Guest Post by Nabeha Latif, Social Media Guru

If you’ve got all your social media covered, why leave out YouTube? If you haven’t gotten around to capitalizing on the video platform’s huge audience, now is better than ever! When it comes to numbers, YouTube is hitting it out of the park! With around 500 hours worth of video content uploaded every minute, no wonder, it ranks No. 2 for global and domestic web traffic globally.

In the current era of media consumption and content consumption, whether it’s education, entertainment, or news updates, YouTube has a vast variety for it all. With the whole social trend gradually moving towards video-based content on almost all platforms, YouTube is in the spotlight. Surely you’re familiar with the homepage for your own video consumption on the site, however, there’s a lot more that goes into a video from the back-end to market and get your content out to the right audience. Here’s all you need to know to get your business running on YouTube.

YouTube for business

Although you can view videos without having to sign in, but for uploading and interacting, as with any other site, you’ll need to sign-up/register your Company/Business to get started. Here’s a quick rundown of the process.

• Sign-Up with your Business: If you use Gmail for your business email, you’ll use the same username and password for your YouTube account that you use for Gmail. Alternatively, you can create a new Google account that you use solely for YouTube business purposes.

• Enter the Homepage: Here you can double-check if you’re in the company account or your personal one.

• Open your profile (click on the avatar): You’ll find this in the top right corner. It’s a small circle containing your picture, logo, or a default letter.

• Select your channel: Click your avatar and select the channel from the drop-down menu.

• Select Business or another name: You’ll need to select this option to get started with a business YouTube account. You can then enter your company’s name.

• And click create: Done! That’s all you needed to do.

Once completed, head back to your homepage to get on with the setup. On the top left you’ll see three thin lines, which drop down a menu when clicked. This contains a host of options such as a homepage, trending videos, your library, and your subscriptions.

On the other side, on the top right, you have a lot more going on. You’ll see four buttons, a camera that lets you upload your next video, a set of mini squares that open up YouTube apps, a bubble-shaped icon for messages, and a bell icon for all your account notifications. The account photo or avatar as mentioned will guide you to your account information and settings.

Channel Customization

That’s all the basic setup you need to start pushing out videos, but not necessarily the best way it can be done! Make your channel, your very own by customizing it according to your brand to get the most out of your content and brand image.

Here are a few things you’ll need to shine the creative light on:

• Channel Art: Channel art mainly refers to the top banner, similar to that of Facebook and Twitter. A solid place to add a quick tagline and logo for your brand. And on the topic of similarities between Facebook and Twitter, the YouTube icon is similar to that of a profile picture, so uploading your logo is the best bet!
  
  Here are the dimensions for both:
  Banner: 2560 x 1440 pixels (For mobile devices and a safer bet 1546 x 423 pixels)
  Icon: 800 x 800 pixels (displays as 98 x 98)

• Business Info: It’s essential to share data about your business, its offerings, etc. You can do this in the About segment of your YouTube account while adding your website along with your company’s slogan.

Begin with your About segment’s channel description. Keep it short and sweet: You simply need a compact statement of purpose with all things considered three links and a minor source of inspiration. Then, at that point, look down to the “email for business requests” box and put the fitting email address there.

In the last segment, you can add anything links you need: your business website, your other online media pages, and some other web pages to which you need to coordinate your watchers. The more links you have, the higher your possibilities of directing people to your business website and drawing in your YouTube watchers. The maximum is 30!

• Channel Trailer: While optional, a channel trailer is a brief video that introduces viewers to the content they’ll find on your YouTube channel. It is an excellent customization option to increase YouTube viewer engagement. Once you add this trailer, it will appear on your account’s homepage when viewers visit, helping to reel them in and acquaint them with your brand.

• Engaging with users

After all, YouTube is a social platform so its best to keep updated on your content consumers, here are the options you can choose from:

• Comments: You can boost your video’s engagement by responding to users who comment on your videos. You can sort them by newest/oldest or most popular.

• Likes: Optional to showcase on your channel, but a more public and passive form of response from the audience.

• Subscriptions: To help get your content out to the users so they stay up to date. Every time you upload a new video, your subscribers receive a push notification. You should constantly encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel, as it improves your engagement and increases the number of views.

• Sharing: The site’s social widget allows users to share videos on other social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Blogger, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

• Messages: Respond to your friends and queries, You can also share private videos and messages with friends and contacts on YouTube.

• Playlists: You can organize related content together using the site’s playlist feature. This is another way to organize your own content on your channel and help users watch content of a similar type with an easy click.

• Verification: Let your audience know that your channel is the real deal from the sea of accounts and users. Much like other platforms, you’ll see a small checkbox, which indicates a verification badge next to the channel’s name. To apply for verification, your channel must have 100,000 subscribers. Contact Google if you’re a business and help them verify it’s you before the milestone requirement.

Going Live!

All social platforms like Facebook and Instagram have the option to stream live content to talk to or just showcase a trailer for example. Similarly, YouTube works all the same. Your account does need to be verified for live videos on YouTube though. Once your account is ready, then going live has four ways on YouTube. The first, which is the quickest, is the Stream Now option. The second is through the Events tab, which gives you more control because you can preview your stream ahead of time. The third option is found on the site’s mobile app; if you use this, the stream will later be archived on your channel. Lastly, you can stream from your computer’s webcam. 

Trending Content

Is certain content on the rise? Perhaps a new type of challenge, maybe even a meme, or even a worldwide breaking news! So hop on the bandwagon to get your content out to popular searches being looked for globally. YouTube users are interacting at very high rates. Often, these videos were uploaded within the last couple of days. You can view the current trending videos under the Trending tab on the YouTube homepage even if you’re not logged in or don’t have an account.

For brands, the goal of creating trending content isn’t necessary. It could be a shoot-for-the-stars goal because if one of your videos goes viral, it could end up on the trending page and thus create significant exposure for your company. Trending videos on YouTube are the videos currently getting the most engagement. Going viral is a nice goal, but not necessarily the ultimate marker of success, depending on your channel’s audience and tone.

Influencers

Famous people and channels gain a substantial amount of traction and views with each upload, mostly and primarily found pushing video content out on the platform. With each market and genre, you’ll have a host of content creators for the big, the small, and even very particular hybrid niches! Many influencers have corporate sponsorships. These sponsors send influencers their products to mention or use in their videos. Often, YouTubers will verbally mention the sponsor company and how awesome its product is. Connecting with influencers to establish partnership deals can elevate your brand on YouTube, helping you reach more viewers and legitimize your channel.

Advertising

And now we come to a more direct form of content marketing, advertising your videos to your desired audience to grab and hook them to your channel! Although most YouTubers and channels have gained success from the free atmosphere of the platform, companies and organizations can get their ads in! Since the site is based on video content, companies are encouraged to add a call-to-action link directing viewers to their website following the video.

There are 4 options when it comes to YouTube ads and placements:

1. In-stream ads, which play before, during, or after other videos can be skipped after 5 seconds. You’ll be charged when 30 seconds of the video is watched.
2. Discovery ads appear when a user is searching or browsing content on YouTube or across the web. This content has no limit! You’ll be charged based on clicks.
3. Bumper ads are six seconds or less, and users can’t skip these. Ads like these can appear throughout the video. You’ll be charged for these ads based on cost per thousand impressions, or CPM.
4. Paid advertisements on YouTube can help you monetize your video content by giving your audience an easy way to buy your products and services.

YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium or previously called YouTube Red, is a paid subscription version of YouTube, which starts from $11.99 ($12 realistically). This allows for a seamless experience with extra perks such as no ads whatsoever and the ability to download videos for offline play. Remember that videos are ad-free with this subscription. At the end of the day, though, YouTube Premium could hurt your business, because the premium services take users away from in-stream advertisements.

Tips

Now that you’re familiar with YouTube and how you can promote your business, here are a few extra tips to keep you above the crowd:

• Ask and motivate your users to subscribe to your channel, no harm in asking (nicely)!
• Get traffic from other platforms onto your video, by sharing it with more of the crowd.
• Use of keywords, hashtags, and trending phrases to stand out with SEO.
• Get social and mingle with similar content creators to learn and also attract more relevant people!
• Make custom playlists for your channel, especially if you have a series going.
• Regular and timely uploads!
• Use links to more of your content, and links within your videos.
• Work with trending and high-profile influencers for product placements, reviews, and collaborations.
• YouTube really is inspired by other platforms, so get onto YouTube stories as well.
• To get the crowd going, how about arranging a giveaway or a contest to get the “hype train” going?

Request: Please follow angieweinberger on Youtube.

You are Jason Bourne, you wake up in a hotel room in a Middle Eastern country. It’s too hot in your room. You sweat and you just woke up from a nightmare. You are not sure if this nightmare is a memory because you cannot remember who you are. 

How will it be possible for you to connect with anyone? How will you trust others if you do not even know who you are? What if you have changed your identity so often that you cannot even clearly pronounce your name?

This is a challenge and you are probably shaking your head. “This is a movie, it’s not real.”. 
Yes, but there is a truth in this movie that is relevant to your job search in a new country. It might even be true if you are looking for a new job in your own country.

In professional life, we want to hire people we can trust. We want to hire a competent professional who can show us that they managed a similar challenge before. We want to work with people who will be self-starters and won’t need a year to be up to speed in the role.

You need a professional identity before you can enter the circle of trust. Trust starts with you trusting yourself, your knowledge, attitudes, skills, and experiences, and how you acquire and store them in your brain. You need to be aware of how you relax, how focus, and center yourself when you are in a critical and stressful complex matrix environment. 

I often notice when you come to see me, that you are not aware of most of your competencies. You take them for granted and assume that a recruiter, computer, or line manager will already know everything about you when they scan your resume because they are mind-readers and miracle workers.

For them, it is as obvious as all the three-letter acronyms you have been using on your résumé because English is their native language and they are working in a similar field, profession, and industry. 

What your personal brand should say about you

When we speak about the personal brand it is something unique to you, something that makes people remember your name, that sticks with people and that keeps you top-of-mind when they are looking for someone with your profile. This brand is not just a marketing factor. Putting three labels (professional designations) on your résumé will help a reader to categorize you and put you in the right mental box.

Ideally, you keep reminding this reader of you so that the box is not closed but open, and so that the avatar in the box shines like a Swarovski crystal. Oh, look, here’s Jason Bourne again. Matt Damon is associated with this movie role. He will never be able to play any other role without us thinking: “Oh, that’s Jason Bourne!”.

When I saw “Hidden Figures” and when Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory appeared, I had to laugh. Then, I always waited for him to act like the Sheldon that he is BUT he was playing another role and did that really well. It was hard for me to accept though, because for me Jim Parsons is not an identity. For me this guy IS Sheldon.

Imagine you are trying to re-brand yourself. It’s very difficult. Your former career image sticks to your face and to your online trail. I can tell a few CEOs who won’t find a job anymore because they are burnt.

What is your personal brand?

Your personal brand is not only your name, headshot, Insta handle, trademark, signature product, or the funny pink hat. It’s also how you make others feel. It’s what you express with your seven work principles. People should identify you with how you work and how you relate to others.

They should be happy to refer you to others by saying:

“She is really competent and helped me on several occasions when I was stuck. She has been my greatest cheerleader.”

“He is true to his values and always seems to follow the correct move. He has never let me down.”

How to connect your personal brand with your seven work principles?

We recommend that you develop your seven work principles in alignment with your personal values. An example would be: “I prioritize my clients over my prospects.”. If your personal brand is aligned with your work principles, then your clients would say about you that you always take their concerns seriously and that you get back to them in an appropriate timeframe.

If you want this behavior to show, you could ask previous clients to endorse you for this behavior in their personal references and on LinkedIn. You could also try to write a special reference or recommendation about a person in your professional network, without expecting them to endorse you back.

Please tell me how you will review your work principles this week and how you will align them to your personal brand. Then take a break and watch a movie. It’s inspiring.

What beautiful sunny weather, we have had the chance to enjoy these last few days! You might, as I do,  make a point of benefiting from the last golden rays of the sun to soak up as much vitamin D as possible before the days become even shorter. Who doesn’t need that energy to accomplish everything that needs to be done, everything you want to do?  You might be in a position right now where either you are worried about losing your job, or you are already looking for a new job (or any kind of work). Maybe you have even been looking for a while already. Perhaps you feel it’s time to update your resume and your job searching skills, just in case. Anyhow, I thought you could use this reminder from my older publication, “The Global Career Workbook,” on how to get a Swiss recruiter’s attention.

Getting a Swiss recruiter’s attention is almost like asking her out on a date. 

When you write a cover letter, you want the other person to like you and find you attractive enough to read your resumé. The cover letter is your appetizer, and the resumé is your main course. If you get to the interview stage, then that’s like having dessert on the first date. And after three interviews, you might get kissed. I mean, you might get the job offer you are longing for.

Don’t spoil the Swiss recruiter’s appetite by presenting the main course in the cover letter.

Imagine you are on your first date, and your counterpart tells you for half an hour how great they are. Rather boring, right? You zoom out of the conversation and wish to run away. The same is true if a recruiter reads your whole resumé already in the cover letter.

What could you do to make the conversation more interesting?

Cover letter writing is an art. With modern technology, applicants often do not see the need to write a cover letter these days, but in my opinion, it is the most artistic part of a good application. Emphatically,  in Switzerland, IT’S A MUST.

Many recruiters want to read it. They would like to see that you made an effort to get that interview. I receive considerable amounts of cover letters, and most of them sound like they were copied from a textbook. Nobody gets excited reading some sort of ‘copy and paste’ write-ups, void of personal touch.  Only the more personal ones gain my attention. They have to be personal, crisp and show me who you are.

Here are rules for fresh cover letters:

• Use the correct name of the recruiter instead of Sir or Madam. Take out time to research the recruiter’s name. This portrays you as serious. Make sure you also spell the names of references correctly. Be respectful and address recruiters formally.
• Make the letter appealing and nice-looking by using one font only and adhering to standard letter writing style in the country you are applying to.
• Speak about the needs of the other party before you speak about yours. This is so important because the prospective job is about what you can bring to the table.
• Find a personal connection between either you and the company or you and the recruiter. Maybe you use one of their products, or associate positive feelings with the brand because of a personal story.
• If you copy and paste (which is not a good idea in general), please check that you did not use the wrong company name or contact person. It helps to read the letter out loud.
• Use active language and complete sentences. When I say active language, I ask you to use more verbs than nouns, avoid passive constructs and keep sentences short.
• If you are not an English native speaker, check your translation and let a native speaker review your grammar. Most recruiters get irritated when they find grammatical errors in cover letters.
• Be brief and stick to a maximum of one page. Five paragraphs are sufficient.
• Add your contact information in the last paragraph, especially your phone number and email ID. Make sure your email sounds respectable, and the name is memorable. Email addresses like ‘sexynancy@gmail.com’ are not acceptable.
• Avoid slang and casual writing style. You are a professional, so behave like one! Even if you are from Generation Y or Z, remember that this is a letter and not a chat. The person you want to date might be the age of your parents.

Here’s to the sunny weather, boosting your energy to take that next important step: preparing your application file. I hope these tips help you write the best cover letter you can write to catch the Swiss recruiters’ attention, get to the “dessert” stage, and get you the job you are hoping for! 

HireMeExpress 2022 – Pre-Workshops for all Club Members

I will teach you insights on 

Workshop No. 1:  Partnering Masters – Building Effective Relationships

Workshop No. 2: Powerful Missions – Having a Voice in a Sea of Noise

Workshop No. 3: Persisting Mindsets – Designing Work to Support a Global Lifestyle

All invites will be shared when you sign up on our HireMeExpress list. 

*****

Reminder: Sign up here to find out everything you need to know in order to land a job in Switzerland or another market you are not familiar with. We will send you our 19 Fresh Resume Checkpoints and further material such as videos. In case you have any questions you can email us via angela@globalpeopletransitions.com.

A Happy New Year 2019 to you. May it bring you health, happiness and lots of success in your projects.

The holidays are over and you are probably already getting back-to-work blues. That’s alright, most of us  experience a form of adjustment and maybe even feel a little overwhelmed at the change of pace

I thought I could ease myself in slowly by starting on Thursday already and then it hit me like a snowball. Friday, I was working away in a frenzy and did about four loads of washing at the same time. (I know, multitasking is not good for the brain, but every machine run is a bit like a smoking break – not that I smoke…but you get the gist.)

Since a long time I haven’t written a to-do-list other than the ones, I write to structure my housework. However, on Friday I wrote one and still many items are open because the client work, lecture and workshop preparations were more urgent than many of those small tasks.

I thought I should share with you my plan for starting this week in a mindful way even though it is packed.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I will do to get myself prepared. Hopefully, I have the energy to return to that to-do list every day of the next week.

• • Put away the holiday decorations – I know that’s the hardest part but it’s time to say goodbye to the holidays and throw out that Christmas tree (if you had one). I keep all cards but they go into a box and the decorations box is stowed away in the attic.

• • Start a new diary – Literally, it’s a new year and worth to get a new diary.

• • Fix your sleep cycle – I feel that far too many of us enjoy sleeping late during the holidays as group conversations go late into the night or you just can’t stop binging that new show on Netflix. From Monday I’m setting the alarm at 5.15 AM every day. Then I’m automatically tired at 10 PM and can go to sleep easily. On Saturday and Sunday, I will try to get up around 7 AM. Then it is easier to readjust. Ensure you do the same for the kids and encourage your spouse/partner as well.

• • Reconnect with yourself – The holidays can be a fun yet hectic time of the year and when the endorphins wear off, you may find yourself drained. Schedule some ‘me’ time and recharge yourself! Try to establish your weekly practices* again. If you have no time at all to yourself write down at least 10 wishes for the year.

• Cut down on snacks and reduce your alcohol intake back to normal – However delicious those holiday leftovers may seem, perhaps it’s best if we get back to giving our bodies healthier nutrition and rejuvenate our bodies! And while we now have all these New Year receptions coming up it is also better to bring down your alcohol level to normality. Maybe have herbal tea one or two nights a week.

With an ever-increasing number of professionals moving to another country for work, the holidays are the ideal time for a visit home and catching up with family and friends. It’s a magical time, with expats getting to re-experience their favorite memories – perhaps visiting that ice-cream store with a childhood best friend, reconnecting with an extended family member. These visits are why a lot of expats end up forming stronger bonds with their loved ones back home. Sometimes, we also want to be back in our own homes, our own lives and with our current friends. You might experience a bit of emotional turmoil, jet lag and other typical signs of travel.

That said, I know that for a lot of people, these vacations are a bittersweet affair. Returning might reinforce the feeling of loss at what was sacrificed for the sake of your career: the familiarity and comfort of ‘home’, relationships and even support networks. For those returning after a very long time, they might even find themselves feeling alienated in their own home and country, as they’ve gotten acclimatized to their new environment. Maybe you are happy to be back in the host country and suddenly realize that you are happy but that your spouse still hasn’t found that job he was looking for. And that you would feel better if your spouse had an identity again.

If your spouse has been looking for a job in Switzerland for more than six months and is desperate please send him my way.

We will offer the next #HireMeGroup starting 26 January 2019 and I have two spots left. Meetings will be held on three Saturday mornings from 9 AM to 12 PM in a new location in 8032 Zurich.

We will arrange one meeting per month on 26 January 2019, 16 February 2019, 9 March 2019. If you want to sign up or have a friend who needs to join us please reply to this email and let me know how I can reach you by phone.

Have a great start in 2019!

Angie

With our HireMeGroup we hack the job market in Switzerland through developing strong business connections.

Have you been looking for a job or a new job for more than six months?

Have you written over 100 online applications without getting a positive response – EVER?

And are you sure that there are jobs in your field but you just never get a chance to show that you could excel at them?

And are you worried that you will never be able to feed your family, that your kids will never get the education they deserve and that your partner despises you for being at home?

Then it’s time to work with us. Because these are all good reasons to join our upcoming HireMeGroup with Angie Weinberger.

You will receive guidance from our experienced Global Mobility Coach Angie Weinberger and the support of a group of like-minded professionals. Angie is the author of “The Global Career Workbook”.

Hack the Swiss Job Market!

With the HireMeGroup you’ll hack the Swiss Job Market.

You’ll feel more self-confident in your job search and understand how to network even if you are introverted. Most of our clients find a job during or shortly after the HireMe! program.

Program Dates:

Meetings will be held on three Saturday mornings from 9 AM to 12 PM in a location in 8032 Zurich. We will arrange one meeting per month on 26 January 2019, 16 February 2019, 9 March 2019.

Arrange a meeting with Angie now to discuss and agree your personal goals for the #HireMeGroup. These should be completed before the start of the Group.

Fee CHF 1’200 + VAT per participant, payable before the start of the program.

Group size: Maximum 6 participants.

Prerequisites:

• Valid residence permit (L, B or F) for Switzerland. If you have an L-permit you can also join us. We are open to recognized refugees.
• The group will be run in English but in case you’d prefer to join a German group, please let us know.
• We will not accept more than six people per group to ensure that everyone has enough air time.
• Participants have to come to a new location in 8032 Zurich. If you live too far away ask Angie for 1:1 online coaching options.

Still deciding?

Not sure if a group coaching program is right for you? Here are some of the reasons why you might select a group, over an individual, coaching program

• Wider accountability not just to the coach but also to others in the group
• Gain immediate access to a trusted circle of like-minded professionals
• Expand your network faster – in a group, you will not only exchange experiences but also networks
• Receive feedback from the coach but also from others in the group
• Get access to our expertise at a lower cost

Not ready yet but you might want to join a group in the future?

Sign up for the Global People Club Sandwich.

Here is an outline of the content we usually cover in the HireMe! Groups. However, it’s not a training so content and discussion topics will always be customized according to the needs of the group on the day of the event.

Outline

Build your professional network in Switzerland or elsewhere

Refine your personal brand

Improve your professional presence online

Style your job applications to Swiss recruitment practices

Write effective Letters of Motivation

Learn the art of storytelling in interviews

Improve your stories

Deepen your understanding of your personal values

Improve your Executive Presence in Interviews

Set weekly targets at a healthy realistic pace

The Global Career Workbook

The Global Career Workbook will be used as a guide through the program.

Facilitator / Coach: Angie Weinberger