What Lydia Elise Millen Wants Brands and Influencers to Know: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 224
“There’s so much worth and value in someone that already has a love for a brand.”
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This episode features one of my most requested guests: Lydia Elise Millen! I have had SO many requests for Lydia, and this episode has been highly anticipated. Lydia and I recorded this interview in October of 2019, but this episode is so relevant and jam packed with amazing insight!
Lydia has always loved fashion and beauty. She started off as a blogger as a creative outlet while she was at university. This was long before even instagram, but as social media evolved, she eventually transitioned to YouTube. Petrified at the start, she was pleasantly surprised when she got a ton of positive feedback from her videos. As she gained popularity on YouTube, she started to be recognized in public, something that never once happened to her even when her blog had even 300k readers. She didn’t realize how many people her age or older were on YouTube, and she found that creating videos helps you become relatable: you can get across more in a video than you can in writing. Lydia believes in the power of authenticity and truly creating a connection with her audience. In fact, her more relaxed, natural, vlog-style videos tend to have higher engagement.
“I want them to feel like I’m talking to them.”
This episode dives DEEP into working with brands, and Lydia gave some amazing insight. When working with brands, you have to ask yourself: do I feel passionate about the brand? Is there a reason I’m interested in this brand? Lydia is picky about choosing which brands to work with, even so far as teetering on “difficult,” but that’s because she is so protective over what she does and what she exposes her audience to. What does Lydia want brands to know? You can’t just look at one metric (like follower count) and base your campaign around it. Sometimes the person with 50k subscribers does better than the person with 1 million subscribers. There’s a difference between someone who just has a ton of followers, and someone who has influence. Brands are feeling the pressure and scrambling to work with influencers, but just because something works well with one, doesn’t mean the exact same campaign will work for another. This industry is based on authenticity and trust, and while brand partnerships and the nitty gritty of them are still considered a taboo topic, Lydia believes it’s important to talk about it, so that influencers and brands can be on the same page.
“I’m very protective over what I put out, the collaborations that I have, and the partnerships that I have, and I’m very protective over my audience as well.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- Growing a team: It took a long time for Lydia to finally outsource and have a team. Now she can work more efficiently because of it. She knows her strengths and weaknesses, and by outsourcing, she can focus on her zone of genius and channel her energy into what she’s really good at.
- Trust, not numbers: The person with the highest follower count or the highest views does not necessarily convert into sales. It’s about how much trust is afforded to the influencer by their audience, how authentic, and how genuine they can be. It’s so important to truly connect with your audience, and it’s important for brands to choose someone who organically and authentically loves their product.
- Using different brands in one video: who honestly uses only one brand when doing their makeup, or getting dressed? NOBODY. It’s impractical for brands to expect content creators to only use their product and their brand and not anybody else. That’s not authentic or realistic. Brands need to understand how consumers buy and use products. You can still highlight the product you’re featuring while using other brands/products in the video.
Mentioned in the episode:
Videos:
WHAT I WORE, BOUGHT AND DID IN PARIS | Lydia Elise Millen
LUXURY ACCESSORIES HAUL | Lydia Elise Millen
Connect with Lydia
Lydia Elise Millen on Instagram
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
FACEBOOK GROUP
Podcast Music Credit: Boop by x50 @x50music
Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs youtu.be/o52xQkQWzyU
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