This week, our focus is on using the "Channel Overview" functionality within the XOTV.me platform to maximize followers, subscribers, and one-time purchases.
As a XOTV Creator, we attract an audience to entertain, engage, elucidate, or inform with our content. Our business model is centered on access to ourselves and other subject matter experts, industry insider knowledge, or an immersive experience with our art.
When is the right time to monetize your channel's content?
If your channel has all of the following elements, you are ready to put some of your content behind a paywall using a tiered access or tiered subscription model.
- Your content is published consistently. For us, every Friday, our audience can look forward to a new episode of WhitewaterTV.
- Episodes have a consistent theme with your channel's three content pillars incorporated into every episode. On WhitewaterTV, our three content pillars are 1) people, 2) places 3) products. In this video, one of our content partners talks about being with her dog — "people," where she is recording from — places, and she prominently shows the products — the gear, apparel, supplements that she is using.
As a brand ambassador and retailer for one of the product manufacturers, she artfully used organic product placement. And she shows the manufacturer's logo for some of the gear that she is using. Subtly highlighting a company's product in a video opens up the door for additional sponsorship in the future.
The photo below is an excellent example of organic product placement. I am wearing one of my channel sponsor's hats in the image below while I am also displaying the fish that I caught during an upcoming episode of WhitewaterTV. I will post this photo and a short teaser to get viewers on social media to click on the "Linktree" web address to go to a list of websites where they can view my content. The websites include my XOTV channels, blog, media kit, and magazines, where I am a contributing writer.
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Managing the awkwardness of asking for money
A lot of creatives and athletes are uncomfortable with the idea of monetizing their art or knowledge.
But think of it this way. You have put much more than 10,000 hours into mastering your craft. Then, you packaged it in a beautiful video. How much is your time worth? What is the value of the knowledge you are sharing? That is the reason to monetize some of your content. And subscribers are willing to pay for the things they find valuable. Your channel goal could be to create a community using the free content you cross-promoted on your social media or blog.
Using the XOTV community feature
On WhitewaterTV, we are using the "community" feature on the XOTV.me platform to post job announcements sent to us from other organizations that might appeal to our audience. And we cross-promote the announcement on social media. A viewer might come to our channel to find out more information about a job or scholarship announcement, and then decide to follow our channel because they saw additional content that appeals to them. They might also follow our channel in anticipation of future announcements and fresh content.
Using the XOTV blog feature
The XOTV "blog" feature is where we connect our community to value-added content, make community announcements, and take a deeper dive into community topics.
Another way that we engage our audience with premium content is through a tiered discount system. At each of our three subscription levels, we offer discounts on the products and services that our community uses. The higher the subscription level, the greater the discount. You can enable the "community" and "blog" features through your channel's "overview" page.
Using the XOTV channel overview feature
The overview tells you how your channel is performing. You will see the number of channel followers, subscribers, one-time purchases, and more information about your channel.
When you click on the "video" tab within your XOTV channel, you can view each video's number of views. Knowing how videos are performing is essential, and we will talk about that next month. When you go to the "public channel" panel, then "video," and "edit," you will see the "required relation with channel" drop-down menu. This location is where you set a video's viewer level using one of the following options:
1. Unrestricted — Anyone can access your channel's content at this level. It is a best practice to have several "unrestricted" access videos of good quality and value to the viewer.
2. Follower — This encourages viewers to 1) Create a free XOTV profile and 2) Subscribe to your channel. The "follower" option is a great way to grow your audience of committed viewers. Followers often become subscribers at some point.
3. Bronze Subscriber — Tier one
4. Silver Subscriber — Tier two
5. Gold Subscriber — Tier three
And below the relation with channel setting, you can also set a one-time fee. The one-time fee allows non-subscribers to pay a fee once to view a specific video.
Pro Tip: You can show a 30-second teaser of your premium content on social media. Do not give away your secret-sauce for free.
Next, monetize your premium content for your niche's most engaged members and watch your residual income flow into your account. Seeing the weekly "Stripe" payment processing system payouts in your bank account will encourage you to create more valuable content for your community.
About the Author:
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Antoinette Lee Toscano, MBA is a former IT executive, blogger at the New Normal Big Life blog, Contributing Writer at Culturs magazine, a public speaker, the Producer of WhitewaterTV, and co-founder of Diversify Whitewater.
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