The sooner you realize that you are a media company, the better your business is going to become. Since the dawn of time, brands have rented time and space from media companies. This has traditionally come in the form of commercials and advertisements run alongside or in-between the content a viewer, reader or subscriber was actually trying to enjoy.
Over the past few years, media companies have tried to integrate brands into their content with product placement, native advertising and sponsored content. And while this model has served readers and viewers (and sometimes brands) better than traditional commercials, the brand was still growing their business on rented land.
The smart brands have realized that they are indeed a media company themselves.
Oprah really went and took her media power and created not only the OWN Network, but O Magazine, Oprah.com, mobile apps and games, clothing and more. And then there’s guys like Dave Ramsey, who still uses the radio, but he also syndicates his shows onto iTunes, publishes books, creates products and programs, hosts live events and even rents out his media company to advertisers who want access to his audience.
So how in the world do you take advantage of this idea that YOU are a media company?
Why don’t I just tell you how I am currently doing this?
First, every other Monday I shoot videos back-to-back that are 2-5 minutes. This means I am shooting 2X per month and filming a total of 8 videos per month. We choose the topics based on the following:
We make a list of all the other top blogs, podcasts and news sites associated within our niches and see what the hot topics are. I also take notes from questions clients and prospects email in. I even look in Facebook groups for topics I’m knowledgeable in and that interest me.
I put all of these ideas inside of Evernote, but you can use any note taking system. Here is a snapshot of my idea file:
Now that I have that list, here is what I am looking for:
- Is there a topic there that I can weigh in on?
To me this is big. I actually want to have a strong opinion on the topic.
Here’s a BIG takeaway:
To be a ThoughtLeader®, you have to have Leading Thoughts. If you don’t, you will quickly fade and be forgotten. Remember that.
Ok, so if I have something to say I look at thing 2.
- Is this a trending topic or are there keywords that people might search for on YouTube that would help me to get organic views of a video?
One video I recently put up was about an idea I learned from Jack Canfield. I went into YouTube and it told me that the number one thing people search for when searching for Jack Canfield is “Jack Canfield Success Principles”
Therefore, I put up a video that had that in the title: “How To Use 3 Jack Canfield Success Principles To Grow Your Online Business.”
Ok, now that I have my ideas locked in, we film the 4 videos every other Monday.
Then, I post an edited video every Monday and Wednesday to YouTube and Facebook.
If this is all we did, we are still winning. It means we will put out 100+ videos this year. But we don’t stop there.
We take the audio from the video and convert it to an MP3 audio file that we send to iTunes as a Podcast. Now we have a Podcast that has 2 new episodes every week. (BTW – if you aren’t subscribed to our iTunes Show, The Ambitious® Life, go do it now!)
Here is what that looks like:
Remember, this is the same content as from the videos. No new content created.
Finally, we get the files transcribed. We clean up the transcription, add an image and then post it to Ambitious.com and to Medium.com. I even embed the video from YouTube onto the posts so we can get more views of the videos.
This is how you can become a Media Company. Let’s do a quick recap:
· First, film your video(s). (I recommend batch shooting 4 videos once a month. This gives you one video per week.)
· Post the video on YouTube and Facebook.
· Strip out the audio and now you have a Podcast on iTunes.
· Get the audio transcribed and turn it into a blog post. Post the blog on your site, or as a guest post on any site relevant to your target audience.
That’s it! I urge you to go film your first video, post it to YouTube and Facebook and let us know when it’s live so we can check it out and support you on your journey to becoming a Media Company.
