Today I have a special guest to talk about personal branding with video content. XayLi Barclay is a visual content creation coach who specializes in helping entrepreneurs effectively stand out and make a genuine impact in the digital space.
She’s the founder of the Start, Shoot, Grow Video Academy. She teaches you how to create a visually engaging online presence through video content. You can find more of her blogs and video content at XayLiBarclay.com.
HOW XAYLI GOT HER START IN VIDEO CONTENT
Brandon Birkmeyer: We have a lot of mutual friends in the creator and the marketing space. It got me excited to talk to you about the power of video content. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve had a lot of people that have focused specifically on that. I’ve had live streaming video creators, but not people that are actively talking about video creation and how to use it.
I’m excited to get you on the show and to get some of that out there for the listeners today. However, before anything else, I’d love to hear a little bit about when you started posting video on social media.
Take me back to the beginning. When did you actually start creating for business purposes?
XayLi Barclay: Video really happened by mistake for me. I knew that I wanted to do video, definitely. Back in 2009, I had locks; I used to wear my hair in that specific way and wanted to start sharing tips on locks, how to take care of them, and how to grow your hair.
I uploaded my first video, where I was in my bathroom. However, I looked at it and thought, oh no, girl, this has to go, so I deleted it and started again in 2015. I committed, and I started sharing my laughter, sharing makeup, and body positivity, just awesome stuff.
SHE LEARNED TO NICHE HER VIDEO CONTENT
I realized that I was able to grow faster because I was in a niche. People were looking for solutions. All of my social media platforms were growing like crazy. It was easy for me to grow because I was being that solution to that specific audience’s problems.
I just started growing like crazy. People started sharing my content a lot. I would have a community in the comments. I thought, there’s something bigger to this.
What happened was people loved the quality of my content and they loved the way that I broke things down. I started getting questions about video. “How do you do this?” I thought, “Ah-ha, I can show you.”
I started creating courses based on video content and realized that if this worked for my niche, then hello, it can work for other people. In 2015, I started actually teaching all about video content.
I feel like it’s so popular now, but I’ve been there for the journey of it all. That’s really how I got started.
WHY XAYLI PREFERS VIDEO CONTENT
Brandon Birkmeyer: Did you try to build a business in that beauty space as a creator? Or were you thinking, “No, I think I need to just be teaching this because that’s where my questions are coming from?”
XayLi Barclay: I think what really happened was the courses and that side of things really just superseded the beauty.
I realized as well that the income was much more stable because it was up to me. With YouTube, you can make money through Google AdSense. That wavers. You can also make money with brands, but I just didn’t want to leave my baseline in the hands of somebody else.
Brandon Birkmeyer: Let’s talk about video in general first. I think it’s really intimidating for a lot of people out there, getting on-camera. I think that’s on them to get past and just to try and start. That’s even the name of your class. “Start” is the first word, Start, Shoot, Grow.
Beyond that, I want to talk about the value. Why should they put that work in? What’s the value of creating video content?
XayLi Barclay: For me, the return is insane. If you have a business, and you’re using video in your business, you create trust so much faster than the person who is probably just writing blurbs online and uploading pictures. The conversion is absolutely insane.
VIDEO CONTENT CREATES TRUST QUICKLY
We all know how powerful webinars and things like that are. If you’re thinking about video for your business, it helps build the like-know-trust factor in way less time. You get a much more committed audience who is really connected to you.
I experienced that in the beauty part of things. When I brought it over into my actual business, I realized that it was even better. People just latched onto every word that I said.
I love that it’s basically on autopilot. People are finding you all the time. It’s such an influx of interest, which turns into business.
Brandon Birkmeyer: Was there anything specific that you started teaching that really took off?
XayLi Barclay: For me, especially now in business, people are always interested in my visual content. They ask, “How do you do this? How do you do that?”
For me, it was providing solutions like how to repurpose your content or how to create something. I like to think niche. I think, let me do a series on a specific app. Let me do a series based on a specific process or a system.
You’re also able to make affiliate income from videos as well. There are so many ways that you can make income from using video, and from one video.
It’s definitely sharing or being that solution.
RELATED: Build your personal brand with the Content Marketing Starter Guide.
YOU CAN MORE EASILY BE FOUND WITH VIDEO
For example, today we got the whole announcement about no more likes on Instagram. We knew it was coming. What if you had created a video last week about it? You uploaded it today because everyone’s going to be searching for it. It’s trending. People are talking about it and that’s a way for you to position yourself as the solution.
Let’s say you’re a social media manager or something. People are going to find you. We all know that YouTube is owned by Google, so video results show up.
Also with video, your personality is there. People get to figure out if they can watch this person for days or they can just decide, “This person is not for me,” which I prefer.
MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE VIDEO CONTENT CREATION
Brandon Birkmeyer: I know video is great. However, what made you think, “I want to keep doing this?” It’s kind of a pain to create video. You have to have motivation. You have to have a reason to keep doing it over and over again.
XayLi Barclay: I think for me, I realized that just the type of person I am, I’m always encouraging and motivating. That’s just who I am. I’m very optimistic and always thinking about the blessing, the lessons, and things like that.
I realized that I had that around me. I would always be that person that would be helping someone or motivating someone. Even in my old workplace years ago, people would be at my desk all the time.
I thought, “I want to help more people.” That kept me creating. Because I started off in a very niche space, I got that communication easily and very quickly, which is why I always tell people niche down. Don’t be afraid to niche down. Figure out what your special sauce is. Swim in it and help others swim in there with you.
USE VIDEO CONTENT TO HELP OTHERS BEHIND YOU
Brandon Birkmeyer: I think a lot of us start to hit that transition where think, “Now I have something to say. I might want to put it into a format like a course, and teach this to other people.”
You have this great format, this course creation. Now you help people with that. What made you get into that? How’d you start thinking, “I’m going to teach other people how to do this?”
XayLi Barclay: It really came from my content.
My content was always so in-depth and well thought through. People would take my courses and think, “Oh my gosh.”
That really happened randomly. I shared a video (that can be powerful) on social media. Thinkific found it and they said, “Oh my gosh, can you be one of our experts? How did you do this with our platform?”
It really just grew from there. I feel like I’m a natural teacher as well, so I’m really able to take something and break it down into a process. I do have a course agency where I work with clients who are trying to put their brains into a course format.
I’m very good at it because I just look at things in that way. Because I know the platform so well, I can mold things to fit into the format of a course. Not just any course; you want a course that your people are excited to go through.
CONNECT WITH XAYLI
For XayLi’s video lessons – www.startshootgrow.com
For XayLi’s content – www.xaylibarclay.com
For XayLi’s free course – www.camfidence.com
MORE ADVICE AND INTERVIEWS
If you’d like more content about how to build your personal brand, check out my free Content Marketing Starter Guide.
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Talk soon!