Hello, hello everyone.
What's up and welcome back to another episode of the Freelance Friday podcast.
Today's episode is a little bit of an emergency episode.
I'm filming this pretty impromptu here because we have some stuff to talk about.
There has been some big social news that I think impacts any type of content creator
really.
Whether you are creating content for your clients, if you're a social media
manager, or if you are doing something else and you're just creating content
for yourself, we've got to talk about the Tiktok and we've got to talk about the
YouTube and what is going on with these platforms right now, because honestly,
I'm just going to be transparent,
I had a little bit of a meltdown over the weekend because it is
getting really confusing out here.
And I know that if I'm struggling with these decisions and these
platforms, I know that a lot of you who are newer in your journeys
are struggling with the same thing.
So let's break it down and talk about some social news.
Okay, so the big thing that hit my radar last week, or this week, whatever
was that Tiktok is now enabling 10 minute long videos on their platform.
If you are new to the whole Tiktok thing, the, the whole shtick of Tiktok is
that it's like the super micro content.
You know, some of the most popular Tiktoks are like seven seconds long.
They're quick, they're dirty, they're funny, they're witty, whatever.
And that's kind of their whole thing.
They're mobile first, first vertical video, but the issue, and one of the
biggest criticisms that I've had about Tiktok from day one is that they're
just not compensating creators.
And I mean, there are huge creators on this platform and there are
huge trends that are coming out of Tiktok, Tiktok is undoubtedly
influencing social media culture.
For sure, but by and large, the creators just aren't getting paid.
Unless you are like this huge ginormous creator, you're not seeing
the money from what they have.
It's called the Tiktok creator fund, which as of 2022 is set at $200
million, which don't get me wrong.
That's a lot of money.
But when you spread that out among all of the tons and tons of
Tiktok creators, it really is not
a lot of money.
If we want to compare that to what YouTube paid its creators in 2021,
they paid their creators $15 billion.
Now, again, that's not, you know, each of us are not making that much money
individually, of course, but even spread out among a ton of different YouTubers.
That's a lot more money that we're getting paid.
I actually watched a really interesting video from Hank
green, who is an internet OG,
if you don't know who he is, he had a channel, has a channel still,
I think called the vlog brothers he's by and large regarded as like
one of the first true YouTubers.
You know?
I will link his video if you want more info on the creator fund versus
YouTube versus even Instagram.
I think he said he's even making more from the Instagram creator bonuses, than
from Tiktok.
So this is one of my big criticisms and a lot of people's big criticisms.
And I think this 10 minute long video thing is their answer to this, because
it's really hard to sell ads on a seven second, ten second, twenty second video.
I mean, how do you even do that?
In addition to that creators can't really even self monitize
very easily, because how are you going to do a brand deal for seven second video?
You know, it makes it very hard to do true integrations where, when I
come onto my podcast and I say, Hey, here's, you know, five seconds of like,
why I love this brand or whatever, let's pretend they were sponsoring
me versus that's the whole video.
It feels very unnatural.
So it's hard for creators to make money.
So I think that this is Tiktok's answer or their attempt at fixing this.
They'll be able to sell ad space for easier, you know, for 10 minute long
videos, hopefully creators will be able to do brand deals a little easier.
And I think that's kind of their thing.
And yes, of course they want to compete with YouTube to become the
most, you know, watched video app.
And here's the thing I don't deny that Tiktok may become the
biggest video app in terms of watch time, I've never denied that.
I have never doubted Tiktok's, virality, and all of that, what I have doubted and
what I have concerns with are about it's sustainability for creators, but also
um, just for the platform in and of itself.
I could be wrong.
I certainly don't know everything, but you know, if you want to build
a sustainable business, one that enables you to have multiple different
revenue streams, one that doesn't require you to show up multiple times
a day, hustling to create content.
I don't know that Tiktok is that.
It might be again, I could very well be wrong, but most of my creator
friends who do have large Tiktok following are not yet making a full-time
income from Tiktok and that's okay.
If you just like it and it's just fun for you, go off.
If it has other benefits like brand, if that was really your
focus of just, you know, building a community, building a brand.
Absolutely.
But if you are looking to become a creator and make a living off of what you create,
I still have questions about Tiktok.
I still have doubts about Tiktok, but what can you do if you are in this space?
And like I said, I had like a meltdown on Saturday night, I
stayed up till 4:00 AM and I was
just like, what do I do?
Like, I don't know.
Somebody sent me a fear-mongering article all about how YouTube is
going to crash and burn and die and Tiktok was going to take over.
And I, admittedly, like kind of started to panic a bit.
Here's the thing we can't ignore Tiktok, we can't ignore the short
form, vertical video content
uh, anymore, if you have been, I think it's time to suck it up.
I certainly have, I don't particularly love creating Tiktok's, but
I'm trying to have fun with it.
I'm trying to experiment with it and, um, use it as a secondary
or third platform while still investing in my long-term strategy.
Here's what long form does for you that Tiktok doesn't .Long form ranks for SEO,
it's crawled by Google, YouTube and blogs are, so if somebody searches
social media manager on Google, They're going to see one of my YouTube videos.
They're probably not going to see one of my Tiktok's.
Long form video also enables you to start with something that you can then
repurpose, which is really valuable.
No, I don't think that the most viral Tiktoks are going to be these repurposed,
like you know, podcast episodes, but I think that it's better to show up
in that way, if that's what you have to give than to not show up at all.
So I'm adding it as a placement.
I'm basically using Tiktok as like my Instagram story nowadays, you know,
just like casual cell phone content and repurposed long form content.
That's where I'm starting with it.
And I've been able to grow my following to a small following of a thousand.
Just by doing that, you know, I haven't really spent a ton of time and
effort into really trying to grow it or really trying to make it a thing.
So that way I do have a presence on that platform.
Maybe I will try a 10 minute Tiktok I'm scared to though, because I'm scared
that people are going to unfollow me because nobody seems to really want this.
If you look on the internet, everyone's like, um, that's a Ted talk and you
know, that's what YouTube is for.
So I'm going to wait a little bit before I actually try a 10 minute Tiktok.
But anyway, those are my thoughts on the Tiktok update.
Please let me know what your thoughts are and you know what your Tiktok strategy is.
Maybe you love it.
That's cool.
You know something else really quick that I want to mention about this.
I actually wrote a Twitter thread.
I'll link it in case I miss any points from my 3:00 AM rant, but as I always say
don't feel pressured to do something that doesn't align with you.
I think this idea of all or nothing content strategies is just, it's
fear-mongering it's I don't like it.
It's bullying.
It's you know, it's so irritating and self-righteous.
I love YouTube.
Some of you probably hate the idea of showing up on camera.
Some of you hate the sound of your voices and listening to editing
your voices drives you nuts.
Right?
I would never force you into doing that.
I understand that there are different content platforms and
formats for different people.
And I also think it's important to recognize that business has
existed before social media and will exist without social media.
Business is like one of the most natural things to happen in a society.
I just was driving through the woods the other day and like looking at those cutest
little flower shop that was like this shack with like this 1970s signage on it.
I mean, I don't think they have an Instagram account.
I definitely don't think they have a Tiktok account.
So we have to have faith in ourselves that, you know, these are just tactics.
These are just platforms they can come and they can go.
And as I always talk about an email list is kind of the one thing throughout the
internet that hasn't really went away.
So regardless of whether you are spending a ton of success in getting
a ton of followers and community and all that on Tiktok or on instagram,
get those folks on to an email list.
That's what I care about.
I don't really care about how many Tiktok followers you have.
I care about, you know, what your email list looks like.
I was talking about it actually with Norris who is, you know,
in the e-sports industry.
And Twitch is like the biggest platform, Twitch and Twitter are like the
biggest platform for that industry.
Really.
And I was talking about it and I was like, honestly, you know, what, if YouTube does
die, I think my succession plan is Twitch.
I don't think it's Tiktok.
I don't think that's my style.
That's not what I like to do.
I'm an introvert.
I'm quiet.
I'm focusing on slowness right now.
I actually think if I had to quit YouTube and do something else, I would probably
just start live streaming on Twitch and do co-working sessions with me and writing
sessions with me and things like that.
So just remember that just because something is dominating doesn't
mean you have to be a follower, you can still do the things that
are the most aligned for you.
Okay.
Now on kind of the other side of things like talking about long form content
and even super long content, because 10 minute Tiktoks are kind of like what
I'd call mid form content, you know?
So I'm the complete other side of things with true long form content
we are seeing YouTube is expanding it's podcasting capabilities.
They are encouraging people let's see, I have the article pulled up.
Let me see what the headline says.
It says that they are offering up to $300,000 to get
podcasters, to make videos.
So they're doing like a little grant program where they're giving
$50,000 to individual shows and 200 to 300,000 to podcasting networks
to actually do what I'm doing.
Basically, probably just in a more professional way of course, and take
video of their podcast recordings.
This is actually not a huge shock to me because I follow an account called video
creators, Tim Schmoyer's company, and he talks about something similar to this.
Caught wind of the fact that YouTube had like some new category and seem to
be supporting podcasting a little more.
And when he said that I left a comment because I had noticed one of the, you
know, sometimes on YouTube, you get these like little suggested categories for you.
I've been noticing this category called listenable when I post my podcast.
And so I'm like, okay, I'm falling into an algorithm somewhere and I'm down with it.
Like, I, that's how I listen to my podcasts nine times out of 10, I just
put them up on my TV or like on my iMac while I'm working on my laptop.
And it's just how I prefer to listen.
I like the option to look and watch people, but I don't have to.
So anyway, I will link Tim's video in the show notes as well.
If you want to check that out.
Cause he kind of did a deep dive into what his observations and predictions were.
But anyway, this whole fund thing is, is really interesting because I think
YouTube is leaning into what they do best and they do long form content best.
Now they are trying things, you know, with the short form stuff
as well with YouTube shorts.
I haven't really posted many.
I posted a couple here and there really, again, just repurposing content.
I'm not reinventing the wheel.
I can not be creating original content in every format for every platform.
Nobody can.
Like that is impossible.
I am the only content creator.
I'm the only person who sits down and shoots, and films and sets up my videos.
It's it's just not possible unless you have a gigantic team.
So I can't really speak to YouTube shorts too much on how it compares to
Tiktok or Reels or anything like that.
But I think this podcast thing is YouTube leaning into what they do best.
And I am in full support of this.
I think it makes sense.
A couple of years ago, year and a half ago, whatever when I
decided to take my podcast onto YouTube, it just felt natural.
I'm already making this content.
I personally, when I sit down to watch videos, I like the long videos.
Most times I like to sit down with like a 20, 30 minute video and
just have it on in the background.
And I know that a lot of my audience members say the same thing.
So if you would like to try this.
You know, I encourage anybody who has a podcast.
You don't have to make it perfect.
This is, this is like my most lo-fi setup that I have actually.
And I'll tell you exactly what goes into it.
A point and shoot, like mirrorless camera.
This is the EOS M 50.
50 I believe, I'll link it in the show notes.
The exact camera that I'm using.
I have a ring light.
And that's it.
Oh, and my microphone, which is the sure mV seven or something like that.
And I'm just recording into my computer.
Like it's a really, really simple setup.
I do have a video on my more advanced, like professional setup when you
can get that nice blurry background.
And it looks really cool.
Um, that one, you know, there's a little bit more that goes into it, but for the
most part, just, just start like this, you could easily replace this mirrorless
camera with your cell phone and just
start recording video, combine the audio in your editing platform.
And now you have two pieces of content instead of just one.
This also helps you when it does come to that micro content or the mid of
form content as I'm calling it on Tiktok, because now you have videos.
And again, do I think that the best performing Tiktoks are
gonna be repurposed podcasts?
Of course not.
You know, of course not.
They're going to be original Tiktoks.
They're going to be, you know, funny, viral, interesting content.
But do you want to start building a presence on a growing and
accelerating platform or not?
In which case, take your video podcast, put it into descript.
That's the tool that I use, add some captions to it, clip some interesting
segments from it, and then use those as Instagram reels and as Tiktoks and as
YouTube shorts and as all the things it's so much easier to start with one long
form big piece of content than to do the reverse, you know, then to have like a
really cool Tiktok and try to blow that
into a 10, 20, 30 minute video or podcast.
So that has always been my theory or my strategy for content creation.
It's like start big and then whittle it down into micro pieces of
content, whether that is a Twitter thread or a Tiktok, or, you know,
a Facebook Post or whatever it is.
And I don't think that is really changing.
I mean, I think, sure attention spans are changing content
styles and formats are changing.
They're ever-changing and we have to be open.
We can't be totally stuck in our ways, but we also have to be smart about it.
And I'm not for the mad rush to like drop everything that we've been doing.
And drop, you know, things that are still working quite well.
And also platforms that value creators like YouTube.
I think they genuinely do a little bit more than some of the
other platforms out there for something that may or may not work.
I mean, look at what happened with Clubhouse.
Everybody just like was all about Clubhouse.
That was all I heard about in the marketing world for
a couple months.
And then I actually just deleted the app from my phone a couple of weeks ago.
Cause I was like, why is this even still here?
I don't even know what this, what this is anymore.
So we have to be careful about what we're dropping everything for.
Especially if you're, if you're listening to this from a, you know,
service provider lens, you don't want to make the suggestion to your client.
Hey, let's create 10 minute Tiktoks and let's abandon our YouTube
strategy right now, just based on this one piece of news, you got to
feel it out and test different things.
And if that performs for you, then totally make the pivot.
But you got to do that slowly.
You got to look at the data and the numbers and see if they
actually support your ideas.
So those are my thoughts on Tiktok versus YouTube.
Short form, mid form, long form podcasts.
I'm really interested to know what you think though.
Um, is your strategy going to be changing for, you know, any of these
pieces of news that have come out?
Do you have plans to move your podcast onto YouTube?
Do you plan to start a Tiktok or continue growing your Tiktok?
I'm really curious to know genuinely because I don't have all the answers.
I just wanted to share my thoughts on things.
But I, I definitely don't have all the answers.
So I'm sure some of you have some interesting things to say, and if
you do, I would love it if you left a comment down below, if you're watching
on YouTube and if you are listening on the podcasting platforms, send me a DM
on Instagram or Twitter @theLatashaJames.
And I think that's it.
Just a reminder that the social media management accelerator is open now.
So if you are a social media manager and you're feeling confused by all this, all
this strategy and content creation talk, the social media management accelerator
is going to be a great fit for you.
We go through the fundamentals of building a social media strategy for
your clients so that you can truly be doing the best work that you can be.
We have lessons on everything from social media strategy to social media
management workflow to content creation, where I'll actually show you how to
take some of these longer form pieces of content and cut them down to get
them into nice, pretty Instagram posts and Tiktoks and things like that.
We also have a series of guest instructors, right now
we have confirmed an email marketer and a mindset coach.
It's going to be a good time.
It is an eight week cohort-based course, meaning you learn
together with a group of people.
We just wrapped up a similar program OBLL which some of you may have seen
the students showcase here on YouTube and you know, it's just been so cool to
see all the connections that are made.
I think having, having a group that you can just talk about this stuff
with is so incredibly valuable.
I still attend a ton of different like coworking sessions, mastermind groups, um,
peer to peer kind of education and support groups, even at this stage in my career.
Cause I just find them so, so valuable.
So that's a big part of the program and this is also really the only way to
work with me in a coaching type format.
Right now I'm not doing any one-on-one coaching or anything like that.
So the accelerator is your best chance to get in touch with me.
I get onto the slack every single day, Monday through Friday,
and respond to your questions.
You also have group calls with me and live lectures with me and seats are limited
so I want to make sure that if you are interested that you secure your spot soon,
because they do tend to go pretty fast.
This is my most in demand program.
It's sold out twice before.
So I will leave the link in the show notes.
There is a payment plan available so you can pay once a month for
three months, or you can just pay in full and to get started right away.
So that's it.
Let me know your thoughts and I hope to see some of you in class
and have a great rest of your day.
Bye.