String Nguyen from Master Your Video shows you how to start and grow a LinkedIn Video channel.
GUEST: String Nguyen, founder and community developer from Master Your Video. and String Story. Follow her on LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, and read her post “10 Tips for Starting a LinkedIn Video Channel.”
HOST: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.
PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy Studios
TRANSCRIPT
Dane Golden:
It’s time for HEY.com. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners just like you grow your customer community through helpful how-to videos. My name is Dane Golden and today we’re going to speak with String Nguyen of Master Your Video. Welcome String.
String Nguyen:
Thanks for having me, Dane.
Dane Golden:
Thank you for being on. And where are we speaking to you from? Where are you in the world?
String Nguyen:
I’m in the future called Melbourne, Australia. I’m a couple of hours ahead of you. So thanks for having me early at 9:00 o’clock on Thursday.
Dane Golden:
And you wrote this great article on LinkedIn and it was about starting a LinkedIn video channel. And I’d like to ask you about that, is that okay?
String Nguyen:
Go ahead. I love that you are particularly focused on this article because I really [inaudible] that up and I’m really surprised that not a lot of people got traction on LinkedIn. Because articles doesn’t seem to get traction for me. But video does.
Dane Golden:
Ironically.
String Nguyen:
Yeah, video does.
Dane Golden:
Because you are a LinkedIn video expert and I’ve seen you speak now, I think, at two conferences. But first of all, could you tell me what you consider a LinkedIn video channel to be because people are used to that word channel on other video platforms. But what does it mean on LinkedIn to have a video channel?
String Nguyen:
Well, just some big news. Yesterday, I got to test out LinkedIn Live. So I guess when you look at my particular channel on LinkedIn, you notice that I focus on … I’m like a resource for other businesses and people who are interested in personal branding to learn about how to use video to amplify their stories and messages.
String Nguyen:
So they come to me to learn how to do videos.
Dane Golden:
And this is a personal profile? We’re not talking about a business profile here?
String Nguyen:
No. It’s a personal profile. So I was able to grow my profile, turn it into a channel and was able to grow from zero to 30,000 followers. Not connections, followers.
Dane Golden:
And talk us through some of the steps that people need to go through or some of the pointers that people need to look out for as they’re building a LinkedIn video channel.
String Nguyen:
Well, I guess that’s what happens when you have these 10 points, which I outlined. But I guess like, you know, have a strong personal brand. Create consistent content that’s super niche. Just like any other channel does. Do videos. If you want to be a video channel then you need to make sure that you at least have 80% video-centric content. And get serious about buying equipment, invest in equipment and creating great content.
Dane Golden:
Now, one of the things you say in this article is to be human. And when people are on LinkedIn, it’s evolving quickly but when people thought of LinkedIn a couple of years ago, they’re like, “Okay, I need to have my resume and maybe I like a link that somebody posts.” But how do people become comfortable being themselves and sharing their own thoughts when they know this could reflect on their overall company? They don’t want to get fired, they want to get promoted. So how do they walk that line?
String Nguyen:
So it depends like which direction you want. If you’re a business owner, it’s much easier being yourself on camera because it means that people want to do business with you.
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
But if you’re like an employee, then what you need to do is almost like work alongside with the marketing team and make sure that your messaging is clear and then you’ll have the best representation of the company. So you almost become a brand ambassador or content creator inside the marketing team.
String Nguyen:
So you have to think of yourself as a tool set within the company.
Dane Golden:
And how do you get buy-in from your boss on that? Do you just do it and ask for forgiveness later? Or are there a number of approaches?
String Nguyen:
So there’s probably a number of approaches. I’ll probably ask for forgiveness later because that’s my style all the time because I wouldn’t innovate if I didn’t do that on a regular basis. But I think what you need to do is almost like find out what the … Work closely with the marketing team or be friends with them and find out what their messaging is. Or just do the backend experience and learn as much as you can because you’re the expert in the business as well. You should know the business inside and out. So when you create content around it, you have to push out all the content inside your head out to the world. And video does that really well. Be able to do it succinctly and in a way that seems like you’ve got enough credibility as well.
Dane Golden:
And one of your points was how to plan your channel and the content. How do people come up with ideas? How do they plan what to talk about if they’re going to do a vlog style video once a week, let’s say?
String Nguyen:
Well, let’s think of it this way. Like what are you the master of? Let’s ask you that question, Dane. What are you the master of?
Dane Golden:
Right. Yeah. I think that I’m in the nuts and bolts of YouTube from the underlying analytics and how those analytics apply to what works and what doesn’t on YouTube.
String Nguyen:
Okay. And do you also know … Is that like primary source of income? Like people come to you to know how to do YouTube properly?
Dane Golden:
Yeah.
String Nguyen:
Okay. So that’s what you should be creating content on LinkedIn from, like video production. So your primary mastery is definitely YouTube. And the secondary one is like video production.
Dane Golden:
Not so much in the production. There’s a lot of good people that do that. But other elements around optimization.
String Nguyen:
So you’re like an expert in your field and I’m an expert in my field.
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
All I do is provide clarity in terms of when people ask me what kind of channels there are. This is like the process that I go through when I talk to people. They confirm or reconfirm how to position themself. So they know what position they should be going through. But everyone it seems like needs some kind of confirmation from everyone. But you should be the expert and position yourself and own that expertise. That’s your channel and your content.
Dane Golden:
And should I get a set? Should I get an expensive camera? Or should I just turn on my phone when I feel the desire to talk to someone?
String Nguyen:
No.
Dane Golden:
How should I approach it?
String Nguyen:
I guess that’s the difference between a hobbyist and a serious content creator. A hobbyist will just go and free falling and they’re probably happy to use their phone. But our phones, by the way, is like an amazing tool that can create 4K videos.
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
So don’t disregard smartphones these days.
Dane Golden:
Sure.
String Nguyen:
And if you’re starting out, use your smartphone. But when you need to do is develop your camera presence before you think about investing in expensive equipment. Or hire an editor for example. A serious content creator will probably be more strategic and develop content plans and think about what they need to do in terms of how to position themselves because they’ll probably reverse engineer where they want to be in five years.
Dane Golden:
And how many videos should someone do a week, for instance, in this topic?
String Nguyen:
Well the way I was able to grow is because like any other channel, if you treat it like a TV program they have probably once a week. But I do it once a day just because I want to position myself as that resource channel.
Dane Golden:
Five days a week, or seven days a week, or 10 times a week?
String Nguyen:
I remember when I first pushed out and I had video I pushed out. Because I was like when I positioned myself as a global channel, I pushed out twice a day.
Dane Golden:
Twice a day. And so, I’m imagining there’s not a lot of editing going on with that type of turnaround.
String Nguyen:
Well, it’s just like really being very … It’s almost like a sense of credibility when you do it one take, right?
Dane Golden:
Right, right. And so your topics were about LinkedIn video initially or were they about branding or what? What types of things did you get off the ground going?
String Nguyen:
What was interesting when I started creating my own … had like a community around me, I had realtime feedback loop. I pushed out a video and then they’d respond to it. If I had low numbers that means that wasn’t a good topic or I didn’t deliver the messaging properly. If they had great response, that’s something that I have to keep a note of as well. So having the audience who loves your content, that’s the advantages of having a channel as well because they give you a feedback loop.
Dane Golden:
How does someone just sort of warm up when they’re just doing an off-the-cuff thing? For instance, when I’m getting ready to make videos or this podcast, I might sing. I might play a song on my iPhone and sing along with it for a while. Almost like karaoke just to warm up and get happy, you know?
String Nguyen:
Yeah, that’s a really great point, Dane, because you need to bring up your energy level, right?
Dane Golden:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
String Nguyen:
Because energy … even podcast or anything recording … it really picks up your energy. And people are a little bit more perkier on camera because it flattens, right …
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
… when people watch it. If we were talking normally, we wouldn’t have that high energy. They’d think we’re bipolar. You can relate to this, Dane, right?
String Nguyen:
But when you’re on camera …
Dane Golden:
Hey, I don’t know what you mean about me relating to being bipolar. I don’t know what you’re trying to get at here.
String Nguyen:
You giggled there. You totally giggled there. But I think a lot of times people expect me to be happy, happy.
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
But I reserve my energy for camera or when I do a content production. And when they meet me, I’m really chilled. But you need to bring your energy level up. So I dance. And I love that you sing because it really warms up your vocal chords as well.
Dane Golden:
So do you dance on the video? Or do you dance before to warm up yourself?
String Nguyen:
I do it myself. Or the first thing I do in the morning is I dance as well. Get out the bed, put music on and dance. And if I have people who are camera shy and I have to interview them, I’ll make them warm up with me as well to build up rapport and loosen them up a little bit so they look less rigid on camera and we look like we have a really great rapport.
Dane Golden:
Right. Yeah. I think you’ve really got to just sort of amp it up twice as much, smile twice as much, bring twice as much power as you normally would just sitting across from someone having coffee. Now that you’ve uploaded the video, I heard you give a lot of really good tips about hashtags. How do hashtags work with promoting video on LinkedIn? Is it different than the other platforms?
String Nguyen:
How do you use hashtags normally anyway, Dane?
Dane Golden:
Well, I followed some of the things you do. So when I post a video on LinkedIn, I’ll do #LinkedInVideo. But on YouTube there’s a bit of a debate. And I come down, because they do allow hashtags now, I come down on the side of the debate that you should not do any hashtags because it gives shorter watch time and that will rank your video lower. But in general, I’ll do …
String Nguyen:
Is it hashtags on the headlines or hashtags in the description in YouTube?
Dane Golden:
I mean hashtags in the description. I guess some people do it in the headlines and I’m not against that. Titles.
String Nguyen:
Well, I didn’t see any hashtagging that much on YouTube so it hasn’t really picked up because it’s still being underlying technology or the way it ranks is on Google. Based on Google anyway.
Dane Golden:
Right. Yeah.
String Nguyen:
So on LinkedIn, hashtagging hasn’t really been used properly at all because I feel like it’s still a low priority in the algorithm. But it’s more used for discoverability or searching for people. So you should definitely have your own hashtag because it will act as your own IRSS feed as well. And you should have one called #HeyDane, for example. And I have one for #StringVideo or #StringStory just so people could watch my videos.
Dane Golden:
Now you have a theme on LinkedIn that has to do with fried chicken. And could you explain what that is exactly?
String Nguyen:
Every time you see fried chicken do you think of me, Dane?
Dane Golden:
I do.
String Nguyen:
That’s it. I’m glad that it works because a lot of people get confused with my fried chicken. It’s like how is it related to business? It’s like when you come in business, you want people to think about you, right?
Dane Golden:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
String Nguyen:
It’s top of my marketing. Every time you see a KFC, you’ll think of me because String likes fried chicken.
Dane Golden:
And you see the icon and you always say it.
String Nguyen:
Yes. And I do go super religious into it because I organize fried chicken parties for my friends and communities. I have a fried chicken hat sometimes when I go out to conferences so people could spot me and find me. People like when I have inbound messages I know that they consumed my content by notating fried chicken. And I always have time for those people who knew fried chicken, or reference fried chicken for me, because it’s the community way of saying, “I’ll watch your content and I know you like fried chicken.”
Dane Golden:
And it helps. And if people are going to have their own symbol or catchphrase or whatever, it helps if there is an emoji that’s already made for this like there is for fried chicken.
String Nguyen:
Yes. Well, you probably noticed a lot more people using emojis now. I was always a little bit chuffed and I’m a little bit egotistic to say that I started this emoji trend of visual branding or visual brand anchoring.
Dane Golden:
That was you?
String Nguyen:
Yeah. I’m just going to take ownership of it.
Dane Golden:
Let’s say it’s you.
String Nguyen:
But it is true.
Dane Golden:
Okay.
String Nguyen:
So if you think of content creation was only around LinkedIn for the last couple years, right?
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
Probably three years. And video has only been around for two years. And then probably like the first early wave on that super consistent. Like Gary Vee has been around for a while. But he’s been on LinkedIn now because one: He has a team and they always like looking for places for them to produce content. And they have such a big massive library of content, they don’t necessarily need to create new content. They could recycle the content they made from other channels and push it over there, and which they do.
Dane Golden:
Right, yeah. They do content multiplication, which if you have the ability to do it, it’s a great thing, you can slice and dice up content and put it on a lot of different channels. What happens for people who are very sensitive and just can’t deal with people who are trolls or whatever? I guess on LinkedIn, maybe not as many. I’m going to guess and say there’s not as many trolls because you’re really identified to your own personality. There’s the faking or very difficult to fake on LinkedIn who you are. True or not true?
String Nguyen:
For me, I’m super authentic and I love trolls. I love dealing with them.
Dane Golden:
Oh?
String Nguyen:
Well, because it’s just a good PR move, right. If you know how to deal with negativity and sometimes this negativity could be critiques on how to improve your content as well. So you just need to learn how to be less sensitive about it and don’t take it personally. But every time there’s someone who I know is having a go at me personally or my content, I just throw them my fried chicken. It’s like, “You know what’s original? KFC.” And so I just use it as a PR tactic to go back to my branding because you don’t want to leave any negativity behind as well because people read. People read comments. You leave digital footprints and evidence on your personality online as well. Don’t leave any digital food crumbs to pinpoint you as someone who’s a negative.
Dane Golden:
But there are some degrees of negativity that go beyond rational, would you not agree?
String Nguyen:
Yes. Yes, I say that a lot. Like women get it the most. And I already have my theory about that already as well. They seem to get like, “Hey beautiful. You’re really sexy.” And everything like that. Or they probably get a lot of behind the scenes messages of treating it like Tinder, for example. And what I’ve realized, because I’ve been online for a long time, is that you did not give them any green light or even a warm light or signals to say that you’re open to suggestive comments.
Dane Golden:
Right.
String Nguyen:
And also, if you add random people at particular countries, then you will get those comments as well. And if you present yourself in a way that kind of is suggestive, you’ll get those comments as well.
Dane Golden:
Okay.
String Nguyen:
I mean, I had these conversations as well and it’s like, “How come you don’t get trolls?” It’s like, “I’m professional, man. I have never given any iota to say that I want attention of that kind.” If I want to give attention, it’s usually business stuff. And I can use that limelight onto them as well. I’ve been waiting to build up a collection of these comments but I haven’t gotten any lately.
Dane Golden:
Oh good. Good. And just as commenting overall, positive comments. What I think of with YouTube, particularly for tutorial vloggers and as I advocate that approach for businesses, I think of LinkedIn video as well. When you upload that video, that’s the beginning of a conversation, not the end. The uploading is not the end.
Dane Golden:
Would you agree with that or do you have a different take on that?
String Nguyen:
It is. Because a lot of people I’ve noticed they just upload and don’t engage. And you can’t do that because they want to have a conversation with you. I do agree. YouTube taught me a lot about that. It’s like you have to have these conversations. Especially if you’re beginning to build up a community, these are potential clients that are trying to engage with you on LinkedIn.
Dane Golden:
And where are the places that you might prompt them with a question? Is it throughout the theme to the video, at the end of the video? Is it in the description? Do you comment? Be the first commenter?
String Nguyen:
It depends on what format you want. Like on LinkedIn I was amazed by people still comment, watch, comment and engage with me. So it’s like, “Hey, where are you watching this LinkedIn live from? Tell me your favorite fried chicken places.” And I ask for back questions during the whole thing. And I’ve got people watching it and responding to those questions. So by having a conversations and talking to the person on the other side works post-production as well as live.
Dane Golden:
And if you wanted to say one message to the people listening today that will get them on the right path for their LinkedIn video channel, what would that be?
String Nguyen:
Specifically if you want to go into video and you feel like you’re a professional and you have a lot of expertise and knowledge but so scared of the camera, you should join my community Master Your Video.
Dane Golden:
Tell us about that.
String Nguyen:
Well, because I find a lot of professionals have so much knowledge in their head and I feel like part of future proofing our skillsets is like building up our communication skills. But they just need a safe environment or a place where they could get feedback on how to improve their videos and communication. Almost like a … what is it … like a Toastmaster but online. Master Your Video is a community that helps people learn from others and master their communications and master their video in a sandpit area where they could get feedback.
Dane Golden:
And there was also something that you had it was like a 48-hours … I’m not sure I quite understood what that is exactly.
String Nguyen:
Oh yeah. I feel like for people who are listening 48 for 48. It’s just like for $48. So instead of buying for $299, you could have access to the community and course for $48.
Dane Golden:
But was there a 48-hours portion of it? Or did I get that wrong?
String Nguyen:
Oh, no. This is me being lazy because I didn’t have a [crosstalk]. And [crosstalk] I write like that. I’ll just extend it to $48 because it seems like the sweet spot for everyone.
Dane Golden:
Oh.
String Nguyen:
The $299, that’s the value of it that you gain from it but it’s always adding courses to it. So this is me just being transparent. I’m still working on this spot myself now.
Dane Golden:
Cool. And tell us some of the URLs people can find you at, String.
String Nguyen:
LinkedIn.com/inStringStory. Instagram.com/StringStory. YouTube.com/StringStory.
Dane Golden:
So String Story everywhere and also MasterYourVideo.com.
String Nguyen:
Yes. That’s where the course is as well. And if you like, feel free to reach out to me and say that … because I don’t add anyone that I’m unfamiliar with … but if you would write personally a message that you listened to me on Dane, I’m happy to connect with you.
Dane Golden:
Tell her you heard it on HEY.com.
String Nguyen:
Yeah.
Dane Golden:
And people will be able to find this episode by searching for HEY and String Nguyen. That’s S-T-R-I-N-G N-G-U-Y-E-N. And my name is Dane Golden and I want to thank you the listener for joining us today. I do this podcast and these videos because I love helping marketers and business owners just like you grow your customer community through helpful how-to videos. Because when you share your expertise in a way that helps your customers live their lives better or do their jobs better, you’ll earn their loyalty, and their trust, and their business. Thanks to our special guest, String Nguyen of Master Your Video. Until next week. Here’s to helping you help your customers through video.