Today we're going to be talking about the five mistakes when monetizing social media videos . Most creators think that they need to constantly pitch their products in their social media videos to make money , and this all-or-nothing mentality is leaving money on the table . It's doing you , the creator , a disservice . Let's talk about it . I've seen talented creators lose their audience by pushing sales way too hard , and I've also made this mistake myself when I was first starting out on social media . I haven't really shared much about that , but when I was first starting out , I took over a page for a client . At the time they just were like hey , you can do this , take over our page with little to no training , and that sounds crazy kind of a long story , but it was a little crazy . I would make these posts that were basically ads . I didn't know it at the time and they were like nope , that's way too . That's not the vibe of what people are accustomed to on the page . There's a nuance on social media to monetizing social media videos , and if you don't understand that , it's going to tank your engagement and your credibility . So the secret , if you want to call it that , is simple . It comes down to compartmentalizing your content , and let's explore this idea of compartmentalization . I love this idea . So compartmentalize means dividing into sections or categories , and let's compartmentalize this podcast episode into five mistakes so that you can start or better monetize , your social media videos . So mistake number one is followers equal money .
Speaker 1Millions of people especially if you're over the ages of 30 , who are around for like the earlier days of Instagram , think that followers attract money . That's the old way of social media and sure , followers did help you make a lot of money because followers were how your content was seen by the masses . But these days , you can start a brand new page and I've done this with zero followers and have attention on your videos , as long as your videos are good . People with followers these days struggle to get their content in front of their followers . It's basically opposite of what it was in front of their followers . It's basically opposite of what it was . The algorithm doesn't favor people with a lot of followers or people with no followers . It favors content that people want , simple and plain . To update this idea of followers equal money , I would say attention equals money . That's the 2024 version and I'm sure it'll be the same in 2025 . If your content can get attention , regardless of followers , you have the opportunity to make money . We all have the opportunity to make money with an account you have right now or an account you create starting from scratch .
Speaker 1It doesn't matter about followers . Mistake number two it doesn't matter about followers . Mistake number two is thinking that brands care about views . So this one has a partial truth to it . It's not an all or nothing mistake . Some brands do care about views , but you know what ? Not all brands care about views . The right brand will care about the right views . For example , a niche podcaster who talks to businesses about podcasting , a B2B brand would be very well interested in working with that podcaster , regardless if a video gets views , because that B2B brand knows that the demographic of that audience is a closer match to their ideal client than some random influencer who's talking about tech and whatever else . Why is this thought process , though , of brands caring about views True ? Sometimes , because , for lower priced , general demographic targeted products , they probably do favor quantity over quality .
Speaker 1Mistake number three is monetizing one video at a time . How exhausting would it be to have to find a new partner to work with every single time for your social media videos that you are planning on monetizing ? The most efficient and profitable creators are working in packages , either ongoing retainers or packages where they include multiple delivered assets within a set time frame . This is not only more lucrative for you , the creator , but it's more lucrative for businesses too . Any business worth its weight knows that results don't happen in one social media video . It takes multiple , multiple impressions . That's part of the process of doing business . Any business that tells you otherwise is a red flag .
Speaker 1Mistake number four confusing and losing your audience . Creators , just like businesses , have the same dilemma when it comes to sales . When you confuse you , audience Creators , just like businesses , have the same dilemma when it comes to sales . When you confuse , you lose . For businesses , this means that they might not sell their product if their customer is confused about how their product helps them . For creators , this means that someone might unfollow you or might not engage with your content because they're confused about why they should be interested . That's all it comes down to . You could distill all the marketing and sales down to that right .
Speaker 1Have you ever seen this bait and switch ? You've probably seen it through email . So an email will hook you in , you're reading it , you're interested , and then it does this hard . Pivot to a sales email and you feel tricked because you thought it was something else , but it turns out to be just this hard pitch for a product or something and almost like your trust has been betrayed , right ? That never feels good , and most of the time for me , if I see that it's a fast track to the unsubscribe button . But what's the alternative ? Like we just can't sell , we have to hide our selling or something Absolutely not . Just be courteous and upfront about when you're doing the selling , and that comes back to the compartmentalization aspect of things . When you're providing value , provide value . When you're selling , sell . Nobody wants to be tricked , unless they ask to be , and you're like a magician or something . In that case , let me know your magic tricks . I've been wanting to learn some from my daughter .
Speaker 1Your responsibility as a creator is to respect the attention you get . If you're on your way to becoming like a master at getting attention , but then you use it for the dark arts , like to manipulate your audience , are you doing the ethical thing ? Long term , how is this going to affect you and your trust with your audience , right ? What are you building ? So there's a simple solution to this , and it's just to let your audience know as quick as possible when it's not a normal post , right . Something's different about it . You know that you're going to have to be intentional in everything you say or do , so you maybe don't start out your post with , like some urgent thing that has to make them read the full thing . That's not right . If I was like you need to know this thing right now and then I shift to a sales thing , right , you are the expert at getting attention and what you do with that attention is important . You are the expert at getting attention and what you do with that attention is important .
Speaker 1Of course , not all the brands that you work with would want you to do this . They're not going to advocate for you to respect your audience's attention , right . They just want attention on their brand . That's not a discussion you need to have with them . You set the boundaries . It's your audience . The better distinction you can provide for your audience , the more your audience will trust you . The people pleasing part in you might not want people to flip off your content when you do an ad , but we all know that ad is not going to perform the same as your normal content .
Speaker 1Mistake number five not charging your worth . I saved the best for last , but let's have some delusion for a second . Don't think about all the creators out there in the world . I just want to focus on you . I'm just talking to you . Act as if there were no other options out there for brands to work with . What would be possible ? Satchel Paige , a famous baseball player . He's a pitcher . Reporters would ask him how old he was because they thought he was much older than what he claimed to be . Satchel said how old would I be if I didn't know how old I was ? And I'm asking you how much would you be making with your social media videos if you didn't know how much money you could make ? I'm going to say that again because it's kind of a mind bender how much money would you be making with your social media videos if you didn't know how much money you could make ?
Creators have these preconceived notions around numbers my video should be getting X amount of views , my videos should be getting X number of comments , and so on . We have a invisible ceiling or container that we place our videos in , and we do the same when it comes to money . Creators think I should be getting X amount of dollars or I could be getting X amount of dollars . But here's the thing . It says who . It says a brand calculator you found online . It says what you heard someone else was making . You have a preconceived amount in your head and that all comes from your experiences . But here's something you and I both know is true there are creators who make far worse content that are making far more money than you currently .
Speaker 1Before I sign off , let's recap real quick on the five mistakes that creators make when it comes to monetizing their social media videos . Mistake number one is followers equal money . That's the old way of thinking Attention equals money . Mistake number two thinking brands care about views . The right brands care about the quality of views . Mistake number three monetizing one video at a time . Profitable and efficient creators work in packages . Mistake number four confusing and losing your audience when you're providing value . Provide value when you're selling , sell . And mistake number five not charging your worth . How much money could you be making if you didn't know how much money you could make ?