Oct. 22, 2020

1358: A 3-Part Framework for YouTube Channel Growth

In this episode we talk to Todd Clouser, Manager of Digital Marketing and Social Media at Weld.com

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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.189 Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm looking lyles with sweet fish media. 2 00:00:08.390 --> 00:00:12.349 I'm joined today by Todd clousser. He's the manager of Digital Marketing and social 3 00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:17.190 media over at WELCOM. Todd a new linkedin friend and nice to meet in 4 00:00:17.309 --> 00:00:20.510 real life. Welcome to the show man. Absolutely thanks for having me, 5 00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:24.620 Logan. Fantastic. We're going to be talking about three steps you can follow 6 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:29.179 to grow your Youtube Channel before we get into this framework that folks can learn 7 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:32.299 from. From your experience, Todd, why is this something that you've, 8 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.460 you know, presented on multiple times, something that you're really passionate about? 9 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:39.090 Where did these learnings come from for you that you're going to be breaking down 10 00:00:39.130 --> 00:00:45.689 for listeners today? So I started with wellcom, really before there was any 11 00:00:45.969 --> 00:00:49.570 business plan around it. You know, the the guy who had the domain 12 00:00:49.649 --> 00:00:53.200 name, he knew he wanted to do something with it. In the original 13 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.159 plan for that he had it was like a directory style business model and we 14 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:02.359 had a really hard time driving traffic to that website. This was back in 15 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:06.069 two thousand and eleven, so we were kind of grasping at straws. Okay, 16 00:01:06.189 --> 00:01:10.549 how can we drive people to this website? And you know we came 17 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:17.069 up with the idea that let's create educational youtube content with the end goal of 18 00:01:17.349 --> 00:01:21.659 driving people to the website. And you know, we started from scratch. 19 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.780 We tried everything. Stuff work, stuff that doesn't work, and since then 20 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:32.459 we've just kind of honed it in and figured it out, so to speak. 21 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:36.170 Yeah, absolutely. I mean that's where the greatest learnings come from, 22 00:01:36.329 --> 00:01:40.170 is trying stuff failing and stuff figuring out what works. So we're going to 23 00:01:40.170 --> 00:01:42.810 be talking about your three step framework. Step one is the planning phase, 24 00:01:44.129 --> 00:01:49.040 step two is execution and then step three is analysis. Talk to us a 25 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.560 little bit about step one in the planning phase. You know, a lot 26 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:56.560 of folks, I think, right now, are a little bit intimidated with 27 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.629 Youtube, and and somewhat rightfully so. Right it is a pretty saturated platform 28 00:02:00.629 --> 00:02:06.269 where there are a lot of content creators. It's not as kind of immature 29 00:02:06.269 --> 00:02:08.270 as like, let's say, a tick tock or Linkedin, where there are 30 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:14.349 more consumers than there are producers of content. Where do you kind of get 31 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:19.539 your your mind set to begin the planning phase with your Youtube Channel Strategy? 32 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:23.860 Time? I think you know just kind of talking about that a little bit 33 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.060 even before you you start to plan your content or anything like that. I 34 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:31.810 think going into Youtube you have to have the right mindset of what your goals 35 00:02:31.930 --> 00:02:36.849 and your expectations are from that channel. You know, if you're if you're 36 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:43.009 trying to build thought leadership or branding for your company or demand generation or, 37 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:46.479 you know, influence over an industry, because at the end of the day 38 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.960 we don't like the word influence, but social media, as a company, 39 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:54.360 you're in there so you can try to influence people to buy your product. 40 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.909 So if those are what you're trying to do, Youtube's going to work for 41 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:01.669 you. But you know, if you're trying to treat it like an ad 42 00:03:01.870 --> 00:03:07.389 platform where you're creating content trying to measure, you know, a direct you 43 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:12.750 know, return on your adspend or something like that, it's really not going 44 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:15.219 to work for you. So you have to go in with the expectation that 45 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:20.099 this is a long term content play. You know you're not going to hit 46 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:23.740 it out of the park right off the bat in most cases, and if 47 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:29.650 that's you know, if that lines up with your goals, youtube is going 48 00:03:29.650 --> 00:03:34.889 to be perfect for you and this framework should help you get started in growing 49 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:40.639 that audience. So when you start this planning process. Number one is you 50 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:46.039 have to identify your audience. So most companies, either in their marketing department 51 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:52.479 through personas or an outside sales team that's talking with the audience every day, 52 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.949 they have a high level knowledge of at least who they're trying to sell to, 53 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:03.030 right, but you really have to know your audience from their side. 54 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:11.740 Companies have this company centric idea of what their audience is, but very rarely 55 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.699 do they do they know how their audience thinks and and you know what they 56 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:20.339 they really want. So first thing you got to do is identify your audience 57 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:28.129 and once you identify your audience, you can find hosts that relate with that 58 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:31.050 audience. So before you shoot any content, you have to have a host, 59 00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:34.370 right. You got to have somebody to be on camera. So you 60 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:36.730 got to figure out how many hosts am I going to have? Is it 61 00:04:36.850 --> 00:04:41.199 going to be one guy? You got to kind of figure that out, 62 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:46.040 whether your company has a huge product line that's got multiple subject matter experts or 63 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.120 you know, you can have one subject matter expert. You got to figure 64 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:55.629 out who's going to be your host. Okay, and then you also got 65 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:59.829 to figure out how many hosts are you can have. So if I've got 66 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:02.709 if I've got one guy in my company, you know, it's probably a 67 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:08.100 good idea to reach out to some of your brand partners to so like reach 68 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:11.540 out to some of your brand ambassadors. If you don't have brand ambassadors, 69 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:15.420 it's a good idea to get them before you start a youtube channel because, 70 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:19.379 like I said before, they have that that customer centric view. Like what 71 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:25.209 you're saying about being thoughtful in picking the host, possibly having multiple hosts and 72 00:05:25.410 --> 00:05:30.209 getting your evangelists or your brand ambassador's involved. Do you have kind of a 73 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:35.439 list of your top two or three characteristics for the host of your Youtube Channel? 74 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:40.240 I posted about this the other day about podcast host so I kind of 75 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:43.000 have my own thoughts, but I'd love to hear yours and maybe how they 76 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.920 overlap with your podcast host or the way we think about it. Or maybe 77 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:47.720 you and I are kind of coming at it from different angles, and that's 78 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:51.629 okay. To what are some of those top characteristics you look for when you're 79 00:05:51.629 --> 00:05:56.269 deciding who's going to be the host? Where the multiple hosts of our Youtube 80 00:05:56.269 --> 00:06:00.709 Channel for the brand? So I think that depends on whether you're looking inward 81 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:05.500 at your host or if you're looking outward, you know, using brand partners, 82 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:10.139 ambassadors, things of that nature, because a lot of times companies, 83 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:14.540 when you're when you're using someone internally, you may not have exactly what you're 84 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:16.540 looking for. You know, as far as like personality, you know, 85 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:21.689 obviously anybody who is going to be on camera it's great if they've got a 86 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:28.250 super outgoing personality, they're relatable to to your audience. So like for me, 87 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:34.560 my audience is welders and fabricators, so someone that's blue collar and, 88 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.240 you know, can can speak the language with a welder on the floor. 89 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:44.839 That's something that's important to me from an inside guy. But that might not 90 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:49.389 necessarily mean that there's the most outgoing person in the world. So that's again 91 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:54.470 you look to your your brand abstads, you find one that's already using your 92 00:06:54.509 --> 00:06:59.629 products, that's got a good following and you look for someone who's got a 93 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:04.980 really good outgoing personality and can speak passionately about the industry that you're in. 94 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:10.540 So, Todd once you've got your host or your cohost figured out, you've 95 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:13.540 got to start planning out the content. What what topics? How are we 96 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:15.930 going to divide this up? What frequency what cadence, all that sort of 97 00:07:15.970 --> 00:07:19.209 stuff. Are there some things, having been now on the other side of 98 00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:24.810 it, that you wish you knew about this content planning phase as you're spinning 99 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:28.449 up a new youtube channel for the brand? Yeah, so when you're when 100 00:07:28.449 --> 00:07:30.959 you're coming up with your content strategy, how you're going to what type of 101 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:36.519 content you're going to create, in the beginning it's incredibly important to just test. 102 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:41.439 I mean, so many companies out there right now they're so afraid to 103 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.430 put out good content. You know, there's so many companies putting out product 104 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:49.350 explainers and, you know, trade show demos, that sort of thing, 105 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:55.550 but they're afraid to to move in, whether they're afraid is going to hurt 106 00:07:55.589 --> 00:08:01.860 their brand or what. They're afraid to kind of look past that and create 107 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:07.819 content that the customer actually wants to see. So you know, it's important 108 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:11.220 again to lean on you can lean on your outside sales guys. Ask them 109 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:18.250 what frequently ask questions they get and, if it's on a product, transform 110 00:08:18.410 --> 00:08:24.009 that that product question into a process question. So you're not selling product your 111 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:28.759 answer, you're educating on a process and I think that's the best way that 112 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:33.320 you do it. Is I mean you can. You can transform those types 113 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:39.000 of questions to make it relevant to, you know, a wider audience. 114 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.830 Yeah, I love that. That mantra there. Take our product question and 115 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:46.909 turn it into a process question. You don't. And that applies whether you're 116 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:50.669 selling to welders and and fabricators or marketers. You know, I might get 117 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:54.899 a question in our sales process here at sweet fish about, well, how 118 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:58.820 do you guys go about helping US name our podcast? Well, I could, 119 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:01.940 you know, we could answer that and say, well, this is 120 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:03.820 how we do it and this is who's involved in that sort of stuff, 121 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:07.460 but that's not really valuable for someone who's not, you know, actively talking 122 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:11.889 to a salesperson here at sweet fish. But what I could say is here 123 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:16.529 are the three things that we think about. That are your top priorities when 124 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:20.490 naming your podcast. Here are our six commandments that we say you should never 125 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:24.919 break when you naming your podcast. Oh and, by the way, here 126 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.440 are four formulas that we normally go to when we name shows for our customers. 127 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:33.039 Because those three things, the way that I broke that down, could 128 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.039 be avlicable whether you're naming your own show or you're using sweetfish and we're consulting 129 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:41.389 with you on the name of your podcast. So I think that's a that's 130 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:46.710 an example of taking a product or service question and turning it into a process 131 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:48.750 question. Taught I know the other thing you wanted to talk about. So 132 00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:52.179 we got host. We've talked a little bit about content. Let's talk about 133 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:56.139 guests. What are your thoughts and what's been your experience of getting, you 134 00:09:56.299 --> 00:10:01.899 use the term before, microinfluencers when it comes to your youtube strategy, we're 135 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:05.580 big fans here. It's sweet fish of the fact that you don't necessarily need 136 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:11.529 gigantic names to explode your reach in a podcast where a youtube channel. But 137 00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:16.129 there is power in going to the micro influencers. They might not be household 138 00:10:16.169 --> 00:10:20.639 name aimes, but there are people who your specific Nige really recognizes. What's 139 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:28.120 been your experience there and how do you kind of differentiate between influencers and microinfluencers? 140 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:35.710 I think the easiest way to differentiate between a microinfluencer and an influencer is 141 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:41.990 if you look at a microinfluencer, they're interacting with every every come or a 142 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:48.070 vast majority of their comments, you know they're in tune with. You know 143 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:52.059 the people that they're they're reaching, you know, they're having conversations with these 144 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:58.059 people every day, whereas with like an influencer, they've got this gigantic audience 145 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:03.419 that if they interact with five percent of them, you know that's that's a 146 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:09.529 task. So like with my experience with microinfluencers, you've almost got this this 147 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:15.570 more diehard audience around them just because, you know, people want to be 148 00:11:15.610 --> 00:11:18.960 a part of something. Like there may be a guy that I follow and 149 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.679 you know he's got ten million, ten million followers, subscribers, whatever, 150 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:26.120 but you know, I know he's never going to interact with me, whereas 151 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:31.039 you know, if I build a relationship with a microinfluencer, you know I'm 152 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:37.909 much more in tune to interact with whoever they're interacting with. So you know, 153 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:43.909 as a company, if I use a microinfluencer and create content with them, 154 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:52.299 now now I have a in tune active audience in his audience that now 155 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:56.460 when they interact with me, just because in interacting with him, you know 156 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:58.820 there's that back and forth. So now they're going to come over to me 157 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:01.929 and they're going to get that same back and forth. They know that they're 158 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:07.610 going to get that. So to me microinfluencers. They're smaller, but they 159 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:11.769 offer they interact with their audience more. And number two is you know, 160 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:16.000 you've got a lot better chance of getting microinfluencers to to interact with you on 161 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.240 a regular basis, because that's what you want. You want someone who's going 162 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.240 to continue to work with you. You know I don't want a big name 163 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:30.909 for for one video or one series of content when I can have a lot 164 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.830 of microinfluencers that they're going to continue to work with me for the long haul. 165 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:41.190 Hey, everybody, logan with sweet fish here. You probably already know 166 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.899 that we think you should start a podcast if you haven't already. But what 167 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:48.740 if you have and you're asking these kinds of questions? How much has our 168 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:54.659 podcast impacted revenue this year? How's our sales team actually leveraging the PODCAST content? 169 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:58.009 If you can't answer these questions, you're actually not alone. This is 170 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:03.450 why I casted created the very first content marketing platform made specifically for be Tobe 171 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:09.490 podcasting. Now you can more easily search and share your audio content while getting 172 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:16.200 greater visibility into the impact of your podcast. The marketing teams at Drift Terminus 173 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.919 and here at sweetfish have started using casted to get more value out of our 174 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.919 podcasts, and you probably can to. You can check out the product in 175 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:33.149 action and casted dot US growth. That's sea steed dot US growth. All 176 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:39.590 right, let's get back to the show man. That is so good. 177 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:43.179 That is exactly what I see Chris Walker over at refine labs doing. He 178 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:48.340 shot some content a while back with Justin, Welsh and Guy Tanno, danardy. 179 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.820 Now Guy Tono and Justin are not household names across the US, but 180 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:58.529 in the little bubble of BB sales and marketing on Linkedin, most people I 181 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:01.809 talked to in that space. No, Guy Tano and Justin and they created 182 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:07.929 some content together and now Guy Tano is a regular contributor on Chris as podcast. 183 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:13.080 They do the demand Jin live series every week. There their weekly Webinar, 184 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.960 and so I can see another example of that. Just thinking through the 185 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:22.799 bed marketing space, where microinfluencer relationships in those ongoing relationships can actually help you 186 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:28.230 reach new audiences. The other thing you're talking about is looking for those folks 187 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:31.789 who have a really engaged audience. They maybe have a bigger following than you 188 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:35.590 do, but they're not the like Tony Robbins or the Geary v's of the 189 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:39.220 world. I can go into the comments of someone on Linkedin who maybe has 190 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:43.019 a little bit bigger following than me in the BB marketing space, comment on 191 00:14:43.100 --> 00:14:48.139 that post and not only get that individual to reply back but at to your 192 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:52.049 point. Yet other people now seeing me engaging in those comments. So you 193 00:14:52.129 --> 00:14:56.450 know, on another channel talking Linkedin, I can see what you're talking about. 194 00:14:56.690 --> 00:15:01.090 Has held true for me in just my own engagement strategies. We'll talk. 195 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:03.370 We've talked about phase one and you know, the the planning phase. 196 00:15:03.409 --> 00:15:07.360 I want to make time for execution and analysis. One of the first things 197 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:11.879 you've got to think about it once you've selected your host and you've figured out 198 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.600 kind of your format and your content, is how do you play to your 199 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:20.919 host strengths? Take us through your experience in how you guys decided to approach 200 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:24.470 Youtube and play to your host strengths. And you know, just complete candor, 201 00:15:24.789 --> 00:15:28.149 we've been thinking about our own youtube channel strategy here at sweet fish. 202 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:31.590 We first started with well we could take the full interviews from BB growth this 203 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:35.779 podcast and just put the the full interviews up on Youtube. That tends to 204 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:39.500 not get a lot of engagement. We thought, okay, we could just 205 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:43.580 kind of take the solo or the internal episodes and and change those up with 206 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:46.139 some b roll, or we could go an entirely different direction where we screen 207 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:50.049 share and we talked about content and we do kind of a content tear down. 208 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:54.610 There's so many different formats that you can approach youtube with. Do you 209 00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:58.129 kind of have a structure or a checklist that you think through in your mind 210 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:03.690 when you're thinking about a youtube channel strategy? These are the formats we're going 211 00:16:03.690 --> 00:16:08.000 to go after and why? Yeah, and I think that whenever you choose 212 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:11.519 your host, you have to you got to start thinking like a filmmaker, 213 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.279 not like a marketer. So you know, I'm never going to blame my 214 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:22.309 host for not being energetic enough, for my content not doing well, because 215 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:26.149 there's things that I can do, or your videographer can do or your editor 216 00:16:26.230 --> 00:16:30.830 can do to highlight what they're good at. So, for example, we 217 00:16:32.309 --> 00:16:37.179 work with a company because we also create content for other people's Youtube channels. 218 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:42.980 So we work with a company that their entire Youtube Channel is hosted by their 219 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:48.250 influencer network. So most of these guys there, they're all from instagram. 220 00:16:48.370 --> 00:16:53.889 So none of them really have a video background, but they're all really good 221 00:16:55.009 --> 00:16:57.090 welders. They're really good at what they do. So, you know, 222 00:16:57.250 --> 00:17:00.799 this guy came in, he would talk my ear off in the car, 223 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:03.720 you know, on the way into the office, getting ready to shoot the 224 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.519 video, everything that you know he wants to do. The second I hit 225 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:14.880 that record button, it's like deer in a headlight. So what I did 226 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.910 with with him was, okay, you know, flip the camera around, 227 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:22.829 keep recording audio and tell me, tell me. Let's have the exact same 228 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:26.390 conversation we had in the car coming over here. So we just went went 229 00:17:26.509 --> 00:17:30.180 back and forth like we're doing now, talking about welding, talking about, 230 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.700 you know, what he's looking for when he's doing it and his process. 231 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:37.539 And then so now I of a now I have a framework of all the 232 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:41.220 be roll I have to get. So and he's passionate about it when he's 233 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:45.089 talking to me, when the cameras off, you know, because that's what 234 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:51.130 he loves to do. So we've got that inflection that that he's really into 235 00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:53.650 what he's talking about. So now you're going to hold the the audience's attention 236 00:17:53.809 --> 00:17:59.240 with audio. And you know, at that point we're just getting B roll 237 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:03.400 shot of everything you talked about and you know, in the in the post 238 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.880 process, we string that all together. And I mean that channel has it's 239 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:12.990 not a large channel at this point. It's got like tenzero subscribers and that 240 00:18:14.150 --> 00:18:18.430 video, within the first couple weeks, had like eightyzero views. Wow, 241 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:22.829 and I love that just, you know, not kind of pushing the rock 242 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:25.509 uphill and saying, hold on a second, what if we change this up 243 00:18:25.509 --> 00:18:27.900 a little bit? Right, if you realize that your host kind of gets 244 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:32.500 deer in the headlights, especially early when the cameras pointed right at them. 245 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:34.700 And you know, I kind of had this a while back, but I 246 00:18:34.779 --> 00:18:40.180 was recording an explainer video for the sales section of our our site here at 247 00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:45.410 sweetish and I set up a computer with a teleprompter APP and it was running 248 00:18:45.450 --> 00:18:48.369 and I was trying to get it to where I could look right in the 249 00:18:48.450 --> 00:18:53.690 camera because I was I was playing videographer and and talent in this case and 250 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:57.279 in my Home Office. And Man, I sent that over to Dan and 251 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.240 James and they're like yeah, we can tell you're reading from our teleprompter. 252 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:04.839 Let's do something else, and so I just decide it to give myself some 253 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:10.150 bullet points to go through and then, like once I got to the point 254 00:19:10.230 --> 00:19:12.750 where I was really riffing and on a roll, I just paused and kind 255 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:17.150 of looked at my notes and then went back up and then our video editor 256 00:19:17.230 --> 00:19:21.029 can can smooth those out or you can, you know, the quick hard 257 00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:23.900 cuts, Yep, are actually pretty well. People are used to those right 258 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:27.619 now. And you can make your you can make your host appear that much 259 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:32.460 more punchy when you kind of really tighten it up. So there's lots of 260 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:36.220 things you can do. Are there any other tips and tricks for either the 261 00:19:36.299 --> 00:19:40.369 person kind of coaching the host or for the host in ways to vary up 262 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:44.410 the content, keep it interesting, keep people engaged? Anything that you found 263 00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:48.170 is kind of a formula or another example like that. Todd yeah, I 264 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:51.769 mean there's there's different things that you can do. I mean, like with 265 00:19:51.970 --> 00:20:00.039 us, we're fortunate to have some good equipment and so if you can throw 266 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.880 you can throw in audio tracks and you know, lots of beer roll and 267 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:08.750 you know, cut scenes a lot to keep people's attention. But at the 268 00:20:08.829 --> 00:20:14.430 end of the day, what's really going to to keep that attention? And 269 00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:18.509 on Youtube that's that's half the battle, because it's all about watch time. 270 00:20:18.230 --> 00:20:22.779 It's really having that person being passionate about what they're talking about. Like I 271 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:26.779 said, a lot of people get nervous and that comes across on camera, 272 00:20:27.099 --> 00:20:30.940 it comes across in the audio. So I mean, if you can do 273 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:34.420 whatever you can and to make them as comfortable as possible and you know, 274 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:38.849 if you're the person behind the camera kind of coaching them in the moment, 275 00:20:40.650 --> 00:20:42.930 you know, a lot of times it's just it's as simple as okay, 276 00:20:42.970 --> 00:20:47.450 let's take a break, have a quick laugh, you know, get comfortable 277 00:20:47.490 --> 00:20:49.880 again and then and then get back into it. Yeah, it's kind of 278 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.440 like a good portrait photographer. Half their job is making their subject comfortable. 279 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:59.559 The other half is figuring out composition and lighting, which is is tough enough. 280 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:03.319 which is all why I always even though I studied photojournalism in college, 281 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.950 I was a really crummy portrait photographer because I just gotten so caught up in 282 00:21:07.069 --> 00:21:11.069 thinking about the composition in the lighting. I'm like, Oh, I forgot 283 00:21:11.109 --> 00:21:14.750 to, you know, make the person stops smiling, like Chandler on friends, 284 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:18.230 where he's doing the the awkward smile and he can't take a good picture 285 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:21.579 all right. So, Todd, we've talked about the the planning phase, 286 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:26.619 the execution phase. Step three in the framework is to really analyze where you've 287 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:29.779 been, the results those sorts of things. You know, watch time is 288 00:21:29.859 --> 00:21:34.769 obviously a key metric that folks who are trying to generate engagement and results on 289 00:21:34.849 --> 00:21:38.849 youtube are thinking about. What are some of the other areas that you guys 290 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:42.890 did some analysis? What metrics were you looking at and did any of those 291 00:21:42.970 --> 00:21:48.279 kind of inform or change your approach once you guys kind of got rolling with 292 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.319 your Youtube Channel Strategy? So really I look at it as you've got you've 293 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:56.720 got two sets of metrics. You've got your front and metrics, which is 294 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:00.279 like your engagement metrics, and you've got your back end metrics, which is, 295 00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:04.309 you know, everything in the analytics suite. So on the Front End 296 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:07.950 Right off the bat, and I know a lot of people called a vanity 297 00:22:07.990 --> 00:22:12.029 metric, but you look at is your is your content getting views? Because 298 00:22:12.029 --> 00:22:18.500 if your content isn't getting views, you're doing something wrong either. It's you're 299 00:22:18.779 --> 00:22:22.900 you're presenting it wrong, you're not presenting to the right audience something. So 300 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:27.019 first thing I look at is anybody watching it? Once I get people to 301 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:32.009 start watching it. Now I start looking to the comment section. Okay, 302 00:22:32.730 --> 00:22:36.170 I can get people to watch my video, but is it striking a nerve 303 00:22:36.289 --> 00:22:41.369 with them? Because if you watch something that that you're passionate about and something 304 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:45.559 says something, generally it'll strike a nerve with you to go down into the 305 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.640 end of the comment section, good or bad. But you know our people 306 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:53.559 down in the comments section having a conversation with me, because if I'm if 307 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.880 I'm just preaching, if I'm want a soapbox on my youtube video and no 308 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.789 one's actually going down and engaging with me, chances are, you know, 309 00:23:02.630 --> 00:23:03.910 they're not going to remember you, they're not going to subscribe, they're not 310 00:23:03.950 --> 00:23:07.710 going to come back. So you want to make sure people are commenting. 311 00:23:07.190 --> 00:23:15.460 The other thing is shares. So if you want your videos to be suggested, 312 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:19.299 to be found by people that aren't already subscribing, you have to create 313 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:26.299 sharable content and that's that's another reason that, you know, it's important to 314 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:30.289 work with influencers. But beyond that kind of getting off topic here for one 315 00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:37.769 second, to create sharable content, one thing that we do is ninety percent 316 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:41.359 of our stuff is user user generated questions. You know, our content is 317 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.880 is derived from what is our audience asking us. Instead of just, okay, 318 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:55.079 creating a spreadsheet with all these questions and answers or topics, we'll call 319 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:59.509 those people out in those videos. So okay, so joe asked us this 320 00:23:59.750 --> 00:24:03.269 question in, you know, last week's video, and then all pop up 321 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:07.589 my host looking at his phone, actually reading his question. So now that 322 00:24:07.789 --> 00:24:11.500 guy. He's going to go and share that video because, hey, look, 323 00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:17.099 they they showcase me on their channel and again, everybody wants to be 324 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:21.259 part of something. So that's just a I know I'm going off on a 325 00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:26.490 tangent here, but that's that's a little tip to create sharable content. So 326 00:24:26.650 --> 00:24:29.329 those are the main things I look for on the front and on the back 327 00:24:29.410 --> 00:24:33.529 end we've got another three things. We've average watch time, we have average 328 00:24:33.529 --> 00:24:40.160 viewed duration and we have retention graphs. So with average watch time, that's 329 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:47.440 like a measurement of minutes and seconds. So how many minutes are people actually 330 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:52.720 watching my video? Now, Youtube's goal, just like Linkedin's goal or any 331 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:56.430 other social media platforms goal, is to keep you on their platform, right. 332 00:24:56.190 --> 00:25:02.430 So the longer you can keep somebody engaged in your video, the better. 333 00:25:03.390 --> 00:25:07.460 And that's watch time. Now with average view duration, that's a percentage. 334 00:25:08.019 --> 00:25:12.579 So you put those two together and that's what that's what I can look 335 00:25:12.619 --> 00:25:17.619 at. You know, Youtube is looking at watch time and minutes. I'm 336 00:25:17.740 --> 00:25:22.210 looking at at percentage can I and that kind of tells me how long I 337 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:25.970 need to make my videos. If I can make a twenty minute video and 338 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:32.369 keep them engaged for seventy percent of the time, that's great. If I 339 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:36.960 create a twenty minute video and they're they're dropping off after three minutes, you 340 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:41.960 know, I know I'm doing something wrong. And then retention graphs is really 341 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.440 where you is string it all together and how you can kind of figure that 342 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:48.799 out. So in Youtube they have a they have a metric. It's called 343 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:55.109 retention graphs, and you can look at, second by second, where people 344 00:25:55.150 --> 00:26:02.430 are falling off or rewinding or pausing or whatever, how they're viewing your content. 345 00:26:02.990 --> 00:26:07.420 So I can go look at the graph and then kind of filter through 346 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:11.660 it and see what's happening on screen at that exact point in time. So 347 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:15.740 if I see a jump in the graph, I know that Oh, you 348 00:26:15.819 --> 00:26:21.009 know people, people came back to this spot. What am I doing? 349 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:23.049 Here or if I see it just drop right off the bat. Okay, 350 00:26:23.049 --> 00:26:26.690 they're fast forwarding here. That's something that, okay, maybe I don't want 351 00:26:26.690 --> 00:26:32.609 to show in the future. And you know, we've used retention graphs to 352 00:26:32.809 --> 00:26:37.319 refine how we shoot video. Like not every single video I'm looking at retention 353 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.200 graphs. You know, I can tell you that. So in welding, 354 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:45.359 you know what what our audience wants to see is like. If you are 355 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.589 looking through a welding hood, what you're looking at. So we called an 356 00:26:48.670 --> 00:26:52.069 arc shot. So I can tell you that if I show an arc shot 357 00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:57.829 for more than seven seconds without having audio over it of the host telling and 358 00:26:57.910 --> 00:27:02.619 what's going on, you see an immediate dropoff. You know, there's other 359 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:07.900 things we have. We have a CNC plasma table on our shop. Anytime 360 00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:11.140 that we actually go to the computer and start talking about what we're doing, 361 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:15.730 people drop off. They just want to see what's happening on top of the 362 00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:22.890 table. So you can use that graph to really again figure out your audience, 363 00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:27.289 know your audience and and then refine the content around that. And then 364 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:30.359 you know, once you kind of figure all that stuff out, it at 365 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.000 that point it's really just rinse and repeat. Yeah, you just keep going 366 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.920 through that same planning, execution, analysis and the analysis leads you back to 367 00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:45.509 more planning and execution. Our love your point there about using the retention graphs 368 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:48.390 to hone not only the the content but the way that you're presenting it. 369 00:27:48.509 --> 00:27:52.029 Where do we go to be roll? Where do we where do we cut 370 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:53.589 stuff out? What to people will not care about because you can get very, 371 00:27:53.670 --> 00:27:57.309 very granular, down to the second, down to the clip. So 372 00:27:57.390 --> 00:28:00.700 that's that's really good stuff taught, especially for those who are just getting started 373 00:28:00.779 --> 00:28:03.660 on youtube. If anybody listening to this, todd, would like to stay 374 00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:08.980 connected with you or ask any other youtube or any other content marketing questions of 375 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:11.220 you, what's the best way for them to get in touch? Man, 376 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:15.049 reach out on Linkedin as that's it, todd. Todd clouds are on Linkedin, 377 00:28:15.730 --> 00:28:18.809 easy enough. Awesome, man. We will link to your profile on 378 00:28:18.809 --> 00:28:22.609 the show notes make it easy for people to connect and again, really appreciate 379 00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:26.240 you taking time. You've been a good supporter of our content. I've seen 380 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.599 you around on Linkedin a bit and it's always fun to take linked in friends 381 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.640 and and move them to real life as as in real life, as we 382 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.640 can get these days. So thanks for joining us on the show and breaking 383 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:41.200 down your framework for Youtube. I really appreciate it. Todd my pleasure Logan, 384 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:45.150 thanks for having it. It's sweet fish. We're on a mission to 385 00:28:45.349 --> 00:28:51.670 create the most helpful content on the Internet for every job, function and industry 386 00:28:51.869 --> 00:28:55.589 on the planet. For the BB marketing industry, this show is how we're 387 00:28:55.630 --> 00:28:59.099 executing on that mission. If you know a marketing leader that would be an 388 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:02.940 awesome guest for this podcast. Shoot me a text message. Don't call me 389 00:29:03.099 --> 00:29:07.019 because I don't answer unknown numbers, but text me at four hundred seven for 390 00:29:07.180 --> 00:29:10.130 and I know three and thirty two eight. Just shoot me their name, 391 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:12.450 maybe a link to their linked in profile, and I'd love to check them 392 00:29:12.490 --> 00:29:15.609 out to see if we can get them on the show. Thanks a lot. 393 -->