00:00.00

wongga

Hello investors this is Garrett Wong your host of the investing to win podcast today I'm pleased that we have Meredith Marsh in our studio who is going to be talking to us about Youtube Meredith how are you? absolutely.

00:14.45

Meredith

Um I am great. Thanks so much for having me.

00:18.17

wongga

So why don't we get into the intro a little bit. Why don't you tell the audience a little bit about yourself. What's your story and your background.

00:24.70

Meredith

Well so I started a Youtube channel kind of as an experiment in a hobby back in 2015 I had a full time job I had two little kids and I was just kind of interested in the content creation online business. Base so I started a blog I started a Youtube channel and just to see where it would lead so by the end of the first year I had like 2000 subscribers on Youtube so I just kept going with it and I kept growing and now I mainly focus on helping other. Like personal brands and online businesses look good sound good and feel good on camera so they can build their thriving businesses with Youtube.

01:09.88

wongga

Okay, interesting. So what was the initial content that you were producing back then in 2015

01:17.80

Meredith

Initially I started creating tutorials on how to use a gopro camera which was ah sort of a new it was. It was a new brand at the time the gopro brand and everybody out there was um, like. Snowboarding and jumping on of airplanes and you know it's an action camera they were surfing and I was like well it's a great family camera so I'll put that little spin on it so it was really how to and tutorial type of videos of using the camera and editing like fun. Family videos essentially and um, eventually I just really liked creating videos and I liked creating Youtube videos so I just sort of did a slate pivot um and changed in the direction of helping people who wanted to grow on Youtube and create video content. From a business perspective versus like a hobby. Um, so it's changed and morphed over time. But that was my content when I first started like how to make great home videos with a gopro.

02:24.72

wongga

Wow, yeah I know that gopro was huge back then do you think like obviously I'm I'm asking this because I brought you on the show because I have a Youtube channel I've got six hundred or seven hundred subscribers after 4 years so I'm taking notes here. Ah, no shame in that. But so no like in all seriousness because I wonder whether it's the content that drives the subscribers or if it's something like Seo or things like that and you saying that gopro was huge. Maybe do you think that contributed to it or there's just other factors.

02:59.54

Meredith

Um I think it it did contribute to it. Um, it was kind of it. It was like I think just to put this into context I think gopro just released their gopro 12 camera. And when I started my channel I had the 3 plus so it it was early. It was early days for gopro when it was just starting to kind of ah hit a more consumer market like regular normal people were going out to buy a gopro. So. Those people were going to Youtube instead of the user manual to figure out how to use it or if it wasn't working right? Like how do I do make it do what I wanted to do so I think it was good timing on my part of like if I started that same channel now there's a lot more people. Already creating that same type of content. So it probably wouldn't grow as quickly. Um, so it is good timing and good seo and just having my own sort of personal spin on it my own personal brand on it like. Again, like I was a woman I was a mom I was I quickly learned that in families who are capturing things on camera. It's usually the dad. It's not usually the mom I thought I was just going to be like I'm going to help moms make videos and.

04:30.96

Meredith

It's not the moms that usually do that like I'm I guess in the minority of the tech gear Nerd Moms Um, so it was It was a combination of all those things plus having that like spin on the niche where I was a little bit different than what was.

04:47.60

wongga

Um, okay, okay, yeah because I wonder again I'm in real estate. So I I do real estate how to videos? um I didn't on purpose kind of didn't.

04:49.67

Meredith

Already out there.

05:02.52

wongga

Try to go with the algorithm. So I tried to keep it under 2 minutes or less my my shtick was kind of a 2 minute or less video because I felt that people wouldn't want to engage for that long for a real estate video and it's been good on social but like I said on Youtube I mean I didn't do this.

05:03.92

Meredith

A.

05:20.85

Meredith

Right.

05:20.96

wongga

Purposely to try to monetize right? I just Youtube for me was more of a storage facility where the the videos could go maybe tell me why you've chosen Youtube at those early days rather than again you know people are doing this on Instagram now or other other types of medium.

05:35.10

Meredith

Yeah, well back then Instagram wasn't what it is now like it wasn't a video platform and Tiktok didn't exist. So and I was I was also I had started a blog and so I thought well it seemed like it makes sense. If I'm going to have videos. They should be on Youtube Youtube is owned by Google you know all the seo it made sense and I didn't realize when I started that people will subscribe to your channel and they'll comment and they'll expect more videos from you and they want more and that's what. Sort of helps it grow and reach even more people and so like initially I was like oh yeah, this like they did just what you describe like oh it's a place for the videos. But once I started getting comments from people and asking questions like well can you. Can you teach us about this. Can you talk about that or I'm struggling with this problem. Um I realize there there wasn't there's an audience here and I don't think you can back in that time you you can really build an audience on Instagram. With videos. Um or even like Pinterest. Um, so it just made sense at the time but now even now I would still say go to Youtube because it is owned by Google it is totally searchable.

07:04.90

Meredith

And the content that you can put there is bingeable. It's not like scroll scroll scroll find something else to entertain me. It's like if someone lands on your channel garrett they want to be there. They're interested in what you have to say. They want to watch all of your videos whether they're 2 minutes or 20 minutes once they find you it's like they're they're yours. That's that's your community. That's your audience and it's all it's organic. It's to just totally organic marketing and it you know it is the world's. Second largest search engine as they say I think it's even more powerful than that with the algorithm outside of search because it knows all of our viewing behavior. So it knows who else to put videos in front of to grow your audience for you.

00:01.26

wongga

So that's a great point. Um I know what we call in early days 2015 which was less than a decade ago. It's kind of funny. Um, yeah I I was not searching on Youtube and now I use it as a search engine. Because the majority of things that are in my life and my business whatever is I want to get the answer on video. Um, how do you feel that that has changed as well.

00:22.19

Meredith

Um, yeah.

00:26.12

Meredith

I I don't know because you know to be honest I do see a lot of people that say oh I can't watch videos I I have to read I have to read the instructions I have to read and I think video is just so much more accessible now than it ever used to be. So like you said now you know I can go to Youtube for this and so I think as more people are using video creating the videos that people can then go find. Um, it's just it's more accessible for for searchers and people who want to learn something or. You know, find an answer to something. Um, it's also on our phones now you don't have to just go to youtube.com like in the browser and so I so I I think it's more accessible but at the same time it that doesn't mean that like. Ah, humanity is all switching to like oh I can only consume this content if it's video I think there are still because blogging is not dead. There are still lots and lots of people blogging and um, you know monetizing their blogs generating leads for their businesses through blogging. That's all just. Written and you know the Youtube search engines and whatnot crawl those blogs and it's easy because it's text. So yeah I think it's it's there'll always be room for both.

01:55.23

Meredith

But I think video is more powerful because you make this like personal connection where you know you don't really have on text.

02:04.76

wongga

Yeah, okay, well that's a good segue into my next question I was going to ask you because Youtube as a marketing tool um particularly for professionals looking to expand their brand or business presence. What makes it effective. In your opinion.

02:21.26

Meredith

Um, I Think what makes it effective is when you can demonstrate your knowledge and experience your expertise in a relatable personable way. And which doesn't mean you have to like hire a film crew and have them follow you around or anything like that. Um I I mean I make talking head videos I Just sit here and talk to my camera or I'm recording my screen walking my viewers through something Usually that's the way that it is um so it's pretty simple. In terms of the actual video that's being created but I think for any any kind of profession. No matter the niche when you can show up as an not just an authority. On a topic or a subject matter expert. But also someone people can relate to and do you feel approachable as much as you can be approachable online. Um I Think that's the key to really building a community. So. It's not just like. Putting out videos as a broadcast channel and hoping people search for the topics that you're talking about. It's having those people come back to you and see you as the authority that they want to learn from and if you have you know.

03:51.79

Meredith

There's so many different ways to you know quote unquote monetize on Youtube but if you're looking for leads for your business if you're looking for sales of some type of an online program that you do, um, you can use Youtube to generate that because you're attracting that audience and kind of. Leading them to what you do have to offer.

04:13.30

wongga

Okay, so I would my next question for that would be how do they find you then right because I mean again, let's let's take me as an example, right? 3 years six seven hundred subs um I did my research and the reason I decided not to try to monetize not to try to go over 10 minutes is because I saw that the most popular real estate Youtube channels out there and content creators were maybe only getting ten twenty thousand subs. Maybe if that when I look at. Muck bang right? eating noodles in front of a camera with millions of people watching I mean I don't get it right? So speak to me about the different you said there's different types of monetizing because I only think of it in my mind that there's viewers and then you get money for that. What so what other types of monet.

04:47.32

Meredith

Oh.

04:52.70

Meredith

Ah, yeah.

05:03.72

wongga

Monetization Techniques are there.

05:05.47

Meredith

Yeah, so a lot of people. Yeah, they so they if they even know that you can monetize on Youtube they're usually thinking of Youtube ads um, which so like the muck bang videos which you know if they're getting millions of views. They're getting thousands or you know hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in ad revenue because Youtube is sharing Youtube's revenue with the creator and so when you have a business where you're not interested in ad revenue then. You can essentially and any any business where you won't need people you need leads, you need, um, you know people in the door so to speak Youtube is great for that because Youtube is. Like creepily knows everybody's viewing behavior. So um, for example, if um, if I went and watch some of your videos right now having not watched any videos on real estate investing or anything like that Youtube maybe tomorrow when I open up the app is going to be like hm. Maybe we'll put this real estate investing video on Meredith's homepage on the app. Maybe she's interested in that now and it might be from your channel because I watched your channel or it might be from another channel. It's trying to find it's trying to predict what I am most likely to click on and watch because it wants the watch time.

06:31.57

Meredith

From the user and so um, that's how you get found like aside from people searching for something if I did do if you had a specific video on some specific real estate investing I don't know thing and I search for that I find you? that's great. But it's what shows up next to your video below your video if I'm on mobile those are recommended by Google by Youtube and on the homepage the next time I open up or even a week from now.

06:58.10

wongga

Here here.

07:05.57

Meredith

So if you think about that's just me. That's just if I viewed your channel. But if a hundred people a thousand people a hundred thousand people found your video because they searched for it now. Youtube is like oh they're probably interested in the rest of Garrett's videos let's make sure they see them on their homepage and in the recommendations and. And get some more watch time because at the end of the day Youtube wants watch time. They want people to stay watching as long as possible and so when your channel is bringing people in and and keeping people on the platform they're going to send more people to your to your channel. It's just the algorithm is. Predicting who to put those videos in front of to get them to your channel.

07:47.90

wongga

Okay I know that for some of my videos and I mean ones that have gotten more than let's say 3 or 400 views. All of a sudden I'll go back and I'm interrupted with an ad so I'm like oh. That mean I'm going to get ad revenue. But what does that mean exactly I know it doesn't but I'm asking more of a rhetorical question.

08:06.68

Meredith

Yeah, so Youtube will put ads on your content even if your channel is not monetized meaning they're not sharing the ad revenue with you. So. Um, to be so they call it the Youtube partner program you have to have a thousand subscribers you have to have 4000 hours of watch time and like be in good standing in the community guidelines and things like that and once you reach that that's when the ads that do play, you'll get a. Portion of that revenue and if you're not in the partner program. You know either because you don't meet those requirements or because you chose like I don't want to be part of it. They'll still play ads and they just won't share the revenue with you.

08:55.16

wongga

Okay, fair, so let's get back to your earlier point. You've got my real estate video. Um, let's say I just put it out there. How does Youtube know that it's a real estate video is it transcribed into text and it's searching.

09:09.57

Meredith

It is automatically transcribed also the title and the description will I mean those are kind of like the number 1 things Youtube is looking at but it is also looking at the transcription. It also will look at. The viewer behavior of anybody that watched your video to kind of um, not necessarily to figure out what the video is about but to figure out what what is this pocket of people watching this video. How could we make that pocket of people bigger because again, it's just trying to like get that watch time. People. So ah, if you have like you said you have a few hundred subscribers. So if you publish a video today and it's not clear what the title is and you're kind of talking about a bunch of different things in the transcription Youtube will still kind of know. Well these these hundred people clicked and watched it so what? what else have those hundred people watched what's the connection there. That's how they'll sort of I guess in a way sort of categorize your video to know who who else to put it in front of.

10:20.60

wongga

Okay, so let's let's talk about content strategy then because again I'm I'm keep going back to real estate because this is a real estate podcast and we have a lot of our audience that are real estate investors who. Are going to Youtube either in the form of a podcast or you see them on social media in these short clips where they're I don't know showcasing a flip or something that happened in a rental property. How would you recommend to those investors to. I don't know prioritize their content or plan their content.

10:56.47

Meredith

I think the first thing you'd want to do is figure out who is your audience who or who do you want your audience to be for example, are you trying to? um. Are you trying to sell houses are you trying to get people to I don't know invest with you in properties or so first thing is like it's got to be audience driven. So if I did a video that's like how to like house flipping 1 oh 1 I'm probably going to attract people who want to go out and buy their own house and learn how to flip it. So if that's not the audience that I want or if that's not the client that I'm trying to work with then that would not be the right topic or title for me to start with so audience. Audience is number 1 always um and then a really great way to start creating content is just think about for your clients or the people that you work with what are they asking you all the time. What are the common questions because that's what people are going to search. Um. And then you can kind of branch out from like um, the comments that you get on your videos usually are really great ideas for even more content ideas. Um, but really.

12:27.12

Meredith

Frequently asked questions is a great place to start because you already know the answers You don't really have to do much Research. You can just you can use. You don't even have to use a camera. You can just use your phone and answer the questions as long as your title and description are clear and specific in what. What exactly is the question being answered in the video and that's a great place to start I think for um, for the the types of topics that I think your listeners might be interested in.

12:59.98

wongga

Okay, no for sure. Um I can tell you I know you haven't looked up my channel but that's exactly how I started when I and of course I'm just like I know it's going to be bad but I just got to get on camera. So my little bit of a backstory here I changed. Um.

13:09.57

Meredith

Yeah.

13:16.54

wongga

I bought up my business partner. We rebranded. We had a 20 year old name that was number 1 on Google for the search terms property management when a pig and I'm like I just need to get out there. So I asked all of my staff give me every frequently asked question you've ever had I don't care whether it's a vendor an owner a tenant. And I put those all into a spreadsheet and then I I just banged 1 off 1 after the other 2 minute or less video so those are the 3 400 videos I have out there but now I've done a pivot maybe eight nine months ago where I appointed a director of operations to run the management company. And now I'm going almost full-time back into my roots of real estate investing which like you said ah my actual goal because I I speak about this with my social media coordinator. My goal is to try to attract people who want to invest in my projects either as joint venture partners or. They have excess capital and they want a nice return What would you say to me as a case study then because those people probably aren't watching a how to video they might be watching what financial videos like we're tried to attract people with higher net worths. What would you say to that.

14:28.75

Meredith

Um, well first I I'm curious. How would you normally attract investors for your projects.

14:35.90

wongga

Phone calls people I know local right? But that's the thing. Yeah I think it's interesting because when I when I started the Youtube channel I knew.

14:38.48

Meredith

So you're just kind of reaching out networking like human to human connection.

14:50.30

wongga

And this is part of the reason I decided not to monetize because I did that to try to attract people who owned property in winnipeg because we're from here in Winnipeg canada because there wasn't any point in me putting that how to video to attract people to our property management company page in Arizona because we don't.

15:07.32

Meredith

Right? yeah.

15:09.97

wongga

Manage in that area but now literally the world is my stage. It doesn't matter because an investor can come from the states. It can come from Canada other places it doesn't matter because they're just investing in me. So now I find I'm personally struggling I need to just change my I need to shift the way I'm thinking about it.

15:26.70

Meredith

Interesting. Yeah so what? I think and I I don't know anything about real estate investing or that market really? So but what it sounds like though is for you Youtube might not be It may not be a place where those potential investors would find you but rather be a place where they can sort of vet you in a way they can see oh this guy knows what he's talking about. He's done this project and that project and this and that and it's almost like a portfolio but it's. It's it's a you portfolio of maybe maybe it's not all just this project that project but just he seems trustworthy. He knows what he's talking about. It's just sort of part of your brand not necessarily a way of attracting. Those potential investors does that make sense.

16:27.30

wongga

It does um but where I where I'm trying to hopefully go here is let's say that I'm I mean pick your pick your trade I'm a doctor I'm a lawyer I'm a wealthy business person I've got excess capital what am I watching on Youtube.

16:44.70

Meredith

Yeah, that's a that's a good research project for you? What are you watching on Youtube I think um, there probably is room for videos that are specific to sort of around like.

16:48.17

wongga

Ah.

17:00.74

Meredith

How to invest in in property. How to how does that world work. So for somebody who does have that extra capital. Maybe they are searching that and you're the one that shows up and so your videos are like and by the way I'm always looking for investors.

17:17.47

wongga

Here here.

17:19.54

Meredith

Um, so that that could be 1 way. Um, and it's possible. They may not be looking on Youtube for anything related to investing. Um, they might just be watching like how do I change the oil in my car. Whatever like something fun or some hobby type thing. Um, so but yeah, that is something I mean in any niche on any platform. You're always kind of asking yourself where is my audience. Now like what are they doing now where are they? what are they watching what topics are they watching? How do I reach them? Um, so that's like very niche specific. But you'd know your audience and your potential investors. Best. So. That's a little research rabbit hole that you can kind of experiment with maybe.

18:13.88

wongga

Yeah, actually you just had a light bulb go off in my head here for a second because and I mean my mid-roll on this podcast actually says that you know do people want to actually be a real estate investor which is hands-on or invest in real estate. So I guess what I am looking for my perfect avatar of a capital investor partner is somebody that wants to say that they're investing in real estate but doesn't want to get their hands dirty doesn't want to anything like that. So maybe those people are watching more how to videos. More out of interest and they've always wanted to do this and then all of a sudden. It's like hey garretts asking for capital partners. That's great I'm going to contact him reach out and then obviously they consume the rest of the content and go oh he's been doing this for like 25 years look at all these videos. Okay, they have a property managed company. They know what they're doing. And therefore it's kind of already like pre-veetting like you said okay, all right? So let's move on from there. Um, let's speak about audience engagement because you said once they find you they have to stay there right? What would you say to that.

19:09.51

Meredith

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

19:23.95

Meredith

Um, well in general, you want to you want your videos to keep people captivated and ah I think there's a there's a big expectation of ah video creators that. Like I put my hard earned work hard earned time hard earned money time effort into this video and it's great it's great content people are going to watch it and then they'll go and look at their analytics and realize that. On average people are watching like only 10% of the video or 20% of the video and they're missing all of this golden advice that you have in the rest of the video and so you really want to create videos that capture people's attention and like. 5 ten fifteen seconds a good like 1 or 2 sentence hook works really well and then you just get right into it. You you get into the point you can introduce yourself later in the video which seems kind of weird. But if someone's finding you because they're like they. They search for something. You've got the answer your introduction and your like 3 minute spiel is in the way of them getting to that answer that they were looking for or the information. Um, and so a lot of people make the mistake of.

20:51.57

Meredith

Making their intros way too long before they get to the point and so when you keep people longer on each video Youtube is going to put that video in front of more and more people because it's going. It knows oh 50% are watching this video. Let's get that out to more people because. This is going to bring us 5 minutes of watch time. You know if it's a 10 minute video for example um so there's watch time which and then there's engagement in terms of comments likes people hitting the subscribe button and but when you have comments that are. You know, 2 to 3 sentences long you know more than just like great video. Thanks for sharing the info when it's long. That's sort of an indication you're you're growing some type of a community and people don't leave a paragraph worth of a comment with somebody that. They didn't feel some type of a personal connection with so when you have those longer comments that are um, either asking you questions or people coming back and saying oh I tried this thing that you said to do and here's how it went then you know that you're. Growing in a you're growing a community where there's people are going to watch your video the next video you publish whether that was something some piece of information they were looking for or not and then ah you just are sending all these positive signals to Youtube people like this channel they like these videos and.

22:25.12

Meredith

Again, that helps Youtube to know who else to put your videos in front of which then helps propel the growth of your channel even further. It's like a snowball.

22:33.64

wongga

I See so answering comments then is critical.

22:39.90

Meredith

Yeah, comments. Yeah it. It's it's critical I would say it's It's really I mean it's a personal connection thing. It's you know you don't you You don't want to just be a broadcast Channel You want people to interact with you and then you interact back with them. And then they know that you interact back So They'll be coming back.

23:01.57

wongga

Um, okay, no, That's um I I know I've seen some comments but like you said I get a lot of people asking questions and then it might turn into more of advice. How do you prompt people to say drop a comment below. And I can answer your question I mean.

23:18.62

Meredith

Yeah, one of my favorite ways to do that is to ask for a comment right? after you said something that maybe you think is sort of like a. Key tip or a Mind-b blowing thing or something surprising which you can only as you're creating the video you just sort of have to figure out I I I think this will be the most mind blowing thing for for them. This tip is something they haven't heard before it'll be you know, shocking or something. That's a good time to ask for a comment because and you just work it into your video like hey have you experienced this too. Let me know down in the comments or um, you know for me, it'll be like have you have you tried this camera. You know what? what has your experience been. And people love to give their opinions. So if you can ask for opinions. What's your opinion on this thing that that that's a good prompt to get people to people love sharing their opinions so they'll they'll just start typing already.

24:28.87

wongga

Okay, no great. Um, my next question would be consistency I know that myself I tried to be very consistent I think I went 3 years in a row with posting a weekly 2 minute video how important is that.

24:47.21

Meredith

Consistency is like yes is recommended that you're posting at least once a week some people will say you know you have to do same time same day every week. Um, and. I think the key to that or the reason why that is effective is then you're creating this like baseline for yourself. So if you did the same time same day every week and then you have some video that like. Pops off or it just saw all of a sudden like it's going viral. Um, you know that it's not because you posted it on a different day. It's not because you posted it at a different time There's some other reason why it's doing so well and so yes, your. Your subscribers can predict then like oh it's it's Wednesday at ten o'clock Garrett's video is coming out and they'll be ready for it and they'll be waiting for it. Um, but also for you on the analytics side. You know I've been really consistent. And if you want to try something new. Try like you know I think I'm going to start doing Sundays for some reason videos on Sundays do really well for a lot of people and I started doing them and I was like ok yes, this this does very well Sunday mornings interesting I don't know I can't explain it. But.

26:17.53

Meredith

If you've if you're consistent then when you experiment you sort of know what was that you tweaked and you can trace it back and just start doing more of what's working.

26:26.73

wongga

Okay, so when you say analytics maybe break that down for the audience. What is it where do you find it.

26:32.74

Meredith

Youtube Analytics is inside of your youtube studio is what they call it. Creator studio youtube studio and it's where Youtube gives you a lot of data about your channel and about your videos so much data that. When you open it up. You're like this is great. There's graphs. There's numbers. But what is it even telling me you have like no idea and so one of the best tips I can give about analytics is. Youtube will tell you the most important analytics by what it's showing you first. So for example, if you open up youtube studio the first number that it's giving you is your views I think it's views and then watch time. And then it might be subscribers and then revenue and so you have multiple sort of pages where you can look at your overall analytics. You can look at your reach you can look at your content your audience analytics. Whatever page you're on in the analytics. The first numbers that shows you is what Youtube thinks is the most important. So what Youtube thinks is the most important has to be what we think as the creator is the most important we have to prioritize that what what happens a lot of times is people will.

28:01.50

Meredith

Log into their analytics and go well. Um I Only gained you know twenty subscribers this week. Um, so you know that's bad I need I got to do something different. Well your views is how you get that result like. You can't just log in and look at the results. The subscribers you got to look at the views. Well, how do you make the views go up more views is going to equal more subscribers. So How do you get more views publish more videos publish longer videos try to get a better clickthrough rate on your video So That's like your title and your thumbnail. Try to get more people watching either by publishing more videos or making your videos more enticing to watch more views will equal more subscribers which will in turn No matter how you're monetizing will equal more revenue for you.

28:53.81

wongga

Okay, let's um, put ourselves into somebody on the audience they're in real estate. They're like hey I want to whatever pick your topic. How do they start I mean what's what's the first steps that you recommend for so setting up a successful Youtube channel.

29:09.49

Meredith

The first place to start like we talked about is figure out who is my audience. What is it that they're looking for searching for what do they need to hear and also put that in 1 column in another column think about things that. People maybe they aren't really searching for it. But you know as the expert they need to hear it because those kinds of topics. Once you have so and once you have audience you have people that are coming and you publish something um that they weren't expecting like and they start asking. Do I need to know that. Is this a problem is this something I should look out for um, they'll click and watch those even though they weren't necessarily searching for it and maybe they don't even know what you're about to reveal in the video but when you can make it enticing for your audience. It's kind of like um if you think about magazine headlines. You know you like you you have to open up the magazine to figure out what they're talking about but the the magazine front cover got your attention if you like yes, it gets your attention with a photograph. But even the words that are there. It gets your attention forces you to open um and read or or not just you know. Check out at the grocery store and keep going but on Youtube be we want be able to click and actually watch so start with your audience. Um I like to teach my clients to create what I call like a spider web so you have this spider web effect where.

30:42.44

Meredith

Every you create a video on every topic within a certain category. So for example, property management in Winnipeg you would want to if you were trying to get property management clients if that was your audience you would want to cover. Basically every possible topic that anybody with property that needs to be managed in and around Winnipeg anything they would possibly be searching for and would be interested in to include like um. Real estate taxes or um, closing or ah, best. Um I don't know best real estate brokers like I don't I don't know I'm just making stuff up here but everything they would be interested in curious about and cover it because then. You have that? ah that sort of ah piece of that spider web like literally covered like a spider web. So the people that are watching your channel. Maybe they watch it once or twice plus all of the people that are that Youtube sees as. Related like a lookalike audience you wanted to be so that they almost like can't go to Youtube without seeing your face without seeing like oh yeah, new video from Garrett here. We go um you want to just kind of cover every little nook and cranny.

32:13.74

Meredith

Of your niche as possible but keeping it keeping it really specific and not bouncing around all over the place so not like a video about property management in Winnipeg one day and then something. Totally off the wall like you know how to install home movie theater in your basement or something like that would be a totally to to opposite ends of the spectrum. There might be overlap of the audience there. Um, but once you have once the algorithm sort of has you pegged. Has your audience pegged you want to stick with that and use that and just kind of build on that and kind of build out that spider web so they're all all the videos are connected and the audiences. It's really clear who the audience is for Youtube.

33:05.60

wongga

Okay, no, that makes sense. So let's say that I'm an aspiring Youtuber and I've got that out of the way. Um, most people hate the sound of their own voice I know that they're probably going to hate themselves on video. How do how do you get over that initial camera shyness.

33:22.83

Meredith

Well I think it would be sort of um I mean everyone knows you just have to do it just like with everything you just have to do it I think.

33:35.50

Meredith

I I know I'm not an on camera person i' I obviously I'm ah I'm an on camera person now. But when I first started I I'm not a stage person I'm not a performer I do not want like don't hand me a microphone in a crowded room I will hand it back and not speak into it like I'm not a. Public. Everyone's watching me type of a personality. Um, and I think that's actually why videos and creating videos I think that's the strength in creating the videos. You're not public speaking you can edit everything. Comes out of your mouth. You can record a video and say I don't like how it looks I don't like how I sound and instead of walking away and saying I don't like that so I'm not going to do it. You can change it. You can fix it. Maybe you need a better microphone. Maybe your microphone wasn't placed correctly. Um maybe it was something. In how you're speaking that you can ah improve or change or correct if you say um, a lot that's a habit that you can work on breaking. You can also edit that out of your videos. So it's a practice thing and I think you. If. It's if if you want it, you'll do it if you want an audience on Youtube you just have to get over it and you know start start doing it. Nobody was born knowing how to talk to a camera. Everyone just kind of did it and in.

35:11.19

Meredith

Prove improved along the way.

35:11.79

wongga

Yeah I think going into it with the mindset that the early videos are just going to be bad or not as favorable as you'd want it to be I mean a friend of mine told me yesterday you know you're doing great with the podcast because this is you know a lesson a year old just don't listen to your earlier.

35:17.96

Meredith

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

35:30.47

wongga

Earlier episodes and I'm like okay, but no I mean I don't watch my earlier videos because again they were They were just bad. But I think you know you just improved. So I think just the advice is just get into it know what you're going to do and know that the fact that you can hit the redo button anytime that you want perfect.

35:32.53

Meredith

Um.

35:45.61

Meredith

Yeah.

35:49.94

wongga

So as a concluding question because we're almost at the end of the interview. What is 1 piece of advice. You'd like to leave with our listeners who are aspiring to grow their presence on Youtube.

36:00.98

Meredith

1 piece of advice. Be yourself which is hard to do on camera it does it. It takes practice but be yourself be as much your in-person personality on camera. As you can be um, which is something a lot of my clients struggle with this. You know we'll talk on Zoom and they'll be really bubbly and in ah, a lot of personality and then I watch their videos and they're very monotone and they're sticking to a script and they're trying to make it. Perfect. Your personality is already perfect enough as it is you want people to be attracted to your authentic self. Um, and so you can sort of balance out creating a good video that's worth watching doesn't have to be perfect. But if it's your personality and it's useful and valuable to people then um I mean that's really the perfect combination.

37:06.33

wongga

Okay, love it. Um, yeah I think I think anybody can take that advice to heart because ah you you everybody can pick up even on camera that whole fakeness right? Like we don't have to turn into some anchor radio personality. Yeah, okay well I ask every.

37:15.92

Meredith

Um, yeah, right? yeah.

37:23.13

wongga

Guess this question and I'd like to hear what you have to say um this is the investing to win podcast. How do you Define success and what does winning look like for you.

37:32.30

Meredith

I define success as total freedom over my time I think freedom over my time to kind of do what I enjoy doing which for me right now is. Youtube and creating videos and like building the business. Um that that's definitely how I define success in kind of making my own rules and paving my own path and the second part of your question was about winning.

38:04.95

wongga

Yeah, how do you? Yeah, what does winning look like for you.

38:09.85

Meredith

Yeah, winning looks like I got out of bed this morning brushed my hair and came downstairs and got on a podcast with you to talk about something I enjoy which is Youtube um I didn't have to leave the house I didn't have to pack a lunch. I just kind of like I said sort of paving my own path. So um, to me that's winning I enjoy what I do every day. Um, and it's fun for me I have fun every day so I'm winning.

38:41.60

wongga

Yeah, no I mean they always say if you're doing what you love it doesn't feel like work. Yeah, okay, well. Great place to start? Sorry Great place to stop? um.

38:44.30

Meredith

Right? yeah.

38:53.17

wongga

Thank you so much for all the insight I know that I've taken a lot away and I'm sure listeners have just want to thank you for spending an hour and hang out with me today. All right, take care.

39:03.14

Meredith

Um, yeah, thank you so much for having me you too Bye bye.