Creating Content for YouTube
54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands and businesses that they support. With an active user base of two billion, YouTube has completely changed and shaped the way that people and businesses market their brands, enabling them to use the platform to create their own online community.
Video content is accessible, entertaining, engaging, and it’s easy to share with others. So what is the best way to go about putting your brand out there on Youtube? We’ve put together our top tips for success.
Choosing the right content for YouTube
If you’re just starting out with creating YouTube content, it can be difficult to figure out what kind of videos you’re going to be posting on there. Before you start, we recommend that you sit down and make a plan. You may be a small company looking to raise brand awareness and gain more business, or you might be an individual with a passion for a particular niche that you want to create content about. Whoever you are, consider the following.
The majority of people use YouTube to either learn something new or feel inspired. With this in mind, you’ll need to decide which of the two umbrellas your content is going to fall under, or whether you’ll be doing a combination of both. If your content has a clear direction and theme, your viewers and those that visit your page will better understand your goals and in turn will be able to quickly establish whether to subscribe or not.
The next point to consider is the ‘why’ for creating YouTube content. Why is it important that people watch your videos? What do they stand to gain from it? Again, this will give your content that extra bit of direction and will also help to reinforce the underlying message in your videos to keep people watching.
As with any social platform, it’s also important that we learn from what has worked in the past. If you’re not new to YouTube, it’s worth going through your old videos to see what kind of content has been most successful in the past. If there’s something that really stands out, try and see if you can make more of these types of videos.
Make a schedule – and stick to it!
As with any social media platform, it can take a while to gain traction. The trick is to just keep going with it; we recommend creating a posting schedule so that you can plan your content ahead. If you plan in advance you can also film a batch of videos in one sitting and schedule them ahead of time so that you can spend more time brainstorming and working on your other social media platforms.
As well as this, if you make it clear to your audience which days they can expect a new video from you, this will help to embed your content into people’s lives and routines. You can also spend time before your video goes live raising awareness and hyping people up on your other social media channels. If you can increase people’s anticipation and get an immediate hit of engagement when you first upload, you’re likely to reach more people in the long run.
Interact with your audience
Once you’ve posted your video on YouTube, it’s a good idea to share it across your other social media channels. This way you direct people straight to the video for them to watch then and there, which will drive traffic from your other social platforms through to your YouTube channel.
YouTube isn’t just about posting a video and then logging off for the day; you’ll need to stick around and reply to the comments section on YouTube and in the places where you shared the video. YouTube channels and influencers that are successful tend to build a community that stretches across an array of platforms to reach a broad range of people. Being communicative across these platforms will enable you to build a relationship with your viewers, increasing the likelihood that they will come back again and watch your next video.
By reading and responding to comments, you can also show that you’ll take their feedback into account when you’re planning your future content. Demonstrating to your audience that you are invested in what they have to say and that you are prioritising their needs will go a long way in building your community. In addition to this, creating content that there is an existing demand for will help to increase your views and engagement rates.
If you put these things into practice, you’ll be able to reach new people and watch as your audience grows. Good luck!
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