How to Use YouTube for Your Business with Trena Little

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by an AI tool. Please forgive any typos or errors. SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, video, youtube, content, audience retention, seo, title, business, thumbnail, platform, audience, create, click, batch, analytics, build, questions, watch, content strategy, love SPEAKERS Erin Ollila, Trena Little Erin Ollila 00:04 Hey friends, welcome to the Talk Copy to Me podcast. Here we empower small business owners to step into the spotlight with their marketing and messaging. I’m your host, Erin Ollila. Let’s get started and talk coffee. Erin Ollila 00:23 Hello, friend today on the podcast, I have Trena Little who you all obviously know her as a YouTube expert. But what you might not know about Trena is that she actually started her business as a mom blogger, being absolutely sure that that was the direction that she was gonna go and build up her business. So tell me about that. Why was what was the decision to jump into blogging and how has your business kind of transformed, Trena Little 00:49 I got into the YouTube rabbit hole when I was pregnant. And I started to follow a lot of people that were mommy bloggers that were pregnant around the same time, I was like, I could do this, like I have a background in business, I have an MBA in business and like, what these people are doing are building a brand around themselves. And I know how to do this. And so I thought that’s what I was going to do. I was going to book brand deals, I was going to have like Dizzy pay for me to visit Disneyland like I had it all figured out until I tried to record the videos. And I tried to record them in public with a baby at Target. And I was like, oh, not for me. I’m not going to even step outside my neighborhood on video. So let’s figure out a new trajectory for this business. So that’s how it started. I just really saw the power so many of these vloggers had. And it was really a marketing strategy that they were using. And that was my background. And I really saw how they were building brands around this. But I I like to film in my room in my office by myself in quiet, nobody watching me. So being the vlogger ended up not being my direction. I think it only took me one trip out to Target and I was like this isn’t going to work. I can’t do this. So I would say within a year, from the time I was pregnant till my daughter turned one that I realized the mom channel isn’t my my gig. Erin Ollila 02:19 So if people are listening right now, and they’re thinking to themselves, like they understand the value of video, and they want to build up more of like a stronger content base, that searchable on YouTube that is able to put pieces of content together in different categories. What would be your advice for them to even get started? Trena Little 02:40 Start? Yeah, I hear a lot of people. When I talk to them they want they feel they need the perfect strategy in place, they feel they need the perfect setup, they feel they need the perfect camera or lights before they get started. But the best part about what tick tock has done for us is made authentic video content more acceptable. So shooting with your phone shooting at your kitchen table shooting on a couch. And so the hardest part, I think for so many people is just start doing YouTube because you’re not going to get better in these videos, you’re not going to get better editing them, you’re not going to get better content by reading your analytics if you don’t just get videos up valuable videos up for your audience on your channel. And it’s true for like content in any form, right? Like it’s like we have these ideas of things we want to do and build in our business. And the ideas are so great in our head that I think sometimes that like anxiety about perfectionism is what really holds people back from even getting started. It’s I like to call what you just mentioned all of those like things that people are considering as like productive procrastination, like and I’ve done it myself too. So this isn’t picking on anyone but it’s so easy to sit there and video like research what video cameras to use on YouTube and then spend your weeks researching, then spend your weeks learning how to use the camera when like that month or so could have just been a lot easier, like jumping and getting, trying it testing things out, see what works for you and what doesn’t. And I’ve even done this I bought as we’re talking here, like in the background, I bought the fancy camera with a fancy quote unquote YouTube lens. And I freaking hated it because I had to figure out how to use it when I did use it. It wasn’t in focus. And I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on that setup. And now I just use a very simple point shoot camera, because it eliminates all the hurdles that I have to jump over to shoot my content. I want to be able to sit down, hit record, shoot my content, minimal hurdles, minimal equipment to get it done. That allows me to get it done. Yeah. Erin Ollila 04:45 What is your opinion on like batch recording content? Do you think that for people who are kind of just jumping into YouTube, they should try to get a bunch built up or do you think that they should, you know, kind of just create and publish as they go. So one thing that Trena Little 05:00 We do specifically with our clients and our agency as we build batches of content strategically for them at a time because we know they’re busy business owners, we know we don’t want to do our hair and makeup multiple times a month. And so what we do is we generally give them four to six videos to, to shoot, so that we can get them on YouTube and start looking at the data. Is the content, the style of the content keeping people watching, we look at the audience retention graph, is there something weirdly, or something out of the box that they’re saying that every time they say this particular thing that people are leaving their video, we don’t want them to produce, like 12 videos all creating terrible audience retention. But I do think it’s important to realize as business owners, we have to batch our content, especially video, we usually want to do our hair and makeup. And so I think it’s important to batch maybe four to six videos at a time, get them on YouTube, read the data, and then batch your next set. Erin Ollila 06:00 Yeah, that’s I think that’s great advice. I’m someone who like has a love and hatred towards batching. Like, in some ways, batching is hard for me because I have ADHD. And I like to just do as like the inspiration comes, but I also can recognize how strategic and unhelpful that has been in certain times. And I think it’s from for me, personally, I like the idea of kind of working on something that is all related, because it’s so much easier to do your research, like if you’re pulling in statistics, interviews, if you’re interviewing people to talk about the same type of thing, when your clients are doing those four to six videos, are they creating content around the same topic, kind of like how I just mentioned? Or is it, especially for the niche initial batch? Are you trying to kind of like test out what type of content or like what type of categories work? Well, Trena Little 06:49 we build a complete strategy from the beginning, we do this entire process, it’s like an eight to 10 hour process where we dive into what their audience is actually searching for watching what the comments are on these videos. And then we build their strategy from that. And so that’s what we’re focused on is strategically creating and choosing the right topics for them to film. As far as what they’re doing on other platforms, we don’t really manage that we suggest that they utilize the YouTube as the top of their content pyramid, and push that YouTube video out to their newsletter to Instagram to tick tock wherever they’re hanging out. And they have an audience, because the more they can get their built in audience over to their YouTube video. And if they’re just starting YouTube, the more YouTube can figure out who their audience is. And the quicker that YouTube can figure out who their audience is, the quicker YouTube can find more of those people on YouTube. So it builds your audience quicker. But you’ve got to get the algorithm to understand who’s most likely to watch your content. Erin Ollila 07:53 So I know asking this question, you’re gonna, like look at me and be like, well, that’s a long answer, Aaron, but when you say like, we have to train the algorithm, do you have any best tips for that on how people can actually like, you know, write their titles, label things, share the content, so that YouTube actually does start to get to know oh, this person is talking about that. Here’s the right audience for them. Trena Little 08:16 You You have to know your audience, and you have to know what they’re watching on YouTube and what they’re engaging with on YouTube. There’s no like when people talk about YouTube titles, and they talk about adding keywords to titles if it’s not enticing for people to click on, like how to create a website from Squarespace. That’s pretty boring. As opposed to somebody beside him maybe saying five quick tips to set up your your your Squarespace site, as a professional, I don’t know, I’m throwing ideas out there. But when you upload your video, what you are saying in that video, YouTube is basically scanning. So you can literally I use this example all the time, I could upload a video of myself singing like Justin Bieber baby, and put the fastest way to grow a YouTube channel in 2023. YouTube knows that’s not what that video is about. And even if they put it in front of people, and people click on it because of that title. And they realized that’s not what I’m doing. They’re leaving within five to 10 seconds. So you could give you two no background information about what your video is about when you upload it but it very, very quickly starts to figure out what that video is about and who’s most likely to watch it. Erin Ollila 09:27 Yeah, yeah, there’s so much there that I want to talk about. Firstly, when you mentioned like the hook overall like things like title or even like the description, G. This may be a silly question, but do you think that the way that you title or use the description like the written content on YouTube should be the exact same way you kind of like introduce the video because obviously we want the video to kind of have a hook as well? Should they be different or is it okay to kind of have that same thing? Trena Little 09:54 Honestly, the description box really has no cloud on where your video is going to show up because again, YouTube knows what you’re saying and YouTube is using other, I would say data points to determine what to do with your video. So the way we determine what our content is going to be is we determine a title strategy first, what is the title of this video going to be? And then we figure out what is the concept of the thumbnail, before we even create any content, because the thumbnail and the title are your marketing package. And if you can’t get people to click on the thumbnail, and the title of your thumbnail, and your title isn’t enticing in Sparks curiosity enough for people to click on it, it doesn’t matter what you’re sharing in that video is going nowhere, because nobody’s clicking on it. And so you really want to think about your title, and then deliver in that video in the beginning. And then as far as hooks, you’ve got about two to three seconds to convince people to keep watching the video. And so a lot of the times when people open up the video, in this video I’m going to share people are bored already. And YouTube’s goal is to keep people on the platform. And that’s why there are so many video options and suggested so if you come out of the gate boring in two to three seconds, they’re clicking on another video. So that is also why we determine what the title and the thumbnail is. So we can make sure we open that video leaning on that title on thumbnail because they’re clicking on it because of that we need to reiterate, that’s what they’re going to learn. Erin Ollila 11:23 Yeah, so those thumbnails, I guess in some way, like I’m kind of considering them right now. Like even as like book covers. So like when you go to like a bookstore, like you scan and you pick the ones that interest you the most. When it comes to like branding and building up that brand on YouTube. Is it important that the thumbnails that you create, like the visual design of them be consistent among all of the videos that you’re creating? Trena Little 11:45 Yes. And it may be different than your actual brand. I have this problem a lot. Usually when we’re working with like brand designers. They want a specific style on YouTube. But there’s just people engage and interact on YouTube differently than say, Pinterest or Instagram. It’s a different platform. And we have to play by the rules or play by the interaction that we know is happening on YouTube. And so while it may be a different variation of your overall brand on YouTube, it should be consistent. So if they watched one of your videos or two of your videos, they recognize another thumbnail. They’re like, Oh, yes, that one is from Erin. Okay, yeah, I recognize that thumbnail. So there should be some consistency with your thumbnails on YouTube, it may or may not be a variation of your overall brand. Erin Ollila 12:32 Yeah, another thing that you had mentioned that I thought was really interesting, too, is like the idea that like YouTube wants to you to have good content right off the bat, right. And it’s going to give you all of those suggested videos, which kind of like just brought up the idea in my mind of like the importance of like building like, which I’m not even sure if this is important, but taking from the non YouTuber, the importance of having like your own cards within your videos, as well as playlists so that you can kind of keep people binging on your own content. No, those are two different things, because I know almost nothing about cards, could you give me a little overview on how they work. And if they are even really important to kind of keep people looking at your content? Trena Little 13:09 Absolutely. It’s basically the rule of marketing, right? to touch, like seven to 10 touch points with you before they’re going to buy. So if you could People need get them from one video to two videos to five videos, the more they binge your content, they’re going to be more likely to figure out or reach out to you to work with you. And so the way we utilize cards strategically is if we are in a video talking about a topic, and we know one of the pieces of the video, we have another video that goes in more detail about that specific topic, we’ll say, we go into more detail and how to script a YouTube video, if you want to watch that. We’ll link it right up here. And we’ll like point to the card and so they can click on that later at the end of the video if they want to go into more detail. Playlists are amazing too. Because again, if somebody finds your video, like they start their session time with your video, and then they watch even, you know, four of your videos, you’re contributed to all that watch time. So that video that started that watch time kind of gets more of a push from YouTube because YouTube is like, hey, people watch this video, people watch video A. And when they’re done with video a they watch B, C, D, E and F as well. So we know we can get somebody to go from just two minutes of watch time to maybe now 40 minutes of watch time. And that’s more valuable to YouTube because they can show more ads on those videos and they make more money from brands that are paying for those ads. Erin Ollila 14:34 Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, so like, where to go from this. I think one thing that like of both of those things you just described, I think this is really the key of why you do the content strategy first, right? You know, you can’t really be pointing to cards if you don’t know that there’s other content that you can create. But it’s also one of those like, the first thing you said was you have to start right. So if we think of it as like, Okay, well I have to develop this content strategy, and this has to link to that, and then we have to put these piles together, like overthinking it. Stop, right. You know, it’s like create like the let me ask before I suggest, do you think that it’s better to do like low hanging fruit when you’re first getting started? Yeah, so it’s like create that low hanging fruit get started. And then once you’re more comfortable and familiar, the strategy I think, is going to start to show itself to you. Of course, it’s so much smarter to work with someone who can help you build the strategy. But don’t let that whole strategy aspect hold you back. Keep in mind, though, in the future, you have to kind of like pay attention to that. Yeah, Trena Little 15:39 even when we are working with clients to build a strategy from scratch. One of the first questions we ask them, or one of the forms, the questions we have in the form is, what are 10 most frequently asked questions that you get. And we start there. Because we know first of all their audiences asking this, they can easily now reference them to a video. So even if they’re asked on Instagram, or in a Facebook group, they actually have a whole video that goes into detail, or an email if they get that question. But we also know that their audience is searching that on Google, which the video will show up on YouTube, I mean, on Google, so you can easily start with like the 10 most frequently asked questions that you get around your topic or niche. Erin Ollila 16:17 One thing that I was just thinking about when we when you were talking about this is how to convert people. Again, this is not playing into content strategy here. But when we’re creating the videos, we want to direct them to do something, obviously stay on YouTube consumer content, but but what is your advice for when we actually take people off of YouTube and send them to our offers or our services? Trena Little 16:39 Yeah, there are a lot of ways that you can send people off of YouTube, in the description box of every single video in your channel links on your channel banner. We also again, as business owners, we aren’t trying to build a YouTube presence, so to speak, we aren’t trying to be YouTubers, so we don’t need a massive amount of YouTube subscribers. So you can have those call to actions directly in your videos. So if you’re creating content relevant to an opt in that you have, so like, if we have an opt in, that’s 100, free video ideas, and we’re doing a video on like, how to get started on YouTube. And we’re saying, you know, first you got to figure out what kind of content you’re going to do, we actually have a whole list of 100 ideas for you, you can grab that, I’ll put the link in the description box for you to get after this video. And then you keep going with your content. And so you’re keeping people watching your content, but you’re sending them off the platform as well. So there are so many ways, but I also think we need to lead. While it’s important to make YouTube happy. It’s also just as important to make our business happy. Because even I think my channel is just over 50,000 subscribers. But I’ve worked with YouTube channels with hundreds of 1000 subscribers. And I know personally, I’m making more because my strategy is built around my business strategy. And I’m able to make multi six figures because of the strategy I use on YouTube. And not because of the strategy I’m using to build a YouTube channel. I’m using YouTube strategically to get leads in sales in my business. Erin Ollila 18:08 And I think that’s a pretty big distinction. And I think it’s also one of those things that when people are doing it, they’re on their own. There’s the blinders there, right? Because they think, Well, you know, especially when it comes to social media advice, they’re always like, build your platforms, keep people on the platforms and all these things. But they approach YouTube in the same way of saying like, well, I have to build my brand on here. Now I have to build so much content that I’m keeping people on here and getting to know me. But there is the separate parts, right? Yes, you want to build up enough presence that you have enough content people can consume. But why are you creating the YouTube channel? If it isn’t to drive more traffic to your business? Like if you’re not trying to just be an influencer? Where is the shift in this business strategy to take those people who are viewing your content and develop them in your audience as well? Trena Little 19:00 Yeah, I think a lot of people again, look at those metrics and subscribers, I, I personally believe subscribing and subscribers on YouTube is just going to be less and less of a factor anymore, because the algorithm is so smart. If people are most likely to watch your content, when they log on to YouTube, or they open youtube, your videos are going to be recommended to them whether you’re subscribed to them or not. And so it’s just going to be important to make people want to watch your videos create good content that people watch to the end. I also get frustrated. People think that YouTube is just a search platform. But it’s a community platform as well. It’s a social media platform as well. And the conversations that you have in the comments. YouTube has the Community tab as well. You can ask questions and polls. And I know just having conversations in some of my videos, some of those people that I have conversations with are actual students of mine now or have bought from me because I have conversations with them in the comments of the video. So it’s also something to think about like you’re building a community on YouTube and it’s really cool. are full because it’s video content. They’re getting a sense of who you are how you teach your style. And they’re deciding, Oh, is she the right person for me or not, because you’re not going to be the right person for everybody. But they get to realize that, and then they can decide, Oh, I’m gonna move forward with her, or that’s why I want to work with her. That’s who I know, I have a client that she launches her offer every other quarter. And they’ll say, you know, I’ve been watching your videos on YouTube for weeks just waiting for this, I didn’t even watch the webinar, like I was just waiting for you to open the doors. Erin Ollila 20:31 Oh, that’s so perfect, right? Like, that’s what we all want, in a sense is to make it as easy as possible for people to trust us enough to buy our services, you know, no one wants, even if someone is really good at sales, they’re very natural when it comes to selling, they want the process to be as smooth as possible, right. So there is really that beauty in in building the trust and getting people to just be like amped in order to purchase with you. Trena Little 20:55 So when I plan out my video game plan, one of the parts, I’ll create the content, and then I’ll look through it and look at engagement pieces. So I will get where can I naturally ask a question for them to start the conversation in the comments. So not every single video but most videos, I will try to figure out where can I ask a natural question not just like, comment below if you like this video, but give them an active kind of prompt to get the conversation going. We will also create a comment in the comments and pin it up top maybe it’s a question like, What do you think about this idea, or you know, getting a little more specific and pinning that at the top? So again, spark conversation in the comments. And then we totally love using the Community tab for polls. Even if we’re determining, you know which direction to take the title, we may say something like, which video idea? Are you more interested in seeing from me A or B. And that also helps us figure out which title is more enticing for our audience to Erin Ollila 21:57 Yeah, you know, gets them involved, which actually makes them want to come back and actually pay attention to those videos that you’re suggesting doing in the future. I love the idea of kind of like really building a natural questions, because not only does it give them a chance to answer you, but it gives you a chance to respond to them in the videos. And I think that’s when people actually go in and do the effort of talking to the content creators, someone and I were talking about, like, it’s a bigger business that I write for. And we were talking about, like, do people actually comment on blogs anymore? And I said yes, but it’s only if you’re actually like building that community aspect, right? Like if you just have a blog post, and the call to action is like so what do you think about this blog post? Like nobody wants to answer that nobody cares, right? But if you as the brand or the business ask like a genuine question that’s or just build in a prompt for them to respond that’s related to that content. And then you’re communicating as the business or brand. Throughout the comments. They’re going to know like this is a conversation. It’s not just like a trick in order to get comments on a blog post. I think the same is kind of going with YouTube and the video comments that’s happening if if you as the business of the brand, respond to people and answer them thank them for the comments that they’re that they’re sharing, you know, the way that they feel about the videos, then they’re going to be so much more likely to kind of build that community with you. Trena Little 23:24 Yeah, I can’t stand when people are like, make sure your comment like and subscribe. It’s what why am I liking this video? What am I commenting and no, I’m not going to subscribe because this is lame. Like, even I engagement is important on YouTube but just telling people like this video, I tie in a comment like for example, I made something I may say something like I know Instagram is tough and it feels like you’re on this constant creation hamster wheel. Like hit that like button if that is you if you are feeling that because I want you to see you’re not alone. That’s something that people are more likely to engage in hit the like button than just say smash the like button or comment below and what are we commenting? Why are we commenting? So definitely following up to what you’re saying I think is important to naturally weave in reasons why don’t just say it and do it but give them a purpose to do it. Erin Ollila 24:18 Someone that I follow on LinkedIn is always like ring the bell and I’m like, goodness gracious. No, thank you. Like I don’t want to be ringing bells for you give me a damn reason to ring that bell. You know, nobody else cares. Like it’s really like everyone comes to content, any type of content thinking like what’s in it for me, like that’s what your consumers thinking, not how they can help you grow your channel grow your platform or anything like that. So I think you know, like the it is an excellent approach to involve the Watcher in your content. And it’s not that hard to make it like human human connection. Like you say, you know, if you’re in the middle of like a discussion and you’re saying like, well, this is how it works for me. I’m not really sure how it works for you. I’d love to hear how you’re actually using XYZ like That’s natural. And that’s easy, like, Don’t overcomplicate this just literally be a human in your content and people will like you so much more. Trena Little 25:07 Absolutely. Erin Ollila 25:09 So one thing we had said, before we started talking that I would really love to cover. I had mentioned to you that we have an episode on SEO on YouTube coming out. And you had mentioned that there, there are some things that frustrates you when you hear just like the idea of using SEO as only a search platform. So what are some of those myths or frustrations that you have when people talk about YouTube and SEO together? Trena Little 25:32 Yeah. So when I hear SEO, a lot of people are, I think jumping to the judgment, that or the idea that Google and YouTube are the same. Whereas Google and YouTube are two completely different platforms. And each platform has different goals. So when you go to Google, right, it’s a it’s a blank white page, basically. And what is the goal of Google is to send people to where they need to be like, it’s to get them off of Google as quick as possible. And so that’s where it kind of that SEO piece comes into, because it gets you quicker to where you need to go. You love them, the YouTube, there are lots of options for you. Because the whole purpose of YouTube is to keep you on the platform. So when you’re trying to rise to the top and you’re trying to get the attention of your person on YouTube, you need to think about the content that’s going to attract them, you need to think about the imagery, you need to think about, basically the headline, which is your title, that’s going to attract them. And so just plugging in SEO keywords in a title or in a tag system isn’t what’s going to make your content stand out. Nor is it what the algorithm does on YouTube. Because again, the algorithm on YouTube is different than Google, the algorithm on YouTube is built to keep people on YouTube, whereas the algorithm on Google is to get you off of Google faster. So YouTube looks at other things to determine where it’s putting you, and if it’s even going to push you to people. So like if you think about a video that you have, if YouTube puts it on the homepage, are they wasting real estate? Are they putting your video on the homepage and nobody’s clicking on it that’s wasted real estate, they’re gonna put another video on that homepage that people are going to click on. So one of the biggest metrics that you need to be looking at different from SEO and figuring out tags is click through rate, how well your title and your thumbnail is getting people to click. And that ties back into understanding your audience and knowing what content that they are likely to click on and what do they want to watch. And then the other biggest piece of this is audience retention. If you can’t get people to watch your content, again, why is YouTube going to put your content in front of video in front of people because the more people watch your video, the longer the more ads that YouTube can show. So it makes it more valuable to YouTube to push those videos. But people click on your video and they only make it 30 seconds in, again, a waste of YouTube’s real estate, they’re going to put a video that gets clicked on gets watched to the end, and then they watch another video. And so it’s just different behavior and different data points that YouTube is looking at to determine where to put a video as opposed to Google. Another great example one of my clients that I used to work with, he talked about how his daughter one day was on his YouTube. And she wanted to know how to draw like a husky. And so she was looking up all of these Husky site how to draw husky. And then the next day she wanted to draw a cat. So she typed in like how to draw a cat. And guess what was at the top of the search was another video about how to draw a husky. Because the algorithm was like, well actually based on your viewer behavior, you’re more likely to watch this video. But even though they typed in how to draw cat, the actual match keyword did not show up first, because YouTube takes into consideration your viewer behavior as well. So I think it’s also important to realize like everybody’s search results are going to be different based on what you’ve watched in the past. So even like keyword optimizing or SEO showing your video doesn’t mean you’re going to show up at the top of search either because your search results are based on your past behavior. Erin Ollila 29:09 And I think this is a plug to like agreeing with what you’re saying not going against it. When you are considering SEO for YouTube, you have to approach it differently from SEO for different platforms. So I think me sharing an example will help other than trying to instruct but when I homeschooled my children, I would consistently put in preschool XYZ for whatever I was looking for, like preschool Mars, like we were learning about the solar system. We talked about how to draw, all I do is search like preschool how to draw a dam, whatever, right. So that was a perfect example for me. But the reason that I did that was you know, like if I’m looking for Mars, I do not need a college level Mars thing for a four year old who wants to literally just talk about or see things that we’ve learned about in like a book for her own age. So I’m sharing this example because like when people think about SEO and actual keyword research, they often think about like topical research. So like, what is the content that I’m sharing, like, how to start a YouTube channel, for example, that’d be a longtail keyword. But like, what the way I’m introducing the idea of at least considering SEO, if that’s something you’re doing on YouTube is thinking about the niche thinking about the clients who are watching thinking about their needs, not specifically the topic, because I think that is helpful. Like, at least using a preschool example, like if I am a content creator, and I want to talk about like preschool Mars, and I use that and the title. Well, that’s what people are actually looking for, in comparison to like, what’s the atmosphere around Mars, right, like because preschoolers while they may definitely talk about different layers of atmosphere, they want to just see the damn pictures of Mars, they want to look at like astronauts like it’s more. It’s geared toward who’s watching. So I think that was a long explanation to add to what you were saying Trena Little 30:58 that if you are speaking to preschoolers, obviously, that’s going to reflect in the actual video and how you’re teaching. So even if you didn’t have in the title, it was for preschoolers, it’s still going to show up for somebody that would search that. But it would be more likely to show up to if it had a click through rate for that audience. And it had an audience retention. Because YouTube just knows a lot about us. And I would also assume, as you as a user, looking up a lot of preschool stuff, if you just put in Mars, I would Erin Ollila 31:33 you know, you’re right. I’ve trained you to Trena Little 31:37 preschool results without you even having to type in preschool. Erin Ollila 31:40 Yeah, I actually was the fool during the pandemic, who like hooked up my leg work YouTube channel to my TV without like, even thinking about like, which sign on I was using, and I had to like, retrain the platform everywhere to be like, No, I don’t want to see Ryan’s world ever again. Like, but yes, I completely agree with that. Quickly, before we kind of like end our conversation, I have two more quick things I want to cover I love that you’re talking about click through rate, audience retention, what? And now these are analytics that people really need to know, how do you go about like checking your YouTube analytics? Are there any specific tools you use, or anything other than those two things that people should be paying attention to once they have enough content on the platform to kind of start making decisions about how to adjust their content strategy? Trena Little 32:30 Yeah, and that’s really important, you have to have enough people watching your videos to get some solid data as well. As far as tools, you honestly don’t need anything to check this YouTube provides this for you. One thing that we do for my channel and all of our one on one clients is we have a baseline we know in the first hour what our click through rate should be for my channel and our clients channels. And so we check the click through rate within the first hour of it publishing and figure out is it hitting the baseline yes or no? No is a below average, what do we need to do? The easiest thing for us to do because every time we create a video idea, we have up to two alternate titles. So the easiest thing that we can do is change the title to see if it brings us back to our baseline. We can also change the thumbnail if we want because we always have two thumbnails, we have an A and a B, just in case. But that is something that you can see right on your YouTube analytics for free. Same thing with audience retention. YouTube provides this to you generally about 48 hours after your video is live because you can’t really do anything to the video. Once it’s published. You can’t re edit it, you can’t add things to it. But you can look at that audience retention. So one way I use this is if I’m going to do a topic similar to a past topic that I did, I talk a lot about YouTube. So if I’m going to do a video about thumbnails, I’m going to look at my last video or my last couple of videos that I talked about thumbnails will get the audience retention and figure out okay, where did I lose people? Where did people start to leave? Is there a dip? Is there a significant dip? What specifically about that dip what was going on? And so that’s how you really want to utilize it. You also can look at YouTube’s Analytics reports that they give you for free is amazing. They can also they also categorize your top videos based on intro your top videos based on length viewers watch. So that’s all inside in your goal is to just see how can you create the best click through rate which I always get asked what is a good click through rate. You compete with yourself, you start somewhere and you figure out how can I make it better? How can I make it better? How can I make it better. And then your goal is to get as many people as possible to the last 20 seconds of your video because that’s where you can introduce an end screen which you can get them to click to your website or to another video. So that is the analytics. The two main analytics that I’m looking at all the time is click Through Rate and audience retention. Erin Ollila 35:02 I love that the data like nerd and me is just wants to like kind of like deep dive and be like, Ooh, thank you YouTube for all this data. Yeah, there’s so Trena Little 35:10 much there. Like you could spend so much time in your analytics that they give you for totally free, they want you to do well, because if you do well, they make more money. So they give you everything that you need to increase watch time and get people to watch more of your content. And you just have to take the time to actually look at it. Erin Ollila 35:27 Yeah, I love that. So earlier, you had said, you know, like, when you’re talking about your clients to when you’re approaching content videos, the always the main driver, I’d love to hear your perspective, knowing that. What do you think about people who are repurposing other content onto YouTube? Is there a strategic approach they should be considering? And what I mean is something like, for example, like we’re interviewing on video right now, but this is an audio podcast. So a lot of people want to take the video content they’ve created and move it on over, obviously, you know, like, if you’re having a 40 minute video, your that’s not going to perform the way it should. Not that you can’t put it over. But like, is there a best practices for taking content that’s not necessarily created for YouTube and using it on it, especially for things now with like the introduction, introduction of like, video shorts and things like that? Trena Little 36:22 Yeah, don’t do it. Trena Little 36:24 I mean, on that, if you want you to, to drive new people to your audience, if you want to use YouTube, as an audience grower, use YouTube as number one, use YouTube as the start of all your content. Yes, you can take reels and tiktoks and put them on as YouTube shorts, by all means, absolutely. But when you’re taking like a Facebook Live, or you’re taking a podcast episode that is not created with YouTube in mind. So honestly, the time it takes you to upload it to YouTube is going to be wasted anyways. And I just always recommend start with YouTube first, because you have to really think about your video as every single video as a marketing package. You need to think about that title and that thumbnail first before you even craft the content because your content should deliver on a title and a thumbnail first. And so yeah, I take a hard stance on if you’re not wanting to do YouTube as your number one, then don’t waste your time over there. Because it’s not going to give you the ROI that you want. Erin Ollila 37:23 Yeah, it’s okay. I love hard stances. All right, so two final questions for you. I ask everyone these questions is one based on our conversation today. If you could give like a super teeny tiny homework assignment to the listeners who really wanted to use YouTube for their business, what would it be? Trena Little 37:39 Create a video on one of the commonly asked questions you get what is something that people ask you all the time or you see asked in a Facebook group about your topic? And just answer it on video and put it on YouTube? Erin Ollila 37:51 Perfect. And if you this is the one everyone hates, I might need to change this but if you could be connected with anyone business pleasure Dead Alive, who would it be and why? Trena Little 38:02 Oh man. I am a Bravo Holic. And so I’m really into scannable right now. So I feel I don’t want to be tied in with like Stasi to get the lowdown on like what’s really happening over there in Vanderpump Rules world. So I’m okay with that. Since that’s kind of where my my spare time is going. Erin Ollila 38:25 Yeah, no, that’s perfect. All right. I will put all of the ways that people can kind of like consume your content, get in touch with you learn about how to work with you in the show notes. But I thank you so much for your time today. It was awesome. And I just really appreciate all of your insight. Trena Little 38:39 Absolutely. Thank you. Erin Ollila 38:45 Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Talk copy to me. If you enjoyed spending your time with me today. I would be so honored if you could subscribe to the show and leave a review. Want to continue the conversation. Head on over to Instagram and follow me at Erin Ollila. Until next time friends