Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to another edition of the your marketing Support podcast. Matt McClure here with you, just kind of keeping us between the lines. I'm not like the most important person here by far because the experts, the ones who bring all of the nuggets of wisdom to the table each and every time we get together, are Joe Barker and David Belville. Hello, you two. How's it going?
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Going good. Hi, Matt.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: Going well. And Matt, we would be lost without you.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: I'm just kind of directing traffic, you know, that's really all I do.
But no, thank you. And thank you both for your time too, because, you know, we're going to talk about something that is, it's very important and it's, and it hits home for us because, you know, if you, if people maybe listen to the podcast version of the show, of course we have the audio podcast, but we also have the video podcast that is available and we're talking and how powerful that is. Joe, I know that you, you do videos. I mean, you, you post all the time on social media, very active. I, I know that we're connected on LinkedIn and I see it like every day, at least one or two or more posts from you. And a lot of times those are video. Why is, is video so, so important and, and really kind of so engaging for people?
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, you know, I, I try to tell people all the time there's, there's so many of us in the same industry and there's so many of us that are.
So you think about agents and advisors or really even myself and David as digital marketers, we're all kind of out there doing the same thing and we're trying to, to bring our own spin to it. And what better way to do that and to really showcase who we are than to bring, bring our own personal brand. With video, it's the easiest way for us to take a topic. We can share it, we can give our opinion on it, and we're going to connect with some people and not others, and that's okay. And it's more about just, just aligning ourselves with, with people who want to work with us and, and who really want to learn from what we have to offer.
I just think video is, is one of those ways to connect, especially as, you know, we live in such a technical world and people just want connection. And so to me, it's vital. It's, it's something that I try to try to stick with every single week. I try to produce at least one or two videos a week. It's not perfect. I miss a few weeks when life gets busy. But I, I definitely think it's vital and it's something that you really can't replace with any other channel.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: And David, I was going to say, you know, you and I both have TV news backgrounds, so I guess we're both sort of biased toward video to begin with, right?
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Yeah, that's fair to say. But honestly, Matt, since we were in the business, video and how we consume video has transformed so much. And really it's about now just staying on that trend.
About five years ago during the pandemic, TikTok really started to gain popularity. And in the years that followed, consumer habits have changed. And so we went from consuming video in very traditional methods, throwing it back to our news backgrounds and now we're just taking video in bite sized chunks, 30 to 60 seconds and a sea of information and content.
It's really important to capture attention.
And so what better way to capture attention than with lively video? And as Joe mentioned it, that's how you connect with people. So capturing their attention, meeting them where they're at, knowing that video has taken over and being able to connect with your audience is, is all a great way to, to build your brand, build your business and grow.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I think a lot of, it's kind of like showing your personality. You know, I, I love that you mentioned TikTok because TikTok, you're right, it, it, it blew up very quickly and it's taking that like fun, entertaining side of things and mixing in with the educational side of things. And it kind of gave everybody like a chance to kind of be who you need it to be or be who you are and you could express yourself in different ways. And it's kind of amazing the way that audiences connect with certain people just based off of the way they speak or the way that, you know, the way that they act or you know, the different traits that they bring to the table because they're connecting with them. I mean they're being social. That's what it's all about. It's about being social, being you and not being afraid to put yourself out there.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: And so often you might be the key differentiator from a customer choosing you or someone else. And so so much of our messaging can often be the same in this business.
So really that personality, your connection with them might be the key factor to winning their business.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean you, you know, you could be out there one of, and you mentioned the words kind of sea of content earlier and I mean it really is that because it, you know, so many people, you could just be one of, you know, thousands maybe talking on whatever social media platform about insurance or, you know, health and wealth in general, you know, retirement planning, whatever the case may be.
How do you then go about differentiating yourself from everybody else in that sea of content?
[00:05:12] Speaker C: I think first and foremost, for me at least, it would be defining a niche audience to start to stand out from the crowd. So in an industry like insurance, it's a very general term and gosh, that audience is massive, it's global. So how can you narrow that down a little bit to create a community of people that come back and see you every single day or only trust you for their source of information? It's a challenge. But if you can narrow down that demographic, you can start to capture an untapped niche. So an example of that could be, you know, rather than selling insurance to just anybody, maybe you're targeting veterans with college age kids, you know, and, and maybe that's who you're talking to solely on a week to week basis. Whatever your niche audience is, it can really just help you stand out and find a community to center yourself around rather than getting lost in that sea.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I think another really important part is just be yourself and be real. So that's, I think that's one of the mistakes that people make when they start creating video and they start trying to produce content is they're watching other people and then you'll see them even like steal things that other people are doing and there's no reason to do that. That's what made them who they are. And you don't necessarily have to do that. I think it's more about just looking at a question, a frequently asked question that somebody's asking and answer it. Be real. What is your answer? That you're constantly saying the same thing to everybody. Put it in the video. Hey, if you were wondering when's the right time to review your plan, here's the right time to review. Review your plan. Here's why you, and here's my two cents on it. And I think the more that, that people don't try to be a certain way and they just be themselves, they're going to resonate even more and people are going to connect with them. And like I said, not everybody's always going to connect with you. And that's okay. There's plenty of other videos out there for them to watch, but the ones that really do, they become kind of fans and you don't even Realize it's happening. But through video, people are watching your. Your videos and they're building trust with you. They are learning to trust you before you even have a clue. They're watching your videos or they've even subscribed.
So it's. It's pretty powerful.
And it's just a matter of getting started and just being willing to really put yourself out there and not worry so much about what people think or. Or doing it a certain way.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And authenticity, as you say, is. Is so super important because people will clock if you are not being yourself immediately, even. Even more so, you know, in video content, because there's the visual part of it, rather than just audio content where they can hear your voice and, you know, your inflection and all that kind of thing. But then if they can see you, they will know that you're not being a real person just almost immediately. And. But what you just said to Joe brings home the fact that it doesn't have to be difficult. I think that a lot of people might have this whole, you know, thing where, oh, I've got to go out and buy a professional camera and get this whole set of lighting set up and all this whole big thing. And I mean, you know, maybe eventually you could do that. But just to start out, like, you know, obviously the. The smartphone is a very powerful thing.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: There's so many people that just from their cell phone. I mean, it's kind of funny when you go back and look at some of the trending videos of people who will be sitting in their bedroom and they'll be recording and they'll have their whole bedroom set behind them, and they're just talking and teaching you about Medicare or whatever the topic is. And at the time, like, nobody ever really noticed or it was just real because it was during COVID and everybody was in their home and everybody knew that's what, you know, you're trying to get your job done. So it's just kind of funny. Obviously, we don't recommend that now, but. But when you look at it, it's more about just be yourself. You can use your cell phone. Think about. The audio, to me, is probably super important just so. So people can really understand you, especially if you're outside, so you don't have wind or anything. The, you know, lighting, little things like that are important, but you're right, man. It's just about getting started and being real and putting yourself out there. I've seen a ton of videos where people are at the park with their kids and they're over on the side just recording a video real quick where their kids are playing.
It is what it is, you know, and people resonate and people are like, oh, I have kids too. Yeah, I'm at the park all the time. So you don't even realize you're connecting with people and those little teeny details that come out.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: You guys both just touched on a point that I'd like to highlight a little bit more about building trust and the authentic nature of video today.
When gone are the days, Matt, that people are sitting down for appointment viewing at 6pm to watch the news. Right.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: It were.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: It's so on Demand and available 24 7. And then Joe, to your point about just sitting on the couch and, and having that person right there talking to you in their own bedroom, the way that we've consumed video has grown to be a little bit more intimate. And so the creators that we once, we're just inviting in for 30 minutes at 6pm is now sitting on the couch with us and, and you know, we're spending hours some days it seems, going through this content. And so the point I'm trying to make here is that trust and authenticity is so much more important now because we're getting so much closer in terms of how we're communicating through video and how we're consuming video too.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, I mean I, I feel like just looking at my own sort of habits. As you were talking there, I was like, oh yeah, you know, I, the people who I tend to watch, whether on YouTube or whatever platform, Instagram, Tick tock, all, all of the things are just really honestly those people who are just being authentic and being authentically themselves and could be, you know, still recording in, you know, their living room or bedroom or whatever, or they may have this big professional studio set up. You know, it just, it really comes down to that, that personality.
And how do you, I guess it's. I don't know if you were somebody who's just going to start out and wants to be not buried underneath that, you know, sea of videos.
What are the, what are some things that you can do to. Not only. I know we covered the whole like how to stand out part, but even if you're, if you're just starting out with video content, the, the algorithm is a weird thing to understand. And every platform's algorithm is different obviously.
But are there things that you can do maybe like best practices with keywords or SEO optimization or something like that to just sort of break through and get noticed?
[00:11:39] Speaker C: Yeah, that is a great question, Matt. In theory, you have a maximum of three seconds to capture someone's attention as they're scrolling through a social media timeline. And so the first three seconds of your video arguably is the most important because you have to capture their attention. You could have all of the answers in the world that follows. But if people don't stay long enough to watch, they're never going to be able to benefit from that content.
So first and foremost is coming up with a strong hook to entice the user to continue watching the video. And there are a number of strategies that you can use and so many can be found online. But I also just encourage you as you're consuming video, as you're scrolling through social media, identify what got you to stop scrolling. What did this person say? To stop you in your tracks and keep you interested so you can do research. But oftentimes it's just how we consume video that we can apply to our own strategies.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I would also say see in areas of your business that you're currently in. So if you're not producing any video right now and you have clients and you're always saying like the same messages to people, those are the things to record. Just. And that's a great way to practice too and get used to doing it is say, say it's AEP coming up. If you're in the Medicare industry and you know you there, it's time to start reviewing plans or you know, there's certain things, steps you want them to take. Make a quick video on the steps you want them to take. And if you're not comfortable on, on YouTube or any of those social channels, start with, by giving it to them on email. Record it, send it to them via email, let them watch it and get comfortable with it. There's. And then hopefully you'll get to the point where you're more comfortable posting it for other people to see of like, hey, here's the tips to think about if you're, if you're doing retirement planning for somebody and you know, there's five things that people need to think about when they're getting ready to retire. Make the quick video on it. Things that you would say to anybody, like make those quick videos, get used to making them and just know your first hundred videos may not be great and that's okay. But just start and then start seeing, you know, those frequently asked questions that you're always answering. If you know, like I say this all the time. This is an example I give all the time Record those, those are gold. And then put them out there and you're going to start to see that they're going to resonate with people. And slowly over time, you'll learn the SEO and you'll learn those, those details of the keywords and that type of stuff. But start with who your base audience is now also, and just get good at being able to communicate via video and provide value to your current clients. And I think from there it will get easier as you get more familiar with it and then your focus will come off of how do I create the video? To how do I optimize the video? And then you can, you can kind of phase it in.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. It's, you know, every once in a while, I guess someone will just, you know, catch fire immediately. But that's the exception to the, to the rule, right? I mean, it's not as if everybody can be, and I'm going to age myself here, but not everybody can be David after dentist and be like, you know, immediately Viral on, on YouTube or wherever.
But also, don't, you know, overly drug your kids and video them in order to get views.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: I think, I think another important, as you just said that like, another important thing to keep into consideration is who your target audience is. You don't necessarily need a million subscribers. That is not what you need. You just need to resonate with the right people.
And you're going to get trolls that are like, oh, you're out here giving advice and you have 10 people following your page. Okay, but those 10 people are quality. 10 people. And I'll take 10 quality people. Over a million completely has nothing to do with anything that I, you know, they're never going to be clients of mine. So that's, that's the other thing is make sure that you're speaking to your target audience. And don't worry so much about the vanity metrics. Just do things that help your business and help you get more comfortable and then that's where you'll see organically that you'll have more success.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it's about engagement. I find a lot too, because how important is, is that piece? I mean, like, you know, because a lot of times I feel like Will, at least in my own life, I've been guilty of this. I will, I'll post a video and that's kind of it. Like, I may go watch it once. I'm like, hey, there's a free view. I've watched my own video once, and that's kind of my own and my Only engagement with it, you know, guilty as charged.
The interaction, I mean, if somebody, you know, encouraging people to, like, comment, you know, and repost or share or, you know, subscribe to the channel and all that kind of stuff.
And then also, you know, engaging maybe with some comments that resonate with you when they come in and that kind of thing.
I feel like that's so important too, to sort of build that momentum and, and, you know, to really kind of grow things, right?
[00:16:27] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So much of what you just touched on, Matt, is, is working with the algorithm. We have so much control over the content that we create, but once we upload it, we are at the mercy of the YouTubes, the Facebooks, the Instagrams of the world. And so applying best practices and being able to use data as your friend to make content changes is necessary.
Joe mentioned vanity metrics a couple of minutes ago. And a common mistake that creators will make is, is using vanity metrics. And those are your likes, comments, shares as the end goal. X amount of shares means it was a successful post. But really you should look at those metrics as a tool to ultimately get larger distribution. And that should be the end goal. The more people to see your video, the, the more visibility you have, truly as a part of the end goal there. And so those metrics that we often call vanity metrics should just be a tool, not the end goal. So that tells the algorithm that it's garnering engagement and needs to get distributed to more people, but it never should be just the end goal.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: And I think a lot of times people kind of like set a video and forget it. And it's like, oh, I posted it, I did good. Yep, done. And a year ago, nothing. And so I think, you know, you took all that time to create that video and there's probably little teeny nuggets of, of, of information in there that's gold upon itself if you just clip it out 15, 20 seconds at a time. So I think taking that, that full video, getting it posted is just the phase one. Phase two is then creating the shorts out of that video that draw, that draw people to the longer video.
Use it for landing pages, use it for emails, put it in a newsletter. There's so many ways that you can redistribute and reallocate that one video to multiple channels. And I think a lot of people are just busy. Once they get going, they just want to create, create, create, post, post, post, done. And they don't realize, like, hey, there's probably a relevant time that you can Reuse that. So as you're creating that content, think about those things too. We call them evergreen. Where, where there's no time sensitive, you know, we're not an election year, so we don't have to talk about that. Where then, you know, six months later it's gone and you can't use it anymore. So as long as you keep the topics, the things that people can use all the time and you can reutilize that the following year and maybe it's resharing it and putting a sentence or two of, of what your current thought is on it or how times have changed since that video came out. So there's little ways like that that you can keep reusing that video for a good year or two or even more if it's, if it's truly evergreen.
[00:19:05] Speaker C: If I, if I could add to that point too. You know, you talked about starting with maybe a longer form video and then using that as a way to create short form video.
But that long form video could also be a source for other pieces of content. You know, I know that we're talking all about video here, but of course you want other material to, to round out your marketing strategy. And so as an example, this conversation right here could be then turned into an article or a blog that we post on the website. And so take those ideas too for your own business. If, if you are, you know, have another buddy of yours that sells insurance and you want to get together and just talk about the, the world of insurance and the environment we're in. You know, that could then translate to quote graphics, social media graphics, shorts that we're talking about long form text. So the opportunity is endless with video.
And that's just the starting point.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: The one thing I will say about video, and this actually came up with a client last week where they were posting their videos on YouTube and then they were taking the YouTube link and sharing it on other social media channels. And they weren't really seeing a lot of traction. And so one thing to keep in mind as you're creating videos is Facebook doesn't necessarily want you to leave their platform to go to YouTube. They want you to spend time on their platform. Same thing with LinkedIn. LinkedIn doesn't necessarily want you to leave LinkedIn to go over to YouTube. That's not their channel. So one of the things to keep in mind when you're creating those, and this is where the shorts and the shorter form video comes into play, is you can take that shorter form video and upload it natively. Into LinkedIn.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: And then in the comments, put the. The link to where the full YouTube channel or video is to go watch more of it. And there's ways that you can get around the algorithm to where they're not feeding, you know, your video out because you're leaving the platform, but there's ways that you can do it to where you can reutilize that and natively upload the shorter videos on other platforms and then draw them ultimately to where you want them to go, which is probably your YouTube channel, so you. They can get subscribers. So just something to keep in mind if you're starting in video is. Is there's a little bit to the algorithms when it comes to different things, but I think as long as you're treating each channel individually and really it's just getting started and creating it and then utilizing that one video to create as much other content as you can.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Yeah, keeping that momentum going as you, you know, just the. And the first step really is just getting started. I mean, you know, you've got to take that initiative and. And start somewhere. Everybody starts somewhere. And even though you might not, you know, be perfection in the beginning, that is quite possibly. We've been talking a lot about authenticity and being yourself. That's quite possibly your greatest asset, not being perfect. Because then you connect with people and they're like, oh, see, look, this guy knows a lot, but he also messes up saying words, too. I've been there. So it's.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: Well, there's a reason, like, bloopers are so popular. But you think about it with everything. There's a reason bloopers are popular. It's because it shows the real side of people and it's. It helps you connect even more to somebody. Even though it's. It's them making a mistake. It just. You connect more with people. And so I think even if, like, little mistakes are left in there or if you're live and something happens, don't stress it. It happens. Just. Just get used to it. And I think the more you create video and the more that you're used to those type of things and you're able to just go on the fly, the better.
[00:22:24] Speaker C: And no matter your experience level with video where you're at today, you're going to be light years ahead a year from now. So to echo your point, you got to start somewhere, but know that that's just the starting point. It's all up from there.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: That's right. It's. It's onward and upward to bigger and Better things, the more you do it, the better you're going to be. And you have great words of advice there. Well, just about time to, to wrap things up here, guys. But anything else that you wanted to add or maybe something that we haven't quite touched on that you wanted to highlight before we run?
[00:22:56] Speaker A: No, I would just say the only advice I have is, is like you said, the hardest part is just getting started.
So if you're looking of like, I know I need to do it, I just don't quite know how. Just do it. Just get your cell phone, prop it up, get it ready, answer a few FAQs that somebody's asked you or like David said, grab a friend that's in the industry and, and jump on a video like this and, and do a quick interview of asking questions. Even if it's a carrier, partner or somebody along those lines, just jump on, do a quick video with them. That way the pressure is not just on you, it's on two of you and then you might feel a little bit better not thinking all eyes are on you.
[00:23:30] Speaker C: Yeah, that's great advice. I would just leave you with get inspired. And what I mean by that is look for inspiration in unusual places. And so often it can be right in the palm of our hands as we ourselves are consuming media. So I just encourage people to pay attention to your own habits, your own user habits. We're all special and unique, but when it comes to consuming online content, we're actually pretty similar. And so whatever stops you in your tracks is likely going to work for a large group of people. So just be mindful and aware of what works for you and it's likely going to work for other people too.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, great, great advice there. And just, you know, as we say, get started and, and use video to your advantage. Do not be scared of it.
That's, you know, I think the kind of the number one thing for me, don't be scared to just, to just do it and be yourself. And like I said, if you screw up, you screw up and that's, that's it, you move on. So David Belville and Joe Barker, thank you both so much once again. Really do appreciate it. We'll see you guys next time.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: Thank you, Matt.
[00:24:36] Speaker C: Take care.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Thanks. And thank you for joining us for this edition of the YMS podcast. We'll see you next time for another edition of the show Download.
