Is Your Social Media Content Boring? Here’s the Only Way to Fix It for Good

Social media marketing. Three words that every marketer utters when backed into a corner for answers and results. But here’s the hard truth about social media marketing. Not all marketers see an ROI. In fact, even though 77% marketers claim to be using social media for marketing, only 48% of them seem to have any ROI whatsoever. Why? Not all marketers invest enough to create fresh and effective content.

Is your content boring and overdone? Let’s think realistically. It’s hard to put out fresh, intellectually stimulating, humorous and compelling content every single day. Or is it? Maybe you haven’t discovered a creative process that allows you to perform that way yet.

1. Tickle your tastebuds with flavors that make you want to sing

“Successful creators don’t just like knowledge, they thirst for it,” says Keith Sawyer, author of “Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity”. Serial entrepreneur and tech revolutionary Elon Musk and IT veteran Bill Gates have both confessed to being avid readers. To be a successful creator, you have to develop a desire to consume a lot of content yourself. But what content should you ideally consume?

Every exceptional artist has a muse, just as every talented content creator has go-to sources for inspiration. What are yours? Here are a few ways to find inspiration.

• Inspiration can come from anywhere – books, movies or even conversations with interesting people. Any piece of information that’s new can break you out of old thinking patterns that are holding you back. Ensure that you have time for good books, movies and conversations every week.
• Long walks, rides or meditation can do a lot for your creative imagination. Sometimes, your mind is full of ideas, but you are not in the right mind space to access them. During such times, you could indulge in meditative or refreshing activities to clear your mind and let ideas flow.
• Today, there are tons of apps and platforms serving content. But not all content is good content. Instead of letting these apps take over your life, why not control your content consumption and make it actually beneficial?
• Additionally, you could also use a content curation app like DrumUp to curate fresh content for daily inspiration.

The idea is to build daily habits that enable your creative imagination, helping you generate ideas easily so you can keep your social media content fresh. If you’re still stuck, you could try one of the following:

• Watch TEDTalks. They usually have new ideas and great language – two great precursors for fresh content ideas.
• Begin curating an inspiration file with pieces of ideas, writing, design or stories that intrigue you. They’ll come to your rescue during tough times.
• Watch interviews of your favorite personalities. You might find their lives and experiences inspiring.
• Listen to new music. If you are visually receptive, new sounds may prompt the flow of new ideas.
• Try remote association exercises. For instance, you can take the first line of one song and try to connect it to the last line of another song by writing the lines in between. You could also consider three completely random ideas and spin them into a story. Such activities generally get your creative juices flowing.
• Make a collage or build a lego house. You could also do something simpler if you lack resources. Arrange your desk or doodle random ideas in your head.

2. Diversify your social media content with videos, infographics, quotes, GIFs, memes and storytelling

Facebook mobile users spend no more than 1.7 seconds on each piece of content. That’s the time you have to grab their attention. Doing that by sharing the same kind of social media content repeatedly is impossible because people who lose interest easily will switch to another page. However, you can keep audience attention by diversifying your social media content.

It’s the purple cow principle. Remember Seth Godin’s infamous TED Talk “How to get your ideas to spread”? People won’t stop for a cow, but show them a purple cow or a cow with golden locks and…

• It’s hard to keep surprising your social media audience when you have to post content everyday. But you can easily “keep it fresh” by using different content formats such as videos, infographics, GIFs, memes and quotes.

Each of these content formats can be easily designed even if you don’t have designing experience. There are tons of Saas (Software As a Service) tools that offer ready templates which you can design these types of content. 

For instance, Venngage has several infographic templates that you can work with and Giphy makes GIF making easy.

• Use storytelling on every social media post. People are drawn to stories because they evoke strong emotions rooted in their earliest years of life. How do you use storytelling? Create characters, narrate scenes and take people through the experience that you want them to have.
• Work with all the special features on different social media platform. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat Stories, Instagram Boomerang and Twitter Moments are all creative opportunities to change the way social media users perceive your brand. Not only do “Stories” appear prominently on top of social feeds, but they also disappear 24 hrs after publishing, giving you the freedom to share more freely.
• Save your posts and ideas in online content libraries such as the ones on DrumUp, so you can work with them just before publishing. You could also save great posts to inspire future posts or inspire the start of a series.

If you still don’t have enough to embellish your page with vibrant and original social media content, here are a few things that you can consider.

• Curate content from other brands, personalities who are in your space but don’t compete with you. DrumUp’s keyword based content curation will help you find articles written by journalists, whom you can also @mention when sharing posts through the tool.
• Share simple questions, quizzes or contests that can engage your social media audience.

 3. Invest in empathy; understand customer intent and feelings

Every social media marketer reads hundreds of blog and social media posts for social media marketing inspiration. However, few of them can actually drive results for brands using social if marketers lose sight of the most important part of having a social media presence – being human. Companies who anchor their social media marketing strategy around this fact are more likely to have larger and more loyal social media followings and better sales.

The beauty of social media is that it allows for two way communication, wherein current and prospective customers can respond to brands and share opinions. Use that fact to build real connections with your social media fans.

• The first mistake that many brands make on social media is that they overdo professionalism and end up being boring. People don’t want more “corporate talk”. They want to know who you are. So, be as genuine and authentic as you can on social media. Give your brand a personality that people can relate to.
• One of the biggest mistakes that brands make on social media is focusing too much on their brand, products and services. In marketing expert Guy Alvarez’s words, “Social Media is Not a Bullhorn”, and you should stop writing about why your products are amazing. People today can’t be bothered by what you have to sell. They’re interested in how you can change their lives. Show them that by sharing more customer-oriented content.
• Make people smile. Want to stay on top of customers’ minds? Tell them something that will make them smile. Create content that will come back to them when they’re driving or shopping or being bored on the internet.
• Give more than you get. Think about this. Would you rather spend time with a friend who’s there for you or someone who’s always asking you for money? Limit your social media sales pitches. Instead, try and befriend your social media audience.

The easiest way to build a rapport with your audience is by understanding how they feel. Here are a few ways to do that.

• Look carefully at support queries. What emotions have customers expressed towards your products and services? That can tell you a lot about how to approach them. For instance, if customers have displayed signs of uncertainty and anxiousness, you should invest in understanding what their concerns about your products are.
• Talk to customers face to face or on the phone when you can and ask for feedback related to your products and content. Pay attention to their tone of voice and emotions instead of focusing only on what they say.

 4. Work hard on that sense of humor, every single day

Being humorous is a great way to catch the attention of your social media audience. By appealing to them emotionally, you stand a better chance than others at generating curiosity about who you are and what you sell. It also stands that humor is great for brand awareness and brand recall, two things that can help you stay etched in your target audience’s memory longer.

However, writing jokes is hard. The activity requires a rare combination of creative intelligence and an understanding of customer psychology. Here’s a list of tips that can help.

• According to Dr. Peter McGraw and Dr. Caleb Warren, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, humor occurs when two events coincide –

i) Someone threatens a person’s worldview (his or her) sense of how the world should be, and ii) The threat is amiable but potent. Try and satisfy these criteria with the jokes that you write for social media.

• Practise writing humor everyday, because only 10% of what you write maybe usable material. Just as any other skill, writing humor takes practise and you’ll get better at it over time.
• Follow a bunch of comedians and novelists you consider raconteurs, so you can breakdown their work and study their style of writing. When breaking down their writing, try and pay attention to the details – the words they use, the tone they use, the visuals that they try to paint with words. Some good examples of novelists to study are PG Wodehouse and Caitlin Moran.
• Curate humorous content for your social media fans. There are tons of great social media pages already posting funny content. You could simply repost some of that content (with tags and proper credit) for your audience’s benefit. The admins of the pages you help promote will definitely thank you for it.

If you’re still unable to find enough inspiration to add humor to your social media content, you could try one of the following.

• Wit is underrated. Use witty quips (crediting them to the author) or create your own. Try and give new endings to old sayings or come-up with new “terms” that have funny definitions.
• Poke fun at your brand. That’s a great way to endear your social media fans. Ellen DeGeneres tells a lot of jokes targeted at herself (click here for link to video below).

5. Strike the pinata at its heart by vanquishing customers’ pet peeves

When people don’t convert, it’s usually because they have a very specific issue stopping them from doing so. When customers leave, they usually have very specific problems that haven’t be addressed. Strategic content can bridge these gaps and boost both your conversion rates and customer retention rates. That’s why you should focus on creating social media content that relates to customer and prospect issues.

Here’s what you need to know when creating content to solve issues that customers and prospects face.

• Before you begin solving issues, it’s important to know if they actually exist and what they are. Many social media managers make the mistake of assuming likes, dislikes and concerns of target groups, leading to the incorrect investment of time and money on creating content that’s not really relevant.
• Once you’re sure of what concerns customers and prospects have, it’s time to understand exactly how to address them. The content format and script that you use matter to a great extent. You conversion and retention depend on how well you address issues using content.
• Use simple resolutions in content that your target groups can follow easily. Avoid using terms that can confuse people and don’t unnecessarily complicate your content.
• Invest in content formats that you know your target groups consume. For instance, if your target groups include people who read a lot, you can focus on blog posts. Else, it’s important to complement blog posts with videos, infographics, GIFs and memes. The videos you create should ideally be short and easy to consume – 60s or less if you plan to share them on social media platforms.
• You could use success stories, case-studies and testimonials to illustrate to your target groups how you can solve important issues. In fact, doing so will add social proof and credibility to the equation and make your brand appear more trustworthy.

Here are a few extra tips to ensure that you aim right and successfully eliminate the issues that your target groups have using social media content.

• Google keyword planner (and other keyword research tools) are excellent ways to understand customer intent. If you create blog posts using data drawn from such tools, you can attract attention on social media and drive SEO traffic to your website.
• You can also use a tool such as FAQFox to search for queries on forums such as Quora, so you can identify important questions that your audience is asking.

Wrap

Social media marketing is an important part of every marketer’s $0 marketing plan, but few of these marketers ever see the results that they desire. Why? They’re using the wrong content or targeting the wrong channels. This post suggests the only way you can take boring social media content and turn it interesting.

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10 Pro Tips for B2B Marketing on Pinterest

We think of Pinterest as a lifestyle social network, chock full of party ideas, crafts, home decor inspiration, recipes, and fitness routines. But Pinterest is so much more than that. It’s become an asset to marketers who want to show off their visual content and drive traffic to their sites.
And here’s a notable benefit of Pinterest marketing. According to this infographic, the half-life of a Pin is a whopping 3.5 months. That’s 1,680 times longer than the half-life of a Facebook post. And don’t even get me started on the 24-minute half-life of a Tweet. Which means that the effort you put into your Pinterest presence will pay dividends for a long time.
And the value of Pinterest marketing isn’t limited to B2C businesses. Pinterest can supply fresh traffic and leads to B2B businesses as well. In this post, I’ll share 10 tips for B2B Marketing on Pinterest.

1. Pin a Variety of Visual Content

Pinterest is for visual content. That’s why so many B2B businesses often think Pinterest isn’t for them. They feel like they don’t have enough—or in fact any—visual content to share.
So, first of all, if you don’t have any visual content, it’s time to get cracking. Content marketing is the future of marketing, and the sexiness of visual content is undeniable.
But don’t wait until you have a fresh bank of visual assets before you dip your feet into the Pinterest pool. Trust me, you have more visual content than you realize. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Product images. Post your product images and link back to your site’s product pages.
• Quotes. Create graphic quotes that would inspire your target audience. Canva makes the job quick and easy.
• Blog posts. Pin your blog posts to drive people back to your site.
• Events. Pin photos of company and industry events.
• Employees. Show off photos of team members. Let your unique company culture shine through pinned photos of your inter-company social events.
• Marketing materials. Pin the covers of your e-books, white papers, and brochures—with links to where the materials can be downloaded.
• Presentations. Put your decks to work for you. Create a board for each presentation and pin key slides to the board.
• Industry-related topics. Share infographics and other pieces that are relevant to your industry.
• Tips and recommendations. Be helpful to your prospects and clients. Curate tips and recommendations to make their lives easier. Create boards on books you recommend, great blogs for them to follow, podcasts, and apps.
• Targeted boards. Create specific boards that cater to the needs and interests of individual industries and your different personas.

2. Balance Quality and Personality

When you create a new board, aim to make it the best board on that topic, and include a wide variety of quality pins. But while you target quality, don’t be afraid to show your personality. Quirkiness and humour can be very effective at making you stand out on Pinterest.

3. Use Pinterest to Find Great Content

Don’t limit your Pinterest presence to your own content. Round out your boards with content that your audience will enjoy, from other sources.
Don’t have time to scour the Web for that content? Follow relevant Pinners to fill your feed with quality Pins that you can conveniently re-Pin to your boards.

4. Use Great Images

Attention-grabbing imagery is key on Pinterest. Make sure you’re using the optimal image size for your Pins, board images, and profile images.
Use stunning photography, beautiful fonts and place subtle branding in the corners of your images. And make it easy for your site visitors to pin your content right from your site. Make sure that all your posts and pages contain at least one Pinnable image.

5. Write Quality Copy

Of course, great imagery that your Pinterest audience wants to click is key. But don’t forget to make your copy work for you too. Think of your descriptions as ad copy. Make them engaging enough to earn a click. And add compelling calls to action to help convert visitors to your site.

6. SEO Your Boards and Pins

Pinterest can be an asset in your SEO efforts. The more people re-pin your site content, the more backlinks your site earns. And social signals can improve your rankings.
To help people find your Pins on both Pinterest and Google, optimize your profile, boards, and pins. Search Engine Watch offers up some great advice here on how to do that.
But how about the Pins that are created directly from your site? You can’t always count on Pinners to enter a keyword-rich description on those pins. Many won’t enter a description at all. Give Pinners a hand by enabling Rich Pins, which automatically pull some of the post content into the description.

7. Get the Data

To help you decide what new content to create and post to Pinterest, you need to understand how your current content is performing. And for that, you’re going to need to get the data. Here are three great sources of analytics data for Pinterest.
To start with, access the analytics data for your Pinterest business page here. You’ll find a variety of engagement insights about your pins.
Next, remember that not everyone pins from Pinterest. Find out what content people are pinning directly from your site by visiting pinterest.com/source/example.com. (Substitute example.com for your domain.)
Finally, use Google Analytics to monitor engagement and conversion metrics for your Pinterest traffic.

8. Research Your Ideal Client

Are you trying to get a better understand of who your ideal client is as a person? Pinterest can provide a wealth of data. Just check out the boards of your clients and people who have repinned your pins. What else are they pinning? What insights can you glean from their boards?

9. Research Content Ideas

If content creation is a priority for you, you’ll hit occasional droughts in content ideas. (It happens to the best of us, believe me.) Pinterest’s guided search is effective for unearthing content ideas and curation opportunities around a topic.

10. Get Inspired by the Greats

Why reinvent the wheel when you can follow the lead of other great brands? Check out these great Pinterest business pages to see how it’s done:

• Hootsuite
• Intel
• General Electric
• IBM
• Fedex
• Marketo
• Hubspot

11. Bonus tip: Collaborate with Clients and Partners

Ok so this isn’t really a marketing, so consider it a bonus. Pinterest is a fantastic tool for collaborating with clients.
I use it whenever I build a visual asset for a new client – whether it’s a video, presentation, infographic or Website. So that I don’t waste time building a piece my client won’t like, I strive to get into my client’s head before I begin. I try to get a sense of the design styles that resonate with them.
Sure, I could have them fill out a client brief. But that exercise feels too esoteric to some of my clients. What’s worked brilliantly for me instead is to create a secret board on Pinterest, and add my client as a contributor. My client then spends time Pinning images, photos, colour palettes, fonts, and websites they love. Before long, I know exactly what they’re after and can deliver on their vision.

Over To You

Have you been using Pinterest in your B2B marketing? If not, why? If so, have I missed any key points? I’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments.



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8 of the Biggest Marketing Mistakes We've Ever Seen

Everyone makes mistakes. Even (especially?) marketers. Usually, we learn from them and move on with our lives, maybe escaping with just a touch of public shaming. But what happens to those companies that make mistakes on a much greater scale and cost their company millions in clout or (gulp) dollars?
They go down in history as the biggest marketing mistakes of our time. It's hard to move on when you're being cited as the example of what not to do, huh?

Click here to take inspiration from the most remarkable campaigns we've ever seen.

We looked into the biggest mistakes from many popular brands -- but glossed similar instances of faux pas from smaller companies, because, well, we don't want to hurt the up-and-comers.
Keep reading for a little entertainment, and some reminders of what you should never do to ensure you don't repeat these mistakes yourself.

8 Legendary Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Replicating at All Costs

1. Guerilla Marketing Without Due Diligence
2. Tone Deaf Tweets
3. Lackluster New Logos
4. Losing Sight of Loyal Customers
5. Being Too Speedy With Sends
6. Promising Free Stuff -- and Running out of It
7. Fixing Something That Isn't Broken
8. Getting Lost in Translation

1) Guerilla Marketing Without Due Diligence

In 2007, Cartoon Network launched a guerrilla marketing campaign in which it set up LED signs in various places throughout cities to promote one of their cartoons.
A resident in Boston, however, thought the devices were bombs and called the police. This turned into a terrorism scare, resulting in the shut-down of many public transportation lines, bridges, and roads.
The problem cost the head of Cartoon Network his job, and the broadcasting company $2 million in compensation for the emergency response team.

This campaign is a symptom of thinking in a silo -- marketers must always be aware of current events and public sentiment when crafting campaigns. Most people, particularly city dwellers, are on high alert for signs of something fishy. I guess you can say hindsight is 20/20, but large-scale guerrilla marketing campaigns of this nature should really consider all possible outcomes before launch.

2) Tone Deaf Tweets

In early 2011, a tweet was sent out from Kenneth Cole's Twitter account trying to promote their new spring collection. No big deal, right? Except when it's offensive, insensitive, and offends millions of people. The tweet was a poor play on the political turmoil happening at the time in Egypt:

Source: Business Insider

The tweet came from the Kenneth Cole corporate Twitter account -- actually, from the chairman himself, as indicated by the "KC" in the tweet.
The company received negative feedback immediately, and they soon took the tweet down in response and apologized to anyone offended by the tweet. The lesson social media marketers can learn from this awful mistake is that humor doesn’t work if you're newsjacking something contentious.

3) Lackluster New Logos

In October 2010, Gap launched a new logo in an attempt to be more modern. Guess how long that lasted?

Source: Vanity Fair

A whopping two days.
Gap quickly put the old logo back into place after unbelievable backlash from the public.
Gap, known for everyday basics, tried to redo their image to appeal to a more hip crowd. Unfortunately, the brand didn’t understand who its target market is -- the people who want the basics and aren't interested in trendy styles. Its loyal customers felt that Gap was changing their image for the worse, and lost a connection with the brand.
Gap was also unsuccessful in attracting the younger, trendy generation with the redesign (albeit, only a two-day redesign), resulting in a failure on two fronts with this new logo.
While it wasn't so awful for Gap to pursue a logo redesign, the lesson is simply to stay in touch with your buyer personas so you can ensure your new design reflects them. Marketers focus a lot on metrics -- for good reasons -- but never underestimate your audience's feelings towards your brand. They're harder to quantify, sure, but boy will people speak out when their sensibilities are offended.

4) Losing Sight of Loyal Customers

In 2011, Netflix had a $16 billion market value with its mail-order rental. But then, the brand decided to enter the digital streaming market with a brand called “Qwikster,” an easy alternative to mail order DVDs.

Source: Idea Lemon

Unfortunately, splitting the company between Netflix's mail-order DVDs and Qwikster's DVD streaming made things more complicated -- not to mention, it resulted in a 60% price increase for those who wanted both services.
Even worse, current customers weren't grandfathered into the new price structure at the old rate, causing serious negativity amidst all the general confusion. Plus, the Qwikster Twitter handle was already owned by someone else: a pot smoker who discussed boredom, smoking, and partying.
According to CNET, the company lost 800,000 subscribers and its stock price dropped 77% in four months.
Businesses need to remain agile and fast-moving to stay relevant, but make sure you communicate those changes to your audience clearly before making them. Oh, and don't forget to show gratitude to your current customers, instead of giving them the short end of the stick.

5) Being Too Speedy With Sends

In December 2011, the New York Times sent an email to people who recently cancelled their subscriptions asking them to reconsider, and giving them a discount to sweeten the deal.
Sounds like a good idea to get a customer back, right?
Too bad an employee accidentally sent it to 8 million subscribers -- instead of the list of 300 that it was meant for. Whoops.

Source: Daily Beast

Subscribers instantly assumed that the email was spam as a result of hackers. Some were even mad that they weren't getting the same discount as a loyal customer.
Of course, employees responded immediately apologizing and telling people it was an unfortunate human error.
Still, this type of mistake is every email marketer's nightmare, and it serves as a much-needed reminder to always double check your list before clicking 'Send' on any campaign!

6) Promising Free Stuff -- and Running out of It

Timothy’s Coffee did what many brands have done to increase social media reach: offer a coupon or free sample for following them on social media.
Unfortunately, Timothy’s offered more than it could deliver, depleting its supply of free K-cup packs after only three days.
Get this: It wasn't until two weeks later that Timothy's sent out a message saying that coupons and samples were issued on a first-come, first-serve basis. Talk about too little, too late.

Source: Sparker Strategy Group

Despite an apology video and the potential for receiving a free coupon in the mail, Timothy's is still trying to recover from the fan backlash on social media.
When running a contest on social media, don’t underestimate the impact of your offer -- especially if it's meant to grow reach.
Think about it: If your contest works -- and you're designing a contest based on the premise that it will work, I hope -- your reach will get bigger with each new participant. If you can't actually back up your end of the contest bargain, all that new reach will be used to hurt your brand, instead of singing its praises.

7) Fixing Something That Isn't Broken

In 1985, Coca-Cola tried to introduce a new, sweeter version of their beverage to combat its (then) new competitor: Pepsi.
Those of us who were around at the time remember the Pepsi commercials boasting that, in blind taste tests, people preferred its taste over Coke's.

Coke, for its part, felt the need to regain market share with a new recipe. So, how did that turn out?
Not well. Public response was so negative, in fact, that people were actually hoarding the old Coke flavor, and selling it on the black-market for grossly inflated prices.
Why were people so upset? Coke’s brand embodied classic American traditions -- so, Coke drinkers didn't want a new flavor. They wanted that classic beverage whose secret recipe was guarded under lock and key in Georgia.
Finally, after retiring the “New Coke” recipe, sales of the old classic -- actually renamed “Coca-Cola Classic” to make it extra clear to consumers -- rose significantly.
So, what do we take away from this marketing mistake? Learn what your customers want before spending time and money on a top-secret product or service change.

8) Getting Lost in Translation

Coke wasn't the only major beverage to blunder, though. When Pepsi expanded its market to China, it launched with the slogan, "Pepsi brings you back to life."
What the brand didn’t realize, however, is that the phrase actually translated to, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

 

Source: Glantz Design

Okay, maybe this mistake is kind of funny. But, when you're a brand that's working toward major international expansion, a mistake like this one might not exactly have you in stitches.
If you're launching a new market, be sure to do some cultural research. And please -- ask native speakers of the language what your slogan actually means.





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The Video Marketing Funnel: Proof it Works and 5 Easy Steps to Follow

 Everywhere you look right now you can see the virtual cries that "THIS IS THE YEAR OF VIDEO MARKETING!" In fact, as I browsed the internet, researching this topic, I saw that claim absolutely everywhere.

The video phenomenon is a huge hype all over the internet, and it's intimidating. Many marketers think of video as a quicksand pit designed to swallow time effort and money for little reward — especially as they don't feel qualified to make something that could compete in the world of viral media. 

It's such a shame because it really doesn't take much. You can do it, it won't break you or your bank, and the potential reward is awesome. 

I asked content marketing and social media strategist Brian Honigman whether he thought that video marketing was essential for marketing success, to which he replied:

"Video isn't a requirement for success with marketing, but it's one form of content all businesses should consider experimenting with to best reach their audience.

Small businesses need to realize that you don't need a film crew and a studio to create compelling video, if you invest in the proper equipment, choose the right ideas and develop footage that's of use to your audience you can drive results with video for your organization."

— Brian Honigman, CEO of Honigman Media, regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others

So if you're dead-set against creating video, you don't have to fear that it'll bring you down. However, it's a really really good idea! So where's the real life proof that newbies can rock the world of video marketing? I've got a great new story for you...

The Proof 

An example of an everyday marketer (not a video guru) getting traffic and leads from YouTube. 

I was talking to a colleague the other day, and she was telling me about her enthusiasm for video marketing. Before I continue, it's important you understand the background here.

• She's not a long-term video expert with oodles of experience with YouTube and video creation.
• She's just running an affiliate site, like many of the people who will read this post.
• She has a newish website (roughly 6 months old) and has only been playing with YouTube as a platform for part of that time (about 4 months).
• Her videos are mostly just PowerPoint words on a screen with a voice-over of her talking, plus a little screen capturing.
• She doesn't have fancy tech, just the microphone on her laptop. 

However - she has managed to get thousands of views already, and it's only very early days. Check out this image of her latest month:

And remember, this is without complicated Hollywood budgets or skill levels. Just a marketer having a crack at YouTube marketing. She even said, "I'm sure these numbers can be improved on. My channel isn't optimized very well. I've been lazy with that."

So how does she make money from this? I asked her, and she told me about her process and why it works (which I'll cover in more detail for you in the steps below).  

"1) I create engaging videos that are of genuine quality. I teach people new things about my niche, things that make them go "WOW" - things they've never heard before. 

2) I put a link to a squeeze page in my video description and encourage people to sign up to it in my video.

3) My squeeze page redirects to a high-converting sales letter once someone opts in. They also receive emails promoting products.

The reason it works well is that people discover me on YouTube, watch my video and view me as an authority in my niche.

I'd say that for every 50 views, I get 1 sign-up. And for every 10 signups on average, I make a sale (sometimes more, sometimes less, 1 in 10 is a safe number) from my front-end VSL (video sales letter) I redirect them to."

It's a neat little funnel, and there is so much you can do with it! You can get traffic, leads and conversions, and grow your brand reach at the same time. And video isn't like on-site articles; you won't get penalized for duplicate content. You can share your videos across the board on social media. It's the medium that just keeps on giving. 

So now, from my discussion with my colleague and a bit of poking around, I've broken it down so you can take advantage of the process yourself. 

Is Video for You?

You need to assess how competitive the YouTube environment is in your niche to see how difficult it'll be for you to break into. 

While the above example is showing great promise of success, I can't promise that this'll work across the board. You have to think about whether or not your niche will have a lot of competition on YouTube.

An example of this is the ridiculously high number of make-up tutorial videos on YouTube.

Yep, that's right: 32,900,000 results. Almost 33 million video make-up tutorials. And I can tell from the video thumbnails that the video standard is going to be quite high. If you were to make one of those videos, you'd have a lot to compete with.

In saying that, many niches have under-utilized YouTube, and have a lot of room for new videos. Comparing the above example to affiliate marketing tutorials, you can see there are only 84,200 results, and I can tell from these thumbnails that the videos have a much lower production quality level:

You can do your own search on YouTube for the types of videos you're thinking of making, whether it be a tutorial or how-to for your niche audience, or a video blog series. See how many videos there are, and what kind of quality there is.

If there are masses of high-quality videos, that doesn't mean it's impossible or that you should avoid video marketing. It just means that you'll have to put in a little extra effort when it comes to finding a unique angle so that you can stand out among the crowd or cater to more specific searches.

If there are few videos, or they're really generic and you know you have more to say on the topic, then you should definitely give it a go. 

Step 1: Decide Where You'd Like to Send Traffic

This will help you to sculpt the content of your videos to the target audience of that page. 

You don't always need to send traffic to the same place with your videos, you can change it up and link to wherever on your site is most relevant to each video.

But if you really want a solid strategy for conversions, it's probably best to have an idea of the best place to send them before you create the videos. Here are the top couple of options for you to consider:

Option A: If You Have a Mailing List, Send Them to Your Squeeze Page

Sending your viewers to a squeeze page like the one in the image below is the best option for converting your YouTube traffic into a large amount of enthusiastic leads. 

If you don't have a squeeze page, you should at the very least have opt-in's of some kind on your site or you're missing out on a great deal of leads and ongoing conversions! If you don't have a mailing list and newsletter set up but you'd like to, the fastest and easiest way is via AffiloJetpack, so feel free to check that out if you're interested.

If you do have a squeeze page already, just make sure you've optimized it to get the best results. I recently wrote a blog post about this here, so pull any tips or tricks from there as necessary. 

Think about the type of person you'd like to sign up to your mailing list. What are they looking to know? What are they enthusiastic about? Keep this in mind through the next few steps. 

Option B: Send Them to Your Most Relevant High-Converting Content

The other place to send your YouTube traffic is your content, particularly if your on-site content and the YouTube video add value to one other. 

This option is generally for you if:

• You don't have a mailing list set up, or
• Your target is to get more engagement for your on-site content

Choose the content that will be the most useful to your audience, preferably something you know that converts well. Think about the audience for this content. What are they looking to do? What challenges are they facing that your site helps them with? Keep this in mind through the next few steps.

Step 2: Create Some Videos

It doesn't have to be rocket science: There are simple ways!

This is the part that frequently turns people off. I asked Brian Honigman about this, and he replied:

"Video seems overwhelming because everyone's fearful that they'll do it wrong or that it won't be perfect. With creating video, it's important to experiment first to see what works and doesn't work for you. There are endless videos, articles and courses on how to do video, it's just a matter of taking the time to find out what works for your business."

- Brian Honigman, CEO of Honigman Media, regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others

I could spend all day going over your options as far as video is concerned, but thankfully I have a quirky little blog post from not too long ago that covers the topic already in detail for you called, "Video Content: Super Fun! Super Effective."

You'll find what you need to know there as far as how to film or edit your videos simply and effectively, but I'll cover the main points to keep in mind for this purpose here:

• Look around YouTube for other videos in your niche (how-to's, general discussions etc...) 
  • What do they do well? Anything you could emulate that wouldn't be too difficult to pull off?
  • Is there any way you could do a similar thing but better? 
  • What unique information can you give them?
• You must think about how your video can help your audience with their problems, or enlighten them to options that they might not have thought of.
• Make sure you keep your content relevant to the page you're sending people to (whether that's a squeeze page or on-site content).
  • Your target audience should be the same for both.
  • If you're sending them to content, you could even explain the gist of some of that content to people in a video then send them back to the full lesson.
• Important: Include a call to action in your video!
  • Ask them to click on the link in the description below.
  • Tell them how they'll benefit from going there. Is there a freebie they can sign up to get? Or more useful content there for them? 
  • An example of this might be to say at the end: "Thanks for watching. Remember to click on the link in the description below to get [benefit]."

Once you've created a video or even a short series of videos, it's time to upload them to YouTube. I'll quickly show setting up a channel for anyone who doesn't already have one, and then I'll run through the best process for adding your videos. 

Step 3: Set up a Channel for Your Brand (If You Haven't Already) 

This doesn't take long, and it becomes a neat little brand-associated hub for any videos you create. 

You really do want a channel separate from your regular Google account so that you can personalize it to your brand. If you already have a channel set up, skip forward to step 4. If not, it's really super simple; just follow along the instructions in this step.

Start by making sure you're signed into your main Google account, then head to www.youtube.com/channel_switcher. You'll see a button with "Create a new channel" on it. 

Then all you need to do is fill in a channel name (preferably in line with your brand/website name), and then select a category (which will more than likely be product or brand).

Then there's just the Pages Terms, and you can click "Done." Simple as that. Once you get into your channel, there are a few areas you might want to edit to align with the images and information associated with your brand. These include a profile picture, cover photo (called "channel art"), and the "About" information for your channel.

Quick tips for your channel information:

• Use the same brand images that you have on your website.
  • This will make the connection between your channel and your site obvious, and strengthen your brand image overall.
• Have a compelling description.
  • Make sure you state clearly and simply what people will find on your channel.
  • Then add a quirky phrase or some personality; YouTube is for information but also for fun!

Once you've edited these to look like a good channel profile, you're ready to start uploading your videos. 

Step 4: Upload Your Video(s) to YouTube

Think carefully about your title and description. Include all relevant information, and don't forget to link back to your site. 

Whenever you're signed in and navigating around on YouTube, you'll see there's an "Upload" button in the top right corner. 

When you've got your video(s) ready, simply click this button. Then it's really easy to drag and drop a video in, or you can select one by clicking on the big central icon. 

Then, while your video is uploading, you can add a title for your video, a description letting people know what they'll learn by watching, and a few tags describing the main topics in your video. 

Make sure that you don't forget to put that link back to your website in the description here, especially if you've mentioned it in your video. Otherwise, it's like inviting everyone to a party at your place and then not being home: Awkward. 

Then click "Publish" and your video is live and ready to go.

Step 5: Spread the Love! Get Your Videos Some Initial Exposure

You need to take your YouTube videos and promote them in a variety of places where your target audience will be likely to see them.

There are a few ways you can get more views for these videos, especially when you've just launched them and they need a base number of views to show that they're worth watching.

Paid Traffic (Optional, Good for Getting off the Ground)

You can direct paid traffic to your YouTube videos by advertising through AdWords here.

I asked my colleague from the case study earlier in this post if she recommended AdWords and she said this: 

"Definitely, I did that. To get enough traffic, I had to pick a really big, open couple of keywords ('dropshipping' and 'dropship') and advertise for all searches using those keywords.

I found for me, the best place for a content-driven video was in the 'recommended video' on the sidebar and in the search results. I think I spent no more than $50; it was really cheap."

Social Media

Often you'll be trying to figure out what you should be posting on social media to build your brand image. In this instance, you get a win-win when you post your videos to social media. You get something of value to share with your followers, and you can promote your video at the same time.

Try to be active on the social media pages of other authorities in your niche. If you see people asking about the topic of your video or you find a discussion in which your video would genuinely be relevant (don't force it!), share it there.

Forums

Forums are not a thing of the past. Many people still use them to keep up with topics of interest to them or to ask questions. This can be a great place to find topics for your videos, but also for you to link to your YouTube videos when they'd be of use. You help others by answering their questions, and you get to promote your material at the same time.

Don't Forget Your Takeaways!

So the aim of the game is to go away and...

• Assess whether or not video marketing will be worthwhile for you.
  • Is your niche particularly competitive on YouTube?
  • Do you have something unique to bring to the table?
• Create your YouTube channel.
• Create a small series of videos to begin with.
• Include a CTA in your video.
• Upload your videos to YouTube.
• Include a link to your squeeze page or relevant content in the description.
• Promote your YouTube videos wherever you can do it (without forcing it).
• See if you can't get some views, turn some of those views to leads, and some of those leads to conversions.

I'd like to leave you with one final tip from Brian Honigman. I asked him, "If you could give someone just one ultimate video marketing tip or piece of advice, what would it be?" He answered:

"The main thing to think about when developing video content on behalf of your business is to ensure it's related to the interests of your audience and not overly promotional of your company's offerings. Think about what would drive value to your customer base, while still relating to what you sell.

For example, Moz, the marketing software company, has become known in the SEO and overall marketing industry for their video series Whiteboard Friday. In this video series, members of the Moz team explain how to approach certain marketing topics like link building or content marketing myths and more.

This series is done in house and is extremely simple, but has driven widespread results for the organization since it's of value to their customer base without having to regularly call out their marketing software through the videos.

Strike this balance with your video marketing efforts in order to ensure success."

- Brian Honigman, CEO of Honigman Media, regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions whatsoever about video marketing, or any comments about it if you've already given it a go. I'd love to hear from you. 

Best of luck with your video marketing!

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