YouTube Influencers Encourage Viewer Engagement via Interactive Feedback Loop
by Tehesha Price, Digital Strategy graduate student at the University of Florida

Before enrolling in the Digital Strategy Program at the University of Florida, I had never listened to a podcast, So far, I still haven’t found a podcast that I can or I’m willing to commit to listening. My time is consumed with raising two teens, managing a household, and attending graduate school full-time. The only time that I could probably carve out is when I’m driving, instead of listening to the radio. However, if my teens are in the passenger or DJ seat, as I call it, I’m forced to listen to their playlists. For this article, I searched for a podcast that would be interesting and relevant to my career, as a seasoned traditional marketing professional, with new digital marketing skills. While I did find a few interesting podcasts, they didn’t have an active feedback loop that I could analyze. Therefore, I searched YouTube and found the channel Leveling Up by Eric Siu. Eric Siu is a digital marketing thought leader that has a few podcasts and YouTube channels. He educates viewers about careers in marketing, business advice, general career advice, and digital marketing via topical e-courses. Siu uses a multichannel approach to make his content available on many different platforms for broad reach and increased visibility.

What I like about Siu’s videos is that they are interesting, focused, and concise. Siu doesn’t spend a lot of time on useless banter and he explains his point of view with clear examples and compelling storytelling. I watched one of the videos that he posted about work/life balance, which Siu maintains that work/life balance is a myth. Basically, he says that work and home life must be in harmony so that you can perform well at work and be happy and content at home. Other videos that I viewed provide insights about the growing trends in digital marketing as well as the top career opportunities for digital marketers. With every video, Siu asks viewers to review, like, subscribe, and leave comments. He also pins a question or comment from the video as a prompt, encouraging people to respond in the comments. Siu is very responsive, answers all questions, and responds to all comments below his videos. He even provides follow-up replies and engages in ongoing dialogue with viewers. Siu responds politely to all feedback, even with opposing perspectives, and rude commentary. As Mark Egan states in the Q&A lecture, expect negativity and there certainly was negative feedback in the comments. I’m not sure how much comment moderation Siu has to do before uploading his videos, but he handles the situation professionally.

Another digital marketing thought leader that I researched is Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary has been very successful at providing marketing, social media, business, career, and even parenting advice. He broadcasts his messages across multiple channels, which Siu refers to as an omnichannel approach. I’m aware that Gary is very popular for providing raw, straight to the point advice, unfiltered. I’ve purchased one of his books, as a required text, and have watched his videos as well. I noticed that Gary interrupts his videos with a call-to-action to join his text group. While I was curious, I didn’t join his text group because I don’t want to be bombarded with messages from his large following. Each of Gary’s videos generates over 100 comments, but I haven’t seen Gary reply to anyone directly. This seems strange because he asks people to comment on the videos. I even subscribed to two of Gary’s channels to see if I’d be able to see his responses and to no avail. In his Digital Marketing Trends in 2020 video, Sui mentioned Gary Vee as a success story, using an omnichannel approach, especially with video content, to gain new followers and support his business. Siu also mentions that Gary has an iMessage group so that he can chat with his subscribers. Perhaps the text and iMessage groups are a new way to engage users by taking them offline for a seemingly more personal connection. I’m sure there has to be engagement between Gary Vee and his subscribers, but on YouTube, I only see subscribers interacting with one another. Therefore, I chose Siu’s YouTube channel because he actively engages with viewers and answers all questions in the comments. I did see a video, dated August 2019, that Siu hosted with interactive live streaming and comments, but that’s not a regular occurrence on his “Leveling Up” channel. Siu also interacts with viewers in real life, as his Marketing School podcast and YouTube channel, hosts offline opportunities for viewers as well.
Tehesha is pursuing her graduate degree in Digital Strategy at The University of Florida, https://onlinemasters.jou.ufl.edu/digital-strategy/
