Content Creation for Beginners: All Tools & Equipment You Need

0:00 Hey there. And welcome to freelance Friday today. I want to talk about every single piece of equipment, every tool, every resource that you're going to need. If you want to become a full time content creator or just a content creator in general, I suppose, because listen, there are a lot of options out there nowadays for freelancing. You know, cameras and microphones and recording tools. And so I want to tell you the things that I wholeheartedly recommend what I would buy if I were starting over today. And I also just want to add the quick caveat, best tool, the best piece of equipment that you can use is what you already have. So just get started, get started with your phone, get started with your old digital camera. If you have one. But come back to this as a shopping list, as a resource list, if you want to improve, or if you want to like really take your stuff to the next level.

0:47 And I always just like to put this out there. You don't need like the fanciest stuff to just get started and do be sure to open up the description box and the show notes. If you want to shop, I'll try to link everything for you. Today's episode is sponsored by MetraCool. MetraCool is constantly adding new features to unify social media management. For example, here are some of their latest releases. They recently incorporated Google drive and Canva integrations into their planners so you can design store and schedule your assets with ease. This is available with any premium account. Users can access a post library feature to save social media assets within the planner. You can also drag files directly into the planner to upload and schedule without importing. Access these archives to repurpose content or share across multiple platforms.

1:36 Storing drafts and a content bank are now a reality within MetraCool. Metrical's AI assistant can recreate copies and optimize per social network, truly making this an all in one platform. Although free Metrical users can use up to 5 AI credits per month, premium credits start at 20 uses per month. It's worth trying a Metrical Premium Plan to test these new features, so be sure to use code Latasha to try any Metrical Premium Plan for 30 days free. Link down in the description. Now, you need something to record with. Of course, you can use your MacBook camera if you have a Mac, but you can also use your iPhone as a webcam nowadays, or you can use a camera like the Logitech Brio, which I really enjoy.

2:22 It records up to 4K and just gives a little bit more of a polished look if you plan to record most of your videos, like at your computer, maybe podcast interview style, something like that. Now, if you plan to record content, that's a little bit more vlog style, or maybe more out in the world, I would definitely recommend getting a mirrorless camera or a DSLR camera, something that is a little bit more powerful. I personally love the Nikon Z30 for my vlogging camera. And I use a Canon R10 for these sit down videos. That's what I'm recording with right now. If you're watching the podcast, the main difference between those, I guess, three cameras, the Logitech Brio, the Nikon Z30 and the R10 are Logitech Brio is great for interviews, you know, meetings, webinars, things like that.

3:11 It's just easy. I don't need to hook up a ton of. Intense cables or anything like that. I get a really nice quality shot for very minimal effort. The Z 30 is great because it's smaller. It is more lightweight, it's more compact. And so it's great for traveling around. I can throw it in my bag and take quick clips here and there and just get like a really beautiful shot. The R10 is what I would say gets me my most cinematic look and the most like professional and polished look, but it's not something I like to carry around. It's not really great with action shots. It's kind of just good for this setting or, you know, whatever setting you choose to really, um, commit to, if you will. So it really does just depend on what you need your camera for and what type of content you choose to create.

3:58 Whatever you choose, you need to put your camera on something. So you need a tripod of some sort. It can be a small one. If it's a vlog camera, I've got a little mini Manfrotto desktop tripod that also works as a monopod for when I'm vlogging. Love that one. For my sit down videos like this, I've got a bigger Manfrotto tripod and for my Logitech Brio, I actually have something pretty cool. It's like a monopod type of situation. I'm going to link all of them down below the monopod type situation at clamps onto my desk. And so I can just actually have a pencil mark on my desk where it goes, so I can pop it on and off when I need it. And it just gives a really nice framing. I also use it for my Nikon Z30 when I do my podcasts using that. And I'll show some examples on the screen here.

4:45 Microphones, microphones I could talk about all day, honestly, because I've tried so many microphones over the years, but I can pretty confidently recommend. Three different microphones. Number one is this one. The Shure MV7 is what I use for my podcast and for any type of interview or really anything, webinars, meetings. I use it all the time. I really like it. It's pretty affordable. I mean, it is an investment. It's like a 250 bucks, but in terms of more professional quality microphones, it's actually not priced too badly. It's also easy to use. So. Because you can use a USB with it or an XLR like I'm using. You can watch one of my videos all about podcasting to learn kind of what the difference is, but the point is anybody can use it who has a computer.

5:32 Essentially. You can actually even use this with your phone if you want to get really fancy. Now, similarly, the Samson Q2U, I use that microphone for years, and I really think it is such an amazing quality microphone for the price point. I think it's 70, maybe even less. It's so affordable. And it is, I think a beautiful sound and it also works with both USB and XLR. So just depending on your budget, depending on the aesthetics that you prefer, you may choose to go with either one of those, or you may do what I do and buy the Q2U and eventually upgrade to the short MV7. Now, lastly, if you are not looking for this type of look, if you're like, I don't want to do podcasts. I don't want to look like a podcaster. I want to be, uh, you know, hands free if you will. I really like the DJI wireless mic system.

6:20 So what's cool about these is that you can use them with a lavalier microphone. So that's the little guy that goes up. In your shirt and you just see the little, you know, microphone heads sitting right here or wherever you choose to put it, I guess, or you can use it as kind of a handheld thing. I don't personally like that look, but it's a little bit more trending on tick tock and things like that. Nowadays, it's just a really versatile microphone system. And so if you plan to do interviews, if you plan to do talking head videos, but you don't want to do podcasts, if you plan to record on the go. A lot and might not want to have a big bulky microphone to travel around with. That is a great option. You'll also need some type of a boom arm is what we call these. If you are going to do sit down podcasts, if you're using the DJI

7:07 or a wireless system, again, you're probably going to want to think about a lavalier to go alongside it so that, you know, you have something to. Basically hold up your microphone or feed your microphone into your mic pack, depending on the situation. I'm going to be honest. I am not picky about boom arms. I right now, these ones are from road just because I worked with them on some content a while back and I had them and they're pretty good. I. I actually don't prefer them just because they say road on the arm. I actually had to cut it off of this one, um, just because I didn't want to be like a walking road promotion, but there are some from Elgato that I really like that clamp on really nicely. And, uh, yeah, I'm not too picky about boom arms. I would say if you're going to cheap out on anything. A boom arm can probably be cheaped out on pretty easily.

7:56 I mean, you'll pay for it in the end. It'll probably break on you quickly if you buy like a 10 one from Amazon or something, but it will definitely get you by. Something else that I used for years was just a desktop stand for a microphone. I just preferred the look of it, but. I would say I like the acoustics. I like the sound better with a boom arm because, you know, my hands are a little bit freer. You're still going to hear me moving around, but if this was on a desktop type of situation, you would hear that a lot. Lighting. What I use nowadays is actually. Like the laziest situation, honestly, I am, you know, I'm actually not loving the lighting of my videos these days because it is so lazy, but this is just the most convenient light. It just makes setting up my videos so easy.

8:41 It's the Elgato key light, and I only have one of them. And then I have a window over on this side. So I've got a key light here and a window on this side. So it is pretty even, but again, I could be doing better. I could be doing like the full lighting setup. Like I used to, I'm just lazy nowadays. I'm going to be honest. I just don't have time for it. So if you also don't have time for it, if you're also not super skilled in lighting, I think this is a really good one. What I like about the Elgato key light is that it is so. Compact, it's very thin and you know, you could easily travel with this. I could throw this into a suitcase and be okay. As opposed to like a big ring light or a big, uh, soft box light, for example. And what's also cool about this is it connects via wifi or maybe Bluetooth. I'm not really sure I will clarify on the screen.

9:27 It connects via something and I can control it via my computer. So I can just, you know, bump up the temperature to make it more blue or make it more orange. I can make the lighting really intense right now. I'm recording in the evening. It's 5 p. m. So it's starting to, you know, the sun's starting to go down. If you're watching on YouTube, this will make sense, of course. And this is on 15%. So it gets really, really bright. Typically, like when I'm recording during the day, I only put it on like 7 percent or something really, really low. So it's a really powerful light and I just love it. I think it's really easy to use. Something else you're probably going to want to invest in as far as tools go is Canva or some other type of graphic design tool. Now, listen, I know some people are really spicy about Canva. If you are a novice.

10:13 Like me, Canva is going to help you do everything from YouTube thumbnails, to TikTok covers, to simple animations that might, might pop up throughout your videos. If you are more advanced, of course, there are more advanced photo design tools, logo design tools, photo editors, things like that out there like Lightroom or Photoshop or anything like that. So pick and choose what you want and what you really need, but chances are you're going to need to do some Some editing to photos or some graphic design. Now, Canva isn't going to be great. If you want to create a logo, I hire out for that. I work with designers when I need fancy things like that, but I will make simple tweaks to my photos if I need to brighten it, or like I said, I'll design my thumbnails in it, I'll create simple carousel graphics

11:01 and things like that in Canva. You're going to need something, but I personally like Canva for the level that I'm at. For ideas and SEO research, I use TubeBuddy. TubeBuddy is actually a Chrome extension. So you can log in with your YouTube account. They do have a free plan. I believe I have one of their paid plans just so I get more searches and more data. But if you log into YouTube, use TubeBuddy, you can start typing in keywords like social media marketing or graphic design or web design or whatever it is that you do, and it'll give you suggestions for topics. It'll help you rank your video titles and decide whether or not they are good ones to go after. You know, you'll be able to see how many people are searching for that topic versus how much content is out there. So you can really decide which niche you can kind of attack and which video title

11:48 and tags and all of that you can do. There's a lot more you can do with TubeBuddy too. Everything from like bulk editing your YouTube descriptions to thumbnail AB testing, but I primarily use it for video research and I do use it for video research of all kinds, not just YouTube videos. Now, obviously it is really. Custom made for YouTube, but because YouTube is my primary platform and I tend to repurpose from YouTube to other platforms, I also let my YouTube content drive my strategy for TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, any other video platform out there. So it can be helpful to use, not just for YouTube, but just for videos and SEO overall. And lastly, the tool that I recommend every content creator have is a social media content calendar and scheduling tool.

12:37 And analytics tool, which really Metro cool does all of that. It's my favorite tool for, uh, everything from competitor analysis to planning out my content calendar to actually pushing my content to go live. They do direct posting, auto posting to pretty much all of the social platforms, everything from Instagram to tick talk to Facebook to, uh, YouTube, I think. And yeah, it's just really, really cool. It'll take so much weight off your plate. If you do not have to have your phone on you at all times and be manually posting every single week. One of my favorite features within Metricool scheduler is the ability to cross post to different platforms. So if I have a YouTube short, for example, I can post it to YouTube shorts, but I can also post it to Instagram reels and tech talk at the same time.

13:22 And I can go in and I can manually edit the caption to customize it for each of those platforms. So. Next time you plan to post a video, just like make sure that you're clicking the other platforms so that you're getting more reach. And yeah, that's just a really nice way. Cause like I never log onto Tik TOK for example. So I will just forget to post on Tik TOK if I don't have a scheduler kind of reminding me to do that. They've also got analytics, so you can see how you're growing over time, which is really helpful. And so many other features inbox management. So definitely recommend every content creator has some type of tool like that. So those are the 10 resources, pieces of equipment. Tools that I recommend that you use. If you want to become a full time content creator, be sure to check out the description box and the podcast show notes, I'll have links to everything.

14:09 If I've got discount codes to anything or anything like that, I'll have that linked for you down below as well. Let me know if you have questions about any of the other tools, resources, or pieces of equipment that I mentioned. I hope you have a great day. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll talk to you in the next one. Bye.