Reb Risty 11:00
And then my actually my good friend, the one who has the accounting, finances, for who well, she’s on her second accounting finance firm now. You know, like, everybody kind of do it in the beginning, because you don’t know what you really want to do and what you’re good at. And I think, finally, two years ago, I will four years ago, we decided we’re going into video, we’ve always been a con, I’ve always been a content strategist, I come out of the HubSpot School of content, you know, inbound marketing. And last year, I got really serious, I hired a coach who put me you know, from business made simple, and she just got us, like, lined up, like, here’s the plan, here’s how you focus, here’s how you package, you know, and I really hadn’t done those things before, because it’s very ad hoc. And I was always making things happen. So she really said, it kind of showed us how we could focusing down our messaging or positioning, packaging my services in a way I never had before has made a huge difference. And so I’m happy to say this is our first year that we’re fully fledged going and positioning as a full content marketing agency, leading with video content. And we now just partner you know, and that’s a great thing is throughout the years, I have learned and met some really great partners to to do websites and newsletters and emails and all that. And so that’s really where the advantage of working now is I can handle things off, I know the client is going to be taken care of. And I get to focus on what I really enjoy, which is the video content.
John Corcoran 12:33
Yeah, it’s interesting, just even year to year, how much video marketing has changed with the advent of some of the different technologies we were talking about before the platforms like Tiktok, and Instagram and things like that. So let’s kind of talk about some of the trends in video and social marketing. What are a few of the trends that you kind of have your eye on right now? Or that when you talk to clients, you’re saying like this, these are some things you need to be thinking about?
Reb Risty 12:59
Yeah, well, absolutely. clients need to start thinking about video as part of their SEO strategy, search engine optimization, even if they’re not, let’s say doing a structured SEO strategy, they have to start thinking about their content as in a way that they are driving, not just a brand new awareness, but these and awareness in a sense of education, and that people are really looking for content. And you can’t think about content as something Oh, nice to have is something that has to be part of your marketing program. So I would say that some of the biggest trends that in the video world and content world is SEO, keyword driven topics. And then of course, we all see it the shorts. TikTok has been a huge driver of that of short videos, you know, even 60 seconds is too long, in some cases. And we’ve seen it with YouTube was kind of the last the follow on all the platforms, you know, now they’re doing YouTube short. Although you’re short, you need to be connected to longer format videos for YouTube algorithms still to pick you up. But yeah, short, being top topic centric, you can’t just talk about whatever you want. If you really want until you get the brand awareness and the engagement level your brand, you need to be specific about the topic you’re talking. You’re what is what is it your audience wants to know What are you knowledgeable, knowledgeable about that you can provide them
John Corcoran 14:37
stay at stay in your lane. In other words, that’s one of those kind of things I see a lot of times people they don’t say it exactly this way, but people like you know, I just want to get started with doing getting known online and I just want to talk about what I want to talk about and it’s like, you can’t just talk about anything, you know, you’d be everything. No one’s gonna pay attention, you know, you have to Yeah, I feel like gets more, you have to kind of stay in your lane, develop your expertise. And once you have that expertise in that area, then you can branch out a little bit more. So is there a brainstorming process or something? Or some process for figuring out what topics they should create videos on?
Reb Risty 15:17
You know, I think we first just look at like, where are they knowledgeable? I, you know, if you don’t, it’s true today, as it was many years ago, we often start with FAQ, you know, what are your common questions you get constantly? What are you always answering the same question about, I mean, that’s a great place to start. And that’s usually where your customers have most questions, and they’re looking for information, and that you know, the most about, so that’s a great place to start. The other thing is really looking at other people in your field, or outside of your field. So I’m a Marketing etc. But I might look at what people are doing in real estate, or, you know, even insurance Yeah, I know, it sounds silly. But I think one of the ways that we also get ideas is looking at other professionals that are doing well in in the client field, but also outside of their fields, and trying to be creative, because, you know, for example, we’ve got a client, their insurance, it’s not terribly sexy, but there are ways I think that we can talk and educate her audience in a way that during the attractive and engaging and really shows her personality, she’s really sassy lady, so I want her to have that personality, even though it’s insurance. So we do a lot of creative thought around before we even get into writing scripts and deciding what the final topics are.
John Corcoran 16:46
Yeah. What do you say to people that you know, the common complaint, I’m so busy, I have so many things on my plate, I don’t have time to do this. What are some strategies for ways to produce video content in the limited time that people have available?
Reb Risty 17:01
Yeah, definitely. And I’m guilty of it, too. So one of our methodologies is we film quarterly. So we try to do video a week, our goal is to produce a video a week, and so we will sit down every client in studio or go on site. And usually it can, we can get all we need in a half day shoot for a whole quarter. And that’s a great way to get a busy professional to sit down focus their team members to come in and focus. And we can usually get everything we need in a half day. And then we’re cutting and editing and doing B roll and doing all the fancy work on the back end. And it’s a great way to do content. The other way is if the owner or you know, executive team is too busy, find a champion within the organization is there somebody that can speak intelligently, that’s an expert on the team that necessarily isn’t the owner that could absolutely do a good job in providing the information being on video. The other option is also hiring professional talent. So if you don’t have time, you don’t have someone on the team that can speak intelligently about your product or service. Hiring professional talent is a really great way to like a spokesperson to come in and get on camera. I do think key though. You can use stock images you’ve got, you know, clients, I’ve done that. But the key is really having that person on on camera right now we know it when you’re flipping through TikTok, or Facebook or even LinkedIn, that face that connection and having that human person speaking to your product or service is important. So I do think that’s important. And then how you find that person within your team or externally. But the most important is, do it just don’t make excuses. You’ve got to get that video content out there.
John Corcoran 19:02
Yeah. What about timeless content versus timely content? You know, a lot of people are in industries where the news changes might be relevant to the work that they do. What do you advise people on that as far as creating content that is maybe newsworthy in the short term, but doesn’t have the long tail? The legs that you know, it’s not, it won’t be? It won’t be what’s the word? It won’t be? Evergreen, right? It won’t be six months from now people are gonna look at it and they’re like, oh, that’s from way back then.
Reb Risty 19:35
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And I think you know, that’s where we really have to work closely with the client and it has to be a client that’s willing. So during COVID, my good friend and client, they provided outsourced HR services. And if you’re in California, HR became super important during COVID With all the remote work and you know, all the benefits and everything. So we were pumping out stuff like air almost every day it felt like. And so at that point, it really is just sitting down quickly, and then you just have to get raw with it. That’s where you just go, no high production, maybe it’s hop on a zoom. You know, let’s talk through a few questions really quick, or let’s do a quick checklist. So although we love and lead with video, when it is more timely, it doesn’t always have to be video content. It could be a checklist, it could just be something commenting on current events. It’s something though that it does have to take a little bit of effort. Obviously, there’s guidelines want to be careful about what you say. But that kind of content does think does require then the client or are you to get involved and really want to know what you have to stay in that timely manner and then be willing to be raw. Yeah,
John Corcoran 20:57
yeah. Now, another strategy that people employ is to take other content that they’ve maybe created already, and to mix it in some new way. And you actually had a client, a lawyer that had done over 70 videos, but never really pushed them out, I think, I don’t know if they were on YouTube, but they hadn’t gotten any traction. So talk a bit about what you did there.
Reb Risty 21:21
Yeah, actually, this is such a great example. So she came. And she had filmed like 75 plus videos, as well as been featured and why you see young entrepreneurs council. So what we did, and I’m learning, it’s called a marketing remix, where you’re taking old content and making it new again. So she had these longer form videos that she done for YouTube. She’s a criminal, defense attorney, DUI attorney specialty. So basically, what we did took her long form videos where she just speaking on camera, and kind of down to 60 seconds or less, so we can meet the platform guidelines. And we added in some B roll. So if she was talking about a DUI, we kind of threw in some stock footage of a DUI checkpoint, you know, our police officer walking up there just making it more engaging and repurposing. And, you know, we’re just getting started with her. But it’s been the feedback we’ve gotten so far, like all her partners, like, what’s happening where where are we seeing all these videos that have you all of a sudden went, you know, what, what’s going on? And for her, the most important thing was actually putting these videos on Google My Business. Because a lot of people when you’re in that situation, you’re Googling and you’re searching, DUI lawyer, I just got a DUI, what do I do? And so we found that platform was actually her best platform. And she found, she saw her numbers were going up as far as phone calls and website, click throughs, and things like that, with the videos now being played on her YouTube or her Google My Business page. So that’s just leveraging
John Corcoran 23:01
leveraging an existing ad asset that just hadn’t fully been optimized.
Reb Risty 23:08
Yeah, just filming videos, and did nothing with them. And it’s been fun because for us, that’s, you know, we’re just editing on the backend. It’s been really easy. And it takes a little bit of time to listen and make sure we’re pulling out the right, you know, talking points, but it’s been great. Yeah, well, what about that?
John Corcoran 23:26
Now I know another strategy is to take those videos, and then embed them in articles that are existing articles. So if you have articles you’ve written already, on particular topics, which a lot of people do on their website, embedding video onto those pages that actually will help with SEO, is that correct?
Reb Risty 23:44
That is correct. So yeah, Google can now search your videos, they can pick up key terms within your videos, one of the things that we like to do is, if you have written like a lot of blog content for SEO, or just even written a lot of blog content, we can now take those and you can use them as scripts, and film videos. So you can also take your old blog, create videos out of them, or take an old video. And we we actually for our clients, we take the videos that we write for them, and transcribe them so that they can create a written blog and put that on their blog. So a lot of it is just about repurposing and getting the biggest bang out of the content that you produce. So you create a video, let’s transcribe it. Let’s make a written blog out of it. Let’s cut it up for social let’s use it on a landing page and blog different things that we can do by one pre creating one piece of content. But yeah, I love the idea of using old content and repurposing and making it new again,
John Corcoran 24:47
what about the granddaddy of them all? YouTube, we’ve mentioned it a little bit but any other strategies around YouTube? I know they’ve, they’ve in many ways reacted to Instagram and, and Tik Tok. I can by creating YouTube shorts, which are much shorter videos. But what are some best practices around using YouTube now?
Reb Risty 25:08
Yeah, so YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, also owned by Google. So it’s kind of playing by the same rule, you want to optimize the titles on your video, you want to make sure you’re writing good keyword descriptions of your videos, again, focusing your topics on the things that you’re good at, and you’re knowledgeable about, and then creating a library of good videos that are longer format. So YouTube’s still even though they’re doing YouTube short, they still prefer the longer format. So they want videos that are 10 to 15 minutes long, and they’re looking for viewer time to viewer time per video, versus how many times are watching it or how many people are interacting. Obviously, they want interactions and comments. But the longer you’re staying on, you’re keeping those viewers on the platform, the higher YouTube is ranking you. And then of course, there’s tons of technical things to do with in cars and optimizing the next role on your videos, and things like that. So it’s, um, I definitely YouTube is almost like a separate website is the way I describe it. So just as much effort as you would put into the website, Will, you’d want to start putting into YouTube channel, it really is gonna help an optimizing for SEO, if you’re doing the right call to action, and connecting it back to your website to drive traffic and hopefully drive leads. So the great thing about using YouTube, or other platforms like Vimeo is you get tons and analytics. So you can really see what types of videos are working, you play with different call to actions, you can see at what point people drop off. So there’s a lot of good analytics on that channel as well that will help you develop the content and make it better. Now,
John Corcoran 27:03
since we’re talking about b2b Professional Services, LinkedIn, of course, is another important platform. They’ve embraced video in many ways in recent years. So let’s talk about video best practices for LinkedIn.
Reb Risty 27:15
Yeah, so best practice for LinkedIn as well as the other platforms, you can use the social media scheduling tools, or post your link to YouTube. And it depends on your strategy. But they definitely prefer that you’re posting your videos natively to the platform. And what that means is that you’re actually posting the video file to your LinkedIn profile, not the YouTube link. So that’s a little trick to know.
John Corcoran 27:43
Also easier for the for the browser, someone who’s browsing on LinkedIn, they can watch it, I believe they can watch it directly. If it’s natively upload rather than if you have to click on the link for YouTube, you get now into a different window.
Reb Risty 27:58
Correct. So it actually LinkedIn will serve the YouTube video within the LinkedIn it within the post. So you can watch them both. But if you’re just not getting the same algorithm bump, because it’s playing off of YouTube versus LinkedIn. So it’s a little game that we play right with the algorithms. Also, if you are going to share or post a third party video or article, you don’t want to do it within your post, you want to do it in your comments. Again, because LinkedIn wants just like every platform, they want you to get your eyeballs there on their platform. I will say the link in newsletters are the hot thing this year. And I think if you’re doing newsletters at all, you need to start doing LinkedIn newsletters. And this is a great way to use your written content, and then embed some of the videos that you’re doing as well. So I highly recommend we’re starting are we actually be doing our first LinkedIn newsletter next week. And we’re recommending all our clients do it as well. So that’s definitely something that’s hot. And you know, like everything, everything has a short window. So I think this is the year if you’re gonna do it to LinkedIn newsletters.
John Corcoran 29:10
Yeah. This is a great any any final thoughts on video best practices? Right now?
Reb Risty 29:19
You know, I do think the days of holding your camera up and talking about whatever you want is gone. Sorry. Sorry to say it. Especially if you’re in the b2b Professional Services space, you do have to have a certain level of professionalism. So I highly recommend you don’t always have to have a professional videographer, but script out what you’re going to do. You know, as you said, John, and like to stay in your lane with the topic. I do think get a good editor. Don’t do the editing yourself. Just pay for the editor and
John Corcoran 29:53
that can be so time consuming. Yeah, like seems like such a simple stuff like oh, just edit this myself. 19 Hours later, you haven’t figured out how to do it.
Reb Risty 30:05
I highly recommend get an editor. Obviously, not both ourselves. But if it’s not an agency work with somebody who gets social, you should you have to be creating content for social social is really powerful. You can’t ignore it anymore. You got to be creating videos for social and then YouTube is its own beast. But if you do go into you to own it, treat it like another website. And, yeah, I just can’t express enough content. It’s huge. This year, video is leading the charge. So you’ve got to figure it out, work with somebody who knows what they’re doing. And, you know, enjoy it. It’s a little painful in the beginning, but I promise you it gets better. And as we talked about, if you don’t want to be on camera, find someone who does it, they will be worth it.
John Corcoran 30:52
Yeah. And then my final question is my gratitude question. So I’m a big fan of gratitude, especially expressing gratitude to people who’ve helped you along the way, especially peers or contemporaries. You mentioned your friend who started the outdoors accounting firm, and kind of gave you the kick in the butt that you needed in order to get started. But who would you acknowledge?
Reb Risty 31:11
Yeah, definitely, I have to acknowledge my husband for putting up with me. Through the ups and lows of running a business, you know, I guess I do have to say, my good friend and client, she, I’ve been with her for nine years. And with voltar multimillion dollar company, she’s been very successful. And she has told the, not only then, so amazing, with just having openness to marketing, and all the things that we’ve done over the years, but taking a chance on video and understanding, you know, what it can do for her and her team. And, you know, we literally did the iPhone, camera, you know, video and me editing, you know, just in our office to now we go in studio, and her team comes in, and we write scripts, we’ve got teleprompters and two camera angles, you know, it’s just, it’s crazy. And it’s been amazing, because if she wasn’t willing to do that with me and kind of come along that journey, I would have probably had to do it with somebody else, it would have been way more painful, but it was much more fun doing with a friend, and an a client that trusted me and was willing to invest in it and prove that it works. And, you know, and she’s been also one of my best promoters. And people are seeing what we do with her and her team and just, it’s been a great ride. And I know it works. And we’re going to continue to do it. And you know, we’ve got even bigger plans this year, and even for ourselves at rumble. And, you know, John, I want to thank you too. It’s great. Like, I love what you’re doing too. And with the podcasting, so, definitely want to learn more about that. And it’s all just for me, being so grateful for all the people I’ve got to work with over the years.
John Corcoran 33:03
Thank you so much. I’m grateful for you coming and sharing your wisdom. Where can people go to check out you and REBL Marketing?
Reb Risty 33:11
Yeah, well, definitely check out our website, REBL, REBLmarketing.com. Or you could always email me at [email protected]. And then I always welcome a good phone call or a text message at 858-848-7325. But yeah, I love talking about content and just helping other business professionals whether we work together or not. We’ve got to help each other out. It’s a crazy world out there, and there’s a lot to do to stand out.
John Corcoran 33:45
Yeah. Thanks, Reb. Thanks so much.
Reb Risty 33:48
Thank you, John.
Outro 33:49
Thank you for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast with John Corcoran. Find out more at smartbusinessrevolution.com. And while you’re there, sign up for our email list and join the revolution. And be listening for the next episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast.