Summary: Being active on LinkedIn is a strategy that all YouTubers should be using to grow their community and fanbase. We tell you why in this week's episode of our TubeTalk podcast.
When you think of LinkedIn, you think of this professional network, the one that's used for business. So us as YouTubers who are creating fun, cool, and exciting content on YouTube, is LinkedIn a world we should be investigating? Well, the answer might surprise you. Today we're going to show you how you can use LinkedIn to actually help your YouTube channel. Let's do this.
So can YouTubers use the power of LinkedIn to help them grow their YouTube channel? There's only one person who's amazing at doing this. She is our LinkedIn expert Judi Fox and she's here with us to discuss:
The trick to getting YouTube views via LinkedIn
How to build a community on LinkedIn
How commenting on other people's posts can bring huge rewards
How to optimize your LinkedIn profile for success
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Why All YouTubers Should be Active on LinkedIn: TubeTalk 200 with Judi Fox: Full Transcript
Liron Segev: Judi, welcome to TubeTalk.
Judi Fox: I'm excited to be here, thank you for the introduction. That was amazing.
Liron Segev: So let's start at the top. So firstly, who is Judi Fox in a tweet?
Judi Fox: In a tweet? Judi Fox is someone who likes taking complicated topics and making them simple.
Liron Segev: Wow. That is even, I think it's 140 character tweets. Not just a tweet. Well done. That's respected. So, Judi we have content creators, we have YouTubers who are uploading and growing their channel, building up their audience. And we've been hearing about LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. So let's start, should YouTubers be looking at LinkedIn?
Judi Fox: Hell yes. I will say that even just in the last two months, so we are talking end of 2019, beginning of 2020, YouTube videos in the LinkedIn news feed when you're scrolling, they will play in the news feed and actually not even send you off of the site. So I uploaded a YouTube video about two months ago and got 11,000 views on a YouTube video. I don't think people would be mad about that, right.
Liron Segev: Not at all. And just to be clear, when you say you uploaded a YouTube video, you didn't upload the video natively into LinkedIn, it was uploaded on your channel and you used the link and you basically uploaded the link into LinkedIn.
Judi Fox: Yes, I got views on my YouTube video.
Liron Segev: Okay. But we've been hearing forever that LinkedIn hates YouTube and when you upload a link or you drop a link into your articles or into your post, LinkedIn doesn't really want to bubble that content. So what's happened?
Judi Fox: I agree. I think because all of a sudden they're playing within the newsfeed. You literally stay on LinkedIn and watch that YouTube video. I just did it as an example this morning with a client. I showed them, I said, I'm scrolling, scrolling through the newsfeed, I'm playing my YouTube video, and it didn't open up another browser. It didn't send me. It just played right there in the newsfeed.
Liron Segev: Oh, so that's a big change.
Judi Fox: Yes, and I don't think LinkedIn announced it anywhere. I don't know if they're playing around with it. I don't know exactly what happened, but I noticed it and I went, click, something is going on here on LinkedIn that's changed. So, upload your YouTube videos to LinkedIn.
Liron Segev: Okay. Now you've been doing this for a long time. You've seen clients big and small. You've seen people making amazingly wonderful mistakes. Can you share anything, any tips that we should be looking out for, so when we upload our content, like what's the right way? What's the wrong way?
Judi Fox: I think because LinkedIn has been this professional platform, that's the word that everyone puts with it. There's some type of energy. And if you've ever read the book, the Speed of Trust, or any type of business relationship, you think integrity and trust. And all of these leadership and professional words come to mind with LinkedIn.
So there are certain, let's just say decreasing trust activities that people do. So one example is they forget that LinkedIn was first a written and reading platform. The platform is definitely built to still read your content. They will watch your videos.
But what I notice is that, that ‘See More’ button on every single post is probably one of the most trust-building activities you can do. People will be more likely to click see more if you actually provide a story or some type of level up moment, pass that see more button. So that way when they see your content, they'll invest a little bit of time in it. They'll give it a like, eight out of 10 people potentially could even just like it based on the fact that you've built up their trust.
And they're willing to look like they are leveling up their business and their life and their mindset and their leadership by just even surrounding themselves by your content. If you continue to provide content past that ‘See More’ button.
Liron Segev: Okay, so for those who don't know, when you have an article or a post on LinkedIn, it shows you a little preview, the first line or so. And then if your article goes beyond that or your post goes beyond that, it's a see more button that you've got to click on to expand so people can read the rest of your content. Correct?
Judi Fox: Yeah, it's just like when we click the see more button on our YouTube descriptions. It's just like the same button on Facebook. The same thing on Instagram. It tells the platform that people are investing more time into your content when they click that button.
Liron Segev: Okay, so what is a tip that we can take away from this to be more professional? Think written form first?
Judi Fox: Think that you're there to give more past the ‘See More’ button. So it's not necessarily professional. I like using the word leadership type of content. So instead of using the word professional just to describe LinkedIn, I now use the word leadership. And leaders, they make the people following them, not make, but they give and put boundaries and context in so that when people come to them they feel like, oh, a sense of safety or security or yes this person has me and they've got my back.
Whatever your leadership vibe is so you can show up in that way and each time they know what to expect from you. And that's what I believe is truly being consistent. Not necessarily, oh I have to post every Wednesday at 9:00 AM. You could basically post once a month but because you're so consistent you could probably knock it out of the post or out of the park. Do you know what I mean?
Liron Segev: Absolutely. So people expecting information from you, they've built some trust with you, so you're building your authority and your consistency. What else can we be doing to be able to get our content out there that's going to get somebody to say, okay, I like this content? I'm going to actually watch their YouTube videos because now they've embedded in and I know that it's going to add value to me.
Judi Fox: I think anytime that we can show up consistently also for a network of connections. For example, consistently supporting and commenting on your colleagues and your peers is very, very important because if you go out and show that you are supporting others in the same or parallel type of industries or business or content that's out on the platform, we all know that we're not the only voice ever.
And even some of the biggest names that we know, we forget that there are still millions of people who don't know who they are. And I think we just don't realize that we gravitate and we need a diverse set of voices. So for you to actually support content that's out in the world and go and do that on LinkedIn, it actually gets returned to you tenfold.
Liron Segev: But you still got to be authentic. I mean, just going to every content creator out there and giving them a thumbs up and saying “nice post”, that's not a great practice.
Judi Fox: That's not leadership level. That's your equivalent of passing by every cubicle in your corporate office and just being like high five, high five. You want your leader to actually be like, hey, how was your weekend? I know what you were up to this weekend, not in a stalky way, but I know how much you love the Superbowl. I mean, or I know how much you love this sport. What's your golf game like?
You have some relevant conversation with that person, which is the equivalent of showing up on somebody's post and acknowledging, doing active listening skills back to them, acknowledging what they wrote first and then giving your opinion if they asked a question.
Liron Segev: And just generally being a good citizen of the platform, contributing positively, and people will then rise to the top. People will say, oh, okay, I can consistently see this person being really helpful. What are they up to? And then maybe they could go check out your profile.
And on the profile bit, I know it's a discussion we've had many times, are people still making mistakes when they're setting up their LinkedIn profiles?
Judi Fox: Of course, everyone, it's always progress over perfection. So there's never any one who is ever perfect. And I would say, just to wrap up the comment thing, I really want to make this clear, that I've had clients that spend the first two to three weeks of my program, only focused on commenting. And it's grown their reach by 4000%, that I know, that are seeing their content. So I think people don't realize that commenting is shown more in the newsfeed than people realize.
Liron Segev: Okay. Interesting.
Judi Fox: Yes. I had to put that out there because I've literally had people tell me like, oh my God, it changed my life. Commenting actually changed my entire experience on LinkedIn.
Liron Segev: And I'm glad you stopped to make that point. That is very, very critical.
Judi Fox: One of my favorite recent, I mean it's just in the last week, that one of my clients got Arianna Huffington's attention because she commented on her post and then she reached out and said, I would love for you to write for Thrive. And then she literally, within a week, she now has an article up on Thrive. And it all was from commenting.
Liron Segev: Nice. Okay. Can we get to the profile now?
Judi Fox: Yes. So I definitely think a picture is always worth a thousand words. We have these things in the world for these reasons. So literally LinkedIn is giving you the most amazing banner image at the top, just like you have a YouTube banner and you would really, really find that your YouTube banner really positions you, right?
It can tell your audience when you're uploading in your schedule. It can tell them the value proposition of the content you put out and so they know your niche. The moment they land on your banner, they get your vibe, they get what you're selling or whatever you're promoting, your book.
Same exact thing on LinkedIn. You literally have a banner image and take advantage of it because the moment somebody lands on your profile, it's seven to 10 seconds, just like a resume where we decide we're going to invest more time or we're going to click off.
Liron Segev: It's amazing how very similar that is to YouTube. It's when somebody lands, they see a video that they like. They will then naturally click on your name to see what your channel is all about and the first thing they see is that banner. And so many people are still undervaluing the power of that visual imagery to instantly connect with an audience to say, hey, this is what I'm all about. Are you here for those? Great. If you're not, move on. LinkedIn is the same.
Judi Fox: It's a free billboard, driving down the internet highway and it's being laid out right there for you. So take advantage of that. I call it optimizing the above the fold. So anything that you have to now scroll down to, just focus on everything. If you only have an hour or two to update your above the fold section.
At a minimum, what I tell people what will convert is kind of turning it into a little bit of a business card, not being over the top business card. But at a minimum, put your tagline if you have one. Put your company logo and your website and a message me for more information or something that has some type of call to action. Something that tells people to connect and message you and something with your website.
Liron Segev: So the banner itself, should we update it kind of quarterly? Should we update it every six months? Once a year? What do you think is a good practice?
Judi Fox: We should update it about once a year, especially if you're not having any major changes in your business or your branding or what you're working on and promoting. You would update it about once a year on average.
Liron Segev: And then would you advise that your banner on YouTube be the same banner on LinkedIn so people have that association between the two?
Judi Fox: I definitely think it's nice to have similar elements. If it makes sense to make them work, then I would do it. But I think there are certain things about the YouTube banner that I've seen that you may not necessarily translate over to LinkedIn. For example, if you have a schedule on YouTube and you're uploading a certain schedule, that wouldn't make sense in your LinkedIn banner.
Liron Segev: Okay, great point. Can every niche be on LinkedIn? Are there some niches that literally should not be on LinkedIn?
Judi Fox: I don't know of a niche right now that shouldn't be on LinkedIn unless there's something inappropriate. We forget that a person at work also needs things that may be relevant outside of work. So I think people just forget. There's an artist that I know that when she posts a painting because she's showing a time-lapse of her painting and she's doing all kinds of really cool video tricks, I guess, editing. She is really exploding. I mean I notice every video she puts up, it's like a 100,000, 200,000 views.
We are so forgetful that we are not one-dimensional creatures ever. And not our title.
Liron Segev: So again, LinkedIn has changed and the way we looked at LinkedIn has changed where we used to say, okay let's upload maybe a shorter clip, lots of text on the image because people are going to watch it without sound and then direct them to watch the rest on YouTube. Is that still a thing?
Judi Fox: My video was 10 minutes long and lives on YouTube and drove traffic. And my results were people were watching the entire video. I just feel like it's more about telling people exactly what's in that video versus forcing them to invest time into a video.
They're building trust with you when you literally say here's basically what's in this video. But you can also watch it. And so what ended up happening is people were willing to read that and hear and see, okay, that's what's in the video. Yeah, I'll spend some time watching that. And we forget that the LinkedIn platform will do that.
Liron Segev: Okay. So we got to kind of look at LinkedIn slightly different than we used to in the past. And I think that's a big thing, where somebody might've experimented with LinkedIn a year ago, six months ago.
Judi Fox: Even two months ago.
Liron Segev: It changes so quickly and maybe they didn't get the results they were looking for and they've written off the entire platform saying it's not for me. Can we come back to this? Because one thing I've been hearing again and again on LinkedIn is that LinkedIn doesn't like you if you post just links. If you're going to continue down this path, well it's you basically telling LinkedIn you don't have good content.
Judi Fox: You do have to, and that's why I have a strategy for, a commenting strategy, and an engagement type of strategy because many people have, let's just say, burned out their social capital by spamming the platform to be honest and not really actually being there for the content. They're not there for other people. They just show up, post, just numbers after numbers like you just said. Basically I call that the ‘talking at us’ energy. They're just shouting at us. Pay attention to me, pay attention to me. I'm posting, I'm posting!
The moment you flip over, the harder it is for people to see you because you have been spamming the platform. I do tell people to spend one to two, maybe even three weeks where you just basically spam the platform with comments. And I do say it's spam, but it's not.
If you're going to flip the conversation, just go out and become a comment master and just blow up with comments. And what ends up happening is people literally are like, whoa, where did this person come from? I am so glad they're here. I never saw them before or, I mean I was just looking not to put somebody on the spot, but I was looking at Jay Shetty's content. And I was surprised he has maybe, I can't remember how many followers, but he has a crap ton, whatever a crap ton is.
Liron Segev: That's a technical term.
Judi Fox: Yeah, that's a technical term. But I'm kind of putting him on the spot. But I think that's a good example of somebody who is posting and has not earned it if that makes sense. So right now he's not getting a lot of likes and comments, maybe like two comments per post.
Liron Segev: So basically you've burnt your whole social capital. That's quite a good way of looking at it.
Judi Fox: Yeah. I mean obviously we know Jay Shetty and we know his voice and we know him on Facebook. But LinkedIn doesn't quite know him. And so you have to spend just even a couple of weeks to build up that social capital for people to go, oh, I recognize you. Yes, it can come back. So shout out to Jay. I feel bad. I just put him on the spot and he didn't even know it.
Liron Segev: It's okay. But, it's positive advice, which is why we here. We all want to grow, we all want to do better. And this is why we do these things.
Judi Fox: Well and sometimes we forget and we think I've seen the talk that says only if you're a big name, only if you're this, only if you're that kind of will you get attention on LinkedIn. And I say that's bollocks or whatever you want to call it. But the reason I'm putting him on the spot is he is a big name, he has a crap ton of followers, as a technical term. And he is only getting like two comments.
So we have to remember LinkedIn is another language on a different planet. And if you don't speak the language, the planet doesn't know you're there.
Liron Segev: Or it doesn't understand you, therefore doesn't know how to help you, essentially.
Judi Fox: Yeah.
Liron Segev: So as we, thinking of wrapping up, and I'm now fired up, I've got my YouTube channel. I'm thinking, okay LinkedIn, I've got to definitely give that a shot. Do I start at fixing my profile first because that's what my attention is going to be when somebody discovers me? Or do I start with commenting first? What's my first step today when I'm ready to hit this platform?
Judi Fox: Yay. I say do the above the fold on your profile. So don't worry about all the features below and you have to scroll down. Just work on what I called the, obviously the banner, and then make sure your profile image, we want to be able to see your face and your eyes.
Sometimes people will give too much of their upper torso but it depends. If you are a dancer, maybe you do want to do something and show that you're like a ballerina. But for the most part, we want to connect with a face and know that you're a real person.
So even having like shades or sunglasses can actually be a deterrent to people connecting, liking and commenting. So just be aware of that. And then like I said, spend one to two hours max on your profile because as you like and comment and engage on the platform, because I truly think if you spend, don't think about your own posts, don't even try to make a post. Just comment for the first two to three weeks to gain that traction. And then when you make a post there will be an audience in your auditorium versus an empty auditorium.
Liron Segev: So above the fold, basically your banner, your picture, maybe your title. Those still count because it's the first thing people see?
Judi Fox: Yes. I think of your title but not so much of a business title, but more keywords for being found in search. I think at some point I've hit 5,000 views of people searching and finding and then clicking on my profile per week.
You want to optimize because I've taken people from only getting 10 or 20 views on their search per week to thousands. It can work.
Liron Segev: A lot of people still see the title as your job title. So say I am the Director of Marketing, it's actually a term heavily used in search, heavily influenced by search. So you should use that as an opportunity to get some of those eyeballs.
Judi Fox: Yeah, just put some keywords. I mean if you notice, there are certain people who kind of pack it with keywords like podcast, youtube, video. And they put these keywords in there and it's for a reason.
It's like being found on the first page of Google search. That's where people will find you in that area, and also in your job title down below. So don't worry about that one right now, but above the fold, make sure you have that. And then if you look at my profile, I have highlighted a video that I was on with video influencers with Benji Travis.
And I drove traffic to that video by highlighting it as a YouTube video right there in my profile. So just look and see that I have what's called a link to a media file. That's a great place to put your videos. I know Tim Schmoyer has put a lot of his videos there. I'm sure, if I think off the top of my head of other YouTubers who are, Roberto Blake has probably done that. I think Sean Cannell.
Liron Segev: That's actually a great little tip to end off on. It’s watching what everybody else is doing in your industry. If these big-name YouTubers are doing certain things, they do it for a specific reason. Maybe they've done the research. Maybe they've already got some strategy that they're trying to do. For you to emulate that is very, very possible. It's all exposed. It's all out there for you to see.
Judi Fox: Yeah, and Roberto Blake, for example, was a great example when I looked at him saying like, I'm a video creator for YouTube. So he put that as his experience, which actually positions him for being one of the top search results when you type in YouTube, on LinkedIn.
So I mean he's definitely nailing that and he's a great example to go check out his profile. He actually said he updated it based on my advice. Shout out to Roberto. He's awesome.
Liron Segev: Love it. So as we're ending, any final bits of advice or something that you want people to know about LinkedIn, being a YouTuber, what should they be afraid of? Or shouldn't they be afraid? Any pearls of wisdom that you can say, okay, if we can do one thing I just want you to take away this? What is this?
Judi Fox: I want you to take away that it is a platform where people really do want to spend time communicating back and forth with each other. So it's a conversation. So if you do upload your YouTube video and you post it there and then people give you likes and comments, be reciprocal. So comment back, like back, go check out their posts, like and comment as you can because that reciprocal nature will be returned tenfold the next time you post.
Liron Segev: Love it. Now Judi, so much information and you have so much more to give. So if people want to connect with you, they want to find out what you're up to, what you have going on, where can we do that?
Judi Fox: Well obviously go connect with me on LinkedIn. I still have room in my connections. We max out on LinkedIn at 30,000 connections.
Liron Segev: I'm surprised you have room. I'm surprised.
Judi Fox: I still have some room. I'm at 28,000, so I don't have that much room left. So it is exciting to see it get to that level. So the point is I still want to connect with people because I can and so hit the connect button.
And I also have my website, it's Judifox.com and at the bottom of the website are my five tips to commenting well, it’s a one-page sheet. And then even within that, I give you a tip on what message you can send in the direct messages to reply to people who spam you. A little tip there.
Liron Segev: Guys, everything will be in the show notes. So in case you missed any of these links, don't worry, we got you. Just click below and then you'll be able to see it. And Judi, always fun. I love hanging out with you whenever I meet you at events. Always good talking. So much information and if you ever connect with Judi in real life, trust me, it's an experience. One that you want to have. So that's pretty cool. So thank you very much again for spending time with us.
Judi Fox: Yeah, I loved it.
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Liron Segev, aka TheTechieGuy, is the Director of Customer Success at vidIQ, an internationally celebrated Digital YouTube Strategist working with some of the largest brands and YouTube influencers in the world. Over the past 20+ years, his work has taken him to South Africa, the UK and the US where he frequently speaks at conferences and provides expert tech commentary for various print publications, radio, and TV while actively running his Tech YouTube Channel.
