When making money online as a streamer, there will come a time when you need to edit your gaming videos to expand your reach
TikTok is a great platform for that!
Editing gaming content for TikTok can be very simple or complex. It depends on what you want to do. But the basics are downloading the content, cutting out as much as you can while focusing on a value topic, adding transitions and text, and downloading the newly edited video
TikTok has the ability to do longer videos, but they don’t usually do as well
It is recommended to start with around 40-second videos because that is the longest most beginners can go without losing a lot of viewers
Of course, this depends on you
Try different lengths out
If you have a great hook and engaging content, you’ll keep viewers a lot longer
Where to get content to post on TikTok
The first thing you need to be able to post on TikTok is content
You can get content two ways as a streamer
- Download recordings of your gameplay
- Record on the spot
Most people record on the spot on TikTok because it is easy to join trends that way
But you have content already recorded that you can use too
I recommend doing a mixture
Post mostly content that is related to your target market though
Most trends can be changed to fit any niche
What kind of content you can make for a gaming profile
Once you have some downloaded content or some time to do quick recordings, then you need to decide what you are going to post
TikTok values authentic and personal accounts
Most followers come from people who like both the content and the creator
The less personal your videos are, the less often viewers connect with you
Even videos that go viral can do very little for the creator if it isn’t connected to them in some way
With that out of the way, the content that you can create is only limited by your imagination
Be very careful with the advice that tells you that you have to create certain videos to succeed
In truth, you only need a framework:
- Hook
- Value
- CTA
You can stray from this when you get good at catching and keeping attention, but using that frame is helpful until you can do that
The hook is the very beginning of the video
You have 5-seconds to convince someone to stay on your video
A hook can be:
- The sound
- Text on the screen
- Camera movement
- You talking
- Speech to text
Anything that can occur in the first 5-seconds that will catch the viewer’s attention
The hook can make or break your video
You can have the best content, but it doesn’t matter if no one stays to watch it
The sound is a major hook for trends
Once you have the hook, you need value
Value means a reason for people to watch
Value comes in many forms:
- Entertainment
- Humor
- Information
- Surprises
- And more
If someone watches your video and doesn’t see the point, you need to work on the value
Unless it is a troll
Ignore them
Lastly, you need a CTA
CTA stands for Call-To-Action
You are just asking viewers to do something that you want them to do
The most common is “Follow for more”
This can be spoken, written, or in the caption
Sometimes you can have it in the sound as well
What is the minimum editing that I need to do for TikTok?
When you are first starting in TikTok, start with the basics
The more you take on, the easier it is to get overwhelmed
The minimum in editing is to cut out the parts of the video that don’t help your value piece
For example, you don’t need to teach the viewers something when making a humor video
You can save that information for a different video
Once you have cut out as much as you can, add transitions where needed
I use Filmora to edit so adding transitions is easy
Most people watch TikTok videos with their sound off, so I always add text on the screen to make up for being muted
Make sure you have all three parts of your video framework and you’re done!
What are other things I can do when I edit?
There are a lot of other things you can do when you are comfortable with the basics
And have the time to do the extra
A lot of time goes into editing even when you are good at it
So don’t take more time until you have the extra time to put into editing without posting too much less on TikTok
You can add more popups, create montages, add Broll, experiment with longer video, create video designed to lead people to a YouTube video, and more
The possibilities are endless
One way I like to think of new ideas is by watching other people
Don’t copy them because that is not ok
But take inspiration
You can get inspiration from similar content, or you can get it from places you never thought of before
Just keep your thinking cap on when scrolling TikTok because you never know what will trigger an idea
Once you think of the idea, save it!
Assume that you will not remember!!
I like to save ideas in my smartphone notes because I don’t have to worry about losing them
But you can save your idea anyway that works best for you
Just save the ideas and put them all in the same spot
So when you are ready to plan a video, you have a stash of ideas to look over and choose from
I find that I never get ideas when I am trying to force them
The more I try to plan my inspiration time, the more I am reminded that it doesn’t work that way for me
If you can do it, great!
The biggest part of creating an income from your streaming is finding what works for you and rolling with it
You can get tips and ideas from others all you want, but you will still need to create your own path as well