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Using Short Videos to Grow Your Business

BigRomeDawg

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Okay that's great in theory. And where are the metrics? Can anyone provide their own data or a case study of someone's clear correlation or directly attributed sales from TikTok?

Everyone is like "look man, my video got 565k views." Nobody is like: "this video generated xxxx in sales for me."

Everyone is so enamored with that social media ego stroke but who's actually doing the math to figure out if it really makes a noticeable difference in your business that's worth your time?

I'll change my mind if I get real data with meaningful metrics.
This is super important. Thank you for starting this conversation MTF.

I have some examples of business results that don't equate to impressive views/subs.

Example #1 - YT channel with 10k subs selling $1m/month gross revenue affiliate sales.
Example #2 - Agency with a YT channel with under 2k subs getting 1.2 leads per day all through YT and closing 20% of them.

On the other hand:

The "vanity" metrics CAN BE useful, you're creating an engaged audience and an "invisible list" of people you can target later with advertising.

There are also people who do it just for the impact and aren't trying to drive leads to a business. In their case, "vanity" metrics indicate how many people they're reaching and *hopefully* impacting.

And, if your content is reaching your target audience, you have a good offer, and it is getting sales through social media, then in theory, more views mean more people in the funnel = more sales.

I am doing my best to track business results for my clients at SS; we are really fresh but I hope to have some actionable data in the next few months. This means setting up tracked links for CTAs wherever possible, referral source fields on lead forms, etc.
 
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Andy Black

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Local Businesses... Should Be Using Short Videos?

"The Needle In a Haystack"

Recently, I've been speaking with wellness centers and health entrepreneurs like chiropractors and physical therapists in my state (New Jersey).

Almost every single one of the doctor entrepreneurs I've spoken with and seen on social media have one thing in common..

They all are excruciatingly bad at social media.

I don't say that to be rude, but rather I say it because I spotted an opportunity.

A couple days ago I was on a call with my mom, who is also a chiropractor in the New Jersey area.

She is kind of in that mode where she is posting on social media (mostly because of me..lol), but it's not a professional thing that is taken very serious.

She proceeded to tell me that 4 of the customers she's gotten in the past month that came into her office came from Instagram Reels.

Meaning her video popped up on people's pages that were located in her exact location.

I was honestly in shock.. Because the reels she posts aren't that great.. and she doesn't necessarily post them that often, maybe once every other day.

And then I had an epiphany about local businesses using social media..!

Immediately, I made a pretty bold projection.

I told my mom that the first chiropractor to be ahead of the curve and start taking social media seriously on the BIG 4: TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and Facebook Reels..

Will become the GO-TO doctor within a large radius of her area.. Just because everybody else sucks so bad!

I mean it's not surprising, right? The people running the practices are the same ones who decided to open up a local chiropractic practice... inside of a sea of local chiropractic practices.

So most of them just don't know marketing or even care that much to learn it.

But for local businesses, I'm not even just suggesting that you post videos and hope that they reach people..

I'm saying that you post engaging videos (that will reach people if you post enough.. and distribute enough) and then instead of doing it to just get inbound viewers..

Use this awesome-looking social media page with super educational content (which none of your competitors are doing because they don't know how) as a credibility statement, and then do hand-to-hand combat to get people in your area to click on your page..

My philosophy is that if you post content like how a good YouTuber posts content for their audience, the people who click on your page will have never seen anyone like you in their local area posting on social media and helping people the way you do.

Naturally, this will make people trust your business more than any single business out there.

You may be wondering what I mean by hand-to-hand combat?

All it means is, after you have a portfolio of awesome educational content posted..

1. simply go to any social media platform that you're posting on..

2. type in the exact location of your local business in the search bar
3. leave thoughtful comments on people's posts in your area

This will cause people to click your page and see something they don't usually see.


The moral of the story is, I told my mom "If you're getting 4 customers in a month from barely doing anything, imagine what could happen if you started doing (what I just said above) and started taking social media more seriously?"

Hope this was valuable

Mike
We specialise in local lead gen with Google Ads and are starting to make videos for some of them because Performance Max campaigns use videos on YouTube. Being able to create short videos that work organically means you can also put ad spend behind them. It's hard enough for local businesses to run standard text Google Ads campaigns, never mind create videos as well. Video is a great barrier to entry once you're on the other side.
 

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I posted this in my YouTube/TikTok progress thread:


Friends have asked how to create short talking head videos. I've braindumped below.

Let me know if you have any questions, or if you want me to create a video going into more detail.

---

WHY DAILY SHORTS:

Creating shorter videos makes it easier to put the reps in.

Don't batch it up initially because you'll be rapidly learning and adjusting.

Consider creating, editing, and publishing once a day.

Find a daily rhythm where you review yesterday's video and create, edit, and publish today's video.

YouTube Shorts are vertical videos under 60s - they've a lot more reach at the moment than normal YouTube videos.

MY CURRENT PROCESS:

Help one person and keep them in mind when you speak.

The best camera is the one in your pocket. Use your phone, it's better than your webcam.

Improve audio by using your headphones. If it's wired then tuck it into your top instead of dangling it from your ear.

Consider a cheap lapel mic. I'm using a Movo PM10.

Consider keeping your initial videos under 15s. Most viewers on TikTok and YouTube Shorts won't know you. Viewers on Facebook and LinkedIn will likely already know you, but still try to keep it short. Asking people to watch even just 60s of you talking is an ASK. Tutorials can be longer.

Wear something without large writing or patterns so the captions are easier to read. I'm wearing a black hoodie as I can throw it over whatever I'm wearing,

Stop "clearing your throat" saying things like "Hey guys" or "In this video you're going to learn ...".

Start as close to the end as possible, and learn about hooks.

Hook in 3s if you can.

Try to look at the lens or near the lens so it looks like your looking directly at the viewer.

A teleprompter will help, although takes a bit of getting used to. I use the Speechway teleprompter app - it's free and allows me to resize and move the text below my lens.

Try to say max 7 words at a time as that's where you can make cuts.

E.g. "Whenever I struggle in business or creating short videos I remember a line by Mother Theresa" could be delivered as:

"Whenever I struggle in business"
"or creating short videos"
"I remember a line by Mother Theresa"

Do a take the whole way through from one location, redoing sentences if you're not happy with them. Then move or turn and repeat. Do multiple takes end to end with different backdrops. You'll get smoother and more natural, you'll have options to choose from when editing, and you can use different backgrounds for different phrases to keep people engaged.

Upload the file(s) to a Google Drive folder created specifically for that video.

Download from Google Drive to your PC. (You now have a backup of your raw files on Google Drive.)

Import your video clips into Descript and transcribe. Descript allows you to edit the transcription to edit the video.

Add fancy captions. Everyone seems to be using "The Big Font". Google it and download then install.

An advantage of The Big Font is it's in uppercase. You don't have to worry about capitalisation in your captions, which means you can move faster.

I remove the commas and periods/full-stops in the captions too.

Export and publish.

Time of day matters and could be different per platform, although I like the advice that the best time of day to publish is when you've finished exporting.
 

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Wow, what an interesting topic. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I have never looked into this until now.

I have a question: I see the potential of this approach for personal brands.
But what about other brands?
What if talking head videos are just not an option (for whatever reason)?

Would it still be possible to produce lots of engaging short videos that are still limited in terms of effort? (After all, that's a big advantage with talking head videos).

If so, what might that look like?

Thanks.
 
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Andy Black

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Wow, what an interesting topic. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I have never looked into this until now.

I have a question: I see the potential of this approach for personal brands.
But what about other brands?
What if talking head videos are just not an option (for whatever reason)?

Would it still be possible to produce lots of engaging short videos that are still limited in terms of effort? (After all, that's a big advantage with talking head videos).

If so, what might that look like?

Thanks.
 

MitchC

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Wow, what an interesting topic. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I have never looked into this until now.

I have a question: I see the potential of this approach for personal brands.
But what about other brands?
What if talking head videos are just not an option (for whatever reason)?

Would it still be possible to produce lots of engaging short videos that are still limited in terms of effort? (After all, that's a big advantage with talking head videos).

If so, what might that look like?

Thanks.
 

mikecarlooch

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Wow, what an interesting topic. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I have never looked into this until now.

I have a question: I see the potential of this approach for personal brands.
But what about other brands?
What if talking head videos are just not an option (for whatever reason)?

Would it still be possible to produce lots of engaging short videos that are still limited in terms of effort? (After all, that's a big advantage with talking head videos).

If so, what might that look like?

Thanks.

Yes absolutely you can

Remember, all you really need to do with short videos is show someone things that interest them for a long enough period of time that causes them to watch the entire video.

Sometimes, just subtitles on a screen may be enough to achieve this if the topic is interesting enough.

But what you'd typically want to do is add relevant B-Roll content + subtitles, and what I've seen work is whenever someone says something of interest, switch the B-Roll to something related to that particular subject.
 
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mikecarlooch

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Make Business Content/Business Author? (Must Read)
So recently on one of my TikTok accounts I stopped having imposter syndrome and started speaking my passion for business and the messed-up school system from the heart.

There is a big opportunity to reach a lot of Generation Z with this kind of content..

How do I know?

Because most videos I post regarding my progress with business and some of my thoughts reach a LOT of people and cause wars in my comments sections.

Just 2 days ago I posted a video talking about my beliefs on why Fastfood jobs shouldn't be praised like they are for people in high school and it currently has 100,000 views and 300+ comments (this is not the first time for this topic)

Some people absolutely hate me, and others are defending me without me having to write a single comment myself

The reason it's working so well on social media is because it causes a polarization effect. I feel like we're in a time right now where people from Gen Z are in an Us vs Them scenario, meaning school lovers vs street smart business thinkers.

And I think this particular segment of people is looking for a leader to "encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies." (shoutout Blair Warren - the one sentence persuasion course)

The reason I'm bringing this up here is because I know people like @Andy Black and @Kak and probably a lot of people on this forum are starting to make business content with short videos

Here's my two cents on how to make these videos work:

Know how to speak to them

If you can understand the situation these people are in
(hating school, not knowing what to do with their life, annoyed with their parents, wanting to be independent and start a business but they don't know how) and give them simple actionable advice (but not too technical, because most of this generation doesn't understand much technical advice. It will turn people off.) people will follow you religiously as a leader.

I think this is a great opportunity for people who are authors or in a similar segment because from what I've noticed when I mention a book to read in these videos people seem to feel a moral obligation to go and get the book or else they are "not ambitious enough".

Hope this helps someone!

Mike
 

Andy Black

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DarkZero

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Got this email today.

Interesting that it's 10 million views and not some watchtime metric. They want to encourage people to get views, not extend watchtime. (That's 10 million views in the last 90 days btw.)



More info here:

Yeah this is a huge update that will get YT competing heavily against TikTok now. It works best for them to encourage people to get views because the watchtime is so short and variable with Shorts. Also, it has more to do with how they plug in advertisers. Unlike with long-form, they won't plug advertisers inside the videos. The ads appear as people move from video to video. If someone's video is being viewed a ton, then that means YT is putting that Short in front of more and more people, and they can put the ads around that video because it's more likely people will see those ads since that Short is being seen a lot.

Also, for those questioning the usefulness of this short term video. I have a client with a local moving business. They are the only business of their niche in their city posting on social with short-form content. 80% of their inquiries come from people who have seen their content. I made them conduct a survey on this so that we know which ways to double down on video and leverage them. Their issue is not "how do we get business". Their issue now is "how do we operationalize this for scale".

Brand equity is a serious thing with this. You are building a bank. And the more you build up brand equity, the more you can pull from that in the future. I said this 10 years ago to clients. They didn't care. 5 years ago people started getting on board but still many laughed. Today, they still laugh. 5 years from now, they'll still laugh. But the ones who did take action over the past decade are the ones who are glad they did.

Is it necessary to do this type of social content to grow a business? No. Does it help depending on your niche? Yes. I have a few clients where social is not necessary for them. Annual revenues for one client sits at only around $20mm and they work in a close-knit, highly specialized B2B industry (machinery). Not necessary for them, but we still were able to help them leverage other ways. Short-form video is just not necessary for them.

Most people would be better suited to hire a creative director or marketer and have them tell them what videos to produce and get them produced.

Also, 99% of people just need this for video editing and captions: Captions

I used to use capcut and descript. I still use Premiere for specific types of edits.

But this does everything for 99% of people. Dirt cheap. Easy to use. Better than the rest. Thank me later.
 
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Andy Black

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AceVentures

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Curious what you guys think of this:


Makes sense - Gen Z aren't necessarily brain dead, they just got exposed to this form of content before most of us.

I discover content on Twitter and IG, makes sense that Gen Z discover theirs using TikTok.

This approach to marketing is well balanced imo - not focusing entirely on one or the other.

I also find it fascinating how humans get into so much passionate debate when a duality between ideas reveals itself.
 

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James007Hill

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Great thread (and related "figuring out" threads), loving the learnings about short videos.

As a result I'm going to try scripting out some short videos, and also look into doing such videos around answering common questions in my niche. I will also use a teleprompter to keep me on track. I will try to think about hooks and storytelling principles too.
 

Andy Black

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Great thread (and related "figuring out" threads), loving the learnings about short videos.

As a result I'm going to try scripting out some short videos, and also look into doing such videos around answering common questions in my niche. I will also use a teleprompter to keep me on track. I will try to think about hooks and storytelling principles too.
Thanks! I'm glad some people get value from watching me scrambling around trying to figure stuff out.

Feel free to post scripts in here for feedback. I may do the same.

As for hooks, I feel I'm starting to see them too much, or maybe some people don't use them naturally. I keep wondering what would happen if we go straight to the meat.

Mr Beast says what the video's about in the first sentence. "We put 5 million balls in a swimming pool!"
 

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Thanks! I'm glad some people get value from watching me scrambling around trying to figure stuff out.

Feel free to post scripts in here for feedback. I may do the same.

As for hooks, I feel I'm starting to see them too much, or maybe some people don't use them naturally. I keep wondering what would happen if we go straight to the meat.

Mr Beast says what the video's about in the first sentence. "We put 5 million balls in a swimming pool!"
Be under no illusion you are providing a lot of value to a lot of people by documenting the process!

I know what you mean about hooks, it probably is people not using them naturally or just "trying too hard" to capture attention at the beginning and making it look a bit ridiculous. Sometimes it pays to keep things simple I think. Ultimately if a video starts by making it clear it's going to help me or entertain me (no matter how it does that), then I'm hooked! And I'll keep watching as long as that promise is delivered upon in a no fluff style.
 
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Be under no illusion you are providing a lot of value to a lot of people by documenting the process!

I know what you mean about hooks, it probably is people not using them naturally or just "trying too hard" to capture attention at the beginning and making it look a bit ridiculous. Sometimes it pays to keep things simple I think. Ultimately if a video starts by making it clear it's going to help me or entertain me (no matter how it does that), then I'm hooked! And I'll keep watching as long as that promise is delivered upon in a no fluff style.
I think a lot of people get too caught up in tactics

I see many people in my industry (the video industry) SWEAR that all of these tactics they're using in the videos help them get views, but the truth is no one has a damn clue that a little red arrow pointing to something in a video helps them get more people to watch.

I used to be into all that but the more I look at what's actually happening, all of that stuff is BS.

That's not to say that structuring a video doesn't work. It should always be structured, but it should be structured and presented in a way where the audience cannot tell that it's structured to get their attention.

Some of the most viewed short videos I've ever seen on social media just have the following:

1. a hook
2. a charismatic personality
3. a story
4. a fast pace without any boring moments
5. wait till the end to give the full answer
6. a polarizing viewpoint
7. subtitles
8. great and actionable information
 

Andy Black

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I think a lot of people get too caught up in tactics

I see many people in my industry (the video industry) SWEAR that all of these tactics they're using in the videos help them get views, but the truth is no one has a damn clue that a little red arrow pointing to something in a video helps them get more people to watch.

I used to be into all that but the more I look at what's actually happening, all of that stuff is BS.

That's not to say that structuring a video doesn't work. It should always be structured, but it should be structured and presented in a way where the audience cannot tell that it's structured to get their attention.

Some of the most viewed short videos I've ever seen on social media just have the following:

1. a hook
2. a charismatic personality
3. a story
4. a fast pace without any boring moments
5. wait till the end to give the full answer
6. a polarizing viewpoint
7. subtitles
I'm over the hooks already. Same as the fecking frantic pace of the captions.

It's ok though... swiping up is easy.

Three of my favourite TikTok "talking head" accounts are below.

What they have in common:
  • A calm delivery.
  • Charismatic.
  • Authentic and unique.
  • They talk direct to the camera/you.
  • Each video is created FOR short video. They're not repurposed from longer videos.
  • Not necessarily polarising, but they stand for something.
  • They've something to say (the most important part surely?).

  1. Adam Cam
  2. Grey Beard Actual
  3. Lara McCulloch
 

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I'm over the hooks already. Same as the fecking frantic pace of the captions.

It's ok though... swiping up is easy.

Three of my favourite TikTok "talking head" accounts are below.

What they have in common.
  • A calm delivery.
  • Charimatic.
  • Authentic.
  • They're talking direct to the camera.
  • Each video is created FOR short video. They're not repurposed from longer videos.
  • Not necessarily polarising, but they stand for something.
  • They've something to say (the most important part surely?).



Yes exactly, believe it or not when I started posting heavily repurposed videos that were not meant for short form (taken from my youtube videos), people in the comments actually started getting mad and suggesting that I go back to the "car videos". It's almost like those videos became a part of my brand.

Why? Because they're real. They have a certain vibe you get when you watch them, it feels like I'm speaking from the heart.

This topic is actually something I want to expand more on.. mega article incoming! lol
 
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Yeah this is a huge update that will get YT competing heavily against TikTok now. It works best for them to encourage people to get views because the watchtime is so short and variable with Shorts. Also, it has more to do with how they plug in advertisers. Unlike with long-form, they won't plug advertisers inside the videos. The ads appear as people move from video to video. If someone's video is being viewed a ton, then that means YT is putting that Short in front of more and more people, and they can put the ads around that video because it's more likely people will see those ads since that Short is being seen a lot.

Also, for those questioning the usefulness of this short term video. I have a client with a local moving business. They are the only business of their niche in their city posting on social with short-form content. 80% of their inquiries come from people who have seen their content. I made them conduct a survey on this so that we know which ways to double down on video and leverage them. Their issue is not "how do we get business". Their issue now is "how do we operationalize this for scale".

Brand equity is a serious thing with this. You are building a bank. And the more you build up brand equity, the more you can pull from that in the future. I said this 10 years ago to clients. They didn't care. 5 years ago people started getting on board but still many laughed. Today, they still laugh. 5 years from now, they'll still laugh. But the ones who did take action over the past decade are the ones who are glad they did.

Is it necessary to do this type of social content to grow a business? No. Does it help depending on your niche? Yes. I have a few clients where social is not necessary for them. Annual revenues for one client sits at only around $20mm and they work in a close-knit, highly specialized B2B industry (machinery). Not necessary for them, but we still were able to help them leverage other ways. Short-form video is just not necessary for them.

Most people would be better suited to hire a creative director or marketer and have them tell them what videos to produce and get them produced.

Also, 99% of people just need this for video editing and captions: Captions

I used to use capcut and descript. I still use Premiere for specific types of edits.

But this does everything for 99% of people. Dirt cheap. Easy to use. Better than the rest. Thank me later.
I missed this post.

I saw a couple of friends over the weekend. They have a little husband and wife carpet cleaning business. I setup and run their Google Ads which is only about £30/week.

They're also posting a video a day on social media and and are getting pretty good with the apps. They're in their late 50s early 60s so if they can do it anyone can.

The videos of them doing tile cleaning has brought in some decent jobs, and we know that's not from Google Ads because we're not bidding on those keywords yet.


I like Descript. The ability to edit video via the transcript still amazes me. It's good enough for captions for me, and they're bringing out their "storyboard" version where we can denote a scene via a / before and after. We can drop b-roll in and it will be cut for length. More magic coming.


I think it's great that some are offering video editing as a service. That makes it accessible to more people.

I love that the tools make it simple enough for me to do it myself. It's a great skill to acquire, and I think me doing the editing and distribution helps me create better videos than if I delegated it.

I did a 36s video this morning. It took 30 minutes to write the script on my phone, 80 seconds talking to my phone, and 5 minutes to edit. Wow. That means it should be able to make it a daily habit. It also means I'm very agile. I can spot something and make and upload a video within an hour.
 

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mikecarlooch

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Do you notice organic reach using Twitter?

I've never tried, but I heard people are getting some great attention using twitter threads
 
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Andy Black

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Do you notice organic reach using Twitter?

I've never tried, but I heard people are getting some great attention using twitter threads
I found Twitter poor for reach. You've got to build followers and be super active. You've also got to create good content of course.

I was looking at the data anyway so posted the update to Twitter, LinkedIn, and my Facebook page. I document as I go along.

As well as posting progress updates there, I'm using Twitter as a store of thoughts that I'll turn into video.
 

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I got this via Linkedin PM today.
It's not like my videos are going viral or anything.

2022-09-28_22-33-20.png
 

Andy Black

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I got this via Linkedin PM today.
It's not like my videos are going viral or anything.

View attachment 45308
Some notes about the above inbound inquiry:


1) Someone asked yesterday if they should post just on TikTok and YouTube where viewers have likely never encountered you before. I advised posting especially where people know you.


2) If you just post content about what you do and how, then you'll just get people following who want to do what you do. Post content that appeals to your actual market, and sprinkle in what you do.

I'm deliberately posting videos about more general business, marketing, and sales tips. I throw in Google Ads to illustrate my points. TBH, I'm not even after Google Ads clients or to sell my Google Ads membership. I see myself as a business owner first and want to help fellow business owners, and people who are interested in getting started in business.

Think about what I post in this forum. Out of nearly 400 threads I've created there are "only" 40 about Google Ads. People don't refer me to other people because I do Google Ads. They do so because I'm referrable, and my name pops into their head when they think of Google Ads.

Here's a video explaining what I mean. (Oh, and the main reason I'm posting short videos is I want to be able to link people to them so I don't have to keep repeating myself. Which means I post stuff I've found myself repeating. Which means the "need" is validated.)

 
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James007Hill

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Had someone on a course I ran at the weekend who said they found me on YouTube via a short I'd done. These short videos work!

I'm really enjoying the process of producing short videos. It will definitely make my long videos better, as I've been amazed at how much stuff I might say in a video, even when I've already done a first edit, that really isn't needed and is just padding.
 

Andy Black

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Had someone on a course I ran at the weekend who said they found me on YouTube via a short I'd done. These short videos work!
That's great! Proof they can bring business.

I'm really enjoying the process of producing short videos. It will definitely make my long videos better, as I've been amazed at how much stuff I might say in a video, even when I've already done a first edit, that really isn't needed and is just padding.
I found the same writing in this forum, creating Google Ads, and even writing on Twitter. Constraints are our friends.
 

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TikTok shows my videos in the UK and Ireland. YouTube shows them in the US.

I wonder why TikTok does that, and how I'd get my videos to show in the US. Would they get a lot more volume over there compared to the UK and Ireland?
 
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mikecarlooch

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Had someone on a course I ran at the weekend who said they found me on YouTube via a short I'd done. These short videos work!

I'm really enjoying the process of producing short videos. It will definitely make my long videos better, as I've been amazed at how much stuff I might say in a video, even when I've already done a first edit, that really isn't needed and is just padding.
Awesome!
 

Andy Black

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