fair share of courses, and along the way, I learned a thing or two about how to do it well.
In this episode, I share my perspectives on structure, format, and progression, based on the experience I have from Go Beyond Vyond, Strong Scripts, Powerful Process, and more.
Thanks for listening, rating, and reviewing this podcast. Much love!
Rued
Vyond is great for eLearning developers who want to create scenarios. It's a modern way of doing it, and it's quite easy if you remember a few things.
In this episode, you'll hear about establishing shots, character creation, emotions, facial expression, corporate identity, and more.
Thanks for listening, rating, and reviewing this podcast. Much love!
Rued
Want to make better videos? Write better scripts! Scriptwriting for explainers, tutorials, whatever is essential. Especially for explainer videos, where you want to make a short, simple, and easy-to-understand video. And that is not achieved in the narration or animation. No, that's all in the script.
So let's dive into 10 practical tips for amazing video scripts.
- WRITE LIKE YOU TALK
- DELETE EMPTY SENTENCES
- WRITE IN BLOCKS
- JUST AS SMART, LESS INFORMED
- USE ACTIVE VOICE
- USE META SENTENCES
- SPELL IT OUT
- WRITE 30%, REWRITE 70%
- TALK TO ME = USE “YOU”
- BREAK THE RULES
Those are the rules to follow (and then break down the line). These learnings were derived from a presentation I gave at the Explain Academy. Feel free to get on the waitlist, and I'll send you an email once we roll again.
Thanks for listening, rating, and reviewing this podcast. Much love!
Rued
How to use an analogy in your explainer video? That is the topic of today's episode. And we quickly conclude that it's a great idea.. BUT! There are a few ways you can hurt your story. By either choosing the wrong analogy or not thinking about what it means in the eye of the viewer.
Towards the end, you get a few practical tips on how to get ideas for your perfect analogy. And we also touch upon the use of animations to steer the interpretation of the analogy, you choose for your service, product, or business.
Find all episodes on https://www.ruedriis.com/podcasts/content-creator-kickstart
Take care,
Rued
Whiteboard animation, Business Friendly, and Contemporary - those are the 3 styles you can animate with in Vyond Studio. And today, I'm sharing my thoughts on their individual strengths and when to use each one.
As a former agency owner, I can also give you a bit of behind the scenes of what clients wanted from us in terms of animation styles. Because it wasn't always obvious what they wanted us to use.
Towards the end, I encourage you to mix and match a bit, but don't go too crazy. A big part of a video's professional feel is the consistency that comes from not mixing styles too much.
Get started with Vyond here
In this episode, we'll explore the three pillars of 1) skills, 2) passion, and 3) monetization. Each one is crucial for you as a content creator if you want a corporate career as a content creator, work for yourself as a freelancer or monetize your content as an influencer, YouTuber, etc.
We also touch upon the similarities and differences between content creators, entrepreneurs, and marketers in order to understand what this relatively new industry and identity of "content creator" covers.
I'll round off with a kick sneak peek of my upcoming Content Creator's Academy where I'll kickstart your career as a CC by teaching animation, camera handling, copywriting, topic research, channel design, monetization on YouTube, course creation, graphics design, gear, tools and much more.
It's going to be an 8-week academy, and you can get on the waitlist by signing up here.
Articles that inspired this episode:
- Job of the Future is Content Creation
- Content Marketing industry said to be worth billions by 2021
- We are Living in the Passion Economy
I give you 3 tips on how you can go beyond content that drowns in the flood of YouTube, Google, etc. Because if you aim for content that's merely good and unique, you won't succeed with it.
The goal is to create content you are proud of. Content you've spent time on and that you feel is better than the last piece, you created. Kaizen, invested time, and playing the long game are all part of what we talk about today on the podcast.
If you like my style of content and want to learn how to create something similar, sign up to get access to my courses and community on RuedRiis.com.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode, and I hope to see you in the next one. Rued
I believe you'll be a strong content creator if you master 6 formats. Either individually or in combination. In this episode, you'll get a quick intro to each of them and a couple of ideas on how to combine them. Text, graphics, sound, screen recordings, animations, and camera footage.
Those are the 6 formats that are essential if you dream of producing high-quality YouTube videos, eLearning materials, tutorials, course lessons, etc. I can attribute all my successes to content and digital products. And I think it's something everyone can use, no matter what job you have.
In reality, we're all content creators and need these formats for even a slideshow or the simplest email. As mentioned, I'm launching the "Content Creator Kickstart Academy" soon, so make sure to subscribe to some channel of mine to know about the open date of the 8-week program.
Thanks for listening to this episode, and I look forward to showing you the next one,
Rued
Hi, I'm Rued Riis, and in this first episode of the Content Creator Kickstart, I'll tell you the short version of my life's story. From skater to guitarist. From business student to agency owner. And then from employee to solopreneur.
This podcast is about content creation—and how to kickstart your own journey with it! Because in today's day and age, we all need a basic level of skills within copywriting, sound recording, video production, screen recording, graphic design, etc.
I'm a content generalist, and I've managed to use my skills to build an agency, a YouTube channel, and a course business. Whatever you want to achieve, content creation is going to be part of it.
Thanks for tuning in—I hope to see you in another episode!
Rued