I Have Discovered The Secret

We've been pushing very hard to promote the show. The more followers we have, the more we can get brand deals and paid advertising and the show can start paying for itself. And I've spent many hand-wringing hours looking for someone who can show us the way. We've worked on our branding, our tags (so that people can find us in searches), we're collaborating - we've been doing everything "they" say you need to do to find your audience, but the experts left one tiny point out. You also need to pay to advertise.

There's this idea that abounds that if you just work hard enough and you just collaborate enough with other creators and you engage with your followers that the audience will follow. Well, yes, and I have to say that we have some wonderful people who always share our content with their friends and we're incredibly grateful. But you also need to advertise and I think that's the dirty little secret that no one wants to admit. Social media is supposed to be free and there's supposed to be this democratic system where anyone with a smartphone and a dream can become the next big thing. I'm not going to say that doesn't happen, but there is a LOT of noise out there and a lot of competition for peoples' attention. If you want to be heard above the din on social media, you need to pay. Otherwise you just won't show up in peoples' feeds, no matter how much they may love you. I can't tell you how many times we've had people ask us if we're still producing our show, when they're not only subscribed, but fans. It makes me crazy! Yes, we do this twice a week! So I tried a little experiment yesterday and paid to boost our current episode on YouTube and guess what? MANY more views than normal.

This is a business. I totally get it. You have to invest in your business and I have no problem with that. I just wish "the experts" would have told us a lot sooner that we should be investing heavily in advertising. No one wants to admit it - YouTube is free, right? But there it is. I'm actually glad I figured it out, but I will admit that I feel slightly stupid that I didn't figure out something this obvious a lot sooner! 

Take my money!