Speaker 1: 0:07

Today we're going to be talking about the five mistakes when monetizing social media videos. Most creators think that they need to constantly pitch their products in their social media videos to make money, and this all-or-nothing mentality is leaving money on the table. It's doing you, the creator, a disservice. Let's talk about it. I've seen talented creators lose their audience by pushing sales way too hard, and I've also made this mistake myself when I was first starting out on social media. I haven't really shared much about that, but when I was first starting out, I took over a page for a client. At the time they just were like hey, you can do this, take over our page with little to no training, and that sounds crazy kind of a long story, but it was a little crazy. I would make these posts that were basically ads. I didn't know it at the time and they were like nope, that's way too. That's not the vibe of what people are accustomed to on the page. There's a nuance on social media to monetizing social media videos, and if you don't understand that, it's going to tank your engagement and your credibility. So the secret, if you want to call it that, is simple. It comes down to compartmentalizing your content, and let's explore this idea of compartmentalization. I love this idea. So compartmentalize means dividing into sections or categories, and let's compartmentalize this podcast episode into five mistakes so that you can start or better monetize, your social media videos. So mistake number one is followers equal money.

Speaker 1: 1:46

Millions of people especially if you're over the ages of 30, who are around for like the earlier days of Instagram, think that followers attract money. That's the old way of social media and sure, followers did help you make a lot of money because followers were how your content was seen by the masses. But these days, you can start a brand new page and I've done this with zero followers and have attention on your videos, as long as your videos are good. People with followers these days struggle to get their content in front of their followers. It's basically opposite of what it was in front of their followers. It's basically opposite of what it was. The algorithm doesn't favor people with a lot of followers or people with no followers. It favors content that people want, simple and plain. To update this idea of followers equal money, I would say attention equals money. That's the 2024 version and I'm sure it'll be the same in 2025. If your content can get attention, regardless of followers, you have the opportunity to make money. We all have the opportunity to make money with an account you have right now or an account you create starting from scratch.

Speaker 1: 2:59

It doesn't matter about followers. Mistake number two it doesn't matter about followers. Mistake number two is thinking that brands care about views. So this one has a partial truth to it. It's not an all or nothing mistake. Some brands do care about views, but you know what? Not all brands care about views. The right brand will care about the right views. For example, a niche podcaster who talks to businesses about podcasting, a B2B brand would be very well interested in working with that podcaster, regardless if a video gets views, because that B2B brand knows that the demographic of that audience is a closer match to their ideal client than some random influencer who's talking about tech and whatever else. Why is this thought process, though, of brands caring about views True? Sometimes, because, for lower priced, general demographic targeted products, they probably do favor quantity over quality.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Mistake number three is monetizing one video at a time. How exhausting would it be to have to find a new partner to work with every single time for your social media videos that you are planning on monetizing? The most efficient and profitable creators are working in packages, either ongoing retainers or packages where they include multiple delivered assets within a set time frame. This is not only more lucrative for you, the creator, but it's more lucrative for businesses too. Any business worth its weight knows that results don't happen in one social media video. It takes multiple, multiple impressions. That's part of the process of doing business. Any business that tells you otherwise is a red flag.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Mistake number four confusing and losing your audience. Creators, just like businesses, have the same dilemma when it comes to sales. When you confuse you, audience Creators, just like businesses, have the same dilemma when it comes to sales. When you confuse, you lose. For businesses, this means that they might not sell their product if their customer is confused about how their product helps them. For creators, this means that someone might unfollow you or might not engage with your content because they're confused about why they should be interested. That's all it comes down to. You could distill all the marketing and sales down to that right.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Have you ever seen this bait and switch? You've probably seen it through email. So an email will hook you in, you're reading it, you're interested, and then it does this hard. Pivot to a sales email and you feel tricked because you thought it was something else, but it turns out to be just this hard pitch for a product or something and almost like your trust has been betrayed, right? That never feels good, and most of the time for me, if I see that it's a fast track to the unsubscribe button. But what's the alternative? Like we just can't sell, we have to hide our selling or something Absolutely not. Just be courteous and upfront about when you're doing the selling, and that comes back to the compartmentalization aspect of things. When you're providing value, provide value. When you're selling, sell. Nobody wants to be tricked, unless they ask to be, and you're like a magician or something. In that case, let me know your magic tricks. I've been wanting to learn some from my daughter.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Your responsibility as a creator is to respect the attention you get. If you're on your way to becoming like a master at getting attention, but then you use it for the dark arts, like to manipulate your audience, are you doing the ethical thing? Long term, how is this going to affect you and your trust with your audience, right? What are you building? So there's a simple solution to this, and it's just to let your audience know as quick as possible when it's not a normal post, right. Something's different about it. You know that you're going to have to be intentional in everything you say or do, so you maybe don't start out your post with, like some urgent thing that has to make them read the full thing. That's not right. If I was like you need to know this thing right now and then I shift to a sales thing, right, you are the expert at getting attention and what you do with that attention is important. You are the expert at getting attention and what you do with that attention is important.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Of course, not all the brands that you work with would want you to do this. They're not going to advocate for you to respect your audience's attention, right. They just want attention on their brand. That's not a discussion you need to have with them. You set the boundaries. It's your audience. The better distinction you can provide for your audience, the more your audience will trust you. The people pleasing part in you might not want people to flip off your content when you do an ad, but we all know that ad is not going to perform the same as your normal content.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Mistake number five not charging your worth. I saved the best for last, but let's have some delusion for a second. Don't think about all the creators out there in the world. I just want to focus on you. I'm just talking to you. Act as if there were no other options out there for brands to work with. What would be possible? Satchel Paige, a famous baseball player. He's a pitcher. Reporters would ask him how old he was because they thought he was much older than what he claimed to be. Satchel said how old would I be if I didn't know how old I was? And I'm asking you how much would you be making with your social media videos if you didn't know how much money you could make? I'm going to say that again because it's kind of a mind bender how much money would you be making with your social media videos if you didn't know how much money you could make?

Speaker 1: 8:25

Creators have these preconceived notions around numbers my video should be getting X amount of views, my videos should be getting X number of comments, and so on. We have a invisible ceiling or container that we place our videos in, and we do the same when it comes to money. Creators think I should be getting X amount of dollars or I could be getting X amount of dollars. But here's the thing. It says who. It says a brand calculator you found online. It says what you heard someone else was making. You have a preconceived amount in your head and that all comes from your experiences. But here's something you and I both know is true there are creators who make far worse content that are making far more money than you currently.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Before I sign off, let's recap real quick on the five mistakes that creators make when it comes to monetizing their social media videos. Mistake number one is followers equal money. That's the old way of thinking Attention equals money. Mistake number two thinking brands care about views. The right brands care about the quality of views. Mistake number three monetizing one video at a time. Profitable and efficient creators work in packages. Mistake number four confusing and losing your audience when you're providing value. Provide value when you're selling, sell. And mistake number five not charging your worth. How much money could you be making if you didn't know how much money you could make?