This week is my last production week before I finally post my final videos. During this time, I planned to edit and place the final touches on my videos for my new YouTube Channel. Before I could do that, I need to get some honest feedback from people I trust. My first step this week was audience testing. Luckily, I received the feedback quickly, and I was able to start implementing changes earlier than I expected. That left me plenty of time to continue editing, which was my second focus this week.
Audience Testing
The most significant part of my project this week was audience testing. Before posting the final videos, I needed to see if my statements were comprehensible, my editing was fine, and the content was interesting.
I took a small test audience of a few close people that I knew would give me honest feedback. I chose an expert user, a moderate user, and an inexperienced user to make sure I made sense to all three technical audience members.
There were three things I was looking for; technical elements, content, and editing style. This information is critical in helping me create a successful YouTube channel. First, I need to make sure the technical aspects, such as proper lighting and clear audio, are apparent. Next, I needed to make sure the content was exciting and engaging. Lastly, I needed to gauge how the audience saw the editing.
To complete the audience testing, I used Survey Monkey to ask them ten questions ranging from content to technical execution.
- Are the videos interesting?
- Am I mumbling/ hard to understand/ talking too fast?
- Is the audio clear?
- Are my statements clear?
- Are there issues with editing?
- How is the length of the videos?
- Should I add more information?
- Are the thumbnails clear?
- Is the background distracting?
- Would you subscribe?
Overall, I got very positive feedback. The results solidified that the videos were interesting, the lighting was excellent, the background was not distracting, and the audio was clear. I was very excited to check all of these problems off of my list of tasks to focus on.
The most important findings were the videos were a little short, I needed to continue to edit for clarity, and add more information. Luckily, I could fix two problems immediately by adding more information to make the videos a bit longer. Next, I needed to edit for further clarity. This meant that I did not need to rerecord each video because I had plenty of footage that I had cut away.
Editing
I knew at the beginning of the week I would be focusing on further edits of my videos. With the help of my audience’s feedback, I was able to narrow my scope to the elements that I needed to focus on.
First, I decided to add one more element to my thumbnails, a subheading. After looking at some “booktube” thumbnail examples, I decided to add stuff like “tips & tricks” and the name of the book I was reviewing, “The Amazing Adventures of Waldo.” I wanted to add some buzz words that would grab more people to my videos, even if they didn’t read the caption.
Another element that I wanted to add to the videos was an ending screen. At the very end of YouTube videos, sometimes you see suggestions to other videos by the creator, or someone similar. This is to keep you on the platform, but it an excellent opportunity for someone to keep watching your videos. In the YouTube creator studio, there is an option to add it to the end of your videos. But before I could add that, I wanted to add a black background at the end, so the suggested videos would pop up to a blank screen and not my face. Using the tool was a little tricky, and the next time I post a video, I will know to set the background for ten seconds instead of five.
The last component of everything was to add more detail where I could. I also added links to my book blog, my bookish Instagram account, and Goodreads, an online book tracking up to keep up to date with your reading progress. This way, I can connect with my audience on other platforms and keep track of my work.
Conclusion
This week was all about putting the final touches on my YouTube videos. By testing my trusted audience, I was able to get a clear picture of what I should focus on. I am very grateful for their help in making these videos the best they can be.
Jennifer Coffey 
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