Batching Video Like a Pro - Behind the Scenes with Paolo Kernahan's Video Creation Process

hello, and welcome useful content creators. And this week we have part two of my conversation with Paolo Cunahan last week, we listened to him talk about video content strategy in general, the need for it, what is on camera confidence and a lot of other different topics that he shared with us And generally what we were trying to cover is how to win selfish audiences with video content strategy, and that was great, but as promised, here is the rest of the conversation that we had, essentially the post credit conversation that turned out to be so good that I decided to split the whole recording in two and have the last week's episode by itself and have this conversation all by itself. Now this week, it's going to be really good. It's going to be a treat because he's going to talk specifically about his video content.

creation process, what he does to create his videos. And we learned last week that Paolo focuses on batch creating content, but this episode is going to show us exactly how, or as much as he could share about his process. A very very useful episode and at the end of the episode when we finish the discussion i'm going to do a breakdown and a summary of every single point he made about his content creation process so we're going to get all that compiled and summarized at the end of this podcast episode so let's get into this part of the conversation between Paolo and I. Let's make useful content.

And we're clear. All right. Good, good stuff. Post credit scenes, time to do some post credit we're in 44 minutes. So let's hear, I didn't, they have so many little questions. I wanted to ask you, I wanted to ask you like the step by step for how you batch and you know, what is the strategy you're currently using, but I couldn't get those questions and, um, you know, my notebook.

It was in my head and you know, that is all that goes. So let's just talk for a couple of minutes about this strategy. You mentioned earlier, what is this strategy that you're using, that you find that makes you confident in your video now?

Some of it is proprietary, just like the Coke recipe. So I'm not going to go into too much detail, but a lot of it that I'm going to share is, is, is really, is basic stuff that you can start applying almost immediately. First of all, um, with my video shorts, recipe. I, as I mentioned during our conversation, I create shorts that I know can be used across the platform.

So there was a time limitation on YouTube. I believe it's still one minute. So if I want video content that I can use on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn, I create all my video for all those platforms at one minute. Every now and then there will be a hot topic on TikTok. For example, there was this craze about Taylor Swift during the Superbowl weekend.

And a lot of people were posting video content about Taylor Swift and all of that. So I made a special video for that, that exceeded my normal one minute short. And I think it went to probably three minutes or more or something like that. But for the most part, I batch create content for the shorts. By doing it in a way that is across all the video platforms.

In order to create video that is visually engaging, I create a mix of videos that are talking head, but I do more video content that has B roll. So I always try to incorporate some B roll that I shoot myself. Very simply, I shoot around my office to make the video content more engaging. And to break the, the, the, the, the, well, I said, I don't want to use the word monotony, but to keep the brain engaged by switching up the visuals every now and then.

So I will add in the occasional B roll just to switch up the pattern as a pattern interrupter to keep people engaged. B roll is a huge part of my strategy. And it also works on Instagram with some of the videos that I've posted there, because as I said, Instagram appears to be in the, mainly, um, a, uh, an image oriented platform that a lot of the videos that perform very well, they're, uh, montages of video, cinematic videos, not very many talking head videos.

Uh, so I try to blend the two worlds where I have visuals and the talking head video in my, uh, and some of it is just narrated voice. So that's how I match create. And when I sit down to battery my content, I, I draw a long list. of video topics that I would like to explore. And then I do search. So I do a Google search to see, well, what is the, what is the level of interest in the topics that I want to talk about?

But I also do search because I want to determine what are the terms that people are using to search for those questions? Because I don't want to, I don't want to, ask it or title it in a way that is not going to be picked up by the algorithm. So I will use Google search. I will use the, the title bar search in TikTok.

And once I have all of that searching done, Oh, there's another thing that I do on Google search. When I, when, when I do Google search and I, they have, If you look lower down, you will see where other forms of the questions come up. I'll click the down arrow to see, well, what are the other manifestations of that question?

In other words, what are the different ways people are asking the question or discussing the topic? So I use all of that as research to help me craft a video that is going to be purpose built to answer what people wanna know. So all of my video content that is batched created is batch created along the lines of what people are asking about.

There are lot, look, there are lots of things that I would love to just talk about because they're of interest to me, but that would not serve anybody because what's interesting to me might not be of interest to anybody and it might not serve my, might not serve my business. interests. If I could talk about Marvel movies all day, that's all I would do.

Uh, so I create content along the lines of what is most likely to find favor with audiences who are already searching for those topics. So I have a preexisting template into which those ideas, the hook is created. The hook has to be the driving force. of that video. If I don't have a powerful enough hook, then I don't, I don't bother to create the video.

And I, I'm not, I'm not a huge fan of creating sensationalist or, uh, or clickbaity hooks, but I'm also not entirely, uh, opposed to the idea of creating an eye catching or, or a Scooby Doo moment hook, you know, was that I I'm, I'm happy to do that because The competition for attention is so fierce, the competition for eyes and ears is so fierce that you want to catch people with a provocative title, a provocative book.

And if you're not doing that today, well, you're undermining your own performance prospects. So that is my approach for my short form content. I create for all the platforms. That way, when I start to roll out my content, I know that I have videos that can service All of my platforms and that way I don't become overwhelmed with having to create for this one and this one and this one and this one.

So, but I also don't, what a lot of people do today is when they create a video, they launch that video on all the platforms at the same

Same 

time. Yeah. 

do that. I create videos and I put them in silos. So I have one video launching today on one platform, another video launching today on another platform.

And then as the cycle, um, trips over, I swap them, but they're all created for the same, for, for, for this, for the different platforms, but it's not the same video appearing across the platform because I don't want to appear. Uh, saying the same thing across all the platforms on the same day. If I'm doing an upload, I'm uploading different videos.

But when the cycle switches over in three weeks, then I swap the videos, but they're all created so that they can exist comfortably on the different platforms. I'm not creating them. They're not purpose built for a specific platform. I do have to have an understanding of how the algorithms work and what content is favored on the platforms.

And I try, as far as possible, to fit my content Into that and well, at least recognizing those consumption patterns, uh, to craft my video on and that's how I do it that. And with the long form video content, I follow the same process. I have a concept or a broad concept. But before I do that, I create my title and my thumbnail first.

And what I've learned is that if I do not have an excellent title and a thumbnail, it doesn't make any sense doing the video. It doesn't matter how compelling the video can be. It could be brilliant, but nobody's going to get to it if the title and the thumbnail aren't compelling enough to, to make people say to themselves, this is worth my time.

I'm going to check in on this video and see

I have a question about that. Do you, cause this happens to me and I wonder if the same thing happens to you. Do you often do that and then find yourself having to come back and change it?

Oh yeah. And I, it's not, I, I'm not, to be honest with you, I'm not the biggest fan of having to go back and change stuff, but, uh, maintaining that attitude in this day and age is not particularly productive. And you know what makes me go back and change it? I think to myself, wait a minute, this video was, it was good. It was good. There's no reason that it can't have gotten some more views, so something has to be wrong. So I will go back and look at the thumbnail title, and I'll think, okay, well, maybe the image is too dark, the font size isn't large enough, it isn't gripping enough, maybe the title is too long, uh, I should have front loaded the title with the primary concept, um, and I'll go back and change it, and I might go back and change it more than once.

But again, I have to learn with each video that I create to do it better. I have to, I have to soundly analyze, well, what could I have done differently? And what are other people doing that's in the same niche or similar topics that's getting them performance on their video content. And I try to combine the two.

What's working for other people, what I might have failed to do. And I try to combine those things and then I go again. I'll make the change. It may not necessarily work. It may not give me the results that I want But I will apply those changes in the next video that I do and that's how I keep I keep going So that is that is in a nutshell my content creation process.

I batch create I don't create day by day And I know a lot of people online are now saying batch creating Content is heresy because you are not going to be relevant Well, if you're worried that your the content that you create Uh, as a batch created content is not going to be relevant. You were never going to be relevant because it's not, it's not strictly speaking about relevant, it's about usefulness.

And that is what evergreen content ensures that the concepts that you're, you're, you're creating the concepts that you're embedding into your video content are universally applicable, but also they stand the test of time. That's not always going to be possible because you're dealing in an online world that changes very rapidly.

So if you're creating video content around video content, specific, specific change on a platform, then that will have to be a current video. But I try for the most part to create evergreen content on principles and ideas that don't really change that much across time. One of them is on camera confidence.

It doesn't matter how the platforms change. The power of on camera confidence and the principles that you apply to become confident on camera, more fluent, more structured in your thought process and expressing those thoughts and ideas, that will never change because that's always been what works for people.

And I'm talking about from the advent of television till today. On camera confidence is an immutable concept. It will never change, no matter how the platforms evolve. What does change is how you apply it on the platforms. You will speak, uh, you will do shorter videos to get more traction where there's, uh, on platforms that favor short form content, but that is a concept that will never change.

So, I, I, that is why I am a firm believer in batch creating content. But also, as an entrepreneur, I keep saying this over and over, it saves you the kind of time and frustration that you just couldn't escape if you were doing your content on a day to day basis. It just, it just, that to me, it just doesn't work as an entrepreneur who has other responsibilities to

Yeah, this is, this is good. And I think that, um, one of the themes out of our conversation was, You know, content creators who run, who are using content for a business versus business people or business owners, or people who run a business, who create content. And that is a, I think you're right, there's a massive difference between the, those two groups of people.

And, um, and you're right, somebody who runs a business and even with me or even with you, who your business actually is teaching people how to create content and or creating content for them, even you run a business even though that's what you do and.

Yeah, well, yeah, you're quite right.

That has always been, um, that has always been my focus. My, my strategy is, is rooted in creating, uh, a strategy that you can apply in a way that allows you to balance running a business, And building visibility for that business. That is where the video marketing strategy really shines.

And that, that is what it's for. It's focused on now, obviously, if you're a, look, there are certain that there are different videos to perform different functions. As I mentioned in our conversation, I create a mix of video content to meet certain needs along the buyer journey, because you're never going to create One video that is going to be a hit and it's going to get people, where do I sign?

Doesn't, it's never going to work that way unless you're selling a product that is, well, I don't know, um, Donald Trump's shoes or something. Donald Trump's, Donald Trump's latest, um, shoes. If you have shoes like Donald Trump to sell, you can create one video and that's it. But you have to, you have to view a video marketing strategy as A courtship with your audience and you're going to create different videos that are going to be like several dates along that courtship.

Uh, you're going to be teaching that person about who you are and how, how you can be beneficial to them. But you're also going to be creating videos that are going to be telling that person, listen, I've been there exactly where you are. I understand what you're going through. And if you don't believe me, here's what I went through when I was getting started.

And I'm quite sure that you will have the same success that I had because I stuck it out and you will too. Uh, and that's what, that's how you want to perceive of your video marketing strategy. It is. A series of videos that will take your viewers, take your audience on a journey to discovery and eventually conversion.

That is where it comes in. There's not going to be any one video that's going to deliver, uh, the kind of performance that you want. Uh, and that's where, that's, that's what the, the, the, the whole, the raison d'etre behind the batch, the batching of content with a particular undergirding strategy behind it.

That's good. That's good stuff. All right. Well, thanks for staying on for the post Credit conversation. It seems like I could just take this and make two podcasts that might happen Um, but it's it's been very very very good There's many questions, um that I could still ask about this, but I know we're running out of time We actually are about an hour recording.

This is the longest recording in the new season that i've done Um, what is this 

not bad? 

that's useful. Feel free to edit me free feel free to edit me as much as

not, not a word will be lost, Paolo. Let me take this off, yeah? 

so that was the conversation between Paolo and I, a very good conversation if I do say so myself. But let's now summarize much of what he said and go a bit deeper into how he creates his video content. And of course, We know that he batch creates, but let's look at the details of all of the things he said and go down the list so that you can glean more value out of everything that he shared.

Let's go through it one by one. Now We know Paolo Bach creates content and how he does it is that he creates short form video that can be used across multiple platforms. And usually he limits that, uh, the length of the videos to one minute and under. So he limits the video length so that it can be used across multiple platforms that short form content.

He did say that if there is a trending topic, for example, a hot topic or something that is blowing up in the news. Those videos may be longer than one minute. So his videos are a mix of talking head videos. That means he's just talking to the camera and the B roll. B roll is the supplemental video footage that you use mixed in with your talking head. to highlight the things that are being said and he shoots it around his office but he often switches up the visuals to keep people engaged so it's not just straight talking head it's talking head along with visuals that come from the b roll so that is something to note and he also use he also uses narrated voices so he may have b roll something not showing his face but Uh, over that is his voice narrating what's going on or something related to what the content is, is currently showing.

So that is a method he uses as well.

So in terms of how he gets his topics and how he thinks about those things, usually he draws up, he thinks about what he wants to share, draws up a list of topics that he may want to share on. And then what he does is that he goes on to Google. and he searches for those specific topics in a way that he feels people might be interested in hearing about them.

So he explores the interests and he does research. So he does this for three main reasons. 

First reason he searches for these topics is to gauge the amount of interest in this particular topic. topic or title that he wants to do the video on. So if there's a high search volume for it, or if people are asking a lot of questions around it, then it's highly likely that people want answers for those questions.

So he uses that to gauge that type of interest, that level of interest. Also, he wants to see the way in which people are asking the question about this particular topic or the way in which people are searching for it. That will help him determine the way he frames his hooks and he frames his content to make it the most effective.

Because if people are asking about it in a specific way, then he can frame his content in that specific way to feed the need of those people asking those particular questions. And the third thing is that he also uses The people also ask. So, this is a method that is known among some people, where if you do a search on Google, there are, there's a section below, a little drop down arrow that says people also ask.

And if you hit that drop down arrow, it produces more questions related to the search term that you searched for previously. So then you get variations of how people are asking for that particular search term. So he uses that method in order to get a wider view of what people are searching for or related topics or different ways.

You could ask the same questions in order to feed the way in which he will create his video content. So those are the three reasons for him going on to Google to do research.

so this research is part Purpose built to be exactly what people are asking about. And secondarily, this method is designed to capture existing demand in the market. So he's not trying to create demand. What he's trying to do is capture demand, because if people are talking about something, if people are interested in a topic, that means there's demand for that already.

And so he aligns his content to what demand there is in the market and makes that content so that he knows there is a market for the content that he is creating. So let's go a bit into the structure of his video now. So for Paolo, the driving force behind the video is the hook. And I agree with him on that. That is a proven thing. And he says that if he doesn't have a powerful enough hook, he doesn't bother to create the video. So that's how much he thinks a hook is important.

That's the degree of importance he places upon having an excellent hook. If the hook is not good, he doesn't create the video. So he wants a powerful hook to start his videos.

With that said, he's not a fan of sensationalists. or click baity hooks. However, he does like when hooks give you what he calls a scooby doo moment where you go, boo, and it, it, it sparks interest and it sparks curiosity so that people can get into the content. Uh, very, he can capture the attention. I think they can get into the content very easily.

So he's not into the click bait stuff, but he does want to you. instantly sparked this deep curiosity and interest in, uh, in the, in the content that he creates with the hooks that he makes.

And he does also acknowledge that the, uh, competition for attention is quite fierce. so he does want to have a provocative hook and he advises that everyone should have a provocative hook, something that grabs people's attention. attention.

So let's talk now a bit about how he ships his content, how he puts it out into the world. So Paulo shared with us that even though he creates videos that can be used across all platforms, uh, he never, ever, ever launches the same video across all platforms at the same time.

So videos, the same video never gets launched on the same day at the same time. That never happens, even though he creates his videos to be used across all platforms. What he in fact does is that he puts his videos in silos, essentially. So he separates the videos. So even though he batches and creates multiple videos, each platform gets a different video on any given day.

And then he will swap around the videos. right later on at the new release date. So if video A goes on, let's just say TikTok and the video B goes on LinkedIn, then he will swap that and put video B on the other platform, video A on the other platform. So they are not released. The videos are not, same videos are not released on the same day.

on different platforms. He swaps them around

And he says he does this because he doesn't want to appear on all of the platforms saying the exact same thing on the same day. And I would venture to add is a part of that tactic is to keep interest so that if people know him on different platforms, they can get different types of content across each platform on the same day.

And so as a, just a way to keep interest, I would, I would suspect as well.

And of course he always crafts all of his videos with today's consumption patterns. in mind. So all of his videos are crafted so that they will be consumed in accordance with today's consumption patterns

so interestingly, and I didn't think we were going to touch on this or talk about this, he did say that he applies the same formula to his long form videos as well. But the only difference is that in addition to the hook, he must have an excellent title and thumbnail.

And if he can't come up with one and an excellent title and thumbnail that is, he does not release or he does not create the video. So he must have an excellent title and thumbnail.

And if he releases a long form video and it doesn't perform the way he expects it to perform, and he knows it's a good video, What he does is that he goes back and he changes the title, he adjusts the thumbnail, and he releases it again, he ships it back out again, and he keeps on making those changes until he sees an uptick in how the video performs.

So he is not afraid to go back and make changes after the fact to improve how the video is received by his audience.

And of course, whatever. lessons he learns in the creation and the release of his videos. He takes that forward into the creation and release of his new video content in the future. All those things, all those learnings come together and they help him improve his future videos.

And very appropriately at the end, he said that he sees video content strategy as a courtship. So every video you release, it's like you're going on a date. You are getting to know your audience more and more and more. And then at some point your audience will get to know you and trust you enough to buy something from you and convert and so it's a journey, it's a relationship, it's something that is built over time and I was very happy to hear this because we all know that I always say this thing which is true that it's good to relate and so that is in line with how we think about content as a Well,

so that's the big summary. Thank you. So content creators for sticking around for the ending of this episode. And it was a great conversation with Paolo. If you'll want to have more episodes like this, where I do a breakdown of the guests methods and methodologies in creating content and how they create their own content.

Let me know. And I'll do more like this where I pull out the points and I break it down in a list like this so that you can have it and you can go back and you can implement those things if you wanted to in a tactical way. Thanks again Paolo for coming on and thank you useful content creators for coming to learn in the useful content classroom.

Useful content classroom dismissed

and we're clear. Great so I'm not sure this doesn't count doesn't count as a solo episode but I really do want to do more like this where I do some more breakdowns or even have content creators come on and break down their own content creation process. I was thinking about it, but maybe this might be the impetus for doing it that way.

And, um, who knows if this, is something you want to see more of, or want to learn more of how particular content creators actually create their own stuff, which is kind of, um, I used to do that before when I had the useful content creation show, but I want to be able to do both. So maybe I'll do some of this as well as a part of how we share content on this podcast.

And so let me know about that. And that should be a good thing for everyone. So instead of just hearing me talk about what I make, you could hear about how people not only make stuff for them, for their clients, how people make stuff for you, the audience, for themselves so that it can be served to you.

And that should be a good thing to help people out with creating. their own useful content. So bye everyone, take care, and I'll see you in the next episode.