Create a listicle video
Create a listicle video
1. Pick a listicle video topic that is relevant to your target audience, meets your marketing goals. and will answer questions that people are searching on.
For example, if your audience is young adults who are interested in video production, 4 Tips for Making Your First Vlog would be a good listicle video topic. Marketing goals might include widening your audience, setting up for a holiday campaign, or increasing engagement on a specific platform. Use a keyword research tool, like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Jaaxy, to find topic ideas that people are searching for. The keyword nail art could turn into a 5 Nail Art Trends You Need to Try listicle video. Avoid topics that would require list item explanations that are longer than one or two sentences, or that provide no value to the viewer. For example, 7 Colors in the Rainbow doesn’t offer anything useful.
2. Research your topic and write concise, interesting items. Order the list logically, keep the number of items under 10, consider visuals to support each item, and cite your sources.
Order your list by importance, timeline, scale, or incremental order. Curate the best tips, rank the answers and count down to the best one, or give clear step-by-step instructions. Fulfill expectations: If your title says it will have 4 list items, provide 4 list items. For example, BuzzFeed’s 6 Street Foods You Have To Try In Mexico is enhanced by b-roll footage.
3. Choose your video editing method and tools based on your video goals and editing experience level.
Options to consider: Templates: Good for beginners at video editing and graphic design, but can be frustrating to alter for your specific needs. Find templates on wave.video, Canva, Visme, and Biteable. Automated and customizable listicle video creators: Sites like Lumen5 and Rocketium automate the entire process, so no video editing skills are necessary. They are also good for turning a blog post into a video (not free tools). Video editing software: This option gives you the most creative control, but can take longer if there’s a learning curve. Some options are Lightworks (free), iMovie (free), Adobe Premiere Pro (paid), and Final Cut Pro (paid).
4. Find or create visuals that are relevant to each list item or the overall topic.
To create your own video footage, use a camera or phone camera to shoot images or videos that provide context for the text and fit the theme of your list. Make sure to stabilize your phone or camera to avoid shaky videos. To find stock visuals, browse media libraries, including Pixabay, Storyblocks, Dissolve, and ShutterStock. Make sure all images are high resolution, relevant to your list, and not distracting. Trim videos into few second clips to put with the relevant list item, like INSH’s video that contains short videos behind relevant text, or use one long but engaging b-roll video for the whole video. If using static images, use keyframing or motion templates to make the image have movement, like in wave.video’s template that adds movement to the pictures.
5. Add legible, high contrast text that remains on the screen for about one second per word on screen and fits the desired aspect ratio.
Choose a text color that contrasts the main color of the background, or put a rectangular box behind the text to make it legible. Set your video format to your desired aspect ratio based on where you will share the video to ensure the text is not cut off. Instagram square ratio is 1:1. Instagram IGTV and Facebook portrait are 9:16. Youtube and Facebook landscape are 16:9.
6. Add the audio elements of the video, such as narration or background music.
Since about 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, most listicle videos don’t use narration. If you do choose to record narration, make sure to supplement with text and useful images on screen. Use background music that matches the tone and mood of your topic. Find music on royalty-free sites like YouTube Audio Library, Free Music Archives, or Bensound.
7. Publish your listicle video on a platform that makes the video easy to share and reaches your target audience.
Choose where to publish your video based on your goals: Upload to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, so that viewers can easily share and engage with the video. Embed in a blog post using a video host like Wistia if it’s meant to serve as an alternative to reading the post. Host on YouTube or Vimeo if you want to store your video in a discoverable place and make it shareable . Embed in an email if your goal is to make emails more engaging.
8. Track the video's engagement, impressions, and shares to measure its success.
If posted on social media, look on your Insights page on the social media platform to see how many times the video was viewed, shared, engaged with, and who your audience demographics are. Look at your video host analytics as well to see how the video is performing across all platforms.