Sensible Video Content Strategy to Win Selfish Audiences - Teacher: Paolo Kernahan

Hello, Useful Content Creators. Today, we don't have any trailer intro, but we do have an excellent conversation with somebody who Trinnies know and love. He's a journalist, a veteran journalist at that. It's Paolo Kernaghan, and I had a very great discussion with Paolo about video content strategy and we, we covered a lot of different topics so much so that at the end of the podcast, we went on to talk for another 15 minutes.

I had, um, intended to leave that part of the podcast in, but it turns out it was too long. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to split the episodes and I'm going to give you the part that we, the official part that we talked about. And then you're going to get, um, him separately on another episode, going deep inside of his own personal content strategy. And so that is a great conversation, but this one is a great one too.

We're going to talk about why he believes video strategy. is needed in businesses the difference between doing video as a creator and doing video as a business owner who creates we go deep into different things and topics concerning video content strategy i know this is an episode that you'll enjoy a whole lot it'll be very very beneficial to you especially if you are a business owner who is looking to create Let's make useful content.

Hello, and welcome to the Useful Content Podcast. And today we have a new teacher in the Useful Content Classroom, Paolo Kurnahan, hi Paolo.

Hello, Juma. Thank you for having me on. It's great for you to have me on. I know that you've been, I know that you've been trying to pin me down for quite a while to come and have this chat with you. And it's not for a lack of interest. It's just, you know, how these things are. You're trying to juggle all of the different responsibilities you have.

So fitting this kind of thing into your schedule can be tricky, but I'm glad I was finally able to

It's good to have you on. It did take a little bit of work, but um, you know, hard work pays off. So it's good to have you in studio with me to talk to the people about video content and on camera coaching and things of that nature. Um, so, so tell the people what you do. and how you help make useful content for your clients.

Okay. I am an on camera and video marketing coach. So I create assets, digital assets that people can use to improve both their on camera performance and their video marketing strategy so that they can actually get some kind of, uh, traction on the platforms with their content. Um, and I also provide one on one training for people who.

Need some sort of well in many cases there are people who are actually already doing content creation But they're not getting the kind of performance they want and they want to see if they can get maybe some Immediate touch ups to their techniques and I can do that through one on one Coaching with them on both the on camera coaching and the video marketing strategy side so that in a nutshell is what I do

Which, which do you prefer to do? You prefer to do it for individuals like the personal coaching or you prefer to do it for like, companies or deal with the, the non personal strategy part?

I don't have a preference really because I've done both and I don't have a preference. What, what I really enjoy doing, and this is going to sound weird, um, is when I'm speaking to people and they, they explain the nature of their problem. I enjoy diagnosing the problem because it immediately sounds like something that I'm familiar with because I've seen it so much so I can immediately tell the source of the problem and I can immediately go about helping them to pinpoint what they can do in the short term because there's no short term strategy that's going to give them immediate results on an overnight transformation, but I like being able to give them These short term strategies that they can immediately employ so they can start turning around the performance of their content.

And then from there we can build out what they can do over the long term to gain a long term growth, long term traction on their platforms with the content that they're creating, but also so that they can create content sustainably, because that is one of the biggest problems with entrepreneurs who are creating content, and that is content burnout, they're never able to sustain it over time because that they find that there's a lot of difficulty juggling their day to day work responsibilities running their business and creating the content to build the visibility of that business.

So these are the things that I try to iron out for people when I do these. One on one sessions, whether it's one person or it's with a group or a company.

Yeah, that's so true and that's like a catch 22 situation for many business owners. To get more business, you need to make content. But in order to make the content, you need more time to do it. So you can't work in your business as you would want to. And it's, it's really a hard thing. It's a hard thing, but I know there are strategies and there are ways and there are structures that you can implement in order to get that done.

Or even to, to begin doing it better. And I know you are a pro at doing that and you do help people doing that. So we're going to dive into that a little bit more as we talk. But what I really wanted to find out in this initial conversation is that you, you say that, you know, you believe most businesses, uh, or entrepreneurs underserved their own potential because they, they don't have a full appreciation of what a true video marketing strategy is or what, or what it entails.

What do you mean when you, when you say that about entrepreneurs and how they perceive video marketing?

Okay, well I'll give you an example. I have this hobby that I do where I just scour the internet for websites to see what kind of content these websites have. Okay. I don't have much of a life. So if I consider that a hobby, that is demonstrative of the lack of life that I have. But I look at websites to see what kind of content they have.

Many of these websites, both company websites and individual entrepreneurship websites. Very few of them have video. And in 2024, I find this quite surprising. Uh, if, if they do have video, the videos are done in a corporate style and it doesn't really speak to consumption patterns today. Uh, so that is just a simple example of how entrepreneurs and businesses really underestimate.

The power of video, and in so doing, they underserve their own potential. They're not living up to their full potential because they're not really accessing the markets that they could. If they took the time to understand video marketing strategy and apply it across the platforms so that they could build the visibility of their company.

And I think that they would be amazed if they took the time to do that. If they invested the effort in it, they would be amazed at the income opportunities that would suddenly be opened up by just applying strategy To video marketing, because a lot of people are doing video marketing or what they think is video marketing, but because there's no strategy in it, it's not really getting them the kind of results they want.

Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. You made a very good point inside of that, that I want to highlight. You spoke about people aren't necessarily making videos based on the current consumption habits of, of, of, of the audience. Could you unpack that a little bit for me? Because I want to get your perspective on why do you think that is and how we can possibly address that?

I think in many cases, it's, uh, well, it's a lack of knowledge, because you would be surprised. I've worked with clients who are not consumers of social media themselves. So they don't really watch a lot of video content, so when they have to set about the task of creating videos, they don't really know how other people watch videos, what they watch, so they have no concept of what is a watchable video.

In other words, what is a video that people will click on and sit pretty much all the way through. So if you have no concept of what people are watching, then you're not going to have any idea of what techniques to apply to structuring your video in a way that will make it watchable. Because, this, this is an industry that changes so much.

It changes from not, not year by year, it changes almost month to month. And there was this metric. At one time that people contemplated as being the most high, the most important that that was the number of views, but now people are beginning to realize views are just a very small fraction of the kind of picture of metric performance that you want to get.

What you really also need is. Re, and you need people seeing throughout the entire video, because views can be just a few seconds on some of the platforms, so you want people to click on, but you also want them to stay on and you achieve this. By structuring your video in a way, basically it honors the consumption patterns of viewers today, of online viewers today.

But to do that, you have to understand what's playing well on the platforms. And a lot of entrepreneurs don't really, they don't really consider that enough. What's working, what are other entrepreneurs using that is delivering results for them. And for the most part, okay, we are all different. But there is a common thread running through all video content that performs well across the platforms and that's where strategy comes in.

Yeah, I agree. 100%. Um, so there are like two things rising out of that. I will just draw an example of our recent experience. And I, and maybe this, this episode of the podcast is not going to air for some time. So I'll, I'll say in all my current experience, um, that we have a script that we received. It's been almost a week and a half of me rewriting the script.

Because the initial script was just, and I don't want to say this, should I say this? It was just corporate gobbledygook. It was just things like, in this world and , it sounded like a little bit like a movie. It sounded a little bit like a script you would hear in the night, late nineties, early two thousands.

That was a, you know, it probably might have been a thing, but it did not, point at the audience and say, this is for you, or this solves this problem, or this is how I can help. It really was about. generic understanding of this is the world that we live in, and this is what we do. And it really, and, and inside of that, looking at that script, I was thinking the exact same thing that you were saying is that whoever wrote this doesn't understand how people actually consume.

content. And I think that's a very, very, very good point.

Well, uh, Juma, you, you may have, you may recall that I had done a video, uh, some time ago, quite a while ago now on LinkedIn, uh, describing that phenomenon that you just, uh, pointed out. Uh, and that is, and this is, if you really think about it, if someone is setting out to create a video and they have no experience doing it and you're a business.

Your first, uh, your first inclination is to create a video first, saying who you are and what you do. That, that's a natural instinct to follow. But that is only because you don't understand that the online environment across the platforms is a very selfish place. Let's be honest. People are only there and they're only in it for what they can get out of the experience of consuming the content.

That means they put themselves first. So when you're creating content, You have to put the viewer first and you have to try to work yourself into that. So it's almost like you're taking a, you're taking a capsule inside. The capsule is the medicine that you need, but the capsule itself is built around what the audience will consume.

So you have to find a way. to read what those people want, what those people need and what they're searching for. And then you have to find a way to work your expertise, your usefulness into it. So it's a very simple concept that is very difficult for people who have no experience and no understanding of how content consumption works.

But that's it in a nutshell. You have to put the audience first and then work. Your expertise and your understanding of their needs into that content. So it's all about the packaging and that's what will get you ahead faster as opposed to this conventional style of creating videos, which is the corporate style.

We've been around for this long. This is what we do. This is the, these are the packages we offer and this is the kind of value that we offer above and beyond what our competitors do. That's good and that's useful information. But the audience will not immediately see it that way. They have a problem, and they're there trying to get answers for that problem.

Or they have a need, and they just want that need met. And once you, it's almost like reverse engineering your content to understand what people want, and then feed that want, rather than the other way around. This is what I have, and this is what I can give to you. And that's how I approach, um, my clients when I'm teaching them about Video marketing strategy and how you create content for people and the way they consume it today.

Okay. So I know we didn't plan to go down this road, but I think that this thread is very interesting. So I'm going to, I'm going to pursue this thread. So how does one begin to write? I don't even want to, to start with the writing part of it. How does one begin to think like that. How do you shift your mindset from not thinking about me, me, me, to thinking about the audience first.

And as a result of that, be able to create videos that focus on them. Where does one start with those things?

Well, one of the places that I encourage, um, all of my clients to start is First of all, consuming content of other people in your niche to see how they do it, that's a very useful way to see how they answer questions, they meet needs of the audience, that's one thing. Another way to do it is through search, SEO.

So for example, uh, if you are, let's say in the real estate industry, and which is a highly competitive industry. And you want to reach out to a certain audience, but you're having difficulty getting through to them. Well, if you can come up with a certain number of topics and you can use, uh, you know, you can use Google search, but it's very useful for that as well.

But you can also go in Tik Tok search and just type in. topic areas to see what kind of performance, what kind of search people, what search terms people are looking for. And when you're able to get a sense of what people are searching for, you can fashion your content around what people are asking about.

So when you put the question first, you know what answers. To answer you know, what answers to so you will formulate your video content around the questions people are answering Asking so your videos will be the answers to those questions So you're more likely to find the audience because the audience is already there You're not just tossing a line into the sea without knowing if there's going to be a fish that will take the hook.

You are answering a question that's already being asked. This is incredibly valuable because it saves you time and it increases the likelihood of your content finding not just an audience, but the right audience. People who are genuinely interested in what you do and what you have to offer rather than just broad generic audiences who are vaguely interested in what you're talking

Yeah, that's good. That's good stuff. Ask the question first. And I know that what you. Describe it on TikTok is a bit of an interesting way to do it is I wouldn't call it advanced but it's something people probably wouldn't readily think of but that is something that you can do and of course there are other ways you could do it but asking those questions for this is so Very critical.

I agree with you 100 percent power. That was, that was good stuff. All right, so let's, let's move on now that we've gone on this bunny trail, let's pull back, run back up the trail and come back onto the main path that we wanted to talk about. So let's talk about some of the things connected, uh, to really change any way people perceive and know about, their video content marketing.

And one of the things you. Talk about often is the fact that on camera confidence is a bit of a, a misnomer as the concept is far broader than the title would, would suggest. And, um, that is an interesting way to, to look at it. Let me explain to the people why is on camera confidence a bit of a misnomer.

Yeah. Okay. Well, look, I have a, I have a, a full disclosure. I have a an on-camera confidence course, but I need to call it something, but that, that's why I say it is a bit of a misnomer because when people hear camera confidence, they immediately assume that it tackles the question of fair of speaking on camera, but that's just one part of it on camera.

Confidence is speaking in a way that captivates. audiences, but it also convinces audiences it's. persuasion on camera. So it is, it's, it's the application of a number of principles and techniques that demonstrates your expertise in a way to audiences that shows them that you know what you're talking about.

You're trustworthy. You speak fluently enough that you can be, you can be trusted that you have some expertise in what you're talking about. And that's, that's in part what camera confidence is about, but it's also camera confidence is also about, this is where the linkage between camera confidence and video marketing strategy comes in because it also ties in.

The structured approach to presenting your thoughts and ideas on camera, as opposed to just turn it with, and this is a huge problem on across the platforms. This just do it, this do it ideology, which is people, a lot of online experts. Tell those who are reluctant to get on camera the only way that you can defeat Despair of speaking on camera is to just turn the camera on and do it.

And yes, you can do that But you likely won't get any better at it And number two, those videos won't really perform very well for you because they don't follow any structure and you're just sitting down there You're speaking in a sort of rambling fashion It doesn't take the audience on a journey from point A to point B to point C So on camera confidence deals with all of these things It teaches you how to speak authoritatively, it teaches you how to speak in a manner that's convincing and persuasive, but it also teaches you how to speak in a structured manner that takes the audience on a specific journey and gives them a satisfying resolution at the end.

So, as you can tell, That's a lot to fit into one title for a course. So I had to boil it down to camera confidence, but that is what camera confidence is ostensibly being able as an entrepreneur to persuade audiences of your bonafides of your capability to address their needs. And as you can imagine, that's, there's a lot of heavy lifting in appearing on camera, but when you do it well.

The power being able to captivate audiences is really tremendous. And I don't, I don't want to stray too far from the designated agenda, but I felt it was so important to create these resources for people because I, I did interviews because we didn't discuss this, but I was a journalist for many years and I'd done morning talk shows and I interviewed people who came on television and were so possessed of themselves and so capable of addressing the audience on camera, but doing it in a way that they were succinct.

But they were also detailed. They came there prepared to capture the attention of audiences. And those people would often call me after the interview to say, well, look, my show sold out. My book sales have skyrocketed. And this is many years ago. And I saw them, the power of the media to captivate people, to move people, to take action.

And that is what I'm teaching people today. And it's more important than ever with the advent of AI because AI is now changing the game. It has changed the game entirely. It's not is changing. It has changed the game entirely, which makes it even more important for people to apply video marketing strategy and to hone their On camera skills because there is now every day an avalanche of content appearing on the platforms.

And that means that getting through to audiences is more difficult, but also getting conversions with your content is not as easy as it was 10, 15 years ago. You put up a video up online, instant hit, you get products flying off the shelves. That's it. Those days are long, long gone and AI has further put that in the rear view mirror.

So that is why it's so important to apply these on camera techniques and video marketing strategy to get the best performance out of your video and get the return on investment of content creation. Because again, you're an entrepreneur first and a content creator second.

Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. And I, I think that's so true. And many years ago, you could put out a mediocre video and because. It wasn't much competition. That's the first thing.

What was, there's a novelty factor,

Yeah.

know,

Yeah, that too. And there was, it was new. It was like, Oh, this person is with video. Everybody else has text or images. Are we

but there's something else and I, I, I write this in many different places. It has never been as easy to create content and that's both the solution and the problem because it's so easy to do it. You can look, we're doing it right now, 10, 15 years ago, it would not have been as straightforward, but because it's so easy to do it.

The number of people doing it every day is growing and growing. And that means that the dinner voices online is only getting low. So that further compounds the difficulty of getting through to audiences. Audiences have more choice. They have, there are more content creators competing for their attention.

So that means that you really have to work on your on camera presentation and your video marketing strategy to get ahead in a world that's far more cluttered than it was a few years ago.

So how do you deal with somebody who wants to be successful? What they want to create content, but based upon what's happening around them, they feel like this is hopeless. I'm never going to make a dent. I'm never going to make a difference. My voice is not loud enough, sharp enough, precise enough. How How do you talk to someone who has that mindset, even though they know this is what they have to do for their business to survive?

Well, the first thing I tell people is that anybody who is peddling this idea of, uh, overnight results, Um, they're not to be trusted. This is something that you're going to have to, you're going to have to have a lot of patience even as you apply, you apply strategy. There are, there are things you can do in the short term to get, um, some easy wins for your content creation.

There, there are, there are certain ways that you can structure your videos. You do your, to do your, your, YouTube, there are certain things that you can do for, with your titles and your, your thumbnails. to give your content the best possible chance of getting in front of audiences. But if you don't have patience, uh, then frustration is going to rule the day.

You have to have patience that there's, there's the, the, the, this expectation and the word viral should really be outlawed. Because people assume that, that first of all, virality is still, uh, something that can happen as easily as it does for other people who are not necessarily entrepreneurs who are creating content, but they're content creator entrepreneurs, people who are making money with the content they create.

My audience is mainly entrepreneurs who have businesses and they're trying to build the visibility, visibility of their businesses. So that's a totally different market, but you're going to have page. You have to have patience because this is going to take time to build. Even some of the most established creators, people who've been at it for years, when they tell the stories of how long, if you think about somebody like Marcus Brownlee, he's a massive YouTuber.

If you ever see. Clips of when he started. He looks like a little boy.

Yeah, I did a video with his very first video when he was reviewing this HP laptop with the remote and all the different, his very first video, I did something on that. Go ahead.

Yeah, so you you have to have patience now Nobody's saying that it's going to take you years That's, that's not true and that's not practical as an entrepreneur. You don't have, you don't have years to wait for these, these, these strategies to start to produce results for. But I think that you need to focus first on applying the strategy and put out of your head this idea of timelines, create a strategy, follow the strategy as faithfully as you can.

And you will see the results before you start to question how long it's taking. Because it may not deliver results in six months. You may see the green shoots of performance. You may see.

More people paying attention to you. We may see more inquiries in your inbox, but you may not see the income. So people automatically equate performance with video content marketing with either income or more calls for opportunities, people, you know, inboxing them for pricing, that kind of thing, but the green shoots.

of performance, people asking questions about you, people snooping around your websites. All of these are, these are, these are examples of the content and the strategy working, but most entrepreneurs, because you don't have the patience, you don't see that. What you want to see is a check that you put into your bank account.

at the end of every month, but these things take time. So concentrate on rolling out the strategy, being as faithful to it as you can be and put that before any concept of achieving all of these goals within a specific timeline.

That's good stuff. It does take time. It does take time to build it out and anybody as you said earlier on if anybody comes and tells you 10x instant results um Overnight success at their lives. They're grifters and they they don't really Um, and I really don't really have a best interest at heart to trying to extract money from you

Yeah. 

without giving you any way to build your business.

Let's talk a bit about why is consistency important. in the context of having a strategy. And if you have consistency without having a strategy, it can be a frustrating thing. And in fact, it might lead to failure.

Tell us why you think that's the case and how somebody can overcome that.

Okay. Simply put. You can consistently do garbage every day. Anybody can. You can upload a video to TikTok, to LinkedIn, to YouTube, to Instagram, to Facebook every single day. And you're consistent, but you're consistently wasting your time. So if you're doing that, And there's, there's, a reason people do this because they would, many people are telling them that they should do this, just keep showing up, just keep showing up, just keep showing up.

But if you're showing up every day and you're not giving the audience something that they can walk away with and apply to their lives, whether it's, How to lose weight or how to, um, how to get into healthy eating. If you're not giving the audience something that they can directly benefit from and apply to their lives in the short term, then that consistency is not really going to benefit your business.

So, it is far more important to have a strategy that informs your content creation, that tells you what kinds of videos that you should be making. Because I believe, and this is carried throughout all of the digital products that I create, that you need to create a mix. of videos. You cannot create only educational videos.

You need to create relatable videos because you're connecting with audiences. You're a one human being connected with other human beings. So you want to create a mix of video content that teaches them, but also connects with them, that relates with them on a human level. You need to have a strategy that connects and educates with people over the long term.

Simply just consistently creating content. Is not really going to deliver if that content is not any good, if it's not of any use to the audience, it's not going to build the relationships that you want. Now, on another note, I believe in consistency, but I also believe in being realistic. So what I, I am a firm believer in batch creating content.

So a fair number of the videos that I make are built on evergreen principles. Concepts that will never change across time. Um, every now and then I'll create a video that is directly tied to a recent event. So I can get the traction based on talking points, topics that are hot on TikTok. But for the most part, I try to create content that is universal and evergreen.

That was, it will, it will stand the test of time. And I also try to create content, particularly when it comes to video shorts. I do not really create content. That is specific to one platform. I create a video that can survive on all platforms. Now it is true that all of the platforms are different. Um, for example, Instagram, uh, tends to favor video content.

That's more aesthetically pleasing. There's a lot of beautiful B roll and there's cinematic, uh, shooting and all that sort of thing. So I will create video shorts, for example, that incorporate B roll and can survive across all platforms. All the platforms. I don't really create platform specific content because I'm an entrepreneur.

I have time to be creating videos for each specific platform. Again, this is the power of repurposing and all of this is part of your video marketing strategy because again, you're an entrepreneur first and a content creator second. So I'm a firm believer in batch creating content. And I will write and script the videos.

Most of them are evergreen. And I will bank videos for, that, that will give me a month of video content. And then I will start dropping those videos. And then after I've done that, I can take three weeks off. There's no problem with me taking three weeks off because I'm letting all of that content, much of which is, is evergreen content.

I'm letting it percolate. I'm monitoring it every now and then to see, okay, well, what engagement am I getting? Can I respond to comments to keep the conversation going? But you do not have to be creating content every breathing moment of your life. If you batch create content, you can drip release all of this content over a month.

And then you can take three weeks off to attend to your business while you're creating the next round of coffee

Oh,

before the consistency, but you still have consistency It's just not dominating your life and it's not disrupting other areas of your business that you need to attend to Going to pay the bills, doing payroll, creating new products.

All of these things are part of running a business on a daily basis. So once you have a strategy, the strategy determines how your content creation is done and the kind of effectiveness you get out of

I like the whole idea of taking three weeks off. Very useful for your life.

Yeah,

I mean, I've put myself in a bad position with, uh, having a podcast, but, uh, other than that, things are good. Other than that, things are good.

And I, you know, you notably don't have a podcast or do any long form video for that particular reason. I, I really, that's the reason why.

well, I, I, okay. So these are the platforms I concentrate on. I concentrate on the YouTubes. I'm on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, all to varying degrees of success. Um, but I do long form content on YouTube because first of all, I love creating long form videos. That is my, that's, that's my background. I enjoy doing it.

Um, that's also the most suitable format for my business in order to get the traction I need for the kind of clientele that I have. Um, so I'm not trying to do everything. I wouldn't be able to do a podcast as well on top of all of that. So I create long form and short form content and I am doing short form video content on.

YouTube as well. So I have long form and short form videos on YouTube and I have a short form content obviously on TikTok and Instagram. And that is my zone of interest. I'm not, I'm an old man. I can't do it all. So I can't do the podcast to maybe, maybe down the road. I might entertain the idea of doing a podcast, but right now I'm just concentrating on that method of content creation.

But the podcast has always been very interesting to me because As you can tell, I like to talk sometimes too much.

Yeah. And I see that you put some, um, long form content on TikTok as well. I mean, not the usual one minute, but like something like three, four minutes. And I guess it seems part of it is like you're teaching, uh, like, uh, maybe part of your teaching course, or, you know, uh, you had this video about visual storytelling, which is a very robust video for TikTok.

TikTok had, um, not long ago, and I think they're, I'm not, I'm not sure if they're still pushing it, but they had recently announced that they were going to, uh, favor longer form full screen content. They were trying to encourage Uh, the 10, the 10 minute video on, um, TikTok. So I decided to test that out.

And I've taken the content that I have on my YouTube, uh, platform, my YouTube channel, and I put it over, and, and, and the content that I have on my YouTube channel has much higher production values. It's far more structured. I don't want to say cinematic, but, well, it's cinematic. So I tried that out on TikTok because I was being told that they were giving people explosive growth much in the way that TikTok was giving people crazy growth.

It didn't work quite the way I expected it to, but again, it's that content is still in the vein of the kind of content that I create, which is teaching people how to use video to build their visibility for their business. So I put two videos on TikTok that are far longer. Um, I think they're, they're roughly coming at about eight, eight minutes, uh, and they're full screen video content.

Um, but they, those didn't get the traction that I expected. And some, what some people are surmising is. Well, you have to keep testing it, keep trying it out, keep trying it out. So I might do that. I might, I might put more up to see if the algorithm actually latches onto it and propels it in front of more audiences.

But again, that's an important point that entrepreneurs also need to understand when you are creating content and you find that you're not getting the kind of performance that you want, you have to understand that a lot of this is testing. You have to test to see what works and, and you might find that, okay, well, this strategy, this thumbnail, this title hasn't worked for you, or this way of structuring your video on TikTok, this hook that you've used isn't very compelling.

So you have to try something else. And the people who are getting the best results with that content creation are people who are willing to not be defeated by the non performance of their content, but they're willing to go back and look under the hood and say, okay, well, this is what went wrong. I didn't do this correctly.

What are other people doing? And apply those. New thoughts and ideas and principles. And those are the people whose content eventually starts to gain momentum. It's all about testing, retesting. You don't, don't, don't get down on something that doesn't work. I mean, I, I put that masterpiece up on TikTok and I thought, let me sit back and watch the numbers roll in and they didn't.

But I just said to myself, look, it's a great video. Eventually, uh. People will start to come by it and see that I'm now seeing people are slowly watching it. And again, people's, people's skepticism about longer form video content on TikTok was warranted because you can't train people to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll and favor one minute videos.

And then all of a sudden tell people, well, hey, we want you to sit down and watch a 10 minute video. But again, these platforms are in a constant state of evolution, which means as a content creator, you have to be in a constant state of evolution. You have to constantly monitor what works, what is no longer effective, and you have to keep adjusting to suit.

And some people might I interpret that as, well, it's frustrating, but I interpret it as exciting. It's, it's, it's exciting to be on the cutting edge of these, these new trends and to, to tweak your, your content to, to meet these new consumption patterns and what's working and what's not. Hmm.

That's good. That's so true. And I love what you said in the middle of the ads, uh, something that I don't often hear entrepreneurs say, which is I'm confident it's a good video. And, uh, so you made this thing and you know, this is a good video. I mean, it doesn't matter what

I hear it a lot. People say, I'm confident. This is a good video. Many I do, are not.

I follow, um, a prescribed video content strategy that has been tweaked and tested and retested. So I know that the content that I'm putting out is good. I'm 100 percent confident in that. So sometimes it's not the content, but it's the strategy and you have to tweak it and fix something.

The video itself may be good. Like I said. But maybe your title is not that great. It's not, or your thumbnail is not eye catching enough. It's not persuasive enough to, to, to convince people that it's worth their while to click on it. So again, it takes a lot of testing, tweaking, adjusting. And once you are committed to the process and you're, you're, um, you're convinced that this is the path that you want to travel, it will start to deliver results.

It does take some time and patience.

That's good. Here's what I want to do. I want to, I want to save, I want to find out more just so like five minutes about your video content strategy, but I'll do that as a post credit conversation for us to talk five minutes. So if you want to hear a little

What about like in the Marvel films?

Marvel, a la the Marvel films, if you want to hear about, about Paolo's content strategy, stay after we're done.

And we will just talk about it for about five minutes and you'll get that value down there. But Paolo, before we wrap up, could you, is there any one thing that you want to tell the people that is very important about video content strategy? One, one big point that you'd like them to know.

Well, I think that's it. It's, it's the word strategy. Um, the online, getting traction with your content across the online platforms is now, as I mentioned during the course of our conversation, is a lot more complex than it was because there are more players. in the game. And the pandemic changed that dramatically because of the pandemic.

During that period of time, millions, hundreds of millions of people jumped on the platforms, and that changed the game even more. So getting traction with your content requires more strategy, more thoughtfulness in the way you create content and the people that you're trying to connect with. So do not have this expectation.

You should temper your expectations and don't, don't, don't, don't imagine for yourself that if you just keep at it and keep at it and keep at it, eventually you will get ahead. That's a, that's a path to frustration. You need to really apply some kind of strategy. To your content creation. And that is what in the long run is going to give you the best performance in a video age that is increasingly dominated by the proliferation of AI generated content.

And as you yourself observed, I'm quite sure you've been paying attention to it. What AI, what AI was able to do last year and what it can do today is so dramatically different. It's almost inconceivable that that's where it started. And more people are going to be using AI to generate content. And the only thing that's going to be the distinguishing factor between all of that content and what you do is how you position yourself as A trustworthy source of information and expertise and someone who can really connect with people and someone who is there and present and not some AI generated, uh, generic kind of content.

That is, to me, the real value in getting on camera today is you're a real person, uh, using your own background and your experience and expertise, which is tested. You're not taking, you're not taking theories that you've scraped up online and teaching people. You're taking your expertise that you've tried and tested and failed and failed with and won with, and you're teaching that to people and you're using the camera to connect with audiences.

And that is what is going to make the difference between the, all of the AI content that is engaging the interests of other people and your content. It is, your content will be relatable. And trustworthy and useful to people. And all of that comes through building your on camera confidence and Video marketing strategy,

That's an excellent way to bring us into the end, make it relatable, make it based on your experience and people will know that it is genuine, it's authentic. And of course you have to build out your video content strategy. Paolo, people may be interested in getting in contact with you.

Where can people find you online?

Well, I am on TikTok. Uh, I, of course I'm on YouTube, just Paul Khan. And of course I'm on, uh, Facebook and I, I have an Instagram account, all Paul Khan, but I also have a no first video channel on YouTube. No first video, and my website is no first video. And I have lots of useful assets to people, both blogs, because I do quite a bit of blogging myself.

I'm also a bit of a writer, so, uh, you can check me out at no first video. That's my website, no first video. com. I have a no first video channel on YouTube where we have very useful videos for people who are, you know, that they have their toe in the water of video content creation. Um, you can also write me at, uh, info at no first video.

com. Uh, that's my email address. And, um, yeah, check me out on, on TikTok and, uh, on, on the YouTube. Okay,

make some comments so it gets some traction. So TikTok wouldn't be a liar, um, to Paolo anymore. Um, all right, great, great stuff. So thank you so much students for joining us in the Useful Content Classroom. Useful Content Classroom, dismissed. And we're clear. All right, good, good stuff. Post credit scenes. Time to do some post credit. We're in 44 minutes. So let's hear, I mean, there are so many little questions I wanted to ask you. I wanted to ask you like the step by step for how you batch and You know, what is the strategy you're currently using, but I couldn't get those questions.

And, um, you know, my notebook was in my head and, you know, that is all that goes. So let's just talk for a couple of minutes about this strategy you mentioned earlier. What is this strategy that you're using that you find that makes you confident in your video now? 

So in case you missed it at the start and you know, here at the end, wondering where's the rest of the podcast, the post credit.

Interview part of the podcast on this content strategy. I'll put that in a separate podcast all together and you'll get that full conversation because it went on longer than I expected and it's, it's enough for us to have a totally different podcast. So look out for that very, very soon, maybe next week, and we'll have the rest of the conversation with Paolo Khan.

Thanks everyone for joining and see you very soon on the Useful Content Podcast.