284: Embracing Your Influence through Long-Form Content with Austen Tosone

Bree: Well, hello, friends. This conversation is like a chat. I told Austin after we get done recording that I'm like, I felt like we just were having like a zoom coffee date and just chatting about long form content and storytelling and relating to your audience and how you can build your business in a way that That is fun for you and use it on the platforms that you like and make money the way that you want.

And it can look different from everybody else. And oh my gosh, we just went on and on and on. This is a little bit longer podcast than our normal ones, but I really hope you guys enjoy it. Go, listen while you're out for a lovely walk or whatever you want to do. All right, let's get started.

Hello, Austin. Welcome to the podcast. How's it going?

Austen: It's going so well, Bri, and I am so excited to be here as a long time listener. So thank you so much for having me on.

Bree: Oh my gosh. That makes my heart just so happy that you've been listening and enjoy the podcast. Thanks for listening. Can you tell everybody about yourself? What are you up to? What's your brand look like? All things.

Austen: Yeah, of course. So I'm Austin Tassone. I'm a digital content creator and I actually started my blog back in 2012. So that was my very first kind of foray into content creation. And I think I got an Instagram account right around the same time when I got my iPhone four back then. So. Yeah, so that was my first kind of experience with blogging and content creation.

I read and loved fashion blogs and thought it would be the coolest thing in the world to start one of my own, even if just my mom was reading it. So that was what I did back then. I really wanted to be a magazine editor, so I went on to work at Nylon and interview as an editor here in New York City and learned so much from that experience.

But ultimately got laid off because print publications were not being, you know, prioritized. It was a very digital first industry and I'll always be grateful for that because it really did push me into the digital space and I freelanced for a little while. I went on to work at a tech startup for a bit as well, but just about 3 years ago, I decided to take the leap and pursue content creation full time.

So I still have my blog from all the way back then. I have a YouTube channel and I just love creating content and connecting with my community. And I mean, Thrive has been a huge resource for me as a blogger, especially navigating, things like monetization and just, you know, even the Facebook community and To have a place to go to have someone to talk to you and have people to ask, like, Hey, have you ever heard of this?

Like, what is a blog ad network? Like, how do I say yes or no to this brand? And I feel like the resources in the community that we now have compared to when I first started. has evolved so much and I'm so grateful for like all of the things that I've learned and I try to pass that knowledge along as well by by helping other content creators to show a peek behind the curtain at what my process looks like and how I navigate things as someone who is doing this full time now.

So I would say that on Instagram I probably look like your typical fashion and beauty content creator but then on YouTube is really all of my behind the scenes stuff so that's kind of a little bit about me and my content.

Bree: Oh my gosh, I love it. Okay, and can you tell everybody where they can go find you?

Austen: Sure, I'm at Austin Tassone everywhere. Austin with an E. So I thank my parents for giving me a unique name because I was able to get my handle everywhere.

Bree: That is a win. Oh my gosh, that's the worst thing about starting anything new, is like going and trying to find like, can I get the handle for it and the domain?

Austen: It's so true. Like, thank goodness AustinTassone. com was available. And, you know, every new platform that I see, it's like, okay, let's just go get the handle. Let's just get in and go for it so that we don't have to worry about it. Usually mine's available.

Bree: Love that. so what type of long form content are you loving lately? And you guys, we wanted to talk about this today because it's something Austin and I both love and are passionate about. And we were talking before we hit record just about like the ups and downs of social media and Instagram and how When there are some of those downs, like we kind of turn to that long form content.

So yeah, what are you loving lately? Yes,

Austen: like as a consumer, the top two things that I'm loving are vlogs on YouTube and podcasts. So those are kind of the two things that are always in my content rotation. If I'm taking a break for, like a late breakfast or lunch or something while I'm working, I feel like YouTube is always on.

And if I'm doing pretty much anything else, like if I'm just, you know, Creating affiliate collages or going for a walk. I feel like there's pretty much always someone else that I'm listening to via a podcast. So those have really been my two comfort platforms, but I also feel like for content creators, it is just such peace of mind to have a place where you can create long form content because in my experience, it's so much more sustainable and reliable from an income perspective.

And from an ownership perspective than a platform that is controlled by an algorithm like Instagram, I just love evergreen content. I love long form content, searchable content, and content that ultimately like help someone do something or delivers value where you also still have time to express yourself and show your personality.

Because you can certainly do that on short form platforms, but the people who I, you know, who I listen to podcasts from, who I'm watching vlogs about, I feel like I actually know them so well. Like, if you, you know, wanted me to recreate a day in the life of, like, one of these people who I follow, it's like, okay, well, here's their Starbucks order, so you start with this.

Like, I know exactly how they take their coffee. Then, oh, this is their preferred, like in the morning, they're either doing like a workout before they get the day started or they're going for a long walk along this place. So, like, let's walk this way. Like, it's so crazy how you really can get to know people through long form content, but you can also find so much value in it, whether it is just entertainment or comfort, like vlog in the background while you're, you know, folding your laundry or doing something or whether you're actually like full out learning something new.

Bree: right

Austen: I love long form content, and specifically, both vlogs and podcasts just make me feel like There's always something to tune into, and that it helps me get to know those creators on such a deeper level than you ever could on a short form platform.

Bree: yeah, and you know you're saying all that and I feel like I've had a couple conversations with people lately about like storytelling and you just saying like oh, I know these people People's Starbucks order. And then that they like to go for walks and everything. And that's something that I have been trying to kind of push myself to do more.

I get in my head when it comes to like sharing certain things, but now you're making me think I'm like, does anybody know my Starbucks order? I used to share that. I think storytelling is so important because like you said, you feel like you know them and like you are connected to them.

Austen: Yeah, absolutely. And I also think that it's nice when they feel connected to me, too. And I actually, was just writing about this for my newsletter that went out this week, which was the idea about when I started vlogging again on my YouTube channel, because for a while, my YouTube channel was all sit down, talking, you know, creator tips videos, which I absolutely love making, and I love, like, bringing people behind the scenes, sharing more about my process or tips that I've learned along the way, because when I first started I could not find anything about that.

It just felt like that information was so gatekept and so unavailable only to people who Had really kind of climbed their way up and had earned it at that point And so, you know in the last few years like I really started to notice that that was the type of content that took off on my channel so I kind of switched my whole channel strategy to just Creating those types of videos and while I think they're really helpful and i've gotten great feedback from them You At the same time, I personally feel like people want more than just the here's eight hacks, and then they're getting yelled at, you know, all of the hacks that they're doing.

I think there's so much nuance to some social media strategy, especially when it's so personal because it's yours. And I feel like long form allows for nuance in a way that I'm never going to be able to, fully, cover in like a three minute tiktok even, if we're talking about, the longest, well, i know you can go ten and even thirty minutes, but, that's, just, not something, i'm ready for, right now,

Bree: and also, I don't feel, you know, like TikTok, it was made for short form video. So I'm like, is anybody actually going to watch a long form video on TikTok? I don't know.

Austen: That it occupies the entirety of my phone real estate So unless I am like washing dishes and have it propped up somehow where i'm gonna be there for like 10 minutes or so I can't imagine a world in which i'm sitting with my phone like this that i'm not just watching a movie on an airplane Otherwise i'm going to get notifications about things i'm going to see that my friend texted me back about getting dinner next week I'm going to see that someone liked my instagram story And I'm going to go right back into just wanting to touch and scroll and be interactive on my phone versus passively sitting there.

Whereas YouTube, when you can watch on your laptop, or a podcast, when you can be totally hands free and essentially doing anything. You could be on a rollercoaster listening to a podcast. Like, it's just so funny to me to think about, the idea of someone watching a full 30 minute video on their phone and not doing anything.

Having a minute to exit out or do something else because I just feel like our phones were never Really designed for that.

Bree: Mm hmm. Oh, no. I can't. It's like my attention span is that of like a grasshopper. It's just like, I, I can't stay focused for that long. I'll turn on a YouTube video if I'm like mindful, I'm like, oh, I'm going to do it while I'm curling my hair or something like, but I'm occupied, right?

Like my hands are moving or like you said, doing dishes or something and you prop your phone up. But otherwise Yeah. It's on another screen and I'm like working and doing other stuff, which I love. I don't know about you, but I love like get ready with me vlogs or like packaging Like if somebody is like a small business owner and they're like packaging orders, freaking love that stuff.

I put it on my other screen and I makes me feel like I'm working with somebody like, Oh, it's not just me working over here. You know?

Austen: Oh, it's so true My roommate who I lived with in williamsburg brooklyn for a few years has told me that she'll put on on youtube a live stream of someone else working while she works and it's so crazy to think about like How that almost kind of becomes your accountability in some ways. And I do also think that, you know, with long form content, at this point, my list is pretty curated of who I do watch and consume long form content from because I've seen a lot and watched a lot over time.

And I like to be, you know, even as myself as a creator, I like to be influenced and hopefully a positive way and also sometimes a realistic way. So sometimes I'll watch blogs from content creators, Where they're just kind of jetting around and they're, getting their nails done. Now I'm going to a martini event with a brand.

And I think those are so fun to watch from time to time, but I try to be careful about watching too much of those all the time because I don't want the comparison factor to sink in and for me to feel bad because it's crazy. Like as a self employed creator, people will be like, oh my gosh, like you make your own schedule.

So exciting. And I'm like, yeah, it is. But then it's so crazy how 80 percent of the time during the work week, I swear I'm sitting here at my desk doing something on my laptop and I look like I could be any remote worker, you know what

I mean? And

Bree: baggy clothes, leggings, that's my jam, unless I'm like, on a call.

Austen: I have purchased so many sweaters from Etsy in the last two years that are like my comfy work sweaters. Like I have one that says stars hollow from Gilmore girls.

Bree: Send me the link.

Austen: Literally, literally, I have a tis the damn season one for the holidays, like, my cozy work from home routine is so solidified, and someone actually commented that on one of my vlogs recently, and said, I appreciate that this is a real day in the life vlog, like, I believe that this is actually, What your every day sort of is and like what that looks like for you and I think that that's a kind of part of the education process of Helping the world at large understand what an influencer actually does all day that i'm really passionate about Pulling back the curtain on and letting people in about because it's so tempting to just share the good stuff and I mean, there's reason to get excited for things too.

Like brand breakfasts are fun getting, taken out to lunch or getting invited to a cocktail party or getting sent free stuff. It's all fun, but when it comes down to it, there is so much that goes into running a business that I feel like people don't understand that these are skills content creators really have honed and acquired.

And I think that there's something to be said for that. And that's why. Again, like and I'm a team of basically one, I have one or two contractors who helped me from time to time, but it's so wild to think about all of the hats that you wear as a business owner, like you're the tax professional, you're the lawyer.

Sometimes you're the video editor, you're the creative department, you're just anything that could come up there's so many different hats that we all wear and I think that showing people some of the boring stuff too is actually really helpful just so people can see the multifaceted parts of this job in particular.

Bree: and not feel so alone when it comes to it, because it can be easy to feel like, am I the only one sitting behind my computer all the freaking time while everybody else is out doing fun stuff?

Austen: Yeah, it's so

Bree: Um, I love that you're sharing that too. And I think again, it's part of that storytelling process that connects people.

And I know people follow you because you do share that stuff and because they feel more connected to you because it's like, Oh, she's a real person. And like, I hate the fact that the word influencer sometimes has like this bad rap

and like, I find so many people in my community, kind of shy away from calling themselves that as a result. And I'm just like, absolutely not. And you know, did some, surveys or even polls and like asking people, what do you call yourself? Like a blogger or content creator. There was a lot less that wanted to call themselves influencer. And so for a while there, we kind of had renamed things as like thrive for bloggers and content creators were blogging and content creator coach, like everything kind of said that. And I had a conversation recently with somebody on the podcast and just like helped empower me because I'm like, I wanted to use the word influencer.

Like, if I say coaching for influencers, you know exactly what I do and like, if it's for you or not. Right. And so I'm like, why am I not using this word? , like when we did our rebrand, we changed it all back. I'm like, Nope, we're leaning in. And we talked to influencers.

And so I think part of that, sorry, I'm like going down a rabbit

Austen: No, I absolutely love hearing you talk about this. Thanks.

Bree: I think, you know, part of what you're saying though, is like, that can help what you're doing and like sharing behind the scenes. And, you know,, I was talking with Liz of within the Grove recently and how she wants to like, start sharing more about herself and behind the scenes stuff.

And I'm like, yes, do it because it creates such a connection with your audience. And I think it removes. A lot of that negative, talk around influencers when we share more from like a, I am just a normal person like you and this is my routine and this is what I'm up to and it's not always glamorous and it's so much more relatable and remove some of that.

Weirdness that can be about it.

Austen: I totally hear what you're saying. And my two cents on that is if I'm asked what I do, I first say that I'm a content creator. Like, that's kind of what I lead with because I feel like that encompasses, like, I create and produce YouTube videos. I do still do a little bit of freelance writing from my kind of previous career as a magazine editor.

I do a lot of different things, and I feel like that kind of is the best descriptor for all of them. But when it comes to videos I create on YouTube, like tips for pitching brands and things like that, I always use the word influencer because that's what people are searching for. And whether people admit it or not, this is a highly coveted career.

I mean, so many young teenagers want to be content creators. They want to be influencers because you can get paid to be yourself. You can be your own boss. You can have a creative career that also teaches you business skills. I mean, it's no surprise that it is so sought after. And so when I think about the fact that people are searching, like how to be an influencer, how to work with brands, I understand that.

I think that even if people don't accept or embrace the term we all know what it is and we all know what it means. You want to be someone who can show up online and make money from being yourself, and I think that's one of the coolest possible jobs that anyone could have so that's why I kind of lean into it.

And again, I don't mind the word at the end of the day. I just feel like it's, um Doesn't totally describe what I do because I think when I think of influencer in the traditional sense I mainly think of people who lean into brand deals and affiliates as their Primary income sources and brand deals is usually my top income stream of the year just because they're the most lucrative income stream for me But I barely do like affiliates is always five percent or less of my total yearly income and that's because i'm a micro content creator so Affiliates, I think, works better for creators at scale, where if you click a link of someone who has 200, 000 followers, they're gonna see a higher conversion than someone like me, who has like 17, 000 Instagram followers.

So, that is something that I kind of think about and how I approach it, but at the end of the day, we all know what we're talking about here.

Bree: and don't you just love that, you know, you can have 17, 000 followers and do this full time and have these different revenue streams that's what is so cool. I think about this industry is there's. So many different options for how to make money and how to grow a brand and still do what you love, be yourself.

And that's something that I love to talk about of just like, you know, if you don't like being on video and you don't like being on social media. That's totally fine. You should start a blog and write long form content, which is the topic of this episode. We're totally getting off track, but I freaking love it anyways.

Austen: I think it's also related, though, too, because I think we're talking about, what a lot of people think about when they think about influencers. But to your point about, like, me and my Instagram audience size, like, last year in 2023, brand deals accounted for 59 percent of my total creator income. So, That's great.

But like it's not a livable wage for me if I'm just relying on brand partnerships and that's why I diversify with ad revenue from my YouTube channel and my blog affiliates is like a small piece of it, but I'm always down to share a link if someone asks for it with education, getting paid for a digital course that I have or workshops I'm asked to host.

Like sometimes I think people forget that. You can be a business owner with 500 Instagram followers and have a wildly successful business. You can be an influencer who's creating content even if they're not constantly sharing branded partnerships on their own page. I think there's so many different ways to monetize and that's one of the reasons I love this job because as creative as I am about the content that I create, I'm also creative about the ways that I get to earn money and I think that that is a huge perk of this job.

Blogs

Bree: Can we talk about like the creative ways like you're creating content? Because that is something to like long form content. It's literally in the name. It takes longer than the short form content. Usually. I mean, some of the short form content, don't get me wrong, the way that some people edit these things, I'm like, Oh my God, how long did you spend on that?

But what is like your process look like for creating long form content? Are you mostly just doing YouTube? Are you doing blogs and all the things.

What does it look like for you?

Austen: Yeah, absolutely. So for me, one of the great things about long form content, like you said, is obviously it will take more time, but as a result, I feel comfortable putting out one quality piece of long form content per week compared to feeling like I need to be showing up every single day on a short form first content platform.

So for me, that typically Like one long form YouTube video a week and one blog post a week. So still trying to stick to weekly blog posts and of course, go back and kind of update existing blog posts as I'm able to as well. So for me, the process of creating one YouTube video, I would say usually takes me probably between six to eight hours.

So what happens first is I come up with an idea for a video that I'm interested in creating. And then I'll go to YouTube and try to do a bit of keyword research to validate, is this something people are searching for? And, uh, Usually if the answer is no, I put it aside, but every once in a while there's something I really want to make or something I feel strongly about that I'll say, you know, if my last like seven videos were all very keyword focused and I know that I'm doing a good job putting out that type of content for new people to discover me, I think that the people who already follow me would be interested in this other thing that I've been thinking about for a few weeks.

So sometimes I'll throw in videos like that as well.

Bree: Can I pause you there

for one second? I, cause I think that is so relevant to long form and short form is that we forget. I think we get into this mindset so easily of like, Oh, this reel didn't perform. Oh, this video didn't perform because it didn't. bring in more viewers, more people, more whatever.

But it's like, we can easily forget that the video you're making is also to serve your current audience. The purpose of it is not always to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. Because if that is the case, when does it ever end?

Austen: Oh, it's

so

Bree: a, I put a, message out on threads this morning and I'm like, how many followers do you wish you had?

Austen: Oh, that is a

fascinating question.

Bree: enough enough?

Austen: That is, I'm gonna have to go look at that, because I actually have never thought about that before. I'm gonna reply to your thread later, though, with some thoughts, because I think that it's a good thing for people to think about, and, you know, the other thing about YouTube, and the other thing about blogs is, if someone is spending like 5 minutes reading a blog post of yours, or 10 minutes watching a video of yours, that is someone who's really sticking with you for a while, and even if you have 100 views on a YouTube video, That's a hundred people who probably sat through at least a few minutes of talking to you, which is like more than you can say for a 15 second Tik TOK.

And that's why, again, like I said, six to eight hours for one YouTube video. And I don't know if someone who hasn't started a YouTube channel yet is thinking, Oh God, like, how would I ever do that? Or why would I ever do that when I could just film Tik TOKs? And for me, the answer to that is always return on investment because for every Quality long form piece of content I create I genuinely can see the return on investment in terms of that Slow kind of they say hockey stick growth But even that slow kind of asymptotic growth over time where you can just start to see the line take up Means that people are discovering your content and they're not just discovering your new content.

They're discovering your old, and I'm going to talk a little bit about how you can find your old content, because YouTube and Google are just as interested in relevancy as they are in recency. If you have both, that's great, but on a platform like TikTok or Instagram Reels, the lifespan of your content is usually shorter.

I know they're working on search, but it's just nothing compared to the complexity and the professional level of search that YouTube is doing. Something like Google has established in their algorithms. So I think that's a huge consideration for people.

Bree: Well, and don't you feel like for longterm sustainability? You have to find a long form content that you like, because staying on just like that content creation of short form content forever, that sounds horribly exhausting to me.

Austen: And I think a lot of creators, especially big creators who were posting a ton in like the 2017, 2018, 2019, I've seen many of them really take a big step back in the last year or two because I think they truly are just exhausted and burned out. I mean, when I look at the number of posts on someone's Instagram, like I think I have maybe 3, 500 from, you know, the time I started my account.

Almost 12 years ago now some people have like 5, 000 posts and I'm like, oh my god Like 5, 000 posts in the last few years is crazy. That is churning out content like So fast. And I think I have about 700 YouTube videos, which I'm sure now a good chunk of them are shorts that I've uploaded because I'm not sure where the separation is, but even the fact that one video a week for a year is going to be 52 videos, that to me is a much more sustainable way to create content.

And so as I'm doing like keyword validation. Scripting, actually filming, thank God I have a video editor now, sending it off to Sean, my editor, and then getting it back and doing the upload process. Like, I can feel good about all of those steps and that time that it takes. Because I know on the other side of it is a really engaged community I get paragraph YouTube

videos.

Bree: isn't that the best?

Austen: like, and again, like as someone who started a blog where their mom was the only reader to hear from someone who's like, hey, and I feel like it was even in the early days of blogging, you would start to like, get comments from new people and be like, wait, someone in like, Sweden is reading my blog, or even someone in the next state over is reading my blog.

Like, I could run into that person, who knows? And it's like, so cool and fulfilling to see. And when I look at my comments on Instagram, I'm grateful for all engagement, but usually it's like, heart so good girl or something like that. And I personally gravitate more towards the wordy people and the people who are leaving those really in depth replies and sharing their thoughts with me, because I feels like with YouTube, I really do get out of it what I put into it.

So that's why it is what I consider to be my primary posting platform, even though Instagram I've had the longest and, I do feel like it's a good community hub with DMs and just the ability to connect with people so quickly, but YouTube just feels like a platform that can help me have a sustainable career as a content creator.

Especially once you get into like ad revenue and once you're in the YouTube Partner Program, I don't think I could do this full time as a micro influencer if I didn't have that and my blog ad revenue.

Bree: That's why I love just like asking people, especially this year, just heard like little buzz here and there about people talking about like blogs, making a comeback and everything. And, it's just such an interesting conversation because it is that like, you know, You may get into this in 2024 and start to grow your Instagram account or start to grow whatever it may be.

I don't know about you, but like, I don't want to do this just for like a few years or even five years and then have to go find a corporate job after this. Like, no way. Are you kidding me? Can you imagine Brie working for somebody in corporate?

Austen: I think that it really is, like, so crazy when you do work for yourself and you start to realize, that you can depend on yourself for so many things, which is great,

but

obviously

also, Yeah, you're the final decision maker, but that's also where I feel like I have found my people who I can talk to about stuff like this.

Like, and I'm so grateful. I mean, one of my best friends, who was literally a bridesmaid at my wedding last year, we met just from like being on the internet at the same time, essentially. Like I was going to Chicago, she sent me a Chicago blog post with like restaurant recommendations and stuff like that.

And all these years later, we're still good friends. And,

Bree: It's amazing.

Austen: She was one of the first people to also like, where I felt like I could say, Hey, a brand sent me this offer. Can I like show this to you? Do you think this makes sense? And even just to find one or two people who can be that sounding board or to find creators who are willing to share like, Hey, here's what you can say to a brand.

If you feel like this contract isn't fair, or here's, You know, something that I went through, like maybe a case study or an example story time of when I worked with a brand and it went really well or it went really poorly, like to have people to turn to or at least even to have resources like there are so many just out on the world now that I'm so grateful for makes a big difference and it gives people a lot more confidence to navigate this even as solopreneurs, which I think is cool.

Bree: Mm hmm. It's amazing like the friendships that have come out of like me deciding over 10 years ago to just start a blog. Like when I stop and think about it, I'm like probably over 90 percent of my friends, like my close friends are people that I met as a result of me starting a blog and then like going to networking events and doing different things.

And I'm like, I never would have met. Maggie, if it weren't for that, I never would have met Haley. Like because I started into this online entrepreneurship space. It's really, it's really cool.

Austen: Oh yeah, it's so nice and it's great to find like minded people, especially if you do work alone a lot of the time.

Bree: Oh, for sure. The only downside I will say is that like all of my friends live all over the world and I'm like, can somebody just live in my neighborhood, please? Okay.

Well, to kind of like, Circle all this back around and start to get us towards the end of this podcast. Do you have any hacks or methods that you're using to help with your content creation process that you're just loving or saving your life that you'd love to tell everybody about?

Austen: so I am dipping my toes into a little bit of the AI world, and I know this is a topic that people either love or hate, but I feel like the way AI is operating right now, like, I'm not scared that it's gonna, like, hack and take over my blog, I don't think it can create the same kind of YouTube content that I can, but what I am loving it for right now is kind of, you know, Just speeding up my process, basically.

So, a couple of ways that I'm currently using AI. One is that I'm using a software called OtterAI to transcribe my YouTube videos. So, what I do is load just the audio from the video into this service. It will transcribe it for me, and then I'll go in and just make sure everything is spelled correctly.

So, it really does do a pretty good job. Like, some common mistakes it'll make are like, my name, Austin with an E, it'll do Austin with an I, little things like that. Sometimes it spells out TikTok like a clock, and I'm like, in what world would I be referencing like, a grandfather clock right now? Like, you know,

they could be using,

Bree: right?

Austen: Could be using context clues a little bit better, but overall, at least I can spot that pretty easily in the text.

Like, I know what to look for now to correct and make sure that everything is good to go. And then I'll take that transcription and I'll paste it into the YouTube video because I find it to be more accurate than YouTube's auto transcription services and from an SEO perspective, the more. Accurate information that's in the video when YouTube is kind of scanning it to understand what the video is about the better So I do take the time to do that on top of that.

I'll take that Transcript and I will use it as the basis for a future blog post So I don't always make all of my YouTube videos into blog posts I kind of try to pick and choose the ones that I think translate best to the blog format and For example, if I post a vlog on YouTube, that's not going to be turned into a blog post, because there's kind of no point.

However, if I'm sharing like five productivity hacks as a self employed content creator, as a video on my channel, then I will look for things that are a bit more like listicle where I'm listing out, okay, five things or these steps to take. And I will send the transcript from Otter. ai into chat GPT, and I'll ask it to summarize the transcript for me.

I'll tell it to, you know, aim for a certain word count. I'll ask them to write it for Millennial and Gen Z women, and I'll give it a tone guideline to say, please make this helpful and friendly, because that's usually the tone I like my content to convey, and it'll give me, , something that's probably about 50 percent of the way to what I was thinking about, but at least from that 50%, I can work off of it and expand it.

usually the word count will be maybe like 500 words if it's a summary, but most of my blog posts are more like 1, 200 to 1, 500 words, so I use that as the basis, and then I go in and adjust anything that sounds weird. Sometimes when I tell it that I'm speaking to Millennial and Gen Z women, it will just like, throw in some lingo that just sounds terribly wrong that I'll have to make sure to remove so no one's reading it thinking, is this girl like okay while she's reading this?

Um, and then I always try to

add literally, literally sometimes it'll just be so wacky and I'm like, who says But um, and just make sure that like it sounds like my voice and that I'm good with the content, but it definitely helps speed up the process overall. If before I was starting from scratch and had to make my own outline, or listen to the video again, or try to take the script and copy and paste, like, it's a lot more conversational already, and I also feel better about asking AI to summarize my transcript versus pull information out of nowhere because that information could obviously be wrong and I also don't want it to too closely resemble something someone's already done.

So that's why I really like it for that purpose because I'm just summarizing my own. which I am comfortable with

Bree: Oh, yeah. It's so much easier to start with like at least a rough draft I do love that about like the AI tools that have been out there because before it was us making rough draft and then us going in and editing and adding to it. So I do love that. Oh, I love this process so much.

Austen: Yeah, and then one other that I haven't tested yet, but i've heard good things about is opus ai Which apparently can take clips from a long form video and give you some short form edited video clips so I thought that could be good for youtubers or even podcasters as well if you're looking for Clips for social media and things like that So I haven't tried it yet, but i'm planning to give it a little test run.

Bree: Okay, cool. I'm going to go look into that one. We, we record our podcasts in Riverside. And so we can kind of clip videos from there, which is really, really cool.

But we want to start getting into making even more YouTube videos that is beyond just the podcast. So I'm always looking for cool new tools to try.

Austen: Yeah, that's so exciting.

Bree: Oh my gosh. Okay. This has been such a lovely chat. You guys, DM us on Instagram, Austin, A U S T E N, and we will send you links to be able to go and connect with Austin.

And also like all the stuff in the show notes as per usual. But Austin, thanks so much for taking time to be with us today.

Austen: Thank you so much for having me and for having this conversation. I hope that it inspires more content creators to test out long form platforms in their content strategy.

Bree: Same. You guys tag me and Austin when you make them because we want to see it and cheer you on.

Austen: I will watch your vlogs.

Bree: Yes. All right, you guys, we'll see you back here in just a few more days for another episode.