By: Fraser Jones, Genflow Content Creator

Youtube is one of the most powerful social media platforms that reaches millions of people every minute. It spans over genres, industries and age groups, allowing everyone to find a piece of content they can have a deep connection with.

However, editing videos for the platform can be tricky. Here are some ideas on how to edit a video. These are techniques and tips I’ve learned from editing and publishing 100s of YouTube videos myself.

Disclaimer, these aren’t rules, but they are things you need to think about. There isn’t a golden formula that you can follow that will make your content consistently explode on YouTube. People love watching videos that are different and fresh, but the first thing you need to think about is the concept.

What makes someone click?

The title, the thumbnail, and how much they enjoyed your previous content from you, or someone you featured in your video.

This is all they have to think about before they click on your video. YouTube is already showing them many other options for their attention, which makes the thumbnail, and the first 3 seconds of your video very important.

The first 3 seconds.

This time is key to hook them into watching.

This isn’t obvious, but in the first 3 seconds of watching a YouTube video, the viewer is going to have 3 questions going through their head:

1. Am I in the right place (i.e is what I clicked on what I am looking for?)
2. Why should I trust this person? (why should I care what you say?)
3. Am I engaged in this content? (is it exciting enough?)

So, how do you tackle that?

Some ways people win in the 3 seconds:

1. Engaging visuals or audio (like David Dobrik)
2. Tell them what will be in the video / who you are (like the Futur / Shan)
3. Do something people don’t normally see (like Yes theory)
4. Showing footage that gives them social proof e.g: talking on stage / lifting etc.

Then your next challenge is having people care about what you have to say.

As an example, if you are a fitness influencer showing some footage of you working out or helping multiple clients, you will get more views from people if you provide some kind of value through your content. Think about what that could look like for your niche… is it footage of you planning your workouts? Are these BTS clips of your client training?

Pacing:

If in doubt, make it fast paced. People get easily bored and would want to click off if they lose interest, so if the section doesn’t add value or entertains, then think about cutting it down.

Rhythm:

Lots of quick cuts, all together, can get hard to follow if it goes on for too long. Similarly, if it’s one long clip, then the content has to be very engaging.

I recommend following a basic framework of having 3-5 short clips, then 1-2 longer clips.

But… your brain notices patterns and switches off if you keep doing the same thing over and over, so make sure you break the pattern every now and then, and it will force the viewer to pay attention again. The more you play with this, the more you will see what I mean.

Call To Action:

Put a call-to-action after the best part of the video.

This way people are 10x more likely to subscribe if you prompt them after the most valuable or funniest scene in the video, rather than just at the end or after a weaker scene.

It sounds obvious but I see so many creators put their call to action in the most boring part of the video and you don’t feel anywhere near as excited about doing what they say.

I hope this helps with editing your next YouTube video!

Check out some of the videos I have created and edited for Genflow.

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