The Socialize Strategy - How to Monetize
Welcome to the socialize strategy. Happy Friday, and also welcome to any new listeners. Because this week, I had a video go viral. And when a video goes viral, a lot of times people find their way to my email list, and then the email leads them to my podcast. So if this is your first time listening, buckle up because what I like to do in these podcasts is dive dive a little deeper into the topic and also share some off the cuff thinking as it comes to me.
Helen:So we're in for a ride because I wanna start with before I get to the topic of the day, which is about monetization on social media, I wanna talk about virality and going viral on social media. So we're gonna do a little bit of an opening because I had a situation this week, which I'm gonna call my own personal case study. And the reason I'm calling it that is I did an analysis. Once this video was lit and picked up some traction, I started to break it down in my head. Like, why did this video go viral?
Helen:Why over other videos that I do that are similar in style? Why did this one light up? And what I did was I analyzed it from a for a LinkedIn post. And that was pretty interesting. So I don't know if it's gonna do well on LinkedIn, but I do think people on LinkedIn tend to wanna understand analytics or the whys behind social media versus just here's what it is.
Helen:So let me just open it up a little bit for discussion. First off, the video was about doing a split screen. And it's really crazy to me because I posted two videos showing a split screen before this third video. And the third one is the one that lit up. And so I'm just learning from that.
Helen:Like, what did my other two videos, which were the same topic and one of them would talk specifically about a viral trend in doing a split screen, and that one didn't get as much traction as this generic split screen lesson. Like, wow. Because typically, the opposite would happen. Typically, the thing that's trending would be the thing that everybody wants to learn and that's the one that they forward to friends or save and that's the one that goes viral. And this was the exact opposite situation.
Helen:So I want to break it down because I think it's important learning. And when I learn with my own content, I open up the door and I let you in. Let's learn together. First off, what was the video? Okay.
Helen:It was a tutorial about how to do a split screen. And like I said, there were two other videos I posted before that with the same exact lesson. Why was this one the one that went viral and has that half a million views right now? I think because the first thing I did in this video was say what I was going to do but also show it. So in the first, I think, four seconds, I say, I'm gonna show you how to do a split screen where you can be with yourself in the scene.
Helen:And when I say those words, when you can be with yourself in the scene, I show myself together with me, my twin in the scene. So it was a it was a see and say. I immediately hooked people in because they were like, oh my god. There it is. So I didn't make them wait.
Helen:I didn't make them wait to see the outcome. Even though I was still showing the whole process, I started the video with what I was going to teach very clearly demonstrated in the scene. So I think I had a great hook by accident. By doing that, I had a great hook. The second thing that happened is I got new people in who were watching the video because my teaching style is very different than a lot of people on social media.
Helen:So it delivered on its promise, like I taught the lesson, but I taught it in a way that was behind the curtain peeking behind the curtain and showing step by step how this editing magic is done. So I didn't just was razzle dazzle. I actually broke it down, took people with me for the ride. It also welcomed everyone because it was a slow paced lesson. And typically, when you're watching videos on social media apps and their tutorials, it's like bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, and it's going really, really fast.
Helen:And people are not really after a while, it's like whoosh. It goes over their head. And so when I think about the two videos prior to the one that went viral, what happened in those videos, why they didn't go viral, this is my this is my study on why it didn't, was because I made it too complicated. I showed how to do this thing, but I first said, if you record it in your social media app, then you have to screen record it, and then the screen recording gets put into the editing app. And so I think I lost people on the details of the screen recording and doing that process and then getting that screen recording into the TikTok, into the CapCut app.
Helen:That process of getting people to first format it correctly, I think I lost a lot of people. I didn't get to the point of the trick of the magic quick enough. And I do I did that on both of the prior videos. But on this one, I said, you know, I'm just gonna teach them by recording a scene in their camera and then recording another scene. So I'm gonna skip that whole step where you have to screen record the draft.
Helen:And then when I skip that step, I immediately had a viral video. So I made it simpler and I slow the pace was slow. Okay? So number one was a good hook. Number two was I delivered on the promise.
Helen:I pulled back the curtain and I showed everything. Number three, I welcomed everyone. So I made it an easy lesson that was very digestible for any level of creator. So even a beginner would sit through this lesson. I had a few people comment and say, I'm never gonna do this, but I watch the whole lesson.
Helen:Okay. That's a win. You want that to happen. Right? Number four, there was no gatekeeping.
Helen:I think I said this before. Like, I showed every step. I didn't skip a step. I didn't I didn't assume people knew anything. I I showed everything about it.
Helen:And then number five and why I think it went viral personally is because I didn't like what I was wearing. I didn't like how I looked in the video. I felt cringy. And so when you hold back and you don't post something because you feel a way, that's the one you're missing out on because that's the one that's gonna go viral. So I do feel that even though all those other things I said make sense, I think also the fact that I felt funny about it and I didn't like the video at first, I still posted it and so I I had I overcame.
Helen:And so my maybe my vibe about myself portrayed some kind of authenticity, who knows what, but there was something about it. And I also made fun of myself a little. I talked about my outfit being that I didn't like it, so I actually addressed it in the video. So I think that I opened up a lot of doors in this in this video, and I think that's why it went viral. So that's my breakdown on it.
Helen:And my takeaway is always that whenever you're in doubt, post it. But it's also to look at these bullet points and think, did is your video doing this, this, this, and this? Is it eliciting the right emotion for the user? Is it getting to the point quick enough? Are you holding out and waiting too long for people to know what the video is about?
Helen:Are you not getting to the outcome quick enough? So I showed right away in the beginning what the outcome was gonna be. So then I held people for the whole journey. So that's my takeaway on viral videos for today. I always have advice that I give every week in the studio about this because we're always talking about ways to keep your audience engaged, different types of tricks you can do with your content depending on the style of content.
Helen:Obviously, I'm doing tutorials, but I also have other videos that go viral. And people that I'm working with in my studio have videos that go viral for different reasons. So you always have the potential. It's just a matter of tapping into your uniqueness and what your potential is and how can that be delivered. Alright?
Helen:Now studio, just an update on what's happening in the paid studio. As you know that I have the free email list, of course. I have this podcast. I do a ton of free workshops and and whatnot, and I have all my free tutorials. But I do have a paid studio community where every week I go live with my people, my friends.
Helen:I'm gonna call them my friends now because they're my community. And we have cameras on sessions where we talk about different editing tips, different things, different topics each week. And then I have a q and a. So everybody gets to have their questions answered. So I do have this community that that for this month coming, for what I'm doing now next, is we're working more in-depth on split screen, and we're gonna work a lot this month on editing tips.
Helen:I'm really focused usually, I take a month and I focus on a certain thing. But all of the things are always viewable after the fact. So there's every week, there's a mini challenge that we do and then the challenges are always there for you. So if you arrive next month, you can try last month's challenge and you can still share it with everybody in the community because we are always doing these challenges again and again so that we can keep everybody we can keep everybody creating mainly and keep everybody fresh and with ideas so that you're not stuck and you're not trying to figure it out. If you're a business owner or if you're a purse you're trying to build your personal brand, build a following and figure out how you wanna monetize, this is a it's a supportive way to keep yourself accountable, really.
Helen:It's like it helps you to stay going. It helps you with idea generation. You're watching other people's content that are trying the same things that you're trying and you see, oh, I see how they did the split screen. This is how I'm doing my split screen. So it's lots of good inspiration.
Helen:So if you think you need help with content, if you think you want to try it for a month, we do have a 15% discount going right now. So I suggest you get in while you have while you can take advantage of that. So this way and that discount will stay in place for as long as you stay. And I'd love to meet you. And it's a really good group of people.
Helen:In the club, we are all fam. Alright. Let's get to the ways to monetize on social media. Yeehaw. There are so many misconceptions about this that I wanna start with the myth or the fact that people with a big following are automatically making big money.
Helen:They're not. As a matter of fact, I saw a creator. His name is Steve and he does these, he's a dad that does dances in his house or lip syncs and he it's kind of a complicated story. I forgot what his username used to be. But he was he even said that when his boss found out he was on TikTok and had so many followers or somebody ran into him and didn't understand he had a real job because they thought because he had a hundred thousand followers, he was making big money on TikTok or something.
Helen:And it is a misconception. It really is. There's so many creators with big followings who have not found a way to monetize. And that's for the for a lot of reasons. Number one, it could be a demographic they're in or the type of content they're doing that is not eliciting fashion brands reaching out.
Helen:Or somebody like myself, I'm not doing videos where makeup brands are gonna reach out to me. I have the occasional reach out. But it's not like I'm gonna suddenly become a, get ready with me makeup artist. That's just not what I do. So I'm not gonna get those type of brand collabs.
Helen:And it's just also not automatic that you're all because you're doing makeup, you're suddenly gonna hear from, you know, Cera CeraVe and be doing doing a skincare. You just it doesn't work that way. So I wanna talk about how how that can change for you if it's something you wanna do. But the the I think the main thing to understand is that just because you have big numbers doesn't mean you are it translates immediately to big money. A lot of people think when you have views on your content, the platform pays you big bucks.
Helen:I and I'm being honest with you. I have been in the creator fund for a year and I've had multiple viral videos. And I think I've made over the course of a whole year something like $4,000, maybe maybe a little above that now. But that was a whole year of having viral videos and views. That's not guaranteed income every month that's gonna really, you know, take care of me.
Helen:It's not gonna pay my rent, you know. So people have to understand that views is not the path to monetization unless you have 20,000,000 followers and millions and millions of views on your content. It's and even then, it's, you know, that's it's just frustrating because I just it's all different the way the the way the analytics decide how much you're gonna get paid for your views. Also, your views have to be unique views. They can't be somebody watching your video twice.
Helen:They can't be somebody who didn't watch your video all the way through, etcetera. So there's lots of qualifications to what views count towards monetization. So that's not really the the path to the winning path, let's just say. But what I will say is that monetization works best if your community is loyal to you. And if you start to feel that you have a core, core crowd of people who are invested in you, invested in your content, and invested in what you have to say.
Helen:And it's building trust, so it takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. You have all these followers. Suddenly some people aren't just buying something from you. And on the rare occasion where a business owner goes viral, they might suddenly sell belts or rings.
Helen:Oh, speaking of rings, here we go. They went viral. My conquering, my ring. They went viral with one video and and literally sold products. So there you go.
Helen:Like, that's a way to monetization. But that business was they've been probably working their ass off for months to leading up to that, and then they just happen to have a video go viral. This is not they were already in a doing a business, promoting their products, putting in the work, doing their marketing, the strategic, making videos, nothing hits, and then one video hits. So it's there's a lot of pieces to it. There's some creators that go, oh, they get famous and they just do merch and they think they're gonna sell merch.
Helen:And a few of them have made mistakes by ordering a bunch of merch and then not being able to sell it. So don't do that. I mean, I'm just I'm I've been around long enough to know the horror stories stories that have come from some creators. So I want to spare you that so it doesn't happen to you. Now if you read the newsletter, I'm not gonna read it to you.
Helen:I like to just add to what I say in the newsletter. But, obviously, you can monetize by getting brand sponsorships. You can try making yourself a media kit, putting all your stats, individually reaching out to brands one by one and trying to pitch yourself. And sometimes you're gonna reach someone. Sometimes they're gonna say email this person.
Helen:You know, it's a process and you have to be so committed to this process. So it works. It's just time. And you have to think to yourself, do I have the time to do this? Am I working a full time job right now?
Helen:When does when does the tipping point happen where you finally start to make money from it so that you cannot that you can give up your job. And that is a long process. I interviewed a creator who it was years before she could do that. And she talked with me about it and how she was doing content creation for four years before she monetized. And then I have Gina from Skinnytaste.
Helen:She was putting out or doing, her blog her blog for years before she then decided to write a cookbook. And she was doing it because she loved it. And the typical way people win on any social media platform and and in general in life is when they're doing something. It's not because you find your passion and automatically it turns into money. It's just that if it is something you're passionate about, you tend to do it a lot.
Helen:And then when you do it a lot, it become if it becomes your purpose and then something hits and you find a way to monetize. It's not like find your passion and then magically you're gonna have a solution that's gonna monetize your life. It just doesn't work that way. It's hard work. That's that's it.
Helen:Hard work. The you can do an, and there's an either easier path to finding brand sponsorships if you do sign up with agencies. This, I would say, is worth it. If it's something you're passionate about, you wanna do in terms of your content, and you wanna be doing brand sponsorships and doing influencer partnerships and and doing influencer content, you should definitely sign up for these. Because I get reach outs every day from obviously ubiquitous.
Helen:I'm not with House of Marketing or the or the shelf yet. But these agencies that I listed in the newsletter, you get yourself on the roster, you put the amount of followers, you put your demographics in there. And then when they have something that's for you, they send it out. They they farm it out to all the creators and then you just have to watch your email and don't don't miss it. A couple of times I've missed one.
Helen:But that's how I got the thing with CeraVe. I I was I just happened to see my email. I had signed up for that, obviously, one and they wanted, I guess, older demographic. So I got to I got to get a PR package. And if I wanted to make a video, I could make a video.
Helen:I didn't even have to. But I thought it would be the the right thing to do. If I'm getting free products and I agree to it, I'll make a video. You know? What is it what is it really costing me?
Helen:So that's a way to do it. It also helps you to start If it's even with PR packages, it also helps you to start making content that is in that realm, that genre where you're making it's like practice. The more you practice making influencer content, the better you're gonna get at it. You're gonna see what people like about your style of influencer content. You're gonna find your sweet spot about how to deliver the message, see which videos get more attention, and you're gonna learn along the way.
Helen:So I think it's worth putting yourself on those rosters and getting your name out there. And, occasionally, I think some of these clients would, you know, have worked with people, and then they maybe reach out with them direct reach out to them directly. If they really like you, they'll contact you and you can maybe even get an agent if you're making enough money over a course of a year. You have to be monetizing to a certain degree before agents influence or agencies or agents will take you on. So you're not gonna be able to think, oh, you had, a million followers?
Helen:I'm gonna call an agent. The agent wants to say, show me the moola. Show me the money. Like, have you made any money yet? Because they're not gonna take someone on and magically make you money.
Helen:They wanna know that you're already marketable before they're gonna take you on. Alright. The other thing you can do to monetize is creating a TikTok shop and this one is viable obviously for only for those people on TikTok but you can also do l t k and be a seller or flip. I think that's the other one and you can be a seller. But if people are not interested in shop videos, they're gonna scroll by your video.
Helen:So you're you have this it's like a balancing act. And one of the members of the studio is a big TikTok shop creator. And so she goes hard. She posts three videos a day every single day. Shop, shop, shop videos.
Helen:She leans on shop videos. And so, eventually, one of her shop videos is gonna hit and then that's where she's gonna make her money. So she's not making money on every single video that doesn't get a lot of views because people aren't buying on a lot of times on those videos. But when she hits, she makes her money. So being a shop being a shop creator is a strategy.
Helen:You decide, I'm gonna go hard. I'm gonna go on the shop. I'm gonna do this. And then you you can go all in. And then your your audience will start to see that you're a shop creator, and maybe they'll still watch your videos and such and show you some love and click on the link and just check out your products.
Helen:So that's an option if you have enough followers to be a TikTok shop creator. Also, some of the shop creators are very successful and they have given get gotten opportunities directly with big brands. And there's two that we mentioned in the newsletter that act work directly with TikTok. So there's, you know, successful store success stories there. Obviously, affiliate links are an answer.
Helen:And all of these things, again, are in the newsletter. But creators who specialize in affiliate marketing are usually trying to sell a course about digital marketing. And I always find that interesting. Like, this is how I made so much money in digital marketing, and then it's to sell a course about how to make money in digital marketing. So it's like, I I get confused by those personally.
Helen:And I know that there's so many successful creators doing that. So I'm am I gonna put that down? No. It's just not for me. And so you have to say, is this for me?
Helen:Does this feel like it's right in my wheelhouse? And that's how you'll know, like, if it's right for you or not. You could also, obviously use your expertise and craft. If you're crafty and you can make something and you can just make your own shop. Make your own TikTok shop or you can make your own regular shop and you can promote your products in your regular business.
Helen:And the the, My Conquering, they didn't have a TikTok shop at first because they blew up before TikTok shop was even a thing. So she they were selling their rings directly on their website when they went viral. So you can start like that and then you can evolve your way into a shop. And, of course, look at Made With Mud, one of my sweet favorite studio creators who sells pottery and does very well from her videos. She's got these dignity mugs that she's even, almost patented, I believe.
Helen:But the style of these mugs for people with disabilities, there's so much value to share sharing and creating and then sharing your goods with with the world via TikTok because the reach is incredible. And the love that you get back from making someone's life better is also incredible. And that, I think is the most underrated thing that people talk about when it's like you're gonna monetize. It's there's all these strategies, but nobody thinks about the, authenticity behind it. Somebody's business, the ones that succeed are usually coming from a place of caring and wanting to help someone.
Helen:Another way to make money is becoming a UGC creator. And this is not always with you being in the videos. This is when you're a creator for a brand. I do some UGC content for, the hangry pets. I've talked about them all the time.
Helen:And doing that type of content is rewarding financially because you set your rates, you know what you're gonna get paid for doing x content, You are handing the content off. You're not necessarily responsible for posting it on your own channel depending on your arrangement with the client. And a lot of people who are good at making videos can get a lot of this work. And I'm gonna tell you because I'm good at making videos. I get asked to do this a lot, and I can't take it all on.
Helen:I pick and choose who I'm gonna work with, and I like a certain type of client that I'm working with that I know is gonna, number one, I wanna make sure they're gonna pay me on time. I like a sir I have a certain arrangement that I like to make. The good part about it is you don't need a certain number of followers typically. If you happen to be good at making videos and people see that, they will let you make the videos for them. And then you don't have to worry about if you have a lot of followers.
Helen:It's just that they're they're hiring you for your editing and your filming skills. And I do love doing that. I love going to film for brands where I don't have to be in it, but I have all these creative ideas and they're always flowing. So that's a good gig, but you've gotta be really good at filming and editing. And I happen to be trained from thirty five plus years in production.
Helen:So I know how to I know how to shoot. I know how to interview. I know how to edit. Boom, boom, boom, boom. So it's a a good fit for me a lot of times.
Helen:But if you're not skilled at it, that's not gonna be the thing for you. However, you can learn and then you can become better at it. The more you practice on your own content, the better you get at it. And then eventually you could become a UGC creator. So it's not to say, oh, I don't have these skills.
Helen:I can't do this. Maybe you just can't do this right now. But maybe if you're practicing, if you're in the studio, you're doing the challenges and you're upping your game week to week, week over week, every little bit, I always say five minutes a day, adds up to me being able to squat to the floor. And I took me a year to do it. So if you decide I'm gonna learn how to create better videos and you come into the studio and you commit, you're going to learn week over week over week.
Helen:You're going to do those challenges. And each time when I give feedback, you're going to get better and better and better at it. So I encourage you to take it take it on if it's something that you really think you could be good at. Alright. The last thing is to just share your expertise and see where it takes you.
Helen:And this is the most underrated monetization tool of all. And why I say it's underrated is I don't think a lot of people connect the dots. Even when I was getting work because people found me on TikTok and they were hiring me to do content for here or come to this event here and do that here, I still didn't connect that to I'm making money on TikTok. And Julie, credit to my daughter, had to correct me. She's like, don't say you're not making money on TikTok when people ask you because you're all the things that you're getting, the projects that you're working on is coming to you from TikTok.
Helen:So even if you think you're not getting paid for views, you're not doing traditional brand sponsorships or influencer content, this doesn't mean that your expertise will not bring you business, and therefore, you'll be making money from social media. And I have a very dear friend, Grace McCarrick, who was on she was on a couple of episodes ago talking about negativity on social media. She gets the most of her business, and she posts a lot on LinkedIn. Most of her business that she books in corporate America is from clients have that have found her on TikTok. I'm telling you.
Helen:This is not to be underrated. If you share your expertise and become valued for your knowledge, your talent, whatever it is that's your wheelhouse. I'm gonna even talk random things. Betsy, if you're listening, she's a Zoom expert. She she could she's on if I needed to hire a Zoom expert to to to coach my teams about Zoom, I would call Betsy.
Helen:I found her on TikTok. Okay? So I even will say the value for myself is the people when I think, oh, I need somebody who's a really good marketing strategist or whatever. Who do I know on TikTok? Oh, I need a PR person who really knows how to deal with a PR crisis.
Helen:I know exactly who I'm calling and it's people that I know from TikTok. Okay. Okay. I will stop talking now. This was a long one.
Helen:Thanks for sticking with me. Again, if you're new and you would like to try the studio for a month, I love what I'm doing there. My excitement for teaching and helping you be a better creator is not something I can fake. I love it. When I see the videos come out of the challenges, I'm immediately so proud like a teacher.
Helen:I need to share them immediately. I love when I can impart the knowledge and the knowledge is put to use and the person is able to I feel that I'm making my own personal difference in the world. As small as it may be. Okay. I don't care if you think it's like a joke that it's just social media.
Helen:But it is in my book, I'm helping people, and that's how I'm doing it. So if you want me to help you, come to the studio and try it out. 15% off. There's the QVC pet sales pitch at the end. Thank you so much for being here today.
Helen:Big hugs. Big love. Have a a happy weekend, and I'll be back with you next week.
