Friday Buzz: How The Points Guy Made It Big

Everyone wants to fly first class, but the expense is prohibitive for most of us—unless you’re a devotee of thepointsguy.com, a lifestyle website that reveals the tips, tricks, and secrets to flying premium.

Did you know that thepointsguy.com started out as one person’s simple hobby? Business Insider profiled CEO Brian Kelly, a former Morgan Stanley employee, who turned his air mile-collecting side hustle into a career  (opens in a new tab). Not only is the website a revenue-generating success, but Kelly also spends half his time flying around the world in luxury.

While working in human resources in 2011, a friend of Kelly’s told him he could monetize his site using affiliate advertising. “At that time I was, like, a microinfluencer, but I was sitting on a gold mine and had no idea,” Kelly said.

Nearly overnight, the money started pouring in. A few months later, he quit his day job after receiving his first six-figure check, he tells Business Insider.

Associations may find some inspiration from Kelly’s ability to make money off his expert knowledge and advice—something that’s typically difficult to monetize.

Maximize Videos

3 Excellent Ways to Recycle Video Content https://t.co/w6jP14IXVT  (opens in a new tab)

— maggielmcg (@maggielmcg) October 13, 2017  (opens in a new tab)

Have you ever created high-quality video content only for it to not achieve the views that you expected?

The Sociality Squared Blog says  (opens in a new tab) that you can’t just post to YouTube and expect to gain traction. You should also upload to other video platforms like Vimeo and Instagram. And make sure that you’re posting video across all your social channels. Every share is an opportunity for more views.

The blog also makes recommendations for reusing video content and leveraging video snippets in promotional materials.

Other Links of Note

Is your direct-mail fundraising effective? Future Fundraising Now shares a few ways to improve your offering  (opens in a new tab).

Any smart marketer knows that you have to target an audience. But MarketingDive says Gen Z could upend everything you know about demographic targeting  (opens in a new tab).

Will logging on to an app or website to check in to a flight soon be a thing of the past? CNBC reports that the Delta iOS app will now automatically check users in  (opens in a new tab).

(via The Points Guy’s Instagram feed)