EP28: YouTube for Service-Based Businesses with Latasha James
..Listen to your audience - what are they asking about or interested in seeing…Be an active consumer of YouTube to gain inspiration on new ways to capture and keep an audience or cool new ways to shoot a video…
-Latasha J.
Latasha James fell in love with video while taking a high school film class. She went on to study film and video in college, started freelancing writing and video projects, and started using her YouTube channel to produce original content while in college.
Latasha started with fashion and beauty videos and has found her way to a great niche market helping freelancers grow their business. She knew she had found a sweet spot when her Freelance Friday video series had a lot of engagement and grew into the Freelance Friday podcast.
Video is KING and even though YouTube is quite saturated, it is never too late to join in the fun and create a channel of your own! It’s always possible to be successful even in an overpopulated industry. Follow your passion and talents and you may just find your dream job in video!
TIPS FOR DISCOVERABILITY
Listen to your audience - what are they asking about or interested in seeing?
Engage - always answer questions and show your audience you are here to help.
Do market research - Reddit and Quora are great places to see what people are asking about and talking about. Google Trends gives you what is trending in your space. Be an active consumer of YouTube to gain inspiration on new ways to capture and keep an audience or cool new ways to shoot a video.
HOW TO USE VIDEO TO PROMOTE A SERVICE BASED BUSINESS
YouTube can be used to coach and educate your audience. It can also lead to a significant portion of your revenue. By listening to your audience, you may learn that they need something in depth like an online course or individual or group coaching programs that you can charge for. Your videos could include a link for people to sign up for an e-newsletter where you can build your email list and grow other products more tailored to specific individual needs.
Serve your ideal client, not just your peers. Remember that if a company is looking to hire a Social Media Manager, they could come across your videos that are speaking to freelancers like yourself. Speak to them, too! Pay attention to who watches your videos and who is engaging or wanting to speak with you. They are your audience, too so speak to them even if they are not your initial intended audience. It may be a good way to pivot to a new lucrative market! Be willing to pay attention to your audience, try new ideas, and apply what you learn to your next endeavor.
TIPS FOR MONETIZING VIDEOS EVEN WITH A SMALL AUDIENCE
Do your best not to pay too much attention to ad revenue as it can take a long time to materialize and usually is not a huge source of income.
But, indirect income from videos can be a large part of income. Video views can lead to capturing email addresses which can lead to course sales, coaching clients, and other revenue opportunities. Make sure you are easy to get in touch with through engaging with your audience and having a link to your social media and website. This way you can lead people to digital products, coaching, membership sites, or other offerings which can become a solid revenue stream over time. And you can always reference them in your YouTube videos.
WHAT TO AVOID IN YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Don’t focus on just ad revenue. It’s not usually the main revenue source.
Don’t focus on being an “influencer”. If that happens, great! But focus on your offerings.
Don’t doubt yourself! You don’t have to be perfect to be successful.
Don’t be inconsistent with adding content. Consistently adding videos will establish you within the YouTube algorithm. And your audience will come to expect when you’ll have new content.
Most importantly, just START! Your first few videos will not be viewed much and you can always remove them once you get better and smoother with delivery.
Don’t miss my Lightning Round with Latasha! We can all learn from her non-superpower power!
CONNECT WITH LATASHA
Web latashajames.com
Instagram @thelatashajames