Creating Video Content For Your Community with Steve Dotto

Your Dream Business

English - April 27, 2020 00:15 - 56 minutes - 103 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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Previous Episode: Taking Your Business Online and Creative Content Ideas

Next Episode: Adjusting your Marketing Strategy During this Crisis with Mark Schaefer.

On this week’s podcast I am interviewing the lovely Steve Dotto, who is a well-known speaker in the social media space. Steve is the business owner of Dotto Tech, but his career actually started in television. Steve creates a crazy amount of content, so I thought he would be the best person to talk to us about video content creation.

Key Takeaways Covered In The PodcastCreating content is about creating a conversation.Our audiences are getting far more sophisticated and demanding.People want intimacy with a content creator – feels more personal.Your audience want access to you, so they feel more connected.Your audience doesn’t judge you, they want you to succeed.Not everything has to be polished and perfect.Give yourself the same grace you would give others – we all get imposter syndrome sometimes!Listen to what your audience asks for and be guided by them.You want to create content for an appreciative audience.Creator burnout is a big issue – Don’t over-do It, make sure you give yourself a break if you need one.There are lots of different platforms and types of video content you can put out – Audio Podcasts, Video Podcasts, Live Streaming on YouTube/Instagram/LinkedIn, Webinars, Recorded Videos.When people watch your video on YouTube, they are watching with intent.People who click your video on YouTube are interested in hearing what you have to say, this is your chance to start building a relationship!Recognising which platform you are creating your video for is key.If you are going to live stream, you have to create an intent for people to come and view it.Video is not just “putting it out” – it needs thought behind it.Think of YouTube as a search engine.You don’t have to put your video on every single platform, just the platform it is most suitable for and will be most received.When we create content, we create it for search, not for subscribers.You could use your extra time right now to start creating some video content for your community.You could start with a video call to some of your loyal customers/clients.If you’re not engaged in a conversation with your audience, you won’t become a craftsman.Sharing your insight via video will allow your passion to come through and help to tell a story.You need to keep posting and being consistent.Success may not come straight away but don’t give up, keep going and putting your videos out there.Consistency is the key to building your audience, you have to keep showing up.Don’t compare your metrics to other people.We all have our own community, it doesn’t matter what the size. They are turning to you.Create videos that will help your community with their needs.Take it right back to basics.Advice from Steve – You CAN do it! Embrace failure, take a chance, if it doesn’t work, learn from it and move on!
The one thing you need to remember above all else…When we start anything, we are always going to be the worst we can be, which means we can only get better from there! So try it, get started and then improve as you go along.Highlights You Simply Can’t MissAn introduction to Steve - 03:01Understanding your audience - 12:35“Perfect” content - 15:15Tired of creating so much content? - 20:00Which platform for what content - 26:25Live streaming - 30:33Influencers - 34:15Getting started with video content for your business - 37:45Building an audience - 43:25Creating videos for your community - 48:41Advice from Steve - 51:18

Transcript below

Hello there, and a super warm...

Transcript below

Hello there, and a super warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing on this very fine ... Hopefully fine Monday morning, or afternoon, the following day, whenever you're listening to this. I'm just going to jump straight into this episode today, because it's an interview, and it's such a good one. Now, I say this all the time, but I do genuinely mean that. This one was so cool, because basically this week I'm interviewing a very lovely guy called Steve Dotto.

Now, Steve, if you're in the social media space you will probably know from Social Media Marketing World. He speaks a lot, he's very well known in this space. But Steve and I were both meant to be speaking at this year's Atomicon, which was an in person event happening in Newcastle. Of course as we all know, all in person events have been cancelled for the time being, or were at the point of recording this. So Steve and I weren't meeting in person, which was a real shame. We have met before actually, very briefly. But we ended up doing, or will end up doing the event online, so we're still doing the event for Atomicon, which I'm very much looking forward to, but it's not going to be an in person event. Anyway.

So I wanted Steve on the podcast, because like I said, I've seen him around for a bit. I know he's very good. Steve creates a crazy amount of content, and I'm really conscious that actually, there are lots of people out there at the moment who maybe are using their time at home, or have used their time at home, to focus on creating content for their business. Now granted, you might be doing this now because of the situation, but this is actually an ongoing, you should always be doing this thing. I thought Steve would be brilliant.

The other thing that I need to tell you about this interview was, I was doing it quite late in the day, as I often do on interviews in the States. I was tired, it's really ... During this time I've felt very very tired, and I got on this podcast, and I just loved it. I genuinely laughed my head off at some of the things that Steve said, and just even thinking about the interview really makes me smile. He is such a nice guy, and I love this bit about the podcast. I love the fact that I get to meet and speak to people who are not only smart, and tell me things that make me think, which he did, and things that I don't know. But also, just genuinely are nice people, and I really enjoy having a conversation with them.

An introduction to Steve

So I'm really hoping you're going to enjoy this one, because he is a super smart guy. Before we jump into the interview, let me tell you a little bit about Steve. Steve would describe himself as a tech geek, and is the business owner of Dotto Tech. But Steve actually started his career, and he'll tell you about this in the interview, back in TV. I think you can see it. When you watch some of his YouTube videos, he's a very good presenter, a very good storyteller. But basically what Steve does, is he creates videos on how to use tech. The chances are, you might have seen one of Steve's videos when you were looking at how to use Zoom, or Evernote, or some other tech system that you're trying to use.

He also has a podcast, he has his YouTube channel which has loads and loads of subscribers. In fact, let me just check. Currently he has 272,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Steve has also brought out a fairly new podcast called Grey Matters. This is a podcast that's aimed at what he calls the grey zone, which are mainly baby boomers and Gen X. His aim is to teach them how to use the digital world, social media, online communities. Because this maybe isn't something that they're entirely used to.

Honestly, Steve is just such a nice guy, and has an awful lot to teach us about content creation, as he puts out two videos a week on YouTube, and has his weekly podcast. Honestly, my hat goes off to him, because that is a lot of content to create. Anyway, I am going to leave it there, I'm going to hand it straight over to the interview. I really hope you enjoy it. Please do come and say hi to Steve and I, and let us know that you enjoyed this episode, and I look forward to hearing what you think.

Okay. I am very excited today to welcome the very lovely Steve to the podcast. Steve, how are you doing?

I'm just great, thanks for having me.

Good. It's my pleasure, my pleasure. For those of my audience that don't know you, first off, you need to check Steve out because I was just looking at his YouTube prior to this as a quick reminder, and it blows my mind, the amount of content you've got on there. But do me a favour. Just introduce us, Steve, and let my audience know how you are and how you've got to do what you're doing now.

Well, Steve Dotto, Dotto Tech is our channel. My YouTube channel is really an outgrowth of my previous career. I started doing the YouTube about 10 years ago or so, but before that I had a nationally syndicated TV show and radio show in Canada on how to use technology. I had a background in teaching technology, et cetera, and in media. We were on the air for nearly 15 years. Actually, more than 15 years, with the television show.

When we stopped doing that, and started to move over to YouTube, I already had a pretty good facility to create video. I was good at doing demonstrations and showcasing products, so YouTube came very very naturally to me. The result that you see a lot of content is just because I'm used to creating a lot of content, and I got good at it. I had nearly 20 years of training before anybody else was doing anything on YouTube, and doing videos that would be perfect for YouTube. That's why we do so much, and we create so much content.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

Have you always been into tech? Was it a particular type of tech, or was it always this type of tech?

Well, that's going way back. But in the '90s, I used to talk about the technical impact, or the social impact that technology had on us. My TV show was always just trying to teach people how to embrace technology in their lives. I think it was just opportunity. It wasn't that I was into tech, I don't actually love tech all that much. But I was a good ... My kind of, you know, they talk about your superpower or whatever. It's explaining things. It's taking difficult concepts and making them easy to understand.

I needed a job, and these new computer things were all over the place. They were going into schools and offices, and people didn't know how to use them. I could figure it out, I didn't think it was that difficult. I could explain it. So we just ... Kind of one thing led to the other, and I kind of found a career as opposed to planning it out. I enjoyed working in television. I enjoyed the theatre, and I enjoy the teamwork and the camaraderie, so I did ... That was great.

That's the thing I miss most about now doing YouTube, that I miss from when I did television. Is I miss my crew. All these individuals I used to work with have been replaced by USB ports, and I really miss them. I find it a little bit of a lonely experience, actually. But for me, though, it just blew my mind when I started doing YouTube how all of a sudden I could create video for the people that were watching. You know, when you do television, you're creating video for the advertising agencies and for the network executives, and for everybody except the people who are watching.

But all of a sudden with YouTube, you can create for the people who are watching, and you don't have these gatekeepers standing in front of you. These programme managers saying, "We're going to move you from Saturday to Sunday," and disenfranchise you from your audience. We've now got this platform that we can build our own audience based on our own values, you know. What people value, not the fact that we've managed to go get Microsoft or Apple to give us X number of dollars so that we would showcase their product on television.

Yeah, yeah.

Now we can do what we really want, and what really moves us, and what really we find value in. To me, it's a very exciting space to be working in.

Yeah. It is, but it's interesting, a few things you said there. One, great, that you get to control the content you do and the stuff that you look at and you talk about. But the fact that it is a really lonely experience. You know, and I think sometimes people look at the amount of content you put out, and because they're on the receiving end of it ... The same with the podcast. When you're listening to this and it's in your ears, it feels very personable. But when you're sat recording it on your own, it's a very different experience. That in itself, Steve, doing that as a skill to actually get that across is massive. Because that is a skill, to make it feel like you're not in a room on your own, talking to yourself.

I don't think people recognise ... Content creators do recognise it. But when you're starting and you're just getting into content creation, you don't realise what a vacuum and what an energy suck the empty space is.

Yeah.

You know, when you're giving a presentation in a room, you get energy back from individuals. When you're teaching somebody in a classroom, you get energy back from the room that you're in. When you're recording a video or recording a podcast ... It's not as bad when you do an interview like this. But when you're doing a solo podcast, or a solo video, you're not getting anything back, so you're just pouring energy in and it's just dissipating. I don't know about you, but when I view my content after it's been edited, or I listen to it, I always go, "Oh, that's way better than I thought it was." Because at the moment, you just ... You're not getting any back pressure on the energy you're putting in, and so consequently ... I always come out of ...

Even now. I've been doing this longer than, well, certainly ... I've been recording screen casts and doing product demos since the early '90s. But back in the day, I would do it in a studio, and I've have cameramen and producers and get feedback, and so I always knew if it was good or not and I had people telling me. But once I started doing it on my own, I still end up recording a video, stopping the video, going, "Should I do that again?" I just have to ... It's laziness that cuts me off, and I just say, no, I'm going to ... I don't do my editing myself anymore. I do a rough cut, I cut it for time, and then I send it actually to just near you. Liz Azyan, who is in London, she does all of our editing. Liz will do it, but I'm always surprised when it comes back. I go, "Wow, Liz, you're a miracle worker. I sounded intelligent." Because I didn't feel that intelligent when I actually created the content.

That's so funny. You're right, because the one question I ask my editor all the time, who edits the podcast, is if it's a solo one and I've done it and I sent it, I always go, "You sure that was all right?" Because I've always [crosstalk 00:11:33].

Yeah, yeah. You do, yeah.

As to whether it was any good or not. Because you just go ahead and do it. What's also interesting about your world is that you have ... Content creation is not new for you. You have been a content creator for a long time, whereas because my background's marketing, content creation for me is a fairly new concept. Really in the last few years, anyway. Lots of businesses are still, I think, not fully aware of the benefit of creating content. Do you think?

You are ... Probably you have the classic issue. Marketers think that you have to give a message. Content creators realise you have to have a conversation.

Yeah.

Understanding your audience

You know, being on brand, being on point. You hear all those things that are so important. When you're in a marketing space, I understand the importance of it. But the world is changing. How we do things is changing. What it takes for success is changing. The audience is getting far more sophisticated and far more demanding. You talked about something right off the top of our talk today. You talked about when you're listening to it, I think you said it was a very personal experience. Listening to podcasts.

The term that I prefer to use is intimate. People want intimacy. They want a relationship with the content creators, with the people who they're viewing. Because we don't recognise ... We come and we think we're doing television, to a certain extent, when we do a video or something. But we're not. When you're doing television, there's a distance. There's no chance for you to have interaction with the person that you're watching on television. You typically do it sitting in a room, and with family members or something. But there's this distance between you.

The video that we do today increasingly is being consumed on a smart phone. Or at the very least, on a desktop computer, where it's like arm's length. I could reach out and touch you right now. If you're viewing somebody on a phone, you're cradling them in your hands. How much more intimate can it ... People are listening to our podcast in the bathroom right now. I mean, how much more intimate do we have to be? Really? At this point here?

Just wash your hands, wash your hands.

Yes, indeed. But at this point here we're pretty much besties, are we not?

Yeah, yeah.

But people desire that additional connection. They aren't looking for the message, they're looking for the relationship.

Yeah. I think you're right. I think lots of people don't get that, do they? And they think, when they're creating content ... It's taken me a good few years to start to see the benefit of the relationship, because when you're creating content you're thinking, right, where's the learning, where's the value, where's the message, where's the sales? But actually, the stuff that has gone the absolute best for me ... When we hit episode 100 of the podcast, I had my husband on, and we did an interview, my husband and I. Someone came in and interviewed us. To celebrate it, and to sort of carry on the excitement of it, we did a live together. We did this live from my office, where you see me now, and we both sat on a Friday night with a gin, because that's our choice of drink, and we did live with gin with Teresa and Paul.

And people loved it. There was no particular value for them, there was no particular kind of trying to get a particular message. I wasn't selling anything, I wasn't promoting anything. We literally just went on, and we chatted, and we answered questions, and we had a bit of fun, and we loved it.

“Perfect” content

Yeah. Yeah, people want a relationship. They want a little bit of access. That's why I set up my office, when I set up this new office, that I set up the set. Which obviously pod people on the podcast can't see. But I used to do everything on a green screen, and people were always saying, "Your stuff looks so great," because I would green screen all my demos over top. There was a certain sterile aspect to it. My personality came through, of course. But now, with the background, what's happened is my dog has become the star of half of my videos and my lives and my webinars.

I love that.

Because Farley is a jackass, and he's always doing something in the background. He's grooming himself in the most inappropriate ways, or knocking things over. But people want that, in even ... We don't let it get in the way of the message, but it does enhance the message because they know it's coming from a real place. They know it's coming ... It's not polished, it's not pre ... It is prepared, but it's not polished, and it's not sanitised before people get access to it.

If I do a video on the YouTube channel,...