Want to start using YouTube for your personal brand? This platform it’s great to grow your personal brand because of its wide user base, its low advertising costs, its position as the second largest search engine on the internet, and how creative you can get when making your content.
YouTube was founded in February 2005, and by 2006 it was already acquired by Google. The next year they introduced video ads and by 2009, they were already registering 1 billion views per day. And it has kept growing.
As you just read in the first paragraph, nowadays YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, right after Google. This means it’s easier for potential customers to find your content if you know how to name it and tag it.
We’ll go deeper on this topic later in the article.
If you’re reading this article, it means you’re thinking about how to make your personal brand stronger and more professional to the public eye. Even though this is a whole process you can learn more about on this marketing blog, making YouTube content it’s a great way to increase the chance that your ideal customer finds you.
Keep reading to find out more tips and information to leverage your YouTube channel to become the go-to thought leader in your b2b niche.
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Why start using YouTube for your personal brand?
Besides its technological and social benefits, there is lots of data that demonstrates why YouTube is such a great marketing tool for any kind of brand and/or business:
It currently has more than 2 billion users, which is almost one third of the whole internet population. This huge number is distributed in over 100 countries and 80 different languages.
In the U.S. alone, around 74% of adults use this platform. This makes YouTube the most popular online platform in America.
Also, advertising your content on YouTube is a great and cheap way to get your brand out in the world. There’s lot of options to advertise and pay for your content on YouTube, but it generally costs between $0.10 and $0.30 per click on your ad.
When you compare it to Instagram, which has a CPC (Cost Per Click) between $0.50 and $1.00, you can see a clear difference!
With YouTube, your daily budget for advertising is much lower and can still get you great results.
What to do on YouTube to boost your personal brand
When it comes to creating social media content for your brand, it may be kind of difficult to separate each platform and take advantage of its particular benefits.
As you may have realized by now, YouTube has many bonus characteristics that make it a great channel to promote and make your personal brand grow.
Besides its position as the second largest search engine on the internet, its wide user base and range of options to share content (normal videos, live streaming, stories, polls and much more), YouTube it’s a great platform because there’s plenty of ways and ideas to share your content. However, here’s some ideas to start with:
Humanize your brand
This goal can be achieved in many ways. Nevertheless, it’s essential for your personal brand to feel human, in order for your public to connect with you, your ideas, and the products or services you may offer.
If you show your face, your voice, even the place you work in, you will create a connection between yourself and the person behind the screen watching your content. The more they perceive you as a human being, besides a professional in your area, the more likely they will be to trust you and ultimately acquire your products or services and become loyal followers.
Display your products and/or services
On YouTube, you can show your audience the skills you have and how they can help your potential clients.
Sometimes, your products or services solve a problem the majority of your customers don’t even know they have. In that case, it’s your responsibility to inform them and present solutions.
You need to be conscious about your customer’s pain points and attack them in a way that feels natural. You should also know that people are more likely to trust someone who seems to have their best interests in mind and heart than someone who is only an expert.
The displaying of your products and/or services must be well thought out and produced so it doesn’t feel like publicity to your viewers.
Show and prove your expertise
As a B2B leader, you surely are an expert in your area of work. However, if you want to build a personal brand and get new people to recognize you as a thought leader, you need to show and prove that knowledge.
This can be done by making simple but educational videos, in which you explain certain aspects about your industry that could be of interest to your potential followers or customers.
As we said on the previous point, it’s very important to show yourself not only as an expert, but as someone who wishes for their audience well being and it’s not looking to sell something.
Your YouTube channel will be your space to share your knowledge, give tips, share your experiences on your area and much more information that will show how much you know about the brand you’re building.
Distribute new projects
YouTube is perfect for showing to the world your personal and professional projects.
The platform is a great place to post your podcast, for example. Even though podcasts consist of audio, most podcasters record their interviews or conversations on video too, so it can be also shared on other kinds of platforms.
If you give public speeches, you could also ask someone to record them and upload it to your profile.
There are lots of ideas that can help you amplify your content and make it more dynamic to your subscribers.
Other ideas
Other ideas for your videos are:
- Your client’s or your team’s testimonials about working with you
- Video tutorials about your products or services
- Educational videos about your niche and industry
What we use YouTube for at Latinpresarios
At Latinpresarios, our YouTube channel is one of the most important platforms in our digital marketing strategy. However, we focus on certain types of video content. Generally speaking, we work with three main aspects.
Content on content
We got inspired by Gary Vee on this one! The “content on content on content” strategy means, in a few words, to make many short pieces of content based on one long, big original content.
For example: you can make a 20-minute video talking about one of your areas of expertise (the long content), and then extract short videos for other social media platforms, quotes for tweets or posts, and much more!
We write long form blogs, just like this one, and make videos about it, long and short. This helps us get the same information to different audiences and in different ways to consume.
“B2B Thought Leadership” Podcast
Not long ago, we started making podcast interviews to wise B2B leaders in their corresponding industries, and that’s how “B2B Thought Leadership Podcast” was born.
Our founder, Alejandro I. Sanoja, makes interviews via Zoom and records them. Later on, our team edits the raw material and then it’s uploaded to our channel.
This gives our audience the choice to listen to the podcast and watch videos, since there are people who prefer this format. This allows us to share content on more platforms than an usual podcast (without video) would.
“Random” insights about the niche
Not all of our videos come from a long form blog, and yours don’t have to be neither. We also post short form videos about fun facts related to branding, tips to become a better professional regardless of your niche, conferences and much more.
These kinds of videos are great to expand your audience and reach new types of clients.
The resources you’ll need to create YouTube content
Even though creating original content for YouTube doesn’t need to be super difficult, it does require some skills and basic equipment in order to look professional in your area. If you want to be successful by using YouTube for your personal brand, you may need to invest in these skills and equipment sooner of later.
Creativity
This applies to any platform for content creation, but YouTube requires a lot of creativity in order to really stand out and get people to be interested in your content.
This creativity should be connected to your research and content strategy, in order to create creative videos that appeal to your niche and rank on your selected keywords.
It’s about the ability to come up with fresh ideas regarding the topics your potential clients are looking for on the platform, without being repetitive and staying true to your brand.
SEO and copywriting skills and/or team
As I explained earlier in this article, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, just after Google. This means that the opportunities to be found by new people are huge if you know how to properly name and tag your content.
Even though copywriting is an important skill for any marketing strategy on social media, when you’re working with YouTube, it turns into an essential step for success.
This is why you should build these skills or a team that works on SEO and keyword research, as well as in copywriting. By learning about the topics users are looking for on the platform related to your niche, you’ll know what new content to produce and how to gain their attention.
Besides, an appropriate content and SEO strategy on YouTube will allow you to rank on your selected keywords. This way, you’ll be recommended to the potential clients you may have when they are searching for answers to their questions.
If you want to know more about SEO and writing for your B2B personal brand, check out this article about why CEOs should blog.
A quiet place to record video
This is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s ideal if you can find a spot in your home or your office to record the videos or the voice overs you need. You won’t need to rent a recording studio for this!
These are some tips to record better audio without investing lots of money:
- Close your windows and doors
- Try recording when it’s not raining outside
- If someone is helping you to record and they’re going to be moving back camera, ask them to be barefoot
A camera
If you want to make videos, of course you’ll need a camera! However, even though the ideal would be to have a professional one, it’s not necessary. Great videos can be recorded with any smartphone.
Lighting resources
If you want your video to look professional and the image to be as high-quality as possible, it’s important you have good lighting when you’re recording. This could mean setting up in front of a window, which is totally free! However, this means you’ll always have to record at a certain time and you’ll be really conditioned by the weather.
If it is between your possibilities, we recommend you buy studio lights. They will allow you to set up wherever you want to and always look fresh.
Teleprompter app
Depending on the type of content you decide to create, you’ll improvise or you’ll have a script. Most of the time, you won’t have the time to memorize a whole script for a 5 minute video. That’s what teleprompters apps are for.
A teleprompter app will allow you to put the text you want to say and read it while you’re recording. You will sound natural and professional while simplifying your process for making videos.
Some teleprompter apps options are:
- BIGVU (this is the one we use!)
- Parrot Teleprompter
- Promptsmart
- Selvi
- And much more!
Here are some specific links and more recommendations, which we usually share with the thought leaders we invite to our podcast.
Video editing software, skills and/or team
In order for your videos to look as professional and put together as possible, you’ll need to edit them. Cut some parts of, add music and even animations can make a great difference.
Some great free options are:
Another paid options are:
You could even edit your videos on your phone! Some of the most famous apps for mobile are:
Design software, skills and/or team
Even though YouTube’s center and raw material consists of the video the users upload, it’s really important for you to have a visual identity in order to be recognized and give the professional and expert impression you will be looking forward to as a B2B leader.
On YouTube, you’ll need a banner for your profile, but you also need thumbnails for every video you post. Technically, you could post them without a professionally designed image, but it looks improvised and it’s not as attractive as the videos that do have them.
How to build your personal brand on YouTube
After reading this blog, you’re probably motivated to start using YouTube for your personal brand! It’s a great platform to earn trust, share your knowledge and keep your followers updated about your works and projects.
We know standing in front of a camera is scary at first, but it’s definitely a sacrifice that’s worth making. It would help you build your confidence in and out of the online world, and at the same time you will be becoming a better professional in your niche.
If you want to learn more about how to leverage and use your social media profiles to boost your personal brand, watch some videos on our YouTube channel, and if you like what you see and want to take the next step, book a complementary call with us.
