Can't Hit 57% YouTube Video Retention? TRY THIS — Transcript

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1. 0:00On YouTube, there is a wealth of
2. 0:02information to help creators grow their
3. 0:04channels, but most of it is a dangerous
4. 0:05distraction from what really matters.
5. 0:08Arguments about tags and wondering if
6. 0:10you should or shouldn't ask people to
7. 0:11subscribe and not fixes for your
8. 0:13problem. Getting better viewer retention
9. 0:15is. So, if you're sitting there
10. 0:17frustrated that everything you do seems
11. 0:19to change nothing, then it's time to
12. 0:21shift all of your focus to making videos
13. 0:24that keep your viewers eyes glued to the
14. 0:26screen. Now, I'm not going to sit here
15. 0:27and say I have 80% retention on every
16. 0:29video because that's just not true. But
17. 0:32it is possible. And just knowing that
18. 0:34information is the important part of
19. 0:36this because retention should be about
20. 0:37always trying to improve your videos,
21. 0:39not just aiming for a single magic
22. 0:41number. So, I set out to try and find a
23. 0:43way to show you some of the best
24. 0:45retention tips going. And that's when I
25. 0:47remembered a YouTuber with 1.6 million
26. 0:49subscribers, someone who smashes out hit
27. 0:51after hit and is one of the best at
28. 0:53keeping you interested in her content.
29. 0:55and her name is Shelby Church. Now,
30. 0:57whether you've heard of Shelby or not,
31. 0:58pulling apart her videos with me are
32. 1:00going to let you in on some of the top
33. 1:02retention techniques big YouTube
34. 1:04channels use all of the time without you
35. 1:06even realizing. But right now, you're
36. 1:08probably wondering, what is a good
37. 1:10retention percentage for a video? But
38. 1:11I'm afraid to say a good percentage
39. 1:13isn't 50% or 60. It's 85 in the case of
40. 1:17Mr. Beast. What I want you to realize is
41. 1:20this number doesn't matter at all. What
42. 1:22matters is how you react to this number
43. 1:25when you see it. A good audience
44. 1:27retention percentage is always about
45. 1:29trying to beat your previous personal
46. 1:31best. So, I dedicated quite a lot of
47. 1:33time to watch one of Shelby's videos
48. 1:35over and over again to analyze what it
49. 1:37is that she does to make such engrossing
50. 1:39content. And the first thing that stuck
51. 1:41out more than anything else is that
52. 1:43Shelby is an epic storyteller. Story is
53. 1:47incredibly important when it comes to
54. 1:49getting a high viewer retention
55. 1:51percentage and keeping people
56. 1:52interested. Now, you can simply tell a
57. 1:54story by just saying one like I did at
58. 1:56the start of this. Remember this, but
59. 1:58just telling a story is only scratching
60. 2:00the surface of what's possible here.
61. 2:02Really, you need to show it the Shelby
62. 2:04way. So, to learn more about retention,
63. 2:06I focused on one of Shelby's videos that
64. 2:09she made about how to make money using
65. 2:11the writing platform Medium. because she
66. 2:13managed to make a really impressive
67. 2:15video without leaving her bedroom, which
68. 2:17meant I had to watch the same video over
69. 2:19and over again. So, let's kick this off
70. 2:22by analyzing how Shelby creates intros
71. 2:25and in particular her hook.
72. 2:27These days, with everyone being stuck at
73. 2:29home, you might be looking for a way to
74. 2:32make money online.
75. 2:33So, the line here is these days of
76. 2:35everyone being stuck at home, you might
77. 2:37be looking for a way to make more money
78. 2:38online. Now, I mentioned in my watchtime
79. 2:40video that you want to work out what
80. 2:41your viewers really care about within
81. 2:43the video you are making. And Shelby's
82. 2:45intro hits her viewers interest hard
83. 2:47because it was released at the start of
84. 2:49the pandemic when people were worried
85. 2:51about making money. So, to the viewer,
86. 2:52it's like she's reading their mind. But
87. 2:54not only that, but watching her videos,
88. 2:56there was clearly another layer to her
89. 2:58storytelling, and that's that she tells
90. 3:00her story using B-roll. So, let me get
91. 3:02you up to speed with what B-roll is
92. 3:04exactly. me right now talking to you.
93. 3:07This is known as A-roll. It's the
94. 3:09narrative part of the video. B-roll is
95. 3:11the footage that goes on top of the
96. 3:13A-roll, and that helps to tell a story.
97. 3:15The important thing here is your B-roll
98. 3:18needs to work with what's being said by
99. 3:21the A-roll. So, the opening line, "These
100. 3:23days, with everyone being stuck at home,
101. 3:24you might be looking for ways to make
102. 3:26money." Then, shows Shelby at home
103. 3:28looking a bit worried. Also, what I love
104. 3:30about this shot is the way she's sat on
105. 3:32her chair kind of isolated makes it feel
106. 3:34like she's more alone. And this is how a
107. 3:36lot of people would have been feeling
108. 3:38that. It could have been about the 10th
109. 3:39time of watching the video's intro when
110. 3:41something else stuck out, like a sore
111. 3:43pair of eyes that have been watching the
112. 3:44same video over and over again. And that
113. 3:46was the pace. Shelby has 10 different
114. 3:48changes of scene in the first 20
115. 3:50seconds. In fact, one shot is never on
116. 3:52screen for more than 3 seconds. And then
117. 3:55the second part of her intro sets up her
118. 3:57viewer as to what the channel is about.
119. 3:58Now, this is often a place that kills
120. 4:00retention and slows things down because
121. 4:02people feel the need to elaborate as to
122. 4:04what their channel is about. And then
123. 4:06some people love to show logo stingers
124. 4:07and a montage of video clips that just
125. 4:09get in the way of what your viewers care
126. 4:11about. Here, Shelby does exactly what
127. 4:13those kind of stingers attempt to do,
128. 4:16but in a way that's really interesting
129. 4:18and useful. And she says,
130. 4:20"On my channel, we've already gone over
131. 4:21a bunch of ways people do this with
132. 4:23YouTube, podcasts, Amazon, even Airbnb."
133. 4:26by talking about the past. What she was
134. 4:28really doing was letting people know not
135. 4:30just what she's about, but what else is
136. 4:32on her channel that they can watch
137. 4:34after, too. Now, the next thing about
138. 4:36this intro, which might surprise you, is
139. 4:38that in the first 60 seconds, Shelby's
140. 4:42only on camera talking for 18 seconds.
141. 4:44Everything else is B-roll. In fact,
142. 4:46there are 19 clips of B-roll in the
143. 4:49first 60 seconds here. So almost 2/3 of
144. 4:52her opening minute, she's not on screen
145. 4:54talking, which tells you just how
146. 4:56important it is to add other video clips
147. 4:58and keep things going. So that's the
148. 5:00first thing I want you to try and do to
149. 5:01boost your attention is to film footage
150. 5:03that helps you tell a visual story,
151. 5:05which you are then going to add to your
152. 5:07A-roll. And then try to get as close as
153. 5:09you can to only ever being on screen for
154. 5:12a third of the video. So I felt like 20
155. 5:14views of the first 60 seconds of this
156. 5:16video was probably enough. and I moved
157. 5:17on to the main part of her video to find
158. 5:19out how exactly Shelby kept our
159. 5:22attention for the rest of it.
160. 5:23Now, if you were hoping that you would
161. 5:24only need to do 60 seconds of non-stop
162. 5:27footage changes, well, I'm afraid it's
163. 5:29not that easy this. Shelby maintains her
164. 5:31storytelling and B-roll at the same pace
165. 5:33throughout the entire video. The next 10
166. 5:36and 1/2 minutes used the same techniques
167. 5:38as the first 60 seconds. And the thing
168. 5:40that makes this style so genius is it
169. 5:42never feels like you're watching an
170. 5:43educational video. Not once. I kept
171. 5:45watching the video and the next thing
172. 5:46that stuck out was how Shel's retention
173. 5:48busting video was a personal journey,
174. 5:50too. And viewers love a journey. So, 4
175. 5:52minutes 36 seconds into the video, this
176. 5:54is the part where the story really kicks
177. 5:56off. And I just love what she does to
178. 5:58hold your attention. Watch this.
179. 6:00First things first, time to write
180. 6:02something. We need something to write
181. 6:04about. I decided to just transcribe one
182. 6:07of my videos that's already done really
183. 6:09well on YouTube.
184. 6:10Did you notice that? I'm going to play
185. 6:11it again, but this is something Shelby
186. 6:13absolutely dominates with. Okay, first
187. 6:15things first. Time to write something.
188. 6:17We need something to write about. I
189. 6:19decided to just transcribe one of my
190. 6:22videos that's already done really well.
191. 6:23And
192. 6:24what Shelby does is she has a clip in
193. 6:26the past. And in the past, she's wearing
194. 6:27a different colored outfit and it's a
195. 6:29different camera angle to what we've
196. 6:30seen so far. And she says, "Okay, first
197. 6:33things first, time to start writing
198. 6:34something." So, the viewer suddenly
199. 6:36transported back in time to the start of
200. 6:38her personal journey where she's going
201. 6:40to try and write an article for Medium.
202. 6:42And then straight after that, her voice
203. 6:44comes in as the narrator and fills you
204. 6:47in with what happened after that. The
205. 6:50whole video just keeps jumping back and
206. 6:51forths between past tense and present
207. 6:53narrative. So, it's multi-dimensional
208. 6:55content and that is just a beast for
209. 6:57your retention because it's not
210. 6:59predictable. Now, it's not easy to do.
211. 7:01I've been trying to do it in this video
212. 7:02and I don't know if I've pulled it off.
213. 7:03So, the next thing to try for retention
214. 7:05is to develop a personal story within
215. 7:07your content. Record yourself doing the
216. 7:09thing you were trying to teach and talk
217. 7:11to the camera during it to discuss what
218. 7:13you're doing and what stage you're at.
219. 7:14And then jump in and record a voice over
220. 7:17and narrate what actually happened after
221. 7:19to speed the story up and fill in the
222. 7:21gaps. Of course, using B-roll the whole
223. 7:23way to make it more interesting. I don't
224. 7:26actually wear glasses. But there was
225. 7:28still one thing on my mind. How can you
226. 7:30guys make videos like this? So, I
227. 7:32mentioned earlier that Shelby made this
228. 7:34without leaving her home. So, she does
229. 7:36an amazing job of keeping this visually
230. 7:37interesting without really having much
231. 7:40to show. And that's where I'm going to
232. 7:42start by looking at her set with you.
233. 7:44Now, with all respect to Shelby, there's
234. 7:45nothing special about this setup, but at
235. 7:47the same time, that's exactly why it's
236. 7:49fantastic for you, because I think
237. 7:51anyone could get this great look without
238. 7:53it being overly complicated. So, here
239. 7:55there's two doors behind her, and we
240. 7:57know from another shot that her bed's in
241. 7:58this room, too. So, it's not a big room.
242. 8:00That's important because most people
243. 8:01don't have giant filming spaces. But
244. 8:03there are also no distractions. It's
245. 8:05tidy. It's minimal. It's real. And she's
246. 8:08not even hidden her wires or hard
247. 8:09drives. So if you're spending ages on
248. 8:10your setup every time you film, you're
249. 8:12worried about all the finest details.
250. 8:14Spend that time on working out how to
251. 8:15tell your story instead because it's
252. 8:17clearly more important. So that's her
253. 8:18set. What kind of kit do you need to
254. 8:20make this work? Well, the good news is
255. 8:22Shelby's not actually using a really
256. 8:24expensive camera here at all. She shot
257. 8:26this on the Panasonic GH5. But actually,
258. 8:29there's some things Shelby does that you
259. 8:30can do no matter what the camera you
260. 8:32have is or your budget that's going to
261. 8:34help you with your attention. And the
262. 8:36first thing I want to talk to you about
263. 8:37is how she uses movement. Now, what
264. 8:39you'll notice a lot about Shelby's
265. 8:41footage is there is always movement. You
266. 8:44see that there? It's very slight. When
267. 8:45it comes to retention, this slight
268. 8:47movement does keep people interested.
269. 8:49I'll give you an example to show you
270. 8:50what I mean with three static clips
271. 8:52followed by the same clicks with some
272. 8:53movement. The first thing you're going
273. 8:54to notice is the static look okay. And
274. 8:56when people watch them, it won't offend
275. 8:58them. But when you just add a tiny bit
276. 9:00of movement to them like this, you can
277. 9:02see straight away that suddenly the
278. 9:03clips just look better, right? So try
279. 9:05this. When you have your B-roll, put it
280. 9:07into your editing software and animate
281. 9:08it slightly. You can do this on almost
282. 9:10all editing software. If yours can't,
283. 9:12I'm afraid it's time to upgrade if
284. 9:14you're serious about this. Enlarge your
285. 9:15image by about 15 to 20% so it doesn't
286. 9:18lose too much quality. And then you can
287. 9:20add what's called a key frame here.
288. 9:22Shuffle down the clip. Add another key
289. 9:23frame here. And then on this last key
290. 9:26frame, move the B-roll to the right or
291. 9:28the left. If we watch that back, you can
292. 9:30see there's a very subtle movement. The
293. 9:32other option is to zoom in a little too.
294. 9:34So you hit the key frame and shuffle
295. 9:36down the clip a little and then zoom in
296. 9:38and you get this very subtle movement in
297. 9:39again. Now don't rush this movement. You
298. 9:41want it to be slow and steady. If it
299. 9:43looks fast, it looks rubbish. Now, as I
300. 9:44watched Shelby's video, one thing stuck
301. 9:46out as very smart. She clearly didn't
302. 9:48have many options to film because
303. 9:50there's a pandemic going on and she's
304. 9:52got to stay at home. So, when you don't
305. 9:53have things to film, you have to get
306. 9:55creative. So, instead, she filmed
307. 9:57herself in action and acted out some
308. 9:59scenes. So, if you don't have anything
309. 10:00that interesting to film for B-roll, act
310. 10:03out your own scenarios to tell the
311. 10:04visual story. Now, your camera angles
312. 10:06are the next thing that going to help
313. 10:07you make your content more interesting
314. 10:09and boost retention. Now, I'm not going
315. 10:11to go into cinematography here, but what
316. 10:13I want you to think about is how you can
317. 10:14get more for less. So, the amount of
318. 10:16B-roll Shelby uses is pretty epic, and
319. 10:19you might not have enough time to get
320. 10:20all of this. So, the first thing to do
321. 10:22is to always shoot a wide and a close of
322. 10:24your setup. You can then in the edit
323. 10:26jump between these two, and that's going
324. 10:27to help keep people interested and tell
325. 10:29your story. And this is another
326. 10:31retention attention keeper. So, Shel's
327. 10:33screenshots and graphics are really well
328. 10:35put together. And the great news is
329. 10:37they're actually pretty simple to
330. 10:39achieve. If we look at her first
331. 10:40screenshot, she's using it to help tell
332. 10:43a story, but you can see that the text
333. 10:45gives it the interest and that movement.
334. 10:47Now, I've taken that clip and I've added
335. 10:49a little bit of movement to it, which
336. 10:51personally I prefer, and I think it just
337. 10:53takes it to another level. The next
338. 10:55thing here could actually just be a
339. 10:56photo. And in the edit, it looks like
340. 10:57they've just added some movement to it.
341. 10:59So, remember, you don't always have to
342. 11:00film stuff. You can just take photos and
343. 11:02add that motion, and they're great for
344. 11:04helping tell a story. Next, how Shelby
345. 11:07uses text is something that really
346. 11:08works, too. She uses it to give you the
347. 11:10timeline of a story by telling you what
348. 11:12day she's on. And by the way, I don't
349. 11:13want to ruin this for you. We don't
350. 11:14actually need to film this over multiple
351. 11:16days. Shelby might have, but it's way
352. 11:18easier to make a video like this that
353. 11:20tells a story if you just film it all on
354. 11:22the same day, change outfits, and then
355. 11:24act out the whole thing. Sorry if I'm
356. 11:26ruining the magic of YouTube here, but
357. 11:28it really does save a lot of time. The
358. 11:30text also backs up big points, and she
359. 11:32fills the screen with it. It's another
360. 11:34element that keeps it visual and moving.
361. 11:37What had become apparent with Shel's
362. 11:38videos was that the story in the
363. 11:39timeline was really the tough part to
364. 11:41grasp. So, I think the way that Shelby
365. 11:43uses music throughout her whole piece
366. 11:46also adds to the interest in the
367. 11:48retention. She's just got this chilled
368. 11:50beat going on and it gives it a little
369. 11:51bit more energy. So, it's not just one
370. 11:53song on repeat, but like a film, it's
371. 11:54got its own little soundtrack.
372. 11:56Importantly though, it never interferes
373. 11:58with the narrative. Now, that's a lot of
374. 12:00work, right? And really, you have to
375. 12:01make a decision. This will take you a
376. 12:04lot more time, but you need to start
377. 12:06trying new things and leveling up your
378. 12:08videos. Cuz if you keep just making
379. 12:10videos and wishing people watched for
380. 12:11longer and never really change anything,
381. 12:13then nothing's going to change. And if
382. 12:14you spend all your time trying to work
383. 12:16out how YouTube works and you don't
384. 12:18focus on your content, you're going to
385. 12:19learn a lot about YouTube, but you're
386. 12:21still not going to make great videos
387. 12:22because you can't hack quality. In my
388. 12:24next video, I'm going to show you how to
389. 12:26increase audience retention after you
390. 12:29have uploaded your