Here is a transcript generated by otter.ai of The Content Mix podcast interview with Amanda Lundin, global video and social media manager, on how to make the most of video content:

Carlota Pico 0:12
Hi everyone, and welcome back to The Content Mix. I’m Carlota Pico, your host for today’s show, and I’m excited to introduce Amanda Lundin who is global video and social media manager at Mynewsdesk, and also has a passion for YouTube. Welcome, Amanda, and thank you so much for joining us today on The Content Mix.

Amanda Lundin 0:34
Hello, and thank you for having me.

Carlota Pico 0:36
The pleasure’s ours, Amanda. Okay, so tell me a little bit about your background experience. How did you get into YouTube?

Amanda Lundin 0:43
Well, like, I started video school like seven years ago. And, and then I started that for a year, I thought it was super fun. But it was very like old-school-fashion film like, this is how you film a film-film. And I was more interested in the YouTube areas of like short videos, fun things and I started looking look at YouTube a lot. And I would say that I learned a lot from looking at YouTube and spending time there and just searching around the areas for like video creation, film creation, and how you edit how you make custom thumbnails, and everything. So that’s super cool and that’s actually the platform I like the most. It’s the platform that also teaches me the most things.

Carlota Pico 1:30
Okay, very interesting. Well, we will be diving further into your experience using YouTube and your tips and tricks, stuff like that for audience. But before we get to that, could you walk me through some of your proudest marketing moments today? So for example, a campaign or project that just really stood out?

Amanda Lundin 1:50
Yeah, yeah, I would love to. You know what we did, I was thinking, because well this question is super interesting, it’s hard to praise yourself. But once I started, I was I’m still pretty junior, but I was, I was even more junior back then. And we had this thing it was in the startup or the launch of GDPR. And we had the expert here called Daniel, his name is Phil Daniel. And instead of like, we had a guy who had blog posts with everything covered around that topic. But we tried to make a video like a “GDP for Dummies,” or how do you say like, a GDP video explained in two minutes. And so he took his time, talked for two minutes, explained what GDP, was or is. And I think that video got like 800,000 views. And I think that’s a fantastic sample on how you can make a video or something, or that’s the video itself isn’t that great. Like, it’s just him talking. But I think it was personal. And it was relevant at that time. Like it was a topic that everyone spoke about. And yeah, very cool campaign.

Carlota Pico 3:03
And this was a project from Mynewsdesk?

Amanda Lundin 3:05
Of course, yeah, because we wanted to show how we were GDPR compliant and what we work and how we work with that. And so, along with like guides and ebooks, we also wanted to tell our customers that we were GDPR compliant. So yeah.

Carlota Pico 3:22
Okay, very interesting. And so what is Mynewsdesk in a thirty second elevator pitch?

Amanda Lundin 3:28
Well, Mynewsdesk was founded in 2003, as a matchmaking platform between journalists and communicators. And the main idea behind the platform is for PR, not only to be based on push distribution, but also for journalists to be able to subscribe to topics they are interested in. That’s because to create a better collaboration between PR professionals and journalists. And our core markets are in the Nordics and Germany. And we’re a full service communication platform, delivering PR distribution, media monitoring, and analytics. And we also have a content agency helping our customers.

Carlota Pico 4:09
Okay, excellent, Amanda. So since you’re responsible for your company’s YouTube channel, what’s your advice for creating a following on YouTube? How do you do that?

Amanda Lundin 4:20
Now that’s also interesting. Like if you think about that is the goal to have a follower base on YouTube, that’s a question you to start with. Because if YouTube is the second biggest search platform, like search site, and it could be like if you want to follow bass, yeah, you have to stick to a certain topic or a theme or it could be you only produce how to videos or you only talk about cameras or cars or because then it’s it’s good to have a follower base. As a company, it’s hard to create a big follower base, I think. If you’re like a business to business brand, as we are, we try to instead focus on our customers what they need, like think, “Could this be something that they’re interested in seeing in video instead of reading it?” And then we, for instance, we created a video called How to write the perfect press release. It’s me, my colleague—oh sorry, it’s my colleague, Chris explaining—how to write the perfect press release. And I think that’s a super good example of how you can create something new or different from something that’s very, like blog-friendly content regularly. And so yeah, I think too, if you want to create a big follower base, ask yourself the question first, like, is that super important? Or is it more to have videos that are very good?

Carlota Pico 5:39
Okay, but then why would you create a piece that normally would be in the format of a blog article in a video format? So for example, how to write your perfect press release, that would require two minutes of my time to read it in a blog format versus video it might my require five minutes of my time. We all know that time is precious.

Amanda Lundin 5:59
Now, that’s interesting that you mentioned that. Yeah, I agree. It’s true. And time is precious. But I as a person for me for example I’m the kind of person that I take in more stuff if I see it. And if I read your blog post, I’m… how do you say? I, sometimes I’m thinking like, “Oh, what am I eating for dinner?” Or “Oh, there someone is talking.” But I think sometimes when you see a video, it’s easy, it’s more digestible. It’s like, “Oh, I can grab this” and the guy is talking to me, or the girl. So I think it’s a way of seeing it’s like personal, like a person behind the brand as well. Like, it’s more than “Oh, this is not only Mynewsdesk” or some other company that writes a blog post, it’s also a person speaking to you. And he or she is the expert and if you can choose to take in that if you want.

Carlota Pico 6:55
Okay, very interesting. Do you have any pro tips to maximize viewership?

Amanda Lundin 7:01
Yeah, yeah, that’s also. Yes, I do. Well, I would say a custom thumbnail, for sure. And I think that’s super interesting. And actually, like, 90% of the best performing YouTube videos out there have custom thumbnails. And I think that’s something to have in mind that once you tweak the image, because that’s the first thing you see. And you can—if you customize your thumbnail, I think you’ve come a long way to like, yeah, you give that extra love your video that you showed that you add some text to it, or yeah, it’s not to be like clickbait, but it could be a more fun way of showing your video. Also, to make the headline be relevant. I think that’s super important to have a headline, like a title video headline that it matches with the video itself. So you don’t have to, I don’t know see a video and after one minute you notice that it’s not what the video says it’s going to be. So yeah.

Carlota Pico 8:00
Okay, so basically add titles, add thumbnails… Anything else? What about like adding visuals when it’s two people talking?

Amanda Lundin 8:08
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. It could be cool to have that in mind. Like, if you like video editing, it could be because to have that in mind that you can add video images or stats or stuff in the video, I think that’s also very fun to play with. And if you take the video to, let’s say editing to like Premiere Pro, you can have iMovie, or whatever, you can add images that lift up the conversation. You can also add stats, and that’s—if you YouTube that or google it—it’s very good videos on how to do that out there. So I would say that spend those extra 10/15 minutes to look into how you do that. And that will give you a video extra push, of course. But I will also say take a look at analytics because then you can see where people usually drop off or if they do it or not. It gives you a good indication if your video is good or not.

Carlota Pico 9:04
Okay, what about when it comes to the length of a video? Is there a rule of thumb for how long the video should be?

Amanda Lundin 9:11
I know that’s been a discussion as well, mainly on social media, like it was discussion, like a few years ago, like “Oh, a video has to be around 15 seconds or less than 15 seconds”, and now it’s up to 30 seconds and now one two minutes. And I think if you have in mind that social media is something when you scroll in like a feed you don’t choose what what video comes up, but on YouTube you’ve been there actively Googling, I mean searching, for something. So if your video is only like two minutes or it’s 25 minutes, it’s just, it’s still like the audience’s choice to click on that video or not. And I think that’s a cool roof to have in mind that it’s… I wouldn’t prefer a shorter video for a long video, but I think if you…I think you have to keep it like relevant all the time because in like terms of SEO, you don’t go make a long video just because… So, yeah.

Carlota Pico 10:13
Okay, well, you mentioned SEO. Since YouTube videos show up in 70% of the top 100 Google search results, what are some best practices for YouTube SEO, Amanda?

Amanda Lundin 10:27
Well, like it’s pretty similar to Google, if you think about like having because SEO is so much about relevance. And that’s good to have in mind. So like, have the title, like the video name, should match the video and same thing with the description. Like, don’t try to fool people. Like, write a description of what the video is about, what you have, what the content is about. And then also thumbnail is important. You can also add cards, you have that information button and I think you can pop it up, like in the end of the video, middle of the video, where you can add like extra videos or links to other stuff. And that’s also important. You can also change and do stuff with the end frame where you can link to other videos and everything just to give your video love and make it relevant.

Carlota Pico 11:25
What about the subscriber base? So for example, on YouTube, there are plenty of brands who post content daily or weekly and their subscriber base is not that big. So is that important?

Amanda Lundin 11:39
It could be yes. For businesses, I don’t know because subscriptions nowadays is like you have to turn on the notification bell, right, see a video because the algorithm changes a lot. So once you’re in YouTube, the YouTube feed or your home page, it differs from like day to day, what kind of videos you see, right? And if you have them, if you subscribe in a channel, or on a channel, and you have high chance of seeing that on your homepage, because that’s shows you that this is something I like, so if it’s a new video from a channel you subscribe to, of course, you’re interested in that. And I think as a company it would be awesome to create a big follower base. I think that’s a super good indication on that you create good stuff that people want to actually see more, than like one or two videos.

Carlota Pico 12:36
There was a huge problem on Instagram about companies and influencers buying followers. Can brands also buy followers on YouTube? So how trustworthy is really a subscriber base?

Amanda Lundin 12:50
Yeah, true. I don’t know if people do buy followers. I wouldn’t dare to answer that, actually. But let’s say that people do or brands do, then, no, maybe not, because in the end, it’s all it’s all about the video that people look at, or like views, so maybe you’re right. No… it’s…my personal opinion is that I wouldn’t say that it’s the biggest like, hiccup I would focus on, no.

Carlota Pico 13:21
Okay. Amanda, what about commenting? So commenting, for example, is huge on Facebook, Instagram, etc. If a friend of mine comments on a friend’s video on a friend’s post, I see it on my newsfeed. How does that work on YouTube?

Amanda Lundin 13:34
Well, like a regular comment? Yeah, but I think again, it’s a indication on maybe people you can, I think it’s also a good way of starting a discussion. So if you feel free when you create a video or to ask your audience like, hey, do you have any questions? Write that in the comment section! And but make sure to actually answer that as well. Because if it’s a question from a customer or anything, I think it’s cool to to answer that. And but yeah, like anything else, like it’s an indication of if people put their time on commenting something you do, then I think you should give the love back.

Carlota Pico 14:15
Amanda, what did people leave negative comments, then? How should we answer that as a brand?

Amanda Lundin 14:21
Yeah, I think it’s a good question because no brand is like… Every brand gets bad feedback as well. And I think once you have that policy within the company to…I think you have to discuss that within the company, what to do with bad feedback. And normally you have some sort of policy where you, yeah, you maybe write: “Thanks for the response. We’re going to look into this.” Or, you don’t answer at all. But that has to be up to your company and your brand to decide what to do with those kind of comments.

Carlota Pico 14:49
Okay, and in terms of brands knowing where their audience is and what their audience wants, how can brands tap into that type of intel?

Amanda Lundin 15:00
Yeah, this is like the ever-struggle thing, like how do you know? Yeah, well, same thing. Like, if you go back to that having a blog, or how do you know if people like the blog post you write? Well, yeah, you don’t always know that. But as you go along, and you create content you produce and you write, or you create videos, you’ll notice you can get the views, for instance, you can compare different videos, but you have to get yourself out there, start creating stuff. I think you’ll notice once you create several videos, or let’s say you create 10, used for a test run, you can see, I think you can see if it’s the topic that differs, if it’s within the same topic. Maybe is it the length? Is it because, I don’t know, timing you publish on a Sunday? You published in the morning? Those things are the ones marketeers, I think, and content producers have in mind all the time. Like, how can we make this better? How do we know? And yeah.

Carlota Pico 16:02
Okay, how do you use YouTube to tap into that data?

Amanda Lundin 16:06
Well you have the channel analytics, of course, and they can see like…Well, first, you can see what the most popular videos, you can also see the retention—when people drop off. I think that’s a good indication on like, oh you can see here is that, let’s see, you have a three minute long video and after two minutes, people start to drop off. What’s happening here? Like you said, something we’ve changed the…I don’t know, we talked about something else, or it was a bird coming in the screen? Or, what happened here? And so start looking into that analytics, because it’s very, very helpful.

Carlota Pico 16:44
A bird coming into the screen!

Amanda Lundin 16:46
Oh, who knows.

Carlota Pico 16:48
Okay, Amanda, what about using the same video to appeal to different markets? Is that possible?

Amanda Lundin 16:55
I don’t know. What do you mean?

Carlota Pico 16:57
Well, I mean, for example, I’m based in Spain. Let’s say I’m creating a video in English that is about how to write the perfect press release. Can I also use that same video to appeal to different customers across different markets? Or do I have to like localize it according to market nuances?

Amanda Lundin 17:16
Good question. Yeah. I think like YouTube is so like forgiving, and I think like in English, for instance, we have our core market, like our main market is in the Nordics. But we still produce our YouTube videos in English, because I think it’s so acceptable to have content in English out there on YouTube, especially. So I wouldn’t say that’s a problem. But for some other markets, yes, of course. Germany, for instance, they like having stuff in German, and then you have to respect that, and have that in mind when you create stuff or videos.

Carlota Pico 17:55
Okay, very interesting. Well, let’s take a walk again down memory lane. Looking back on your experience, if you had to give one piece of advice to your younger self, Amanda, what would that be? Obviously marketing related.

Amanda Lundin 18:12
Well, okay, yeah. I think, to be more challenging, like to dare stuff. I think it’s super important to go out there and try things like when you’re young, or when you’re new in the field I think you have this vision of being best or you have to get somewhere but I think have to remind yourself that what you have right now is good enough. And for like the…how do you say that that? The fire inside of you. That’s good enough. It’s okay to fail sometimes, like fail forward, do it again. No, but it’s something very, very beautiful being young and foolish and driven. I think that’s beautiful. Yeah.

Carlota Pico 18:58
I agree. I wish I was 20 again. I have so many pieces of advice that I would love to give to my 20 year old me about life and also about marketing, of course.

Amanda Lundin 19:10
Yeah, more about life. I have that too, yes.

Carlota Pico 19:13
Okay, Amanda, we are moving into our set of rapid-fire questions, which are basically your recommendations for audience. To get this section start off I’d like to ask you about your source of inspiration. So a professional role model or an influencer that you really admire.

Amanda Lundin 19:29
Yeah, well, I like Gary Vee, like everyone else, but I think he once said in a video like give value, give value, give value and then ask for business. And somehow that quote, just like it lives inside of me. I think that’s super, super cool. I also had a boss once that he said, like, I don’t know how exactly the words, but like dare to be imperfect or like, go out there and try things. Done is better than perfect. I think that was the sentence. And yeah, I like that too.

Carlota Pico 20:06
Okay, it goes in line with your advice to your former self as well.

Amanda Lundin 20:10
I hear that. Yeah, yeah, you’re right. You’re right.

Carlota Pico 20:14
Amanda, what about any YouTube stars?

Amanda Lundin 20:17
Well, Casey Neistat, for sure, he’s my biggest like, source of inspiration. Maybe because even though I’ve seen and follow a lot of YouTubers, it could be in terms of like business to be better at what I do or whatever. But I think he said a very good like, I think he worked a lot with storytelling and how he mixes his personal ID with a lot of like video knowledge. And I think that’s super cool.

Carlota Pico 20:46
Okay, Amanda, does YouTube work with hashtags as well?

Amanda Lundin 20:53
Actually, I don’t know. Does anything work with hashtags anymore?

Carlota Pico 20:58
Good question! Okay, so let’s move away from hashtags then. Do you have a publication, a book, a group, an event, a community that you’d like to recommend to our audience as well?

Amanda Lundin 21:09
I read Social Media Today a lot like the website, I spend a lot of time there. And also, like Adobe MAX because I do what I do. But I love those events. And even though it’s many, many days, or many hours, I usually pick up the best part about the updates regarding Photoshop or Premiere Pro or the other After Effects stuff. I think that’s I think those are amazing, actually.

Carlota Pico 21:35
Okay, I’m actually going to throw a curveball at you. So I’ve hosted around 120 guests on this podcast since we launched back in June and guests have time and time again been saying that “The future is video! The future is video!” As a YouTube expert, is a future video and why?

Amanda Lundin 21:52
Well, I don’t know. I don’t know why people keep saying that. If you think about it, the prediction of like, “The future is video.” Where does that come from? But yeah you’ve seen, if you think about like TikTok, how many people use TikTok nowadays and Stories. Yeah, maybe it is. Maybe it is. We’ll see. But I think that I should, I will come back to you and say let’s see as a part of the future.

Carlota Pico 22:22
Okay.

Amanda Lundin 22:23
And how big it will be? I don’t know.

Carlota Pico 22:27
Okay, and last but not least, what’s your favorite app at the moment?

Amanda Lundin 22:31
My favorite at the moment? Photoshop for sure.

Carlota Pico 22:37
Can you use Photoshop in your YouTube videos?

Amanda Lundin 22:40
Yeah, for the thumbnails!

Carlota Pico 22:43
Amanda, do you use any other apps for your work on YouTube?

Amanda Lundin 23:01
Yes, I used to Premiere Pro. It’s Adobe Software. I also use After Effects. And they are super, super powerful and good tools.

Carlota Pico 23:12
Okay, excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing those tools with us. Also, thank you for joining us on The Content Mix. It was awesome to meet you, and to learn about your experience working with YouTube.

Amanda Lundin 23:24
Thanks for having me. It’s been a blast.

Carlota Pico 23:28
Thank you, and to everybody listening in today, thank you for joining us on The Content Mix. For more perspectives on the content marketing industry in Europe, check out The Content Mix. We’ll be releasing interviews just like this one every day, so keep on tuning in. Thanks again, have a fabulous day and see you next time. Bye!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai