How To Grow Your YouTube Channel: Top 20 Tips

Lately, I learned an important lesson in the world of digital marketing. I learned that I absolutely love vlogging (much more than blogging). I sit in front of the computer an enormous amount of time, and I’m tired of typing. If I’m able to change my routine and spend less time with the computer (while gaining even better results), I need to make that change. Well, I found that very change in my transition from blogging to vlogging.

If you’ve followed the PPC Ian YouTube Channel, you have probably noticed the flurry of activity, including my video about Investing $25 Per Month Commission Free. Simply put: I have an enormous passion for video right now, and have evolved my online presence to emphasize video. This doesn’t mean I have given up on blogging, it just means that I will emphasize vlogging a bit more in an effort to save my hands from typing while having a lot of fun. And, I believe I can add even greater value to all of you out there because there’s something unique about video that offers a truly unique way of communicating. It’s like having me right there with you!

I’m certainly no YouTube expert. My channel is just getting started, and I have just over 400 subscribers right now, a far cry from my personal goal of 100,000 subscribers. That being said, I have sure learned a lot over the last six months. Today, I want to share my tips on how to grow your YouTube channel if you are just getting started. Welcome to my Top 20 Tips for Starting Your YouTube Channel.

Tip 1: Consistency Is Key

If you are serious about your YouTube presence, make sure to upload a brand new video each and every week, at a very minimum. You have to be consistent. Your subscribers expect it, and I have heard that YouTube’s algorithm does as well.

Have a dormant YouTube account, one that has been neglected? It’s totally possible to revive your account by posting with consistency on a go-forward basis.

Bonus Tip: In the early days, aim to upload 2 or 3 high quality videos per week.

Tip 2: Invest In Video Gear

You can be a great YouTuber on a very scrappy budget. In fact, your smartphone should do just fine as your video camera (I film most of my videos on my iPhone). That said, some basic equipment is essential. I’m talking about a tripod, smartphone tripod adapter, lavalier microphone, and cable to connect your microphone to your iPhone. Since I film most of my videos outdoors, I rely on natural lighting and currently don’t own any lighting equipment. That being said, I have aspirations to develop a studio environment over time. I have achieved stellar results with the basics.

Bonus Tip: Do not film without these basics. I have attempted YouTube videos with just my phone and selfie stick. Those do not perform as well and can come across as unprofessional. If you go to my YouTube channel, and check out the older videos, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Basic equipment makes all the difference in the world and is table stakes for launching a successful channel.

Tip 3: Wait For The Right Lighting

This is a huge one. The lighting has to be just right. I personally film early mornings or late afternoons. I have a preference for cloudy days that still have a good amount of light coming through. I’ll film in the shade and make sure that equal light is coming from all directions so there are no shadows on my face. Moreover, it’s essential my camera is in the shade too.

Check out my personal YouTube and you’ll see that I’ve made every mistake it the book when it comes to lighting. It’s only recently that I’ve really acquired the skills to perfect lighting. It’s a skill that comes over time and takes practice. And, that’s ok, because I know I will continue to improve over time.

Here’s one of my videos with excellent lighting. I got up really early and filmed in the early morning hours with the sun behind the camera. Moreover, it was an overcast morning, my favorite outdoor filming conditions.

Here’s one of my videos with great quality content, but poor lighting. Notice how there is a shadow on my face and I’m hard to see in general. While I’m really hard to see, the surrounding grass is green and bright. I made a few mistakes here, especially filming in the middle of the day (with the sun overhead).

Tip 4: Don’t Underestimate YouTube SEO Basics

Many reading this blog are digital marketing professionals, so you know all about SEO. On YouTube, the same SEO basics apply. Make sure your title is eye-catching and descriptive. Maximize use of your description to truly explain what your video is all about. I love including bullet points that take the viewer step-by-step through the actual video they will see. Spend time on your keyword list. Leverage short, medium, and longer keywords to tell YouTube exactly what your video is all about. Leverage "head terms" and also "long tail keywords", just like PPC. Never rush to upload a video without investing the time in this final step.

Bonus Tip: I like to completely separate the activities of filming, editing, and uploading. This way, I give each activity the emphasis and time it deserves. Don’t rush the final step!

Tip 5: Create Captivating Thumbnails

I personally leverage Canva to design my video thumbnails. It’s essential to create custom thumbnails, ones that stand out and grab attention. A huge (and growing) percentage of your viewers are on mobile smartphones, and your thumbnail must be incredibly captivating, even on a very small screen.

Bonus Tips: Leverage filters (brightness and contrast) to make your thumbnail pop. I typically increase contrast by 30% these days, and brightness by 10% (although filters can vary). Make sure your text is easy to read. I like black text with a white box behind.

When you view my YouTube channel, you will notice that even my thumbnails have evolved over time. Here is a sample video where the thumbnail really pops thanks to my outfit (form fitting blue shirt from Lululemon, more on this under Tip 8 below), lighting conditions, and filters in Canva.

Tip 6: Generate Traffic Into YouTube

When you’re just getting started, your videos may not generate a lot of traffic organically on YouTube. Building a channel takes time and views are exponential in nature. To get the ball rolling, share your videos on your personal blog, social media, and even via email with friends (or your email list if you have one). Generating traffic into YouTube can get the ball rolling, and I’ve heard that YouTube greatly values this inbound traffic from a video scoring standpoint.

Tip 7: Script and Practice Your Videos

Before filming, I always jot down an outline of what I’m going to say in my notebook. And, I typically do a practice run before my real filming session. To maximize my time, I don’t really edit, other than adding some opening and closing effects. As such, I need to be comfortable filming a one-and-done session. With practice in front of the camera, this gets easier over time. I could never avoid editing without having my script and practice runs. In the end, this saves me a ton of time and makes the video flow really well. (I personally dislike it when videos have a ton of edits, as they can create a jumpy effect.)

Tip 8: Invest In Solid Color Clothes

Solid color clothes video so much better than complex patterns. They look so sharp and amazing. Additionally, I prefer clothes that are form-fitting as compared to relaxed fit. You want to look your personal best on camera.

Bonus Tip: Consider personal hygiene before filming. I typically floss, brush my teeth, and shave before filming.

Tip 9: Your Posture Is Critical

I have learned this one through trial and error. Never sit in a chair and slouch back when filming. This posture emphasizes your legs and stomach area, and minimizes your head. The wrong camera angle can make you look quite weird on the Internet, forever! I have found that a standing pose works well. I have also found that a sitting pose leaning forward works well. I always like to have the camera at a height slightly above my head looking down. That way, I’m always looking up and forward a bit into the camera. This creates emphasis on my face, and allows me to appear as my personal best. Of course, go to some of my older YouTube videos and you’ll see that I have learned these lessons via trial and error.

Bonus Tip: Try to look right into the camera, so you connect with your audience. You are speaking directly to people here, so you want to address them directly.

Tip 10: Pick A Role Model

YouTube has been around forever. There are thousands of mentors on YouTube who have been there and done that. Find your favorite channels and learn from the masters. I learn new skills each week thanks to the collaborative environment of content creators on YouTube.

Tip 11: Leverage iMovie

If you don’t have a Mac, you may want to buy one for your YouTube endeavors. iMove makes video editing a breeze. And, you can easily educate yourself on how to effectively leverage iMovie from, you guessed it, YouTube videos!

Bonus Tip: Consider investing in a really sharp logo for your opening sequence. I personally like to have a short teaser clip, followed by my opening sequence/slide, followed by my actual video. I believe a solid logo creates authority and trust with your audience.

Tip 12: Find Settings That Work (and Reuse Them)

Some backgrounds look better than others. Experiment with a variety of settings and find the ones that work the best. Then, get your money’s worth by reusing them over and over.

Bonus Tip: While some people are great at filming in very busy, public places, I have discovered that’s not my cup of tea. Find your own stride. When you’re first starting, odds are a more private setting will provide better results.

Tip 13: Smile

Make sure that you smile at the beginning and end of your video. It communicates positive to your audience, and makes it easier to edit out the content before and after your video (when you’re walking to and from the camera). Also, don’t forget to smile throughout your video and be happy. This is a fun process, and you want to uplift your audience.

Tip 14: Use The Right Camera On Your Phone

This tip is for those filming on their smartphone. Do not use the selfie camera. The selfie camera is typically of lower quality (fewer megapixels), and it’s just weird and ineffective filming a video when you can see yourself the entire time. Rather, use the main camera on your phone. It creates a more calming environment and your video quality will be superior.

Bonus Tip: Avoid a remote Bluetooth on/off camera switch. My process: I hit the record button, I make sure recording is working, I walk over to my stage and film, then I walk back to the camera and end recording when I’m done. This is so much easier than having a remote on/off switch that can easily fail.

Tip 15: Don’t Settle

You don’t want to take this tip too seriously because you’ll never get started. It’s impossible to have every video be the best work of your career. That being said, do not publish a video if you do not feel right about it, even if you invested significant time filming. I ran into this situation just today. I filmed a video yesterday, and contemplated running with it. I just couldn’t settle and re-filmed today. It made all the difference in the world, as the new version is one of my best productions yet. My first filming session acted as amazing practice. The second time around, things went really quickly and efficiently.

Tip 16: Test, But Find Your Niche

My YouTube channel has experimented with a variety of different videos and themes over the years. Some niches clearly resonate with viewers and others do not. Your first five or ten YouTube videos will be experiments. See which ones work and which ones don’t. Take that feedback to craft your channel. As you’re scaling, stay within your lane and double down on content that performs. Once your channel is larger (several thousand subscribers), I have heard that it’s ok to swim outside your lane a bit more, but those early days require focus.

Tip 17: Engage With Your Community

Your community is everything! Make sure to engage with your community and take questions from viewers. Some of my best videos are in response to outstanding questions from viewers. I attempt to respond to all comments (either in comments or video). The value my community brings to the table is substantial, and I’m forever grateful. I get especially excited when I see community members helping each other out, and answering each other’s questions. That’s what it’s all about!

Tip 18: Stay Focused

Building a successful YouTube channel requires persistence and dedication. In the early days, you may be uploading new videos every few days (like myself). To be successful on YouTube, you must really want it and you must stay focused. Don’t dilute yourself across too many projects. Once one’s YouTube channel reaches greater scale (such as 10,000+ subscribers), I have heard that the level of persistence can slow down a bit, and a one/two video per week schedule works just fine.

Tip 19: Don’t Worry About Your Statistics

One of the pitfalls off digital marketing is analysis paralysis. Us digital marketers (myself included) tend to get tied up in statistics. Unfortunately, when you first start your YouTube channel, your stats will not be very positive. There will be many ups and downs. If you have enabled monetization, revenue will be low. You may have surges in views followed by lulls. You are an entrepreneur and must treat YouTube as your business. Don’t give up, and don’t worry about the statistics. Keep your eye on your goal and just keep creating great content. Your will must be strong, and persistence is key.

Tip 20: Go For It

While this may seem overwhelming, it’s actually really easy once you get out there and learn on the job like I did (and continue to do). My parting tip is to go for it. You are going to have so much fun. Your quality will improve over time. It’s ok to look back at your early videos and see that you’ve come a long way. Trial, error, and iteration: That’s what it’s all about.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed my tips, and YouTube videos too. Are you a YouTube creator? I’d love to hear your favorite tips.

Buffer Review: I Love Buffer

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jun 14 1

The way I approach social media has truly transformed. I now feel like a social media giant, thanks to an amazing platform called Buffer. Today, I wanted to share my review of how I’m personally leveraging Buffer.

Before we get started, what is Buffer? Simply put: Buffer is an at-scale social media content publishing platform. Buffer allows you to publish amazing content across many social media accounts, all in one convenient location. Here’s how I personally utilize Buffer…

1. I Leverage Buffer To Manage 25 (and Growing) Profiles In One Place

In my current role, my team is incredibly lean. At the same time, as a local, store-based business, my marketing program involves a ton of social media profiles. As a digital marketer with 12 years experience, I can’t settle for anything but the best. Unfortunately, I ran into a brick wall when attempting to manage 25 social media profiles manually.

Enter Buffer. Buffer allows me to manage my 25 profiles in one place. Whether on my laptop or my iPhone, Buffer is seamless and just plain easy. The platform saves me huge time and makes the impossible finally possible. As my portfolio of social profiles grows, I know I can count on Buffer for scale.

2. I Leverage Buffer To Optimize My Time

As a professional that likes to allocate large chunks of time to projects in a single sitting, social media has always been a challenge. Logging in/out of accounts and spending 15 minutes here and there has never been fun nor efficient.

At the core of Buffer is an amazing machine learning algorithm. I’m now able to sit down for one or two hours at a time, loading Buffer with great content. Then, I let Buffer decide when to post the content. Buffer learns over time, posting at the times that are most likely to drive business results. Further, Buffer monitors my own posting schedule and stretches out posts during times when I’m less active. Buffer has turned my social media content creation sessions into pure productivity.

3. I Leverage Buffer To Collaborate

As my team expands, I want everyone involved in social media. Thankfully, Buffer offers the ability to have multiple users. And, Buffer offers multiple access levels. I’m a manager so my posts go right into the queue. However, some of my team members are contributors so their posts must be approved by me prior go going live.

Moreover, I’m now scheduling brainstorming sessions across the company. Buffer offers an amazing reason to sit down with a colleague and write copy. We can load the copy directly into Buffer while the ideas are fresh and let Buffer decide when it’s best to push our content live. Buffer has increased my ability to collaborate across the entire company.

4. I Leverage Buffer For Amazing Social Media Graphics

Some of the best social media posts include fresh graphics. Unfortunately, such graphics can be time-consuming to create in Photoshop or very expensive when created by a designer. Thankfully, Buffer offers a platform within a platform called Pablo. Pablo makes it simple to create some of the most effective social media graphics ever, on the fly.

5. I Leverage Buffer For Analytics

At the end of the day, all of us digital marketers are responsible for results. We are data-driven marketers and must push the needle forward. We thrive on great results. Thankfully, Buffer offers advanced analytics within the core platform. Now, I can see, in real time, the results of my campaigns. And, Buffer makes it really easy to share those results with my entire company.

Beyond the platform itself, I have had such a positive experience with everyone at the Buffer team. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Buffer for making me feel like a social media giant. I look forward to growing my social media program with Buffer as my partner every step of the way.

Image of PPC Ian © PPCIan.com

How I Drove 24,747 Facebook Likes At $0.04 Each

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 4 5

I recently ran a Facebook campaign for PPC Ian with the goal of expanding my audience of readers. What started out as a small test turned into a large campaign driving 24,747 incremental page likes for only $1,001.70 (or $0.04 per like). Today, I’m thrilled to share insights from my campaign and also screenshots from my Facebook Advertising account.

Facebook Advertising Insight 1: Always Test

My advertising budget for PPC Ian is really low. That said, I always try to dabble in campaigns of all sorts. It’s this moonlighting and experimenting on my personal blog that expands the knowledge and results I can drive as an overall marketer. If you have a day job in digital marketing, you absolutely need to be experimenting on your own as well. Think of it as an investment in yourself. This is money well spent!

Facebook Advertising Insight 2: Have An Adaptive Budget Philosophy

When I started this campaign, I had allocated a low budget. I don’t recall exactly, but it was probably no more than $10 or $20 per day, with the goal of running for a week. The same day I launched, I quickly noticed that my campaign was driving one of the best cost-per-likes I have experienced. I started raising budgets in increments, observing my cost-per-like carefully. I noticed that it did not increase, in fact it appeared to decrease! I had certainly crafted a scalable campaign, one worthy of investment. I adapted to the market conditions and doubled down on my investment.

Facebook Advertising Insight 3: Experiment With Non-Standard Audiences

I thought I knew my audience fairly well. PPC Ian is targeted towards digital marketing professionals. Most of my readers are US-based, typically in their 20s and 30s, building fast-paced careers.

When running this campaign, I expanded my target audience to include anyone over the age of 18, and also included a bunch of tech-savvy countries such as India. I was delightfully surprised to discover that the PPC Ian target audience is truly global, and can skew younger/male. I’m impressed that younger generations are building digital marketing careers internationally, as they are surely setting themselves up for success in life! I feel like I tapped into a truly responsive audience by challenging my tried-and-true marketing filters.

Insight 4: It’s All About Mobile

If you have been advertising in social media for a while, you probably already know this one. Social media is a truly personal, mobile experience. It seems to be even more so with the international professional. This campaign drove most of its success from mobile devices.

Insight 5: It’s OK To Take Pause

$1,001.70 is a big budget for me! This is my personal blog, after all. As you can see in the first screenshot (top of this blog post), I paused my campaign a few times. I actually reduced my daily budget to $1 and then paused to be extra safe I wouldn’t spend more money. I wanted to test my Facebook page to make sure my new fans were legit and responsive to my social media updates.

I was pleased to find that my new fans were very responsive, I was affordably building a new source of traffic to the PPC Ian brand. Upon un-pausing and raising my budgets, I watched my cost-per-like closely. I found that pausing my campaign did not hurt my results. I was able to continue with a similar cost-per-like and did not hurt my results by pausing. Lesson: Don’t be scared to take pause.

Insight 6: Pictures of Me Speaking Work Well

If you’ve been in digital marketing for a while, you know that creative is one of the most important elements of any successful campaign. I didn’t test multiple creative in this campaign, but I did at least discover a winning creative. I featured a picture of myself speaking publicly at Programmatic I/O, and encouraged those viewing my ad to contact me with any question. I’m always here to help. Based upon the success of this creative, I’m now rolling similar creative out to my PPC Ian retargeting campaigns.

Insight 7: Be Scrappy and Leverage Pockets of Downtime

I don’t have a ton of free time. That said, I live a no excuses lifestyle. I actually launched this campaign on my mobile smartphone while at a family get-together. I had a few minutes of downtime, and just went for it. Even if you’re not in front of your computer, always test. Leverage those small chunks of downtime to launch campaigns. There are no excuses if you have true dedication to digital marketing.

Insight 8: $0.04 Likes Are Possible At Scale

I used to think that $0.30 per like was reasonably good. This campaign certainly challenged my thinking. $0.04 is now going to be the golden benchmark to beat. The moral: Always optimize and challenge yourself for increased efficiency.

I hope these tips help and my sincere thank you to all of my new readers!

My Social Media Content Calendar Strategy

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 25 1

A strong percentage of my readers arrive at PPC Ian via social media. An even greater percentage arrive via organic search, which is boosted and reinforced by my social media strategy (Google and other search engines value social citations). Social media is not just about gaining a lot of followers. It’s about engaging your audience, and providing your followers true value. In doing so, social media can become one of your strongest sources of traffic, a defensible channel, and a way of diversifying risk.

Today, I want to share how I personally engage my social media audience. The calendar below is a work in progress and continues to evolve. In fact, social media engagement is a huge area of focus for me right now, so I’m writing this blog post as much for myself as for all of you. Follow me in social media to see the below strategy unfold in real time!

Before I dive into my strategy, I wanted to share a fundamental belief of mine: Each social media network is completely different than the next. Therefore, each requires a unique strategy. Of course, there will always be what I like to call "overrides", those campaigns that transcend all social media networks. However, on a day-to-day basis, I like to cater to each network differently, therefore requiring a unique strategy for each. I try not to link my networks together.

Twitter

With over 10,500 followers, Twitter is the cornerstone of my social media strategy. As an early adopter, I’m really thankful for such a strong following on Twitter and the traffic it provides to my blog.
My content strategy on Twitter typically involves a post every single day, and often multiple per day. While audiences on some of the other platforms, such as Facebook, may get overwhelmed with new posts every single day, Twitter can certainly sustain more frequent updates.
While my content schedule varies a bit week-to-week, my calendar typically involves the following Tweets:
A link into my latest PPC Ian blog post (I typically post these late on Sunday nights, on a weekly cadence).
A mid-week link to my latest blog post again, for those that did not see the first Tweet earlier in the week.
Throwback Thursday links into historically popular PPC Ian blog posts. Each blog post takes so much time and effort, and why not rejuvenate posts from the past?
A motivational quote (just text, no image) from yours truly. I like to pepper these in to empower those following.
Links into my latest digital marketing definitions (see Tumblr below).
Links into guest blog posts I have written for other blogs.
Live Tweeting (both text and images) at digital marketing conferences.
Retweets of great articles. I use these sparingly, as I like most of my content to be original.
@ messages to friends in the digital marketing community, it’s fun to spark public conversation on Twitter, and helps those following find others of interest.

Facebook

People are typically on Facebook to connect with friends and family. They are not as interested in consuming digital marketing and business content, from my experience. However, if you make the content truly great and engaging, Facebook can drive a ton of traffic to your site. Moreover, it’s the perfect social media platform to gain support from your personal network.
Due to my sensitivity for over-posting on Facebook, my content calendar is much more sparse than Twitter. I’ll typically do the following:
Link into my latest blog post on Sunday nights. Put some paid "boost" budget behind my best posts, making sure the boost goes all the way through Monday. It’s amazing how much extra engagement this investment can drive and it’s totally worth it, in my opinion.
Throwback Thursday posts on Thursdays. Sometimes I’ll miss a week.
Links into guest blog post I have written on other blogs.
Q&A for anyone in my community who has a question for PPC Ian! I really like Facebook for this purpose because you can easily write long-form responses, and everyone in the community benefits.

As a professional network and my personal online resume, I approach LinkedIn with incredible seriousness. While I see others posting new articles, links, and content to LinkedIn daily, I have opted for a different approach.
I’m exclusively posting new PPC Ian blog posts right now, with a cadence of once per week. Sometimes I’m experimenting with Throwback Thursday, but with a much more conservative cadence than other networks.
In the future, I will probably start experimenting with LinkedIn-specific posts. So far, I have had a difficult time rationalizing posting on LinkedIn vs. my own blog. And, I’m skeptical about reposting content to LinkedIn that already has a home on my blog. My future strategy involves writing pillar content that has an exclusive home on LinkedIn, a few times each year. Again, my LinkedIn strategy is all around my online resume, and incredible quality. I don’t need high frequency on LinkedIn.

Google+

Because Google+ is owned by Google, I know that anything posted on Google+ is likely to be indexed by Google quickly. As a result, I’m always posting new (and old) blog posts on Google+. Basically, anything I’d post on Twitter, I’ll also post on Google+.
My belief is that most Google+ users are more sporadic about their use. Perhaps they login a few times each week. While we are all on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all day every day, Google+ usage is infrequent. As a result, I’m not overly concerned with too much posting. If I have something to post, especially something that I want Google to find, I’ll do it!
My Google+ strategy does not involve much interaction with others. Since I don’t have as many connections on Google+, it’s more of a stream of updates from my end.
If there is one social media network that doesn’t have as clear of a strategy in my overall content calendar, it would be Google+. That said, as Google+ gains popularity over time, I’m sure my own strategy will evolve.

Instagram

I’m a tremendous fan of the Instagram platform and community. My strategy is simple: I post one new photo each day and also comment on someone else’s photo each day. As mentioned before, each network requires a unique strategy. My photos are typically unique to Instagram, and give consumers a reason to follow me on Instagram to gain access to my photo stream.
To add great value, I always include helpful captions with my photos that bring it all back to digital marketing. Hashtags are a big part of my strategy too.
Instagram is a real community that supports each another and I’m careful to weave that into my overall strategy.

I’m newer to Pinterest and have a few boards. The overall hub of my strategy involves pinning my new posts on PPC Ian.
Also, I spend a few minutes each week adding pins to some of my other boards, all related to digital marketing. I especially enjoy adding pins to my boards about digital marketing leaders, digital marketing conferences, and digital marketing companies. Rather than re-pinning content that already exists on Pinterest, I try to bring unique, new content to the community.

Tumblr

I’m a big fan of Tumblr because it’s so easy to publish short blog posts. A few years back, I wanted to start this Digital Marketing Dictionary. I wanted to post definitions of common terms. These definitions would be short and simple, yet incredibly helpful to the digital marketing community. I knew these would be too short for my blog. An idea was born: Create my Digital Marketing Dictionary on Tumblr.
These days, I’m posting on Tumblr several times a week. Each post defines a different digital marketing term. My Tumblr strategy is really unique and has helped me steadily secure more and more followers.
I will sometimes link into my Tumblr definitions from Twitter and Google+, giving more exposure to my dictionary.

Quora

I don’t hear as much about Quora these days, but continue to see huge value on this question-and-answer platform. In fact, my personal answers have received 959 views in the last 30 days and 19,264 all time. That’s a lot of views, and a lot of opportunities to connect with new readers! That’s also a lot of opportunity to empower other digital marketers and businesspeople, the charter of my blog.
While I let my commitment on Quora slide over the last year, I’m taking this network very seriously again. My strategy going forward: I will answer one question per week. I will write very in-depth answers, those that truly add value.

Others

Since this post is more geared towards my recurring/weekly content calendar, I did not include YouTube. YouTube is more about long-form content, epic videos. While YouTube is not part of my weekly content calendar, it’s certainly a platform that is part of my overall content strategy. Historically, I have included videos from speaking events and also occasionally some more impromptu videos.
The social media platforms outlined above encompass the majority of my PPC Ian social media strategy. However, I’m always expanding and have obviously missed some of the big ones. What about Snapchat, for example? As defined in my recent post, An App A Week, I’m actively learning (I mean really learning) a new app every single week. You can bet that many of these apps have a social media angle to them, and that they’ll get folded into my social media content calendar in their own, unique way!
Also, while it’s not considered a social media network, I try to comment on other blogs from time-to-time. Many think blog commentating as a strategy doesn’t work anymore. That is very far from the truth, I get a lot of traffic by leaving valuable comments.

In the world of digital marketing, it’s not only about great strategy, but also about great execution. In your own business, craft a social media calendar that is ambitious, yet also actionable.

I’m going to leave you with one more closing thought: Please, please don’t outsource your social media to a virtual assistant! Speak with your own, authentic voice. Add true value. Post at a rate that is realistic and scalable. I see some high-profile bloggers and businesses fall into this outsourcing and automation trap. They are posting continuous updates across all of their social media profiles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are reposting so many articles that I don’t even know if they read them all. While automation and outsourcing has its time and place in your digital marketing strategy, I recommend approaching social media with your own authentic self. This is where you can truly build long-lasting relationships.

An App A Week

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 11 0

There’s a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and YouTube phenomenon named Tai Lopez. Have you heard of him? If you watch YouTube, I’m sure you have seen at least one of his pre-roll video advertisements. He’s in his garage with his Ferrari and also a multitude of books and bookcases. Tai encourages his listeners to expand their horizons by reading a book a day. He argues that reading brings knowledge and knowledge drives power. As someone who doesn’t read as much as he should (I spend my free time writing), Tai’s message struck home with me. He encouraged me to elevate my reading game, although I’m going to shoot for a book per week instead of per day. Thanks for the motivation, Tai!

Today, I want to do my version of Tai’s message, specifically for digital marketing professionals. I want to encourage everyone reading to install and explore at least one new app every single week. Mobile is at the forefront of everything we do. The better you understand the latest in mobile apps, the quicker you will grow.

In my opinion, the best employees are those that spend some time learning and experimenting during their off-hours. Look how competitive the advertising landscape has become these days. Even with budgets in the millions, you have to be one of the best marketers around to really win the game. It’s even more difficult being competitive when you’re on your own, have next to zero budget, and have no team. The scrappy moonlighter is forced to come up with the most innovative ideas ever, and this is precisely why you always need to be learning in your off-hours. This is when you will generate some of your best ideas, and make some of your greatest advances forward.

In your quest to learn a new app each week, I’m not talking about video games! I’m talking about real apps, those that can add value to your business or expand your horizons as a marketer and technologist. Pick popular apps and new apps. Pick social media apps and productivity apps. Even if you feel like you’re the last person on earth to try an app and you’re embarrassed you waited so long, just go for it! (I was in this very situation with the app I just installed, Instagram.)

Don’t just install the app, but spend some serious time engaging and learning the app. Do your best to maximize the app, treating your personal account as if you are running a business. (Hopefully you are running a business. As long as your side business does not take away from your job and as long as you don’t spend too much time on it each week, the lessons you learn will truly propel your full-time employer and corporate career.)

This past week, I’m thrilled to say that I finally got on Instagram. While it’s honestly a little embarrassing to admit I waited so long, I’m also trying to illustrate a point here. While I probably should have learned Instagram a long time ago, better late than never. It’s not about where I was yesterday, but where I am today. I’m always learning. Just like reading a new book, learning a new app is an empowering and powerful experience.

Please make sure to connect with me on Instagram, and check out my photos. As you can see, I didn’t just install the app and forget it. I’m taking Instagram seriously and trying to maximize and learn everything I can about the platform. While I don’t expect every app I install to be so much fun, I found that Instagram is one of the most addictive social media platforms in existence. I also found that the community on Instagram is so willing to support one another.

What have I learned on Instagram in my first week? A whole lot. In fact, when my good friends at Acquisio offered me an opportunity to guest post, I decided to write an Instagram guide for newcomers, like myself. I highly recommend reading on and checking out my guide on How To Get Started On Instagram. Thanks, Acquisio, for the opportunity! (For those that don’t know, Acquisio is one of the most powerful performance marketing platforms around. They also happen to have a stellar blog, and I’m lucky to guest post from time-to-time.)

I’m A Huge Fan of YouTube (Part 2 of 2)

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 29 2

I’m a tremendous fan of YouTube. Recently, in part 1 of this series, I shared my passion for YouTube as a purely incremental digital media channel. Today, I’m excited to share some of my other perspectives on YouTube and why I think it’s so critical to your career in digital marketing.

When it comes to careers in digital marketing (or really any other career for that matter), public speaking matters. It’s important to present yourself well, and practice, practice, practice. The best practice is actually engaging in public speaking opportunities. I have a huge one coming up in the next few weeks, and I’ll be blogging all about it here on PPC Ian. Last year, my big public speaking accomplishment was Search Insider Summit. What happens, however, when you don’t have opportunities to speak at big conferences every month. (I’m so busy that I can typically only do one or two speaking events each year.) After all, public speaking requires consistent practice. Get out there an build your own YouTube channel! Leverage YouTube as a way to practice your speaking. You’ll quickly find that certain videos take multiple takes to get it right, and you’ll refine your presentation skills.
The best digital marketers find ways to refine their craft. Moonlighting (dabbling in your own side projects/experiments) is a great way to learn and explore facets of digital marketing you may not get to engage on a day-to-day basis. Moonlighting allows you to bring added insights back to your job. As long as you stay in a completely different space from your job, get approval from your company, and spend a very small amount of time moonlighting, I see tremendous value coming from this practice. If you’re going to moonlight and dabble in something different, why not create your own YouTube channel? You’ll truly learn how to make money online, engage an audience, create compelling content, and so much more with your YouTube side project.
There’s so much involved in building and ranking a website. Take PPC Ian, for example. I absolutely love my blog, but it has taken countless hours to get to where I’m at now. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, however what if you want to learn in your spare time and don’t have a lot of time or money. YouTube is a one-stop-shop for setting up an online business. Because it’s a really good product and because it’s a Google product, you get everything in one package. I’m talking about ease of use, ease of ranking organically (and in related videos), ease of management, ease of monetization, and so much more. With YouTube, Google takes the guesswork out of everything so you can focus on one thing: Creating amazing content. This point really ties into the last one: YouTube is probably the easiest and most scalable way to dabble in a digital marketing project in your spare time. Case in point: I have one YouTube channel that has 200,000 video views, and I only have a total of 14 videos.
YouTube is the future. The future of television is interactivity, mobility, and limitless choice. I still truly believe we are in the very early stages of YouTube and online video. Embrace the trend now, and you will be incredibly well positioned for the future. Truly own your vertical. Create the best resource for your vertical. That is an asset that will pay dividends for many years to come. The time to embrace YouTube is now. From a strategy perspective, I encourage all brands to invest in YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, please make sure to check out the PPC Ian YouTube Channel. Do you have a YouTube channel? Please share!

I’m A Huge Fan of YouTube (Part 1 of 2)

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 2 0

I’m a tremendous fan of YouTube. There are many reasons why, and I’m thrilled to explore them as part of a two-post series. Perhaps the most striking reason is the screenshot below from one of my personal YouTube accounts (not my PPC Ian one, but another account). This report (from YouTube’s amazing video analytics) demonstrates the ways in which viewers arrived at my YouTube videos. Before looking at my YouTube analytics, I naturally assumed those watching my videos would find them:

Embedded on my website (the particular channel in question is related to a high-volume website, and most videos are embedded)
Searching on YouTube
Searching on Google (since YouTube videos are embedded in the organic search results)

While all three of these are driving video views, the number one way in which people are finding my videos is a surprising one: YouTube suggested videos. Out of my 5,888 video views in the last 30 days, 4,090 are from suggested videos (that’s 69.5%)!

What are suggested videos? At the end of a YouTube video, you will oftentimes see a matrix of suggested videos, those of similar topical matter (or closely-related topical manner). Those watching YouTube videos typically watch a series of videos and they find the next one of interest by following YouTube’s suggestions.

It’s almost like watching TV. You’ll be sitting there watching a channel. All of the sudden, you get bored and start changing the channel. You don’t just watch one show, you watch multiple. Since YouTube videos are short, one can expect the average viewer to watch many clips in a row. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense, but I would have never guessed this going in!

So, we’ve established that I get a lot of video views from suggested videos, but why does this matter? Why does it make me a tremendous fan of YouTube? It’s easy: This is a brand new customer acquisition media channel.

I’m always looking for new channels, new ways of reaching users/potential customers. I’ve got organic search and paid search covered. If most of my YouTube traffic was coming from Google organic results, for example, I don’t see that as truly incremental. However, I view these suggested videos as incremental. It’s a media channel I’m really not getting at any other way. For this reason, I’m even more of a fan of YouTube than I was before. Stay tuned, in part 2 of this post, I’ll share more interesting nuances and thoughts around why YouTube is so important for your marketing program.

Generating Demand To Assist & Complement PPC

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jun 16 2

PPC is my favorite marketing channel because of its incredible efficiency. After all, you are capturing prospective customers as they are searching for the precise product/service you sell. It doesn’t get much better than that, you are capturing people who are explicitly looking for brands like yours. However, one of the challenges for PPC, especially for gigantic programs, is search query volume. After optimizing your program incredibly well (I’m talking about years of optimization), your growth may start slowing down if search query volume in your category is not growing quickly enough. Of course, you can always do more with the same traffic (you could optimize landing page conversion rate, for example), however you will also continue to face intense competition for those incredibly valuable PPC clicks. What can you do in this situation? I’m a big fan of branching out and actually creating new demand. Creating demand for your brand is not going to be as cost-efficient as PPC, but it’s an important and scalable mid/top funnel marketing practice for the large-scale paid media advertiser.

Idea 1: Target Lookalikes Via Display Advertising

What does your customer look like? How old is your average customer? What gender are they? How much income do they make? What life events trigger your customer to purchase your product/service? Where does your customer live? The list goes on and on… Mine your data and build out profiles for your top performing segments. It’s ok to have segments of your current customer base and also segments for your overall industry, in which you are under-weighted (sometimes this second one works really well because you are not capturing these buckets well via traditional paid search). Truly get to know your customer.

Then, leverage this intelligence to target similar profiles via display advertising. Many of the prospective customers you reach have not yet searched for your specific product/service. (Even if they are, however, marketing is all about multiple touch points.) Because they fit the profile of your ideal customer, you will be able to start generating new, incremental demand. In creating demand, you are expanding the universe of prospective customers searching for your brand. You are no longer constrained by existing search query volume on your brand, product, or service!

Idea 2: Create Amazing Content, Share Via Social Media, and Then Retarget

Partner closely with your social media team. Build amazing content on your blog, YouTube channel, social profiles (maybe run some cool infographics). The idea here is to “go viral”. Once this happens, you are able to retarget! Get your Google analytics/retargeting pixel on your YouTube channel, Google+ page, and your blog. Because this all started with amazing viral content, it is very likely you will attract prospective customers to your cookie pool who were not actively searching for your brand/product on search engines. You are expanding your universe and creating incremental demand via amazing content. The content alone will do a lot of the heavy lifting and brand building. However, to fully close the loop, it often comes back to paid media. Retargeting, in this case, is one of the best vehicles around. When a prospective customer sees your display creative, they will instantly remember your great content and then visit your site to purchase.

Idea 3: Run Paid Social Media Campaigns To Identify New Customers

This tip closely ties into the last one, but is slightly different. Here, instead of letting your content do the heavy lifting alone, you are also combining great content with paid promotion. Run paid “like” campaigns. Promote your tweets and posts. Invest some money behind your social media efforts. This may not yield direct response conversions right away but will expand the universe of prospective customers viewing your content. Then, leverage great content to sell these prospective customers on your brand over time. You will reach prospective customers (who fit into your segmentation model) in social media who are not actively searching for your product/service just yet. Then, when the time is right and after your content has encouraged them to take action, they will remember your brand due to the relationship you have built. Once again, you are building incremental demand by leveraging paid media outside of PPC.

Paid search is an amazing channel. It’s very close to the point of conversion and must always be on. Because of its value, it must be managed closely and watched like a hawk. Leverage the tips above to generate new, incremental demand and you will likely (on a last click basis) see even more incremental conversions on your brand name keywords over time. The boost here is the incremental demand generation going on outside of paid search (across paid display, social media, and retargeting campaigns). Get really great at attribution and make sure to give those assisting new demand generators their fair share of credit!