If you’re not doing video today online, you’re not getting much traction. And that goes for brands, but also for influencers. Video content is more engaging. It draws people in, makes them stop in their feed and pay attention.
P.J. Taei is the founder of UScreen. His platform provides just that — a place for influencers and brands to house video content that can only be accessed through a fee … either one-time or a subscription based access model. He knows a lot about video marketing and the environment for content creators online, especially those who are looking to drive revenue and monetize their videos.
We chatted about video in general and then got into the different ways influencers and brands can monetize video content in this episode of Winfluence.
This episode of Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast is presented by Mighty Scout. Easily measure influencer campaigns on Instagram by selecting the influencers you’re working with, identifying the hashtag or account tag to track and let Mighty Scout do the rest. It even pulls in the full array of data on Instagram Stories and allows you to white-label reports.
Winfluence Podcast – P.J. Taei Transcript
Jason Falls
Hello again friends thanks for listening to Winfluence – The influence Marketing Podcast. If you’re not doing video today online, you’re not getting much traction probably. It certainly seems that way. And that goes for brands but also for influencers. If I’m a brand looking and engaging someone who’s big on Instagram, but they aren’t doing videos, or have a corresponding YouTube channel, but several others I’m considering do well, I’m likely to choose the video friendly influencers. Why? Because video is more engaging and draws people in and makes them stop in their feed and pay attention. But throwing up free videos isn’t the only way to leverage video content for success as a brand or as an influencer. Smart brands and influencers are finding ways to monetize their video content. And I’m not talking about letting ads play on your YouTube channel and getting that $3 check every three months. I’m talking about creating quality video content you placed behind subscription and paywalls to drive direct revenue from that content. P.J. Taei is the founder of UScreen. His platform provides just that a place for influencers and brands to house video content that can only be accessed through a fee, either one time or a subscription based access model. He knows a lot about video marketing and the environment for content creators online, especially those who are looking to drive revenue and monetize those videos. This works for influencers, but also for brands. We chatted about video in general and then got into the different ways you can monetize video content. On this episode of Winfluence.
Jason Falls
Isn’t manually collecting data on your influencer marketing campaigns a pain in the ass, especially Instagram stories that expire after 24 hours. I mean, if you don’t have the budget to subscribe to some big fancy platform that does it all for you. You’re what creating a spreadsheet and going influencer by influencer, begging for them to send their analytics manually inputting what you get and hoping for the best. That’s a mess. Well, I have found the platform that for Instagram campaigns makes all the pain go away. MightyScout takes all that repetitive busy work off your plate. It collects Instagram content, including stories and the corresponding analytics for you load in the influencers you work with tell MightyScout, which handle or hashtag, they’ll use in posts for you. And the system does the rest hit a button and not only get a report of the analytics, but also that shows the content how each piece performed the cost per engagement and ROI numbers. If you’re at an agency or our consultants, the reports can be white labeled, mighty scout has month to month plans, no lock ins and you can export your data as a CSV or PDF at any time. here’s the best part. Pricing starts at $99 per month with a 30 day risk free money back guarantee. With the time you save and the productivity you’ll get out of mighty Scout, you will increase your profitability and your team’s bandwidth without increasing headcount. Go to MightyScout.com/falls today and sign up 30 days risk free money back guarantee. That’s MightyScout.com/falls. I love this tool. And you will too.
Jason Falls
So PJ, Have we reached a point where without video as a brand, you’re kind of toast these days.
P.J. Taei
Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. I think video can be leveraged for all types of businesses, you know, now more than ever, just because the adoption rate of video has significantly increased with everyone kind of being in the stuck at home during the pandemic. So yeah, I would say I don’t know if I would say you’re toast but I but you can honestly in some ways say that I think you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities, everything from you know making money to awareness to just getting your message out there if you’re not using video So yeah, I would say in some ways you definitely are.
Jason Falls
So I mean, I personally have always preferred written content though I’m certainly comfortable producing audio and video too. I see good uses for all of them. But is there a particular reason or a couple of reasons that video has become such a requisite in today’s online world? What What, what’s what’s behind it from a, I guess from a purpose and philosophical point of view from your from your perspective?
P.J. Taei
Yeah. Absolutely Good question. You know, personally, I’ve actually always been a fan of written content myself. So we have that in common. But you know, I’ve always liked video, you know, like watching something, a certain type of entertainment or movie or anything like that, obviously, we’re all accustomed to video. But I think with the internet, what has happened is, video takes a lot more bandwidth. So it you know, you consume a lot more transfer data. And it took a while for the internet to catch up. And obviously, the devices themselves so in the last five years, we really saw a take off and video and it’s only going to begin to increase. I mean, if you look at like Facebook, and all that stuff, YouTube, all the stats out there, they’ve been saying video is going to be 80 to 90% of the internet traffic by 2020. I remember they started spreading that news and 2014 1516 I saw a lot of that on Facebook, and then Facebook came out with Facebook video, so that it was bound to happen as devices and you know, streaming bandwidth itself improved. And I think the reason why we’re seeing so much videos, we’re now capable of seeing video and videos more interactive, right? It is the internet, you’re you’re far away from each other, not facing each other. So being remote and being able to see someone’s face or seeing an interactive part of that video, I think is a huge experience. It’s motion picture. So I think it you know, that’s it was just a matter of time.
Jason Falls
Yeah. Well, I mean, the social networks, certainly, you know, love video, or they wouldn’t be rewarding video content the way they are. video content gets more impressions, its power ties to the news feeds. And each of those, you know, social networks have pretty solid video platforms these days. So I guess my question to you as it relates to you screen, why start a video platform? If I’ve got a phone and YouTube or Facebook? I’m good.
P.J. Taei
Yeah, absolutely. That’s good point. Well, you know, I think getting on a video platform such as Ustream or other The benefit is that you can monetize that and really control it and put a paywall up put a sign in up. So I think making money with videos is ultimately the next step. I mean, the way I kind of see it is, first you got YouTube, right? And it’s all the free videos, everyone starts to consume videos, and everything is interesting, you know, the early on of YouTube, then people like okay, well, I got to get my subscribers on my channel, then the next step is, wow, there’s a lot of video online. How can I find the video that I need? Do I need a course do I want to subscribe to something, even if it’s Hulu or HBO, whatever those Ott platforms are, and then all the individual creators that we power to get them set up with their own streaming service. So it’s login and paywall only to pay to gain access to that content. Video ultimately, is expensive to create. And I think overall, people are going to want to start to monetize it. And that’s definitely what started to happen, it’s only going to increase. And then there’s a certain benefit to paying and getting access to that content that you want. So I definitely see more and more of that happening as time goes on.
Jason Falls
So I’ll touch on brands in a minute. But let’s talk about the influencers out there. Since this is more of an influencer marketing kind of thing here. Especially instagramers in the light who aren’t yet doing video, the people who haven’t made that sort of transition yet. Maybe they’re playing with stories, or maybe even reels on Instagram. But for those who aren’t doing video, how do you recommend they start? And what path do you recommend they take to turn it into a part of their revenue stream?
P.J. Taei
Yeah, absolutely. I think overall, the way I see it is any company or business offline or online can leverage video more and more from an awareness standpoint, from a community standpoint of really connecting with their audience, and they can begin to leverage video more and more in pretty much all aspects of their business right and anywhere from getting it on their website to tell more about what their services which really kind of call video marketing all the way to curating that content and making it a paywall content to access either a course, or a series of content that requires login. So creating good video that offers value whether it’s showing your product or teaching you something or entertaining you from all aspects of business I think can be used even from an influencer standpoint.
Jason Falls
So what about the influencers out there who say, you know, but I don’t I don’t know how to make the video professional quality and high grade and I’m worried my videos will either that’ll take away from my brand, rather than add to it. What would you say to those folks?
P.J. Taei
Yeah, absolutely. I think video ads to the brand. Do I have I seen places where video takes away from the brand I mean, maybe if it’s you’re charging for something content and then giving that same content away on different networks, possibly, but that’s still going to be a branding move. I haven’t seen, honestly, any type of content unless used incorrectly actually hurt a brand. You know, so I don’t see how it could not be beneficial for you. But there are so many ways to leverage any type of content. So absolutely, you know, I mean, I’m sure there are some ways where it could not be so useful for you. But Schumer, if leveraged correctly, with some type of value, I definitely think video creates engagement. And that’s always a good thing.
Jason Falls
Sure. And I think that the consumer these days understands that kind of the democratization if you will, of media means that everybody can produce videos, and most people can produce them just from their phones. So high quality production is probably not a requisite in every consumers mind. So I think that lends to that as well. So you screen your company, from what I gather, is, and I’ll say this one way and and you correct me if I’m wrong. from what I gather, it’s a pay per view, video platform for brands, both companies or individuals or influencers. So they, they use people would use your platform to post videos, but unlike throwing it up on YouTube, or Facebook, or HGTV, they can charge people a subscription fee to access their videos, am I am i right in understanding that that way?
P.J. Taei
Absolutely. And the other thing I’ll add to that, as they can charge a pay per view rental fee, or a one time sale, they can require sign in only and then add those members manually. For example, if they’re members of a gym or a theater, and they want to add those members to the online platform, we have all types of customers that use the symphonies, orchestras, theaters, operas, so all the way from fitness clubs to Gold’s Gym to SoulCycle, Burn Boot Camp. And then lots of entertainment content, indie films, movies, all that good stuff, leverage the platform to either make it a paywall platform or a sign in login required platform. So you’re exactly on the right track. That’s what it is. It’s a pay wall monetization platform, to tell your members to come and sign up to gain access to that. And we have marketing tools built in and coupons and all that good stuff, which make it easier to market your service.
Jason Falls
Nice. Now, I would imagine, obviously, I think the when you tell me that that’s what it is, and confirm that for me. The first thing that the trigger that kind of flips in my mind is, is this platform is good for people who understand the difference between content and quality content, because there’s got to be a level of marketing promotion content that’s free for everyone. But then you’ve got to step it up a notch if you’re going to ask them to subscribe or login or pay for something. So I would imagine there’s a difference between an influencer who’s doing some videos, and someone who can be successful with uscreen. Is that fair?
P.J. Taei
Yeah, that’s a really good, good point. I think quality we have to also relate that to what you’re offering, right? Yes, quality of sound, I think is important. If it’s bad sound, no one likes that. Quality of production. Sorta, you know, a lot of are doing very well, customers don’t have production, great content. So you know, you can use an iPhone on a tripod, so it’s not shaking, per se. But you know, quality comes to what value are you offering? I think that’s the most important. Are you teaching something? Are you entertaining? And obviously, can you reach your audience with that you have an email list, you have a social following? If you do, then it’s super easy to get those members to pay for content that you’ve provided. So absolutely. It’s does it have value as a content? Good point? Is it just funny cat videos, I mean, if it’s online, all those funny cat videos are everywhere on YouTube, then no one’s willing to pay for it. But if it’s something unique about the funny cat video, you’d be surprised people are willing to pay for
Jason Falls
that. So it’s good. Alright, so going just to kind of, again, give everybody a little bit of a more finer definition around the difference between, you know, content versus quality content in both the context of what you’re saying and what I’ve, what I’m thinking as well. So let’s go back to your your gyms and your arts organizations that are using your platform. I’m imagining, correct me if I’m wrong, that let’s say, you know, Gold’s Gym or someone like that, they’re probably, you know, hanging out some sort of free videos that say, here’s a preview of an exercise you can do or here’s a tip or a trick. But then if you log in, or you pay for the subscription videos, maybe you get a full yoga class with a coach who’s coaching you along. It’s something that you would pay for anyway, is that kind of how these these folks are using your platform.
P.J. Taei
Yeah, I mean, there’s definitely a mix. Some of them have Large or small social followings with some of that free content already available. And then the other premium content is behind a paywall. That others use it simply as a paywall, whether let’s say, it’s a physical brick and mortar theater or a gym, then its members only access to the online streaming workouts or concert per se. So it depends, there’s a mix, and then some of them use it, that we have lead magnet tools built in that you can use to capture lead magnets and then go out and you know, offer that as a subscription service. So yeah, it’s definitely a mix, but a lot, but it’s pretty much mostly paywall content where you either give away a little and then subscribe to the rest.
Jason Falls
So tell me a little bit more about how some of your clients are using video content on your screen. There may be brands, you know, personal or otherwise, to drive leads that that when you when you when you mentioned that that sort of intrigues me because that brings a whole new level of usage, because I understand, I’ve got high quality videos, I’ve got, you know, really high quality content that I’m putting on video. And I want people to be able to pay for that higher level of content, that higher value content. But now you’re talking about using videos to drive leads that puts me in the b2b space. And I wonder how some of your clients are using their video content to produce that, you know, either that email contact or some other form of lead that gets them into the system. fill me in on how your clients are using it for that purpose.
P.J. Taei
Yeah, absolutely. Well, as far as most popular types of content, I would say is fitness, educational, and entertainment. Now entertainment means all the way from movies to entertainment, entertainment type concerts, rock concerts, and so forth. And then obviously, lots of educational teaching and all that good stuff. And then a lot of health and wellness just because it’s such a big trend and growing pretty quickly. All of them will leverage the platform in a way to make it members only whether they charge or not sign in or charges fee to gain access, or it’s connected to their internal CRM systems. So that makes a difference as far as who their audience is, and how they’re gaining access to that customer. But overall, I would say they have a really good success rate, if they have a way to reach their audience, whether they already have a list of members and email lists a social following any way to reach their audience. And some of our customers are starting out, they’ll run ads, that definitely happens as well.
Jason Falls
So I’m curious if you, you know, have any examples. And I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but I’m thinking specifically of individuals, personal brands, influencers? Who you know, maybe they have a YouTube channel, or maybe they have a big Instagram following who have kind of made that pivot to say, Well, I’m going to put some high quality content behind this paywall, and have been successful with it. How big of a use case is that? On your screen versus the gyms and the theaters and the brands that are using it?
P.J. Taei
Absolutely a great question. There’s a good amount of that. And actually, let me tell you some examples. One of them is Yoga with Adrian, a lot of people if they’ve done any kind of yoga listening will know of her she’s the largest youtuber for I think she’s the largest fitness channel. She might be the largest yoga channel now, but she’s got 678 million subscribers on YouTube. Another fitness one is Sarah Beth. She’s an influencer. She’s an online YouTuber, an instagramer. She’s got Sarah Beth Yoga. So that’s two yoga examples. elearning we have all types. So for example, one of them is a magic stream. They’re actually a very small shop of creating content for doing magic. And they have a Netflix style streaming service called Magic stream. And then we have a lot of entertainment type content. For example, a fun one is called GetBackUp.tv. It’s the streaming live concerts of a band I think it’s called Blue October. Quali.tv. And then T-Millie is another dance tutorials. He’s an online influencer. We have a lot of kids content and teaching and all that stuff like New Sky Kids, they’re online influencers. As far as YouTube goes, Dr. Phil-TV, Allie Hooda. If you actually go on our website, UStream.tv Click examples. You’ll see a lot of that. And we have some good examples. As far as faith based content, arts creative, a lot of individual creators there for example, one of them is called Your Book of Memories and she’s a really nice lady who creates scrapbooks and teaches you tutorials on how to create scrapbooks. And it’s pretty cool. She does really well. And she’s an online influencer. I think she primarily does YouTube, but might have an Instagram as well. So it’s spread out pretty well, I would say influencers is probably 20 to 30% of our audience.
Jason Falls
That’s fantastic. So an influencer has some skill or talent or topic of interest that they post about. And they can, you know, attract all the audience they want out there on the free social web. But then they can create some videos behind a paywall, and basically, diversify their revenue stream by creating really useful content on your screen. So a pretty good way for an influencer to diversify their income and maybe make a little money tryi ng to do all this stuff.
P.J. Taei
Absolutely. That’s exactly what they do.
Jason Falls
So P.J., tell us where people can find out more if they’re interested in signing up for an account and give us an idea of what that looks like in terms of pricing and whatnot.
P.J. Taei
Absolutely, you can easily do that. You can check me out online, the website is UScreen.tv, the letter U and then Screen.tv. My email is [email protected]. And if you check out our social channels, it’s @uscreen.tv. And I’m definitely looking forward to hearing from everyone our pricing is simple. It starts from $99 a month that simple, you can get fully set up.
Jason Falls
That’s fantastic. Well, P.J., thanks so much for filling us in on this. It’s really interesting to see that there’s interesting tools out there to help influencers continue to grow and monetize their brands in ways other than working with, you know, big companies and brands that want to sponsor them. But certainly, I’m sure that there’s lots of magic and making all these platforms sort of work together with one another and all those different avenues. But thanks for your time today really appreciate the insight.
P.J. Taei
Absolutely. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Transcribed by otter.ai
The Winfluence theme music is “One More Look” featuring Jacquire King and Stephan Sharp by The K Club found on Facebook Sound Collection.