Use Tutorials to Establish Authority and Build Relationships

The YouTube “stars” I’m most impressed by are those who have created a large following by publishing a series of tutorials on a given topic.

These topics vary from how to apply make up to how to get started coding HTML to how to get really creative in your scrapbooking. I’m impressed by this group because they have large numbers of fans yet their expenses are very small. Aren’t these the things that small business owners everywhere what to achieve – lots of customers at minimal expense?

Simply stated, what these YouTube stars are doing is creating an ongoing series of tutorials. This is a strategy that will work for many small business owners, whether the content you create is video or any other format. And, there are other benefits along with those I’ve already mentioned:

• You are usually creating evergreen content, so it will stand the test of time,
• You can cross promote between tutorials to lead people into the next “episode,”
• You can “tease” your next installment to create anticipation in your audience,
• You establish yourself as an authority in your field when you have a solid series of tutorials, and
• You can plug your tutorials into a drip marketing campaign.

Let me go into a little more depth on two more benefits.

Direct sales

While your tutorials need to be centered around delivering great content to your followers, they often provide the perfect opportunity to make a good sales pitch as well. One major success story centers around a woman who started a YouTube series that demonstrated how to use hair extensions. She soon realized that she should be selling the extensions she was demonstrating.

If you create a truly excellent tutorial that uses an equally excellent product, people will want to buy it. You can easily direct them to your online store, your toll-free 800 number, or your product page.

Multi-use content

You should be regularly adding tutorials so you’re creating a growing body of work. First, these tutorials can be adapted for different content formats. Videos can be turned into blogs and blogs can be turned into infographics, to give you two examples.

Next, closely related tutorials can be turned into white papers or video training discs and finally, these white papers can be combined – with some infographics added – to turn into books. When you have a published book, you are officially a top authority, as I see it.

To get started with your tutorial series, sit down and brainstorm about 10 episodes or articles. This preplanning will help you put together a cohesive series that you can properly promote. When you try “flying by the seat of your pants” your series won’t be able to realize its full potential. If you know where your series is headed, then at the end of each episode you can give your audience a roadmap that highlights your upcoming journey together. This builds your audience. If you can’t use each episode or “chapter” to self-promote, you’re missing a valuable opportunity with your audience.