It’s no secret that I’ve used YouTube on my journey to become an infopreneur/course creator a lot! It’s been a major part of my business strategy. And today, we’re talking about how I use YouTube to be seen as an expert.

How I Use YouTube to be Seen as an Expert

Want to listen to the podcast version of this post? I’ve got you covered!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to this episode’s sponsor, TubeBuddy!

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Showing up as an expert is VERY important

This seems like a given, but being a noticeable expert in my field has gotten me lots of opportunities! When you want to speak at a conference or be a guest on a podcast, credibility as an expert in your field is crucial. YouTube provides that credibility for me.

I use YouTube for a TON of reasons – let’s go ahead and break them all down

I use YouTube to be seen as an expert, first of all. You need to use SOME platform to be seen as an expert if you want to be course or product creator.

No matter WHAT industry you’re in, using YouTube to show off your expertise will help you. If you sell planners, think about what would make your ideal customer see you as a planner expert? And why would you want to be an expert in that field?

Keep in mind, you can use lots of different social platforms to gain expert status.

I also use YouTube because…

• As a content creation platform, it keeps my brand and business relevant
• It helps grow my email list and my other social platforms

How I Use YouTube to be Seen as an Expert

1. I show off my brain

If somebody asked you to get up on stage right now and spend 30 minutes speaking about a topic, what subject could you talk about without really having to prepare?

When you have the knowledge that allows you to talk forever about a topic without preparation, it’s easy for you to show off your brain. You’ve got a lot of info in there! You know the topic so completely, you're totally prepared for questions.

My husband could ABSOLUTELY do this with construction. He has a bachelor's degree in construction, and he’s been our county’s building inspector for the past 14 years. Farming is another one! He has a really deep expertise of both of those subjects and could talk about them for hours.

When you have that vast knowledge and you’re creating video content, then it’s easy to show up as an expert.

I THRIVE when I’m creating content about a topic I know inside out and upside down.

When I started my channel, I thought about the topics I wanted to be seen as an expert in and the topics where I had a lot of expertise already. Then I asked myself how I could help people while showing off the knowledge I have on the subject?

2. I show off my personality

I struggled with this for a while. No one is naturally good at showing off their personality on camera. It’s something you have to build over time! I thought my audience just wanted me to spit facts at them, but they wanted my personality in there, too.

I NEEDED to show off my personality to be seen as an expert on YouTube. For example, there are a billion makeup experts on YouTube. We can see that they have a ton of expertise about makeup! If their knowledge is the same, we’ll always go back to one person… not because they know something differently, but because THEY are a different person.

Showing off your personality will draw people to you. If somebody is looking for a speaker for a conference or someone to buy a course from, they’ll choose someone they find engaging and intelligent.

3. I make sure I’m actually SEEN using YouTube’s SEO features

You’ll never be seen as an expert if you never get in front of people and show them that you are one.

There HAS to be a discoverability feature on the content platform you’re using to position yourself as an expert. That’s why YouTube is such a fantastic tool. It makes finding you really easy.

Facebook is not my favorite platform to build yourself as an expert because people aren’t searching for things on Facebook (other than on Facebook Marketplace).

Google, YouTube (owned by Google), and Pinterest are the top 3 search engines in the world.

If you’re creating content that shows up on those platforms, you’re far and above everybody else.

I think Instagram has a really decent amount of discoverability, but it’s not a search engine. The best way to position yourself as an expert is to answer “how do I…” questions. Unfortuantely, people aren’t searching for those answers on Instagram.

If you want to be seen as an expert, showing up in search for related topics is KEY.

To show up on the first page of Google, you have to be ranking on YouTube or have a blog post that will index to Google. That’s really difficult! But what’s not as difficult is showing up on the first page of YouTube.

If I can get in front of someone who’s searching for the answer to their question, that is someone literally looking for an expert! And when they find me, I gain that credibility.

4. Vanity numbers/follower numbers are a type of currency in this world (although they shouldn’t be!), and showing up on YouTube helps me gain them

One of the first conferences I went to related to my business was in early 2017. At this conference, they have tables dedicated to different topics with experts manning them. I was at one of these tables as an expert (I can’t remember exactly about what), but I also visited other tables.

One of the tables that I visited was about the process of writing and publishing books. This particular woman was talking about the ins-and-outs of publishing your book using all the different methods. She said that if you EVER even want to be considered for traditional publishing, you need at least 50,000 followers SOMEWHERE. Which is a lot.

I’m currently in talks with a book agent and I’m working through a book proposal because I really want to be traditionally published. That person asked me for my follower numbers before they ever agreed to meet with me.

YouTube became my way to build up my vanity numbers. And with followers as currency, they’re very important to being seen as an expert. You don’t need a massive amount of followers, but it does help to have them.

I’m not sure I LIKE that, because I’ve seen a lot of people with really terrible YouTube channels or Instagram accounts, but they still have the vanity metrics. (But believe me, people can tell if you’ve bought your followers.)

To be clear, I’ve had a 6-figure business since before I had major numbers on YouTube or Instagram. But vanity metrics do help other people see you as an expert.

Think about WHY you need the vanity metrics before you randomly pursue platforms. If I want to teach about Instagram strategy but I only have 100 Instagram followers, that probably won’t position me in the best way.

BUT I could definitely be taken seriously as an Instagram expert if I have 5,000 followers on that platform, even if I only have 500 subscribers on YouTube. See what I'm saying?

I hope this was MASSIVELY helpful on your journey to becoming an expert!