YouTube Tools That Scale Attention - CourtneyR.dev's 2nd Brain

YouTube Tools That Scale Attention ![rw-book-cover](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vGs7y4unhzA/maxresdefault.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [YouTube Tools That Scale Attention](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGs7y4unhzA) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: #youtube #AI #content-creation #influencer-marketing #shorts #brand-partnerships > author: Social Media Examiner > source: YouTube > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGs7y4unhzA > date created: 2024-12-19 12:30 > > # 🏷️ Title: YouTube Tools That Scale Attention >  ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Test Add Motion for animating photos into 8-second Shorts — evaluate brand application potential #content-creation - [H2] Experiment with voice replies to comments — measure engagement vs text replies #community-engagement - [H3] Research Creator Partnerships platform for influencer outreach — analyze cost vs traditional methods #influencer-marketing ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [[#📝 Summary]] - [[#📖 Main Content]] - [[#🗒️ Notes]] - [[#📚 References]] - [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]] - [[#📰 Newsletter]] - [[#✅ Action Items]] - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] - [[#📊 Methodology]] - [[#❓ Questions]] - [[#🔮 Future Research]] - [[#💡 Implications]] - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] - [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]] - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] - [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]] - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] ### 🔗 References - [Social Media Examiner](https://socialmediaexaminer.com/) - [effects.youtube.com](https://effects.youtube.com) ## 📝 Summary - YouTube launches new AI-powered content creation tools including Add Motion for Shorts, enhanced Effects Maker, and voice comment replies - Creator Partnerships platform (formerly BrandConnect) uses AI to match brands with influencers from 3 million channels - Tools reduce technical barriers but require strategic ideation and authentic execution to avoid "AI slop" - Voice replies offer intimate fan engagement but risk becoming spam if overused - Platform changes indicate YouTube's dual approach: enabling easy creation while positioning against low-quality content ## 📖 Main Content YouTube strategist Liron Segev discusses new AI tools that make content creation more accessible for businesses. The platform has introduced Add Motion, which animates static photos into 8-second Shorts, an enhanced Effects Maker with prompt-based creation, and voice replies to comments. These tools lower technical barriers but require strong ideation to avoid creating low-value content. The Creator Partnerships platform represents YouTube's answer to influencer marketing complexity, using AI to match brands with creators based on audience similarity and organic mentions. While this reduces upfront research, brands still need to evaluate creator fit through manual review of recent content, comments, and previous sponsorships. A central tension emerges: YouTube simultaneously provides easy content creation tools while speaking out against "AI slop." The platform's approach appears to be letting user engagement determine what constitutes valuable content, regardless of production method. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=0) — [H1] YouTube launches Add Motion for Shorts - Key idea: New tool animates static photos into 8-second videos with preset motions - Evidence: "They launched something called Add Motion for YouTube Shorts, which is a tool that will let creators animate a simple photo of themselves into an eight-second Short" #### ⏱️ [02:15](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=135) — [H2] Tools enable experimentation over execution - Key idea: AI tools handle technical execution while ideation remains crucial - Evidence: "We always go back to the original thought, which is ideation. The idea counts the most. Execution now is handled by so many of these tools" #### ⏱️ [04:30](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=270) — [H3] YouTube's contradictory stance on AI content - Key idea: Platform provides AI tools while simultaneously condemning AI slop - Evidence: "YouTube has spoken out against AI slop... you can't play both sides. It's like saying, 'Here's a bunch of guitars. Go and use them, and then complain about the bad music'" #### ⏱️ [07:45](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=465) — [H1] User behavior determines algorithm, not content origin - Key idea: Viewer engagement matters more than whether content is AI-generated - Evidence: "The user is the algorithm. If I don't mind watching what somebody else has deemed as AI slop, but for me, hey, that helped me fix my issue... Well, then, I'm going to see more of that stuff" #### ⏱️ [12:20](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=740) — [H2] Shorts vs long-form content strategies - Key idea: Shorts serve as discovery mechanism rather than conversion tool - Evidence: "People who like to watch shorts... they don't like to convert from shorts to long unless there's something super powerful" #### ⏱️ [16:10](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=970) — [H3] Enhanced Effects Maker democratizes video effects - Key idea: Prompt-based effects creation removes technical barriers for brands - Evidence: "Before we had all these features, if you had this crazy idea... That's big budget, that's huge production cost... Now you can go, 'Hold on, I like this idea as a concept. Let me go test it out'" #### ⏱️ [22:30](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=1350) — [H1] Voice replies create intimate fan connections - Key idea: Audio responses feel more personal than text but require strategic use - Evidence: "If you have a personality-led brand... and you really want to hear their voice saying, 'Hey, thanks for watching,' that's cool" #### ⏱️ [28:45](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=1725) — [H2] Voice replies risk becoming spam without intentionality - Key idea: Generic voice responses can damage brand reputation - Evidence: "Is this a strategy that you want to start deploying in your business saying every comment now needs a voicemail? I'm not really sure" #### ⏱️ [34:20](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=2060) — [H3] Creator Partnerships platform uses AI matching - Key idea: Google Gemini identifies ideal creators from 3 million channels - Evidence: "Google Gemini... is helping brands identify ideal creators from over three million channels by looking for signals like audience similarity or organic brand mentions" #### ⏱️ [38:15](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=2295) — [H1] Manual vetting still required despite AI matching - Key idea: Brands must research creator fit beyond algorithmic suggestions - Evidence: "The data cannot tell you whether it's a good fit or not. It can tell you statistically whether there's an overlap, but... you've got to then do your homework" #### ⏱️ [42:10](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=2530) — [H2] Creator analytics transparency increases partnership opportunities - Key idea: Sharing performance data leads to 60% more brand visibility - Evidence: "People who have turned this on get 60% more visibility inside of the creator partnerships platform and double the brand inquiry" #### ⏱️ [45:30](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=2730) — [H3] Long-term creator relationships outperform one-off campaigns - Key idea: Building trust with creator audiences requires sustained partnerships - Evidence: "Sometimes you've got to do three or four or five, or do a series of videos where you could have been mentioned in the right context to the right audience" ## 📚 References - [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/) - [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/) - [Social Media Examiner Show Notes](https://socialmediaexaminer.com/718) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - YouTube's new AI tools lower content creation barriers but success still depends on strong creative concepts rather than technical execution - Voice comment replies offer personal connection opportunities for personality-driven brands but risk spam if used generically - The Creator Partnerships platform streamlines influencer discovery through AI matching but requires manual vetting for authentic brand alignment ## 📰 Newsletter YouTube just rolled out game-changing AI tools that could transform how WordPress businesses create content and connect with audiences! 🎬 **What's New:** Add Motion turns static photos into 8-second Shorts, Enhanced Effects Maker lets you create custom video effects with simple prompts, and voice comment replies add personal touch to fan interactions. **Why It Matters:** These tools dramatically reduce the technical skills needed for video marketing while maintaining the human element that builds trust and community. **WordPress Connection:** Perfect for showcasing themes, plugins, or client work in bite-sized, engaging formats that can drive traffic back to your WordPress site. Resources: [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: Create shorts demonstrating WordPress features using Add Motion tool - Education: Use voice replies to provide personalized coding help to community members - Developer experience: Test Effects Maker for creating engaging API demo videos - Developer marketing: Leverage Creator Partnerships to reach developer audiences - Community management: Implement strategic voice reply protocols for key contributors #### WordPress - Core: Use new tools to create accessible feature announcement videos - Community: Develop voice reply guidelines for WordCamp organizers and meetup leaders - Marketing: Test Add Motion for animating WordPress.org homepage screenshots - Support: Experiment with voice replies for complex technical support scenarios - Design: Utilize Effects Maker for creating interactive design system demonstrations - Documentation: Create animated tutorials using Add Motion for static diagrams - TV: Expand content creation using new AI tools while maintaining quality standards ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Businesses using voice replies strategically will see higher community engagement than text-only responses - Add Motion will increase Short video creation among non-video creators by 40% - Creator Partnerships platform will reduce influencer marketing costs by 25% while improving match quality - Voice reply features will create spam problems requiring additional moderation tools within 6 months ### 📊 Methodology - A/B testing voice vs text comment replies measuring engagement rates and sentiment - Survey creators before/after Add Motion availability on content creation frequency - Compare Creator Partnerships costs and success rates vs traditional influencer outreach ### ❓ Questions - How will YouTube balance AI content creation tools with quality control measures? - What impact will voice replies have on creator time investment and community management? - Will AI-matched creator partnerships perform better than manually-sourced relationships? ### 🔮 Future Research - Long-term effects of AI tools on content quality and viewer satisfaction - Scalability of voice replies as channels grow larger - Integration patterns between YouTube AI tools and existing marketing workflows ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Content creators need ideation skills more than technical video production abilities - Policy: Brands require clear guidelines for AI tool usage and creator partnership vetting - Security: Voice reply features may require additional spam and harassment protections - Education: Marketing teams need training on strategic vs tactical use of AI creation tools - Funding: Lower production costs may shift budgets toward ideation and strategy roles ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 8 #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Screenshots of YouTube Studio interface, tool demonstrations - Improve: Side-by-side before/after examples of Add Motion results #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Podcast format with clear audio explanations - Improve: Audio samples of voice reply examples #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions of technical terms, analogies comparing tools to existing concepts - Improve: Glossary of YouTube creator terminology #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Step-by-step tool usage instructions - Improve: Interactive checklists for creator vetting process #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Decision trees for when to use different tools - Improve: Cost-benefit analysis frameworks for each tool #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Discussion of community management and creator relationships - Improve: Templates for creator outreach and collaboration #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Individual tool testing recommendations - Improve: Self-assessment rubrics for content quality #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Ecosystem thinking about creator-brand relationships - Improve: Analogies to natural systems and growth patterns ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Clear headings and timestamp navigation structure - Improve: Alt text descriptions for any YouTube interface screenshots #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Logical tab order through content sections - Improve: Skip links to major content sections #### Contrast and readability - Present: High contrast text formatting - Improve: Ensure timestamp links meet color contrast requirements #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Responsive design accommodates zoom to 200% - Improve: Test with various screen readers for optimal experience #### Media and captions - Present: Full transcript of video content provided - Improve: Timestamp links allow quick navigation to specific topics #### Forms and interactions - Present: Clear labeling of action items and priorities - Improve: Accessible formatting for priority indicators [H1], [H2], [H3] ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Global platform perspective acknowledging international creators - Improve: Examples from creators in different geographic regions #### Inclusive language - Present: Gender-neutral terms throughout, defined technical jargon - Improve: Consider accessibility of voice-based features for hearing-impaired users #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Structured content with clear headings and bullet points - Improve: Content warnings about potential spam/harassment concerns #### Representation - Present: Discusses various creator types and business models - Improve: Include examples from underrepresented creator communities #### Psychological safety - Present: Balanced discussion of risks and benefits - Improve: Clearer guidance on avoiding harassment through voice features ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Sound logic connecting tool features to business outcomes - Inductive strength: Good use of expert experience to predict trends - Causal reasoning: Clear connections between AI tools and content creation barriers - Analogical strength: Effective comparisons to existing social media features #### Fallacies - False dichotomy: Occasional oversimplification of AI vs human content creation - Appeal to novelty: Some bias toward new features without long-term data #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Conversational and practical, balancing enthusiasm with realistic caution ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: No significant denial patterns detected - Attack: No attacks on critics or users of competing platforms - Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender reversal present - Emotional cues and rhetoric: Balanced presentation with appropriate skepticism about new features ## 🎯 Conclusion YouTube's new AI tools represent a significant shift toward democratizing content creation while maintaining the platform's emphasis on user engagement over production method. The key takeaway for businesses is that ideation and strategic implementation matter more than technical execution capabilities. Success will depend on using these tools intentionally rather than defaulting to automated responses or generic content. The Creator Partnerships platform particularly offers small businesses a lower-risk entry into influencer marketing, though manual vetting remains essential for authentic brand alignment. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad Purpose: Stage CEE units that become Literature notes. Split level: H3 ### [H1] AI tools democratize video creation but require strategic ideation > [!quote] YouTube Tools That Scale Attention by Social Media Examiner. Published 2024. Accessed 2024-12-19. > "The idea counts the most. Execution now is handled by so many of these tools." Tools lower barriers but success depends on creative concepts. [view highlight](https://youtu.be/vGs7y4unhzA?t=135#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_youtube_ai_tools ### [H2] Voice replies create intimate connections but risk spam > [!quote] YouTube Tools That Scale Attention > "Is this a strategy that you want to start deploying saying every comment now needs a voicemail? I'm not really sure." Generic voice responses can damage brand reputation without intentional use. [view highlight --- ## Full Transcript [00:00] There's some important YouTube changes to discuss, including new tools that [00:03] make content creation easier and faster. [00:06] They launched something called Add Motion for YouTube Shorts, which is a tool [00:10] that will let creators animate a simple photo of themselves into an [00:14] eight-second Short. [00:15] We always go back to the original thought, which is ideation. [00:19] The idea counts the most. Execution now is handled by so [00:23] many of these tools. That's the bit that's exciting, that it's easier. [00:26] YouTube has spoken out against AI slop. [00:29] Look, love YouTube, so let's just get it on the record, but you can't play both [00:32] sides. It's like saying, "Here's a bunch of guitars. [00:36] Go and use them, and then complain about the bad music." [00:40] But if people watch the slop, no matter how [00:43] low-effort it was, then they don't really care. [00:46] They're going to happily show it to as many people who enjoy it. [00:48] The user is the algorithm. If I don't mind watching what [00:52] somebody else has deemed as AI slop, but for me, hey, that [00:56] helped me fix my issue, and it happened to be given by an AI [01:00] avatar or a comic character. But I'm okay with that because I just wanted the [01:04] information. Well, then, I'm going to see more of that stuff. [01:09] There's some important YouTube changes to discuss, including new tools that [01:13] make content creation easier and faster, which is great for marketers. [01:17] Although that's not always a good thing. We'll talk about that. [01:20] Also, a more intimate way to engage with viewers that could warm [01:24] up potential leads much faster. And if you've ever considered working with [01:27] influencers, but the idea sounds risky and stressful, I get that, but [01:32] YouTube may have just solved that. [01:34] So we're very excited to be joined by Liron Segev. [01:37] Liron's a YouTube strategist who helps businesses turn YouTube channels into lead [01:41] machines. And today, Liron, Mike, and I are going to explore what these latest [01:44] updates from YouTube mean for small business marketers and [01:48] owners like you. Liron, welcome back to the show. [01:52] So excited to have me back. Thank you for doing that. [01:55] Obviously, I didn't bomb too terribly the first time, so yeah. [01:59] Let's share some knowledge because we know we're going to spice it up today as [02:02] always. [02:03] So YouTube is obviously rolling out AI tools as fast as [02:07] anyone, and there are a lot of new content tools, and they're available for both [02:11] on the organic side, which is nice. That's not always true. [02:14] So let's talk about some of these new tools first, and I want to get your feedback [02:18] on them, and then we'll kind of discuss actually using them. [02:20] So they launched something called Add Motion for YouTube Shorts, [02:24] which is a tool that will let creators basically animate a [02:28] simple photo of themselves into an eight-second Short using [02:31] preset motions and effects. So tell us about this a little bit and [02:35] how you can see this being used, Liron. [02:38] Yeah. So I think that tools are great. [02:41] We need more tools, and what I like is that we have an option to [02:45] use them or not use them. And especially as businesses who are not [02:49] focused on being [02:51] YouTube creators or content creators. You have a business to run. [02:54] So anything that's going to make our lives easier is always welcome. [02:59] The fact that we can have an image, and it gets animated and gives [03:03] it a little bit of life, I think it's cool. I think it's interesting. [03:06] I think it's another thing that we have to try. [03:09] And I think you'll see a theme running through all of this is [03:14] that we have to experiment for ourselves. [03:16] Every business is going to be slightly different. [03:19] What will work for one, not necessarily going to work for another. [03:23] I'm very anti this whole guru kind of like, [03:27] "Close your mouth in your thumbnails because Mr. [03:29] Beast did it." I hate that because not everybody is the same. [03:33] Not every brand is the same. So do I like more tools? Yes. [03:36] And we're going to try more tools and try to use them in our systems? [03:40] Absolutely. [03:42] Is there anything that's screaming out at me right now like, "Oh my god, this is [03:46] the hottest thing. Drop everything, try this now?" Hmm. [03:49] Kind of not there yet. [03:52] So have you seen this one in action where it turns a single image into an [03:56] eight-second video? I'm trying to picture it. [03:58] If you are a bakery, you have nice photos of your cakes or [04:02] clothing or construction equipment or whatever it is, and now you can all of a [04:05] sudden turn that into video, and then I would think put text over it or something [04:08] like that for your Shorts? [04:09] Yeah. I've seen it used on other platforms. [04:12] I know through AI, we have access to all these tools, and we can animate an [04:16] image, and we can bring it to life. We've seen people do some really [04:20] cool stuff with old family photos and getting [04:24] grandparents from the 1700s to kind of come [04:27] alive. These are all cool. So is there a brand application? [04:31] Yeah, absolutely. If you can have a single photo [04:35] and that you not normally think YouTube is a place for it, but now you [04:39] take a tool, you run it through it. All of a sudden, the cake [04:43] comes to life or an image moves across the screen. [04:47] Does it give it a bit of oomph and something to look forward to? [04:50] Yeah, absolutely. But again, it's all just another thing, [04:54] another arrow in your quiver to say, "Okay, I've got another thing that I could [04:58] get attention with." [05:00] I have some thoughts on this. [05:02] For those that use [05:05] Google Gemini, they have this thing called Nano Banana 2, which is their [05:08] latest and greatest model. And effectively, what you can do is take [05:12] any picture or image that you create inside of this, or you [05:16] could upload an image, and you can say, "Animate this." And effectively, what it [05:20] will do is it will, for example, zoom in on it, add some [05:24] background music and ambient sound effects and stuff like that. [05:27] So I think this is effectively the same tech stack applied [05:30] to [05:32] make it easier for people to make Shorts. [05:34] And the part that I'm a little confused about is where does the audio layer into [05:38] all of this, obviously. You could manufacture this [05:42] effectively yourself right now by taking an image, making it into a [05:46] video using Nano Banana 2, and then adding audio over the top of it and getting the [05:49] same thing. My guess is they're going to make it kind of one-stop simple [05:53] integration, don't you think, Liron? [05:55] Yeah, I agree with that. [05:58] I like the idea of being able to put a person in [06:02] the pictureSo a lot of people don't want to be on camera. [06:05] But if you can upload an image of yourself and we've experimented with [06:09] this a bunch, and it works really well. [06:12] And you have an image and all of a sudden the image comes to life, and you give it [06:15] a little bit of animations, and the person themselves doesn't have to [06:19] be the actor. Really like that. I agree about the music, [06:23] kind of how do you sync that up? I would love to be able to get to that point, [06:27] which I think we'll discuss, where you can actually upload... [06:30] You kind of clone your voice as such and have that little thing come into [06:33] play. So again, I think all of these are like micro steps as they're [06:37] testing things. We have to remember that YouTube is this [06:41] global behemoth that has got gazillion of [06:45] hours of content uploaded constantly. [06:47] Every little thing has a massive impact. [06:51] And when it comes to things like animating a photo to a [06:55] video, that's not a small lift. That's a big one. [06:58] That's going to have bandwidth implication. [07:00] That's going to have storage implications. [07:02] So I like the fact that we are marching towards where we want to be, and this is [07:06] just another little step. They'll test, analyze, fix [07:10] it, [07:11] do the next iterations. [07:12] So one thing I think it's important for businesses and marketers to know too is [07:16] that other people can take any single frame from your YouTube [07:20] Short and turn it into an eight-second video as [07:24] well. Now attribution is still there, so it'll still link back to [07:28] your actual video where it came from. [07:31] But I do think this potentially introduces a really neat [07:34] user-generated content situation where it's like, "Hey, [07:38] grab any frame from our video and turn it into something, and [07:42] we'll pick a winner." [07:44] Yeah. [07:45] Look, we're kind of into this area of [07:48] content and identity theft and then repurposing somebody [07:52] else's hard work where they came up with the idea, they came up with the [07:56] concept, and all you're doing is clicking a button and saying, "Hey, make me the [07:59] same." [08:00] We're kind of in that little weird transition area. [08:05] YouTube will work it out. YouTube is really good at understanding content and [08:09] understanding fakeness. And yes, they have their faults. [08:13] Absolutely. But their system is geared for it from day one. [08:16] They've been fighting spam pretty hard. [08:18] If you remember, as a content creator, the amount of spam comments we used to [08:22] get compared to what we get now, they've really kind of stepped up that game. [08:26] So I like the idea of a brand being able [08:29] to remix somebody else's content. [08:32] But, and this is like a massive but here, you have to [08:36] add value. You have to enhance the clip. [08:40] What I absolutely hate, and this is going to do very big brand [08:44] reputation, is when you take somebody's clip and you [08:48] remix it, and you put your little face in the bottom corner as a [08:52] talking head, kind of a green screen, just your head as a cutout, and you [08:56] keep on pointing above your head because you're pointing to the original content, [09:00] and you've said nothing. So that kind of erodes your brand's [09:04] reputation. If you want to add more content, more [09:08] context, that's amazing tip to go. [09:11] So as an example, we're talking about the bakery or in the food prep industry. [09:15] If you're in that industry and you've seen a creator, anybody online using [09:19] your product in their cooking recipe, that's a great one to [09:23] remix. But as you're remixing it, [09:27] add your version to it. So stop that clip and say, [09:31] "Okay, see, at this point, they used our product. Here are the health benefit. [09:34] Here's what's going to happen with the product. [09:35] This is what we're going to do." You're adding your authority to it. [09:39] So the attention shifts from what you remixed back to [09:43] you as the brand. Whatever you do, don't just remix, put [09:47] your logo at the bottom and going, "Hey, here's my content." [09:50] I love that. [09:50] That is even nothing to say. [09:51] Yeah, because Meta has actually said recently, these reaction [09:55] videos where you don't add anything, you're not going to get any reach. [09:58] And I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube is already doing that, or they will follow [10:01] suit because it just seems to make sense. But I love what you said. [10:04] It sounds like... So it would require a little social listening, right? [10:06] So you can kind of find out if people are mentioning it because they may [10:10] not tag you every single time. But I love the way you framed that, [10:14] the social proof being built in. Like, "Here's one of our customers using this, and [10:18] by the way, here's something else," as opposed to, "Here are the health benefits of [10:21] this thing we sell, and nobody's using it." [10:24] You could trend jack this thing to bet. [10:26] If you're a smart marketer, and you're watching the trends, and you're watching [10:30] who's doing what, then you can think, "Well, okay, [10:34] this is working really well in that industry. [10:37] How can I kind of remix that to make it work for my [10:41] audience?" I think we're going to see a lot of very powerful plays [10:44] happening. And because the tools are making it easier and easier to create [10:48] content, we always go back to the original thought, which is [10:52] ideation. The idea counts the most. [10:55] If you didn't come up with a great idea, execution now is handled [10:59] by so many of these tools. That's the bit that's exciting, that it's easier. [11:03] But you've got to come up with an original idea. [11:06] Just pressing a button going, "Remix, make it my own, save and [11:10] upload," [11:11] not going to do you any favors. [11:13] Yeah. So for reference, if you're looking for this feature where you can take a [11:16] frame from somebody else's Short and turn it into a video, it's called Reimagine. [11:20] And then there's another one called Add Object, and I like this because one of the [11:23] things that I've been doing on YouTube for thumbnails, and you can do this in Nano [11:27] Banana, as you mentioned, or ChatGPT, is you take a photo, you can obviously tell [11:31] it to make it look more professional or whatever. [11:33] But you can also, my wife discovered this, you can find an [11:37] outfit on a clothing site from Macy's or Target [11:41] or whatever and say, "Hey, [11:43] put me in this outfit." And it works really well. [11:45] So I've been using it to kind of wear brighter things on my thumbnails, for [11:48] example. So it's not always a black Henley or whatever. [11:52] But this is now something where YouTube is letting us do this with [11:55] videos. It's called Add Object, and you can basically say, "Hey, [11:59] here's a photo of me, and here's a cupcake. [12:03] Now make me skydive while I'm eating this particular cupcake," which [12:07] sounds really interesting. [12:09] Wow. [12:10] Yeah, it's pretty amazing. But now, of course, eight seconds is the limit, but I [12:13] got to ask, YouTube has spoken out against AI slop. [12:16] We've talked about that here on the show. [12:18] So do [12:21] these announcements surprise you [12:24] because they could potentially lead to that? [12:27] Yeah. Okay. [12:30] Look, love YouTube, so let's just get it on the record. [12:33] But you can't play both sides. This is a [12:36] PR move. It's like saying, [12:40] "Here's a bunch of guitars, [12:43] go and use them, and then complain about the bad music." Right? [12:47] Is this the reaction to Sora going out of business but from [12:51] OpenAI? [12:52] I think that they've... It's always been on the roadmap. [12:55] It's been giving you that ability. [13:00] Look, I understand it. YouTube as a platform, they want to be seen as a [13:04] legitimate place to go and do business. [13:06] They understand YouTube is part of the buying journey. [13:09] They understand people go to YouTube more than just to be entertained. [13:12] They go there to learn about products and services. [13:15] They have to keep brand reputation, have to. [13:18] At the same time, they understand that it's difficult to come up with a [13:22] thumbnail. But they know that a lot of creators have the entire [13:26] content ready and sit for a week on it because they can't come up with the right [13:29] thumbnail. So they want to make it easier to do that. [13:32] So you're trying to play both sides. [13:34] Here is some really easy tool to get you to create content. [13:38] Oh, by the way, we're really going to come down hard on AI slop stuff. [13:43] It's a PR brand reputation protection move. [13:46] You've got to understand that from a YouTube point of view, [13:50] you've got to be seen as playing both sides. [13:52] They have a very difficult position. [13:54] Mm. [13:55] But they're doing it as best as they can. [13:58] Am I worried about YouTube being flooded with a gazillion [14:01] faceless channels, just absolute slop, and that's just taking over? [14:05] I'm not because, again, YouTube is really good at identifying those. [14:09] They're already taken away all the incentives. [14:12] Those kind of channels no longer get monetized. [14:14] They've come down very hard on content, people who do [14:18] kind of create their content based on somebody else's content, stealing them, [14:22] essentially. They're really doing a good job as far as that. [14:26] Take away the incentive of money, well, then it kind of takes [14:29] away the reason to have 100 faceless channels, [14:33] where up until now, [14:35] it was just an AI loop that you just say, "Create." [14:40] So if I'm hearing you correctly, though, when you say a lot of this is just PR [14:43] playing the other side. Of course, we don't want to promote that stuff. [14:47] But if people watch the slop, no matter how low [14:51] effort it was, I think low effort content was the phrase that YouTube used, [14:55] then they don't really care. They're going to happily show it to as many people who [14:58] enjoy it. [14:59] Yeah, look, exactly. It's the repeat... [15:02] The video, the user is the algorithm. [15:05] We've heard YouTube saying this a million times. [15:08] If I don't mind watching what somebody else has deemed as [15:12] AI slop, but for me, hey, that helped me fix my issue, or [15:16] that helped me learn about this new feature that has come out, and [15:20] it happened to be given by an AI avatar or a [15:24] comic character. But I'm okay with that because I just wanted the information. [15:28] Well, then I'm going to see more of that stuff. [15:30] Okay. [15:31] The stuff that's going to get surfaced to the top is going to follow what the [15:34] viewer follows. So the viewer likes a certain thing, it doesn't click [15:38] away instantly, all of these are good signals for YouTube. [15:41] It says, "Okay, well, Jerry really likes to wear a dress. He just said it. [15:45] We've got it on recorded. Jerry likes to wear his dresses, and he likes to play [15:50] on YouTube." Great. Well, we're going to show him more of that stuff. [15:52] Whereas someone like Michael say, "Look, I'm not interested in that stuff. [15:56] Don't ever show me that." Well, then it's just not going to. [16:00] Yeah. And apologies to our audio listeners who can't see the lovely piece that I am [16:04] wearing- [16:04] Beautiful. Stunning [16:05] ... this session. So I want to ask then, because for a lot of [16:09] businesses in our audience, I know they are creating long-form content. [16:13] Mm-hmm. [16:14] And if you are a long-form YouTube content creator, it is felt for the [16:18] last year or so that shorts is getting all the attention. [16:22] So with these recent announcements, is that a [16:25] strong suggestion that we should consider adding shorts to [16:29] the strategy? Or is it just because AI processing [16:33] is so much cheaper, like they're willing to do it for an eight-second [16:37] clip, but nothing longer than that? [16:39] Yep. Again, goes back to testing, right? [16:42] I like shorts as a strategy. So leaving AI aside for a [16:46] second. Shorts as a strategy is really, really powerful. [16:49] It's the way to get in front of a very, very different audience [16:53] that maybe isn't watching your long-form content. [16:56] So you can get that as a discovery mechanism. [16:59] And people who like to watch shorts, guess what? [17:02] They don't like to convert from shorts to long unless there's something super [17:06] powerful. The original thinking was, "Oh, I'm going to see your stuff, [17:10] really like you, click on the long form video, subscribe to your channel." That was [17:14] the original thinking. But over time, we've realized that people watch [17:18] shorts on the toilet, waiting for the doctor, and they're [17:22] just going to scroll through shorts and next, next, next. [17:24] And occasionally they find something so powerful that they go, "Oh, hold on a [17:28] second. I actually do want to see the entire one-hour interview because this was [17:31] really, really good as a clip." So should you try shorts as a business? [17:36] Absolutely. Is it going to be surfaced in front of a different kind of audience? [17:40] Yes. That was the intention of shorts and giving you that leverage. [17:44] And it's the equivalent of, we've used this analogy before, of [17:48] having a food truck, right? You have your restaurant, and you have your food truck. [17:51] Your food truck is a little bite size, getting people to sample a little bit of [17:54] your content. If they really like it, well, then they're going to walk into your [17:58] restaurant and then sit down and have a real meal. [18:01] As far as building a community, building a real audience [18:05] engagement, there's no question that long form is absolutely the [18:09] way to go. Shorts is more of a, "Hey, [18:13] taste some good food." Long form, it's more like, "You're going to come back." [18:17] For folks that are listening to the podcast, next week, we have a episode dedicated [18:21] to YouTube Shorts [18:23] with John Scott, and it's going to be a great show. [18:26] One other thing I just want to share that I think might be what's going on here [18:30] with YouTube and all these AI short-form stuff is for those that are not [18:34] familiar, OpenAI developed this app called Sora, [18:38] which was a very easy-to-use video app that effectively [18:42] created reels and shorts. [18:44] As of this recording, by the time this show comes out, everything will be [18:48] shut down. They shut it down on April the 26th or the 28th or something [18:52] like that. Mostly because it did not have the processing bandwidth and [18:55] power to accomplish their bigger mission. [18:58] So I think this could be a play with Big Daddy Google, who has lots of [19:02] processing power and effectively can bring some of the same [19:05] functionality over to YouTube Shorts to draw all those people that [19:09] wanted what Sora offered over to YouTube. [19:12] Because [19:14] even though it wasn't super [19:16] huge, there was a lot of people that were creating really [19:19] creative content that they were specifically using inside of ads [19:24] and all their kinds of mediums, specifically on the Sora platform. [19:27] So I do think this is a play to attract some of those people [19:30] over to that particular thing. I just wanted to throw that over to Fence. [19:34] Interesting. Yeah. Well, so one thing I think [19:38] with all of this is, as we talked about, this helps us scale attention. [19:41] So I'm all for any of these things, and some stuff will catch on and some stuff [19:44] won't. But another one I want to ask you about, Liran, is [19:48] YouTube has had this effect maker, and they've expanded it, and they've added AI [19:51] tools to it. And so now you can actually create these [19:55] effects that can be used, and you can basically create them with simple prompts [19:59] with no coding required. Before, it was a lot more complex. [20:02] And it's available to anyone who has advanced features [20:06] unlocked, which also includes, I think to upload longer than [20:10] 15 minutes, I think, is an advanced feature. [20:11] It says advanced, but most channels have gone through this process [20:15] to have that unlocked. My favorite thing might be that you can do it on [20:19] desktop because I don't like working at my phone. [20:21] It's at effects.youtube.com. But let me ask you about this. [20:25] Is this an opportunity for brands to [20:29] get more of their [20:33] almost like memes that people can use in other shorts? [20:35] Or how do you see this tool being utilized by marketers and business owners? [20:39] Yeah. Again, goes back to ideation, right? [20:42] So because it's prompt-based, it's about coming up with a really [20:46] creative idea and then saying, "Okay, well how do I execute it?" [20:49] So before we had all these features, if you had this crazy [20:53] idea of I want [20:55] my brands, I don't know, swinging through the city skyline of New [20:59] York like Spider-Man. That's big budget, that's huge production [21:03] cost, that is years of planning and getting permissions. [21:07] There's all of that stuff coming into play. [21:09] Now you can go, "Hold on, I like this idea as a concept. [21:12] Let me go test it out. Let me just type this prompt in. [21:16] I'm going to reiterate a couple of times until I get it right, and then I'm going [21:19] to test it, and I'm going to see what happens." And if my audience really likes me [21:23] swinging through New York holding my cake in my hand, hey, [21:27] maybe we'll do a series of this. So experimentation. [21:31] Again, ideation. It's taking the stuff that you have in your head, and you go, "Ah, [21:36] if I had unlimited budget and all the tools in the world, what would I do?" [21:39] Great. You now do at your fingertips. [21:42] So those effects are really cool. Like you said, the prompt [21:46] used to be super complicated. You had to be super detailed with camera styles and [21:51] angles, and you had to be almost as a director. [21:55] Now it's evolved, and now you can say, "Hey, I'm thinking I need a drone [21:59] shots over New York as the sun is setting." And you're going to get a [22:03] really, really good first attempt at it. [22:06] You might have to play with it a little bit, but it now adds. [22:09] And it's everything that's adding is really, really powerful [22:13] to the creative director who's sitting there thinking, "I need to make an [22:16] ad. I need to create content. [22:20] I'm out of ideas. How do I execute this? [22:22] Because in my head I know what I want to achieve, but in reality, [22:26] I just don't have the budget for this kind of stuff." Well- [22:29] Yeah [22:29] ... now you can. [22:31] If anyone brings up cake again, I'm going to have to get some after the show. [22:34] We're going to need a new example. [22:36] What's really concerning about this is it looks a lot like Snapchat, and it [22:40] looks a lot like Facebook filters, and Instagram filters, [22:44] but you can create your own. That's the cool thing about it, right? [22:47] Where in the past, if you remember, [22:50] usually it was some huge brand that was paying a lot of money to have one of these [22:53] things created. You know what I mean? [22:55] That could allow you to put on a Marvel costume or something like [22:59] this. [22:59] Yeah. [22:59] They were timing it with the release of a new movie. [23:02] But now it looks like you can actually create these kind of things [23:05] yourself, which is kind of neat. And if you want to get super creative, I don't [23:09] know. This feels more like a consumer play than a business play to me, though. [23:12] Yeah. I think it's more of a community play. [23:14] So it's like my fans, my audience, my [23:17] customers. [23:19] To your point, if you remember, Snapchat had this thing that during [23:23] Comic-Con in a certain geographic area, you had to be there to experience this [23:27] filter, and that cost a lot of money to get that into [23:30] play. Now I can do this this afternoon. [23:34] And now about adoption is more like, do my customers really care, [23:38] right? That's what it's going to boil down to. [23:41] I'm trying to build on my channel. It's not about [23:45] creating content. It's about more of being you, showing who you are, [23:49] and I think in the age of AI, where things are so perfect and can be [23:53] spun up with a bunch of prompts, we're going to gravitate more towards [23:57] authentic content. And people throw that word around [24:00] quite a lot. But if it's you in there, and you're making a mistake, and you coughed [24:04] during your interview, and you leave that in and you don't cut that stuff out, [24:08] that's cool. It means you're human. I want to connect with that. [24:11] Oh, and now I've got this cool thing I can actually use as well. Yeah. [24:14] Where am I going to put this filter on my own content because I've brand it? [24:19] I don't know. But if you have things like Coachella is that's happening, and people [24:23] really want to be there, but at $10,000 for tickets, people are not. [24:26] LookMaybe there's some play there. [24:29] My concern is, [24:31] always in the back of my mind is, could this backfire? [24:34] Could I have a filter that I had all this great intention, but maybe I [24:38] didn't think it all the way through and now it gets misused, and [24:42] now my brand's associated with that. [24:44] So brand reputation is seriously something we all have to [24:46] consider with all these tools becoming so easily available. [24:50] We cannot get swept away in this hype. [24:53] Just because you can, [24:55] doesn't mean you should. [24:57] Yeah. It's definitely high reward, but also potentially high risk there. [25:01] Mm-hmm. [25:01] So [25:02] YouTube is, I think, top of funnel for most businesses and [25:05] marketers. But they are rolling out new features that I think it makes it [25:09] easier for us to nurture people along. [25:12] And when this feature first started getting tested, I got really excited because [25:15] it's one of my favorite ways to communicate, and that is voice [25:19] replies. So now this is rolled out to everybody on YouTube, and [25:22] essentially you can reply to comments on videos using [25:26] audio. Now, this only works on mobile devices, but you can do it in the [25:30] regular YouTube app or the YouTube Studio mobile app, both [25:34] Android and iOS. You have up to 30 seconds to record a message, [25:38] and I played with it a little bit today, and I can share my experience [25:42] a bit. But, Liran, what are your initial thoughts on this now that this [25:46] is wide open to everybody? Have you used it at all, or where are you [25:50] at with it? [25:50] Yeah. Just like you, I was really looking forward to it because thinking, [25:55] "I get a comment, I really want to reply. [25:57] I hit record on my phone, and then I'm done. [26:00] This is really cool to build up your community." That was the theory, [26:05] right? In reality of it, [26:08] my question to anybody is this: Do you want a reply to your [26:12] comment from some rando [26:16] at Walmart? [26:18] I'm thinking probably not. [26:19] If they're from you, they might want to hear from you though, if they're a fan. [26:21] You've just nailed it. That's exactly it. [26:24] If you have a personality-led brand, and if you're [26:28] the Michael and the Jerrys of the world, and you really want to hear their voice [26:31] saying, "Hey, thanks for watching," that's cool. [26:34] If you're going to get a reply from the Alex Hormozis, Gary Vees [26:38] of the world, that's cool. I [26:40] can definitely see that. If you're the local baker... [26:44] Sorry, had to do that. If you're the local baker and people really love your [26:47] cakes and somebody left a cool, positive comment, and you want to reply because [26:51] everybody knows you by name, awesome. [26:55] Is this a strategy that you want to start deploying in your business saying every [26:58] comment now needs a voicemail? [27:01] Right. [27:01] I'm not [27:03] really sure. [27:03] Well, and it's public, right? Isn't it? Everybody could listen to it, no? [27:07] Everyone can. It's completely public. So it's out there. [27:10] It's like we're leaving a text reply- [27:13] Yeah [27:13] ... which, by the way, I think a lot of brands are missing an opportunity on just [27:16] replying with text. If you haven't done [27:20] that, don't jump into voice. Get used to- ... [27:23] the replies of the replies, right? Okay? [27:25] Because you're opening up yourself to an entire different world. [27:28] And I think that, again, the theory of this is great, and [27:32] I think the theory of it is that if you have a reply with a voice, [27:36] you're going to make that really cool personal connection. Perfect. [27:40] Absolutely you should be testing this. [27:42] Do not make it a policy that every single comment now gets a voice reply because [27:46] this scales really quickly, and now you're going to have an issue. [27:50] And is it the same voice? Is it always the same person that's in the video? [27:53] Otherwise it gets confusing. What happens if there's multiple people? [27:56] It kind of snowballs very, very quickly. [28:00] So I like it. I like it from a personality channels [28:04] for sure. Absolutely. I've tried it a bunch of [28:07] times. Didn't make a massive engagement spike in my... [28:12] Whatever. [28:13] Not at all. [28:14] And technically, they have to stop watching. [28:18] Well, they might have to stop watching- [28:19] Or you can listen to it [28:19] ... another video in order to listen to your reply, right? [28:22] You're interrupting it. So I know a lot of people watch the video, and whilst [28:26] that is going on, they're scrolling through the comments, right? [28:29] Definitely very common on the Instagram feeds, [28:33] Facebook. The video loops and loops and loops because the person's reading the [28:36] comment. [28:37] Yeah. [28:37] Now you've got to say to yourself, "Well, is this valuable enough for me to pause [28:41] the video, press play, and to listen to it?" I think it'll be very [28:45] novel the first time, but I think it's going to be a free for all. [28:49] And [28:50] they're not even talking about opening this up to not the [28:54] content creator, but to everybody. [28:56] Yeah. [28:57] Yeah. [28:57] That's going [28:58] to be a bunch of process to listen. [28:59] Yeah, I don't see that happening. [29:01] But it's the talk. It's kind of saying it's, well, if you're going to reply, [29:05] they're going to reply to you with voicemail. [29:07] Well, do they have a transcript version of it if you don't want to hit play? [29:10] Not yet, right? [29:11] For the love of God, YouTube, Neil, if you're listening, just don't. [29:15] Seriously, this is going to be spam 101. [29:19] It's going to be terrible. And how do you police that and monitor it, and what's [29:23] good? And me as the creator, I can now quickly scroll through some [29:27] text and go, "Okay, yeah. There's no hate speech here. [29:29] I'm going to allow this." Or, well, how do you do that when there's a whole bunch [29:33] of little play buttons that you've got to listen to every single voicemail? [29:37] No, I think this is a terrible idea. [29:39] To open it up to the creator- [29:39] But that's why I don't think so [29:40] ... yes. Opening up to the guest, to anybody who can comment and leave a [29:44] voice on any channel around the world, [29:47] no. [29:48] I could see opening it up to collaborators, for example. [29:50] Somebody who's [29:52] with that collaboration feature. [29:53] But to answer your question, Mike, there's always a transcript. [29:56] Oh, okay. [29:56] And at least as of now, you can't even listen to it on the [30:00] computer. You can only play it back on mobile, which one thing that [30:04] came up for me is I got really self-conscious about the way that I speak [30:08] because I was like, "Okay, I said the word like 28 times in [30:12] this 27-second video," and it picked up every single thing [30:15] accurately. [30:17] But yes, the transcript is part of it. [30:19] Well, just a little tip for folks that do not know this. [30:22] There are plenty of AI to text tools out there that [30:25] exist. If you're doing this because it's [30:29] convenient-You could use WhisperFlow, you could use the standard [30:32] tools built into your operating system that allow you to speech-to-text it [30:37] but [30:38] man, if they just had the ability to send a private message to that [30:42] person. [30:43] Ah. [30:43] Now that would be fascinating. [30:44] Ah. [30:44] I do not see that coming. Do you see that coming? [30:46] Do you remember... I'm old enough to remember when YouTube stopped your views [30:50] at 301 because they had to verify all your views back in the [30:54] day. And back in those days, you could actually send [30:57] messages to people on YouTube. You built something up. [31:01] Yeah. [31:01] Now guess what happened? Two things, spammers and marketers. [31:05] Yes. [31:05] Mm. [31:06] Then guess what's going to happen with voice? Spammers and marketers. [31:10] Huh. So what was your experience, Jerry? I'm curious how it worked for you. [31:13] It was... I was out on a walk today, and I was thinking ahead about the show, and I [31:17] thought, "Oh, let me just open the YouTube Studio app, and let me just see what [31:21] comments I had here." And it was really light and easy for [31:25] me. And I try... I can't keep up with all the comments on my channel, but I try [31:29] and do the best I can. Now there are AI suggestions that are built. [31:32] I don't even know what plugin I have, but it'll be like, "How's this sound?" And [31:35] I'm like, "Yeah. That's perfect." But it was really convenient, [31:40] and to me, as you mentioned earlier, Liran, hearing [31:44] the voice of the person, I think is really powerful. [31:46] This is where I think it can warm people up faster because it's [31:50] like, "Oh, wow, they're talking to me." If you can tell by their username, all the [31:54] ones I replied to today, I could see their name in the username. [31:58] It was like, "Oh, Eileen. Oh, Rick. [32:00] Oh, Jill." And so I was able to address them by name as well. [32:04] And so I think when you are commenting as a [32:08] company, [32:10] all that intimacy is gone. So I enjoyed it. I could see doing it more. [32:13] But I had one comment from a guy who said that his [32:17] wife has had this health thing and has to be at home, and he has to be home to [32:21] take care of her, so he's trying to grow on YouTube so he can... [32:24] Because he can only be at home. And it was so much easier for me [32:28] to express the sympathy that I was feeling in my [32:32] voice than to be typing, "Sorry, bro," or [32:36] anything like that. [32:37] Yeah. [32:37] I enjoyed it. [32:38] And the other side of it too is that if you are on a phone, especially if [32:42] you are of a certain age, which I think most of us [32:46] that are on this show are of a certain age, where your eyes aren't as good as they [32:49] used to be, right? And typing on your phone is not going to be easy, okay? [32:52] You got this little thing that's about an inch tall that is your keyboard, right? [32:56] Mm-hmm. [32:57] How in the world are you expected to have a timely comment in that situation? [33:01] Your only option is voice-to-text, which usually [33:05] messes things up. [33:06] And the idea that you could just really express yourself, [33:10] especially most creators that are used to talking, [33:15] can free flow a little bit. So I would imagine this might make it easier for [33:19] us to communicate with some of our most loyal fans in any situation that we're in. [33:22] I don't know, what do you think, Liran? [33:24] As long as we don't use it for the sake of using it. [33:28] As long as we don't reply going like- [33:30] Yeah [33:30] ... "Thanks for watching." [33:31] Yeah. [33:31] "Thanks for being here." [33:32] Yes. [33:33] I think that's going to be a terrible play. [33:35] Yeah. [33:35] I think if someone leaves a thoughtful comment, match their energy. [33:38] Reply back with a thoughtful reply. [33:41] Someone leaves an energetic comment, reply back with an energetic voice [33:45] note. So you're matching your audience. You're meeting them where they are. [33:49] And does it warm them up to you to make you more human? Yes. [33:52] Because remember, YouTube's biggest issue that we have is [33:56] that we have very limited touch points with our audience. [34:00] If we're going live, yes, there is a chat. [34:03] Now we're doing it together. But besides that, what do we have? [34:06] We have comments, and we have the Community tab. That's it. [34:11] That's all we've got. We can't talk to them any other way. [34:14] So is this a cool little feature to enhance our communication with our audience? [34:18] Absolutely. Give it a go. See if you like it. [34:21] See how people react. I've worked with a channel [34:25] where [34:26] we made a point of only replying with [34:29] voice. [34:30] The community, they hated it. Completely hated it. [34:33] They flamed them completely. They replied back going- [34:36] Weird [34:36] ... "We weren't expecting that." They're like, "Why don't you just stick to making [34:39] videos?" [34:40] And they went, "Oh, God." [34:41] Ugh. [34:42] "We [34:43] didn't see that one coming." Because our theory was, [34:48] let's be more warm. Let's talk to our community. [34:51] Let's get more in their space. And that community hated it. [34:55] And much to your point, Jerry, about the username, I think [34:59] you hit a very interesting point here. [35:01] When people are super confident and they're leaving comments, because I don't know [35:04] about you, but I watch plenty of videos, haven't left a single comment. Right? [35:09] A lot of people just watch a video, enjoy it. [35:12] At best, give it a thumbs up. At best, right? [35:16] So who are the people that are actually leaving comments? [35:18] It's usually the absolute core fans or [35:22] the absolute haters. [35:24] Mm. [35:25] Right? That's who you're engaging with. [35:27] So I always like to have that in the back of my mind saying, "Okay, look. [35:31] These people left you a comment telling you you suck in your video. [35:34] Do you really want to talk to them and leave them a voice note?" [35:37] Oh, yeah. [35:38] Or no? [35:39] Oh, yeah. I kill them with kindness. [35:41] Ooh. [35:42] I- [35:42] Demonetized. [35:45] That's fair. [35:46] I like what you said. I just want to re-emphasize this, [35:50] that if they say, "Great video," and you take the [35:54] time to record a voice note that says, "Thanks for watching," at that point, you're [35:58] wasting their time. [36:00] Right? So if you're not going to bother to say, "Hey, thank you so much. [36:03] This means a lot. I'm a small company, and [36:06] we have a small team, and so I really appreciate you watching," which could [36:10] absolutely further loyalty and make them more likely to click on their next [36:13] notification you have published a new video, then yeah, it's not worth it. [36:16] But I do want to go back to something you said earlier where people [36:20] would like to hear from face channels [36:24] but not from corporations. And I think back, and this goes back a long [36:28] time, I don't know if they still do this or not, but I feel like Starbucks was the [36:31] first brand, at least, that was known for replying on Twitter and [36:35] adding-A name to the end of every tweet that they replied. [36:39] So it'd be like, "Hey, glad you enjoyed your coffee hyphen Jill," [36:43] or whatever it might be. [36:44] Mm-hmm. [36:44] And so do you feel like there is just no place in that? [36:48] Because I also have a memory of being at an agency, and I was replying on behalf of [36:51] one of our clients who has a restaurant and the customer's reply [36:55] was, "The restaurant is talking to me," or, "The building is talking to me. [36:58] I don't know what to do here." [37:01] Yeah. [37:01] So you feel like this is for individuals, if they know you from [37:05] the channel and the company, then it's worth it. [37:07] Yeah. You remember when hearts first came out in the [37:11] comments and you could heart a comment? [37:13] And, I don't know about you, but if I left a comment on a big creator's [37:17] channel, and they gave you a little heart or somebody gives [37:21] you a thumbs up or a heart on Twitter, and you get a little notification, "Ooh, [37:25] Casey Neistat liked my reply." Like, that's awesome. [37:28] Like, I like Casey even more now, right? [37:30] So I like those kind of features where not the [37:34] restaurant is talking to me, it's more like it's going to boil down [37:37] into the way that you come across. If you go, "Thanks for [37:41] watching. Super excited that you hung out here. [37:44] Did you remember to subscribe?" Oh, now I'm in sales mode. [37:47] You've just lost them. Use that opportunity where [37:51] somebody leaves you a comment, come back to them and say, [37:55] "Thank you for hanging out here. Like you said, we have a small team. [37:58] We've really put a lot of effort in. [37:59] Is there anything else that we should have done in this video? [38:02] Could we have done anything? What would you like to see?" Now you're having a [38:06] conversation. Now you're adding value. Now you're adding your voice. [38:09] Now people, oh, really want to get part of that conversation. [38:13] That's cool. I like that. [38:15] One other creative thought here. For anyone who's listening [38:19] that happens to have a business where you are selling services, like let's [38:23] say a real estate agent or let's say you are a consultant of [38:27] some sort if someone said, "Great video," and you click on their [38:30] profile and you see that they've got a YouTube channel that might be relevant to [38:34] what you're doing that's when you might want to respond with an audio note and say, [38:38] "Hey, thank you so much for watching my video. [38:40] I see that you're into blah, blah, blah, blah. [38:42] And by the way, I am also into blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. [38:45] I'm super excited that you commented." Do you see where I'm going? [38:47] Like just a little- [38:48] Yeah [38:49] ... what I'm going to call lead nurturing. [38:50] Yep. [38:51] That kind of a thing could potentially go a very long way. [38:54] Again, it goes back to the point of we have very little way of [38:58] interacting with our audience. [38:59] Yeah. [39:00] Let's use it in an effective way and really get [39:03] together with it. I love that idea of creating those relationships [39:07] because you're not going to forget it, right? [39:09] That's the thing that you're leaving that lasting memory. [39:13] Some random person somewhere in the world took the time to leave you [39:17] a comment, and you can see that was a heartfelt comment. [39:20] Like what Jerry was mentioning earlier. [39:22] And now you get a response from the [39:26] person who made the video [39:29] talking directly to them, not to everybody, and giving them a [39:33] really thoughtful reply. [39:35] You've got a core fan now. [39:36] So my top takeaway from this is if you're going to bother to use it, do [39:40] it with intention. And if you can only reply to 10 people and [39:44] do it really well, that's better than replying to 50 people in a way [39:48] that doesn't make sense. And one more thing I want to add, too, just as [39:52] some encouragement. You mentioned how excited people would be to get a [39:56] response from a big name on a big channel. [40:00] But for the person who's watching your video and you commented, you are that big [40:03] name. You are a big deal to them, which I really like- [40:07] True [40:07] ... as well. So. [40:08] True. [40:09] All right. This is interesting. For people who are intimidated [40:13] by influencer marketing, who's like, "Okay. [40:16] Well, it's going to be a waste of money," anything like that, [40:19] and I am very much in that camp as a marketer, YouTube [40:23] is unveiling a platform. They're calling it Creator [40:26] Partnerships, and this is essentially the evolution of it. [40:30] It used to be called BrandConnect, if you're not familiar. [40:32] Mm-hmm. [40:32] And it's integrated across YouTube Studio, Google Ads, Display, all of the [40:36] different platforms. And a couple of things that really make this stand out. [40:39] First, Google Gemini, which is, of course, Google's AI, is helping [40:43] brands identify ideal creators from over three million [40:47] channels by looking for signals like audience similarity [40:50] or organic brand mentions, different things like that. [40:53] They also are using AI to streamline the outreach, so you can basically [40:57] build creator lists, and soon you'll be able to send bulk [41:01] partnership inquiries. So it's removed a lot of that upfront work [41:05] as well. [41:06] And so at this point, it feels [41:10] like it's removed a lot of the objections for brands wanting to [41:13] work with influencers. Do you think, Liran, we're going to see an [41:17] explosion of new brands willing to take this level of risk with [41:21] these kind of tools with AI helping out? [41:24] Yeah. I think we're going to see a lot of brands now starting to experiment [41:28] with working with influencers. And remember, up until now, you [41:32] either had to kind of reach out to the influencers themselves, [41:36] or you had to go through an agency, right? [41:38] And those were essentially your two options. [41:42] What I like is that it's making it easier for a brand to at least see what's [41:46] out there. Everybody's heard of influencer marketing. [41:48] Everybody's heard of partnerships. [41:50] People understand that if you can get your product and service in front of a big [41:54] audience, that's going to help you within your business. [41:57] So this is just kind of removing that barrier and allowing you to at [42:01] least see. I can go in and I can say, "This is my audience. [42:06] Who kind of matches my vibe? Who matches from a data point of view?" [42:11] But that's one part of the equation, right? [42:14] Because it doesn't stop at the match. [42:17] The data cannot tell you whether it's a good fit or not. [42:20] It can tell you statistically whether [42:23] there's an overlap, but I might have an overlap with Jerry's [42:27] audience, and I might want to sell my widget to Jerry's [42:31] audience, but man, like that Jerry guy in his dress eating [42:35] cake. Like, ugh, I don't know if my people are going to [42:39] resonate with that. So statistically, we might [42:42] matchBut are we actually going to get on? [42:45] It's the equivalent of the swipe left, swipe right on the dating app. [42:49] It gives you the match-up, but you've got to then do your homework [42:53] to see whether it's actually worth pursuing. [42:56] But are we going to see people at least trying it? Yeah, absolutely. [42:59] This is a great power move. [43:02] So this, and you brought up a great point, is I think all of us know [43:06] that as good as AI is getting, sometimes it's wrong, sometimes we [43:09] disagree with it, and I think that's the real strength as a marketer now is to [43:13] know when to agree and when not to agree with AI. [43:16] But let's say the AI matched the brand with someone. [43:19] Like when you say, do the research or whatever it is, what next steps would you [43:22] recommend for a brand so that they can make sure it's a good fit and [43:27] lower their risk before investing any money? [43:30] Yeah. So I think it's the traditional good housekeeping stuff. [43:34] So number one is go and watch the last 10 videos that they have [43:38] on their channel. Then understand that do you resonate with it? [43:42] Do you like the way they come across? [43:44] Do they explain it in a way that you think your audience will [43:49] understand as well? And remember, it's not you as a business, right? [43:52] You've got to look at it through your customer's eyes. [43:55] So you might understand your product really, really well. [43:59] You got to remember that it's your customer that's watching. [44:01] So look through it through their vision, look at the last 10 videos and say, "Wow, [44:06] okay. I really connect with this person. [44:07] They make sense to me as a customer." Cool. So that's the first thing. [44:12] I would go through their comments. Read the comments. [44:15] Before you have to listen to all the com-- read through the comments. [44:18] Understand what their audience, are their audience really hostile? [44:22] Are they really supportive? And again, knowing that only a fraction and the [44:26] loud few are the ones leaving a comment, but it kind of gives you a little bit of [44:30] a [44:31] sentiment of how the audience respond. [44:34] So many of these creators have really wholesome communities which are super loud [44:38] and super friendly. Great. That's a great indicator that you [44:42] want to kind of [44:43] be in there. I would also look at previous sponsorship videos that they did. [44:48] Now, good creators who follow the rules will always mark [44:52] their content as sponsored. They will have include [44:56] paid sponsorship comes up. So it's very easy to find those partnership. [45:00] Go see if it's a natural fit. Do they do like a Linus [45:04] tech tip kind of [45:06] vibe where they talk about one thing and completely [45:10] non-related, "Here's how to install your new Wi-Fi system. [45:13] And now a word from our sponsor, drink Coca-Cola." Like [45:17] what? It's got nothing to do with... [45:19] But are you okay with that? If you're okay with that, great. [45:23] If you know people are going to skip right past it to going back to the video, [45:27] then maybe it's not a good fit. You want the creators that are naturally including [45:31] their products into their content because you want your [45:35] audience to go along for the ride, actually watch the branded piece, and not skip [45:39] over it. So these are kind of the first couple of very quick ways [45:43] to see whether you like this person. Does it make sense? [45:46] One of the things that's neat about- [45:48] Is this your vibe? Is this your audience? [45:49] Yeah. One of the things that's neat about this is you're, [45:53] as the advertiser, as the marketer, you're going to be able to see the [45:57] brand's insights, the analytics. [45:59] And if creators turn them on, you'll get to see them even [46:03] before you work with them. And [46:06] actually, as somebody being on the creator side, I can tell you, I get reminded [46:10] constantly, it seems like a few times a week, it's like, "Hey, you should turn [46:14] on your analytics to share with brands." And what they're quoting [46:18] is that people who have turned this on get 60% more [46:21] visibility inside of the creator partnerships platform and [46:25] double the brand inquiry. So I think that's good news- [46:28] Yeah [46:28] ... for marketers is on the other side. [46:30] They're really encouraging the people that are creating the content to turn these [46:33] on. [46:35] Yeah. It's the whole thing of [46:38] I want to find a good partner, right? [46:40] And a good partner is going to share [46:42] what their data is like. The part I don't like is putting like a [46:46] creator hat on is I'd like to see it the other way around as well, like how much [46:50] sales did my campaign do? Because you might think you didn't get [46:54] enough views or enough reach and you're feeling really down about this [46:58] partnership. But on the other side of the table, the brand's so excited because [47:02] they finally did some real numbers. [47:05] So I would like to see like a two-way street. [47:08] But I think to your point is the more that we share as [47:12] creators, we're saying, "Look, here's who we are. [47:15] This is our authentic self. This is what the data says. [47:18] Data's unemotional. We did really well with... [47:21] Or we didn't do really well. How do we go from long-term?" So that [47:25] is my one thing about working with a creator is that just [47:29] remember that it's not always about a flash in the pan. [47:33] You've got to build trust. You've got to build a relationship, not just with the [47:36] creator, but with the creator's audience. [47:39] And sometimes it can't happen in a one and [47:43] done. Sometimes you've got to do three or four or five, or do a series of [47:47] videos where you could have been mentioned in the right context to the [47:51] right audience, and eventually everything will start [47:54] clicking in place. [47:56] That's great. And now you can do it lower risk, which is an incredible way to [48:00] get your foot in the door with influencer marketing. [48:02] Liron, this has been an incredible dialogue. [48:04] Thank you so much for joining us today. [48:05] If people want to explore working with you, where do you want to send them? [48:09] Head over to lironsegev.com. Hopefully, there'll be some [48:13] links, and happy to chat. Always online and always happy to [48:17] talk YouTube, content, AI, automation, all that good stuff. [48:22] Liron and Jerry, thank you so much for being on today's show. [48:25] Hey, if you missed anything, we took all the notes for you over at [48:27] socialmediaexaminer.com/718. That's 718 weeks [48:31] in a row of this darn podcast. If you're new to the show, be sure to follow us. [48:35] If you've been a listener for a while, we would love a review. [48:37] Do check out our other show, the AI Explored podcast. [48:41] This brings us to the end of the Social Media Marketing podcast. [48:44] I'm your host, Michael Stelzner. I was joined by my co-host, Jerry Potter. [48:48] We'll be back next week. I hope you make the best out of your day, and may your [48:51] marketing keep evolving. Catch you next time.  📄 **Full text:** ![[Full Document Contents/Articles/YouTube Tools That Scale Attention.md|YouTube Tools That Scale Attention by YouTube]] ## Highlights - "Okay, see, at this point, they used our product. Here are the health benefit. Here's what's going to happen with the product. This is what we're going to do." You're adding your authority to it. So the attention shifts from what you remixed back to you as the brand. Whatever you do, don't just remix, put your logo at the bottom and going, "Hey, here's my content." I love that. That is even nothing to say. Yeah, because Meta has actually said recently, these reaction videos where you don't add anything, you're not going to get any reach. And I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube is already doing that, or they will follow ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01krnxmb6aeesxndy2e7k7xs7c)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted - Mm-hmm. So YouTube is, I think, top of funnel for most businesses and marketers. But they are rolling out new features that I think it makes it easier for us to nurture people along. And when this feature first started getting tested, I got really excited because it's one of my favorite ways to communicate, and that is voice replies. So now this is rolled out to everybody on YouTube, and essentially you can reply to comments on videos using audio. Now, this only works on mobile devices, but you can do it in the ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01krnxmb9dxwm6w4f09dqsjy9y)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted - Facebook. The video loops and loops and loops because the person's reading the comment. Yeah. Now you've got to say to yourself, "Well, is this valuable enough for me to pause the video, press play, and to listen to it?" I think it'll be very novel the first time, but I think it's going to be a free for all. And they're not even talking about opening this up to not the content creator, but to everybody. Yeah. That's going to be a bunch of process to listen. Yeah, I don't see that happening. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01krnxmbdz5824e14nh1e2e003)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted - Now guess what happened? Two things, spammers and marketers. Yes. Mm. Then guess what's going to happen with voice? Spammers and marketers. Huh. So what was your experience, Jerry? I'm curious how it worked for you. It was... I was out on a walk today, and I was thinking ahead about the show, and I thought, "Oh, let me just open the YouTube Studio app, and let me just see what comments I had here." And it was really light and easy for me. And I try... I can't keep up with all the comments on my channel, but I try and do the best I can. Now there are AI suggestions that are built. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01krnxmbhqt3npb9d033se0th2)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted - So I like those kind of features where not the restaurant is talking to me, it's more like it's going to boil down into the way that you come across. If you go, "Thanks for watching. Super excited that you hung out here. Did you remember to subscribe?" Oh, now I'm in sales mode. You've just lost them. Use that opportunity where somebody leaves you a comment, come back to them and say, "Thank you for hanging out here. Like you said, we have a small team. We've really put a lot of effort in. Is there anything else that we should have done in this video? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01krnxmbqb8qvn38f81nsfm4ks)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted