Video marketing has made a critical impact on the journey of individuals as consumers in more ways than one. This is the main reason why social media marketers, as well as content marketers, started to pay more attention to video marketing. Besides, a lot of consumers initially look for information regarding a product before they finally make a purchase. And it was proven that videos are responsible for affecting the decisions of many consumers.
Unfortunately, the video marketing industry faces many difficulties. The most common challenge that video marketers face is the challenge of building an audience. So if you are a video marketer, below are the ways on how you can create an audience for your YouTube videos.
Youtube is one social media application that tops the list of the most visited site globally. It is the second most visited app in the world because it’s a source of millions of visual contents. The presence of these visible contents makes YouTube a search engine of some sort that needs to be optimized just like webpages. The more optimized YouTube videos are, the more they appear top in YouTube search rankings. If you know what that means, it means good news, especially if you are interested in YouTube marketing.
Are you ready to know how to optimize your YouTube video for brand-boosting and marketing purposes, read on?
Technology has evolved into the modern world, and this has led to a vast improvement in the way we think, labor activities as well as social media orientations. Many organizations now use social media as a source of income.
In no doubt, traditional marketing has packed up. Brands, organizations, and individuals media as a tool to develop their company or brand. This is because over 75% of the world population makes use of social media. Therefore, it serves as an easier way to sell one’s products than the traditional method.
It shouldn’t be strange to you if I say that YouTube is a highly useful tool for doing business. However, do you know you can start a business and grow it on YouTube? Well, this is possible since all you require to start a business is to have a product/service to sell, and people to buy the product. Fortunately, YouTube has all of this, as some businesses can be done without necessarily coming face to face with your customers.
There is a general perception that starting a YouTube channel may not be worth the effort. This is primarily due to the unsuccessful attempt of many people trying to be an overnight success on the platform. The success of YouTube influencers makes many people crave the same success, forgetting so soon that the Influencer today started from a humble beginning. The platform has positioned itself as one that anyone who wants to make any considerable impact on the digital world should have a vibrant presence. The question now is that, how can you be a successful YouTube star, knowing fully well that the competition is high. If you doubt how competitive the platform is, consider the statistics that over 500 new videos are uploaded on YouTube every minute. Yet, it will take more than a lifetime to watch all the videos that are on YouTube right now, provided that none is uploaded. To be a YouTube star requires lots of knowledge. You will need to know the best site to buy YouTube views if you have a new account. Here are some steps you should take if you want to be a successful YouTuber;
Know What Success Means to You
People’s general perception of success is in monetary value. However, money in itself is not the ultimate goal for some people; As such, we can’t exactly say that all successful YouTubers are a star because money motivated them, contrary to people’s thoughts, it is the love for what they do that led most YouTube stars to the platform What everyone sees as success is different, and it’s up to you to determine what goal you need to achieve on YouTube before you consider yourself successful. Get a pen and paper and write your YouTube goal. It could be a high subscriber count, a high number of viewers, or a general increase in engagement rate. Always remind yourself that this is your primary focus; everything else is a plus.
Develop the Goal and Content of your YouTube channel
YouTube is a platform that has lots of captivating and terrible content. If you want your content to stand out, you have to do the right things and be persistent in your effort. Ensure that your contents are exciting enough for your audience to share. Don’t let your channel be a platform where you’re going to get information. Make it fun and informative. Even if you can’t afford a piece of equipment for professionals, use what you have and maximize its productivity to the fullest.
Don’t Be A YouTuber Copycat!
Don’t try to tailor your content to look like that of a successful YouTube star. Ensure that you don’t pass off as someone annoying, even if you think you are real-life, try to add some effect to your video. You will be surprised how much result effects can bring. You have to decide what exactly you want your video to be about; you have lots of choices; it could be how-to videos, product reviews, sports commentary, etc. Once you’re sure of what you want your content to be on, ensure that you follow other YouTube channels that have the same niche; this way you will be aware of any breaking news that you haven’t gotten wind of, it will help you to stay relevant. When you’re getting news from other YouTube channels, ensure that you add more information than what others reported; this way, it will make you stay above your competitors.
Map out your Strategy
Now that you know what will be in your YouTube video, have a plan on how you’ll gather content, attract viewers and keep those viewers coming back for more information. Think of your strategy as a business plan, and go back to be sure that you haven’t veered off course. You can also see this strategy as a checklist of things you must do to achieve your goal on YouTube. Your strategy should include the list of people that you want to involve in making and marketing your video; it should also have a list of the equipment that you need to have; this way your mind will regularly focus on the sacrifices you need to make in achieving your goal.
Optimize your YouTube Channel and Videos
You must optimize your YouTube channel and video; this is the least you can do if you want to generate organic views and not just opinions from friends who wish to view and comment on your video out of sympathy. Since you dedicated time to creating and uploading your content, don’t start to relent in your effort. YouTube is a highly sophisticated platform that allows people to discover content that they find useful. YouTube detects the words on your YouTube videos and uses it to decide which video is helpful to a viewer and which is not. If you choose the right keywords, your videos have more chances of been seen than videos without the right keywords. As such, you need to research on YouTube keywords to know which is proper to use for your niche. If you have videos that are similar to yours and have high views, check those videos for keywords and apply them to yours so that you can get a high number of views. You can also use Google tools as YouTube videos also appear in Google search; this way, when someone searches for a particular keyword on Google, your videos will appear.
Be Consistent With Your Content
You cannot joke with your consistency if you want to be a successful YouTube star. Whatever content you’re producing, you have to maintain your timing and your type of content. Lack of consistency can confuse your subscribers, and when your subscribers are confused as to what you do, they’ll lose interest in your content. Also, not being consistent makes it difficult for your subscribers to keep up with your posts. If you want to experiment with a new niche, you should first inform your audience; this way, they’ll know what to expect and give you an honest opinion on whether you should continue with the new niche, or drop the idea.
When it comes to the biggest video sharing platform in the world, practically all attention gets diverted to the YouTube social network. YouTube has gone a long way in making the sharing of video content between friends, family, and followers become a seamless and straightforward process. Of course, the platform offers a wide range of features targeted at all of its users; it still ensures it includes a couple more for brands, businesses, and business owners across the entire globe to make use of. Still, the common practice of buying YouTube views is one thing that goes hand-in-hand with YouTube ads for getting the most YouTube views possible.
One of the many features YouTube has created for brands is the Ads feature. YouTube is also regarded as an avenue for brands and companies to promote their business to millions of active users. Through the YouTube Ads feature, people can work on adverts for their business and send these adverts to users across the platform. Of course, there are various plans people will need to purchase to make this a reality for their business; they still need to work on understanding the ins and outs of the feature.
If you are someone who has tried looking into YouTube Ads, then sit back as this article will serve as a guide on the most proficient method to use the feature efficiently. Here are the essential things you have to know about YouTube Ads.
Understand the formats of YouTube Ads
YouTube Ads offer a chance for people to promote their business on the platform. However, when it comes to getting the best out of the feature, you should be ready to understand the formats behind YouTube Ads.
Skippable in-stream ads
Just as the name implies, these are ads that can be skipped by the user. When you purchase ad spaces for skippable in-stream ads, you get the chance to present your ads directly to a user while they are watching a video. With this ad format, you give users the option to skip your adverts.
Non-skippable in-stream ads
Non-skippable ads are ad formats designed to take away permission for users to skip an advert while streaming a video. Of course, to avoid annoying the users, the platform ensures this type of adverts last for a few seconds before returning a user to the video they were steaming.
Bumper ads
Bumper ads are ad formats designed to be displayed 6 seconds before a regular video on the YouTube platform. If you are having intentions of purchasing ad spaces and would not like to interfere with the streaming of videos of users, then the bumper ad format could be your go-to choice. With the ad format, you can easily show a six-second video that is non-skippable to users of the YouTube platform.
In-display ads
If you wish to advertise somewhere on the YouTube platform that is not within the video a user may be watching, then going for the in-display ad format may be a great choice. This type of ad formats allows ads to appear on the right-hand side of a user’s screen and are charged on a per-view basis.
Set a budget
Now the next thing you need to understand is the budget involved when dealing with YouTube Ads. Depending on the kind of ad format you choose, you stand a chance to be presented with a lower budget, or a higher one that requires a lot of investment.
Luckily, through the improved ad tracking of the YouTube platform, you can pay for only ads that favor you. This can be a pay-per-view basis and is regarded as one of the best ways to use ad services. When you figure out the number of sales or traffic you need to be generated from your YouTube advert, you can work on setting a budget for it.
Start a new campaign
After doing the above-listed things, you should go ahead with starting a new campaign. In case you do not know, YouTube is a subsidiary of the Google Inc company. So when it comes to accessing its Ads section, you can do this by going through the Google Ads platform.
Firstly, you need to upload the video which you want to use as your marketing video. Please create a new campaign through Google Ads and configure it. While configuring, you will be prompted to provide information on your budget, networks, start and end dates, a language, and also a location.
Choose where you want your ads to be shown
Setting up the placement of your ads is also one of the many things you will need to do during the creation of your campaign. To get the best out of this, you will need to understand what specific places you would want your ads to show. Leaving this section blank will get your advert to show on any YouTube placement. You might also need to set up keywords and target words to help your video ads show up relevantly across the platform.
Select an audience
As a business owner or social media marketer, you should understand that the audience of any business is one of its most essential parts. Through the YouTube Ads feature, you can target an audience with your video ads and help people who are likely to be interested in your business easily find it.
Focusing on your target audience can do a great job in the promotion of your business. Luckily, the video ads feature enables people to comfortably reach their specific audience through the availability of information on certain factors.
Look into key metrics
There are specific metrics they can significantly help you understand how your ads are performing on the platform. Some of these metrics include impressions, reach, audience, branding, conversions, and a lot more. Looking into these metrics can efficiently help you understand the reports generated concerning your video ads on the YouTube platform.
Conclusion
YouTube is a great avenue for marketers to carry out their marketing and promoting tasks for businesses and brands across the globe. Thanks to the fantastic features offered by the platform, doing this is a lot easier. The above are some of the tips to help you get acquainted with the YouTube Ads feature. Good luck!
It is a standard view that YouTube stars make money, but only a few of their viewers can tell how their high viewership transcribed into cash. If you own a YouTube channel, or you plan to own one, this article will teach you how you can make money from making videos and putting it on the popular platform. In fact, people are forced to buy YouTube views to get their channel monetized under the current system.
When you become a YouTube star, remarkable things happen. You won’t just be famous; you will also receive cash for posting those videos you love or probably don’t like. If you love money, and you want to make it off YouTube, then pay attention to this article on how to make money from your YouTube channel.
If you have a dream to create a YouTube channel, it’s not too late to do that now. It would help if you lashed on to the social media buzz.
A lot of people get famous and earn a lot of money from their YouTube channel, you also can. With the right knowledge, you can also get the same result. As such, here are five things that you should be aware of if you plan to create your YouTube channel. But keep in mind that the advice we are going to give you does not guarantee you of success, although it increases your chances.
1. Why do you want to start a YouTube Channel?
You need to know why you want to start your channel as this will determine what type of content to post.
It could be that you want to teach people how to make hair. You want to review operating systems, tell people about different countries of the world, or review your traveling experiences in different airlines. You can also teach people how to cook. Teach how to take care of a child etc. Whatever it is, you have to know what it is you want to do on your Instagram channel.
Your reason for starting a YouTube channel will determine who you should target, what your content should be, and who you feature in your episodes. There are myths about buying YouTube views you should be aware of as well.
For example, if the reason why you want to start a YouTube channel is to teach new mothers how to take care of their newborn baby. Then your target audience will be young mothers between 20’s and ’30s. You can feature medical practitioners, experienced mothers, nurses, etc.
If you don’t have any solid reason why you want to start a YouTube channel, your chances of capturing a broad audience are slim.
2. How often do you want to upload to the YouTube Channel?
After knowing the content you want to upload and your target audience, the next thing to remember is how often you wish to upload your videos. Your schedule should depend on the type of content your channel is.
When scheduling your content, you have to put into consideration that you’ll be posting your content for an extended period. It may be convenient to upload a video a day right now, but will that same number be suitable in the next six months or one year. You have to take cognizance of future engagements like marriage, promotion, studies, and availability of content.
If you’re thinking of picking a particular time now and altering it later, then I’d advise that you ignore that thought as it can irritate your viewers. Your Subscribers can un-subscribe if they miss episodes because you changed the frequency of uploads. If you released a chapter at an unscheduled time, you should live-stream at the scheduled time to inform your viewers about the episode they missed, and you must prevent this from re-occurring.
3. You have to work on your Substance and Style if you want your channel to be successful
A lot of people feel that all you need to build a successful YouTube channel is the substance of your content; that’s why they haven’t made one. It’s not an option between your Substance and Style. You must get both right.
YouTube viewers may want your content, but without the right style that makes the material attractive, they’ll check-out the next post. Some techniques that you should work on include;
Attractive topics
Having a very regular format
Add thumbnails to your video
It would help if you also worked on having a confident and captivating voice. If your voice is shaky, it can turn your viewers off. Thus, it would help if you worked on getting rid of those speech styles that users find annoying, e.g., upspeaking.
You can work on your speech by watching videos online that will train you to be a better speaker.
You should adequately edit your videos as that has a role to play in determining whether your viewers will listen till the end or stop the video in the middle.
4. Equipment that you need as a YouTuber
If you want to succeed as a YouTuber, you need a lot of equipment to create explicit videos. Here are some pieces of equipment that you can get without necessarily breaking the bank.
Camera: Since you’re just starting, you don’t need those expensive cameras. A phone with a quality camera will do. You can also use the camera on your Laptop or MacBook.
Tripod: You can get a tripod if you’re using a smartphone or a camera. The tripod will make the picture look professional as it will be steady.
Green screen: You should get one of these if you want to alter the background of your videos. You can search for alternatives to a green screen if you can’t afford one.
Microphone:Your audio is as important as your video. If you get a receiver for the device you want to use, it will help your audience to hear you. You can record an audio first. Then you mix it with your video. You can only do this if you have the technical expertise.
5. Make provision for promoting your videos
Just because you have a video does not necessarily mean that you will have viewers. You must pro-actively take steps to promote your video. Here are some ways to improve your video with being annoying to the person you’re telling.
Forums: Forums are an exciting place to say to people about your video. If you post on a highly visited page on the forum, it can get you a lot of viewers. Most forums have a strict policy against spamming. As such, you should avoid posting there too often.
Social media: You should post your videos on social media sites. However, if you don’t have followers on your social media account, then you should get someone to help you with social media promotion.
Most YouTubers are prone to neglecting their channels when it comes to
optimization. Your videos should optimize for specific keywords, but your
channel shouldn’t be left out either. When it comes to optimization, I don’t
mean stuffing the channel name or description with keywords; instead, we’re
talking about using the right profile picture, icon, and using wise words in
your meta description.
When it comes to the profile picture, choose a clean image. You will
want to avoid blur Images or those with too much clutters. As a rule, most
brands are to use Logos or lovely artwork that relates to what their business
represents.
Influencers are to use an image of their face since viewers are likely going to recognize them faster. In terms of profile pictures, changing it could be a bit complicated since it’s linked with your Google account. Hence, a change will have to be effected on your Google account as well.
For Influencers, ensure your profile photo on YouTube is also the same across
all social media accounts.
Getting Your Meta-data Right
YouTube metadata is a good way this search engine understand what your
video is all about. To improve your visibility, you need to pay more attention
to what you name your video, tags as well as Meta-Description.
When it comes to naming, give your video a name that is short and
predictable. Your title should contain few keywords and, if possible, phrases
that are guessable by your audience. You should also add the transcript and
closed captions, as this will help viewers understand the whole idea your video
conveys.
Ensure your title is short and gives a hint about what the video is
about. Your title should be easy to comprehend by both your viewers and bots.
Remember that the description is where your keywords should go. The description
is entirely for ranking your video.
Your description should contain keywords but shouldn’t deviate from what
the video describes. Here, try to maintain a balance between writing for search
engines as well as your users. You can finish up the metadata session by adding
tags that will make your video easier to find.
Upload High-quality Content At All Times
Just like you’re required to upload High-quality Content on Google, your
videos on YouTube Should also be unique and convey relevant information that
viewers will find helpful. Interns of quality, we aren’t talking about the
information contained in the video alone but the visual aspect of your content.
Here, your video must be clear and concise HD format if possible, but if
you can’t afford to do so, ensure your videos aren’t blurry and should also
come with a good background.
Since not all users have Access to a subtitle, work on the Audio aspect
of your video. Make sure you’re audible enough and use short sentences if
you’re starting. For new creators, you might feel a bit uncomfortable facing a
camera, but as you shoot more videos, you grow into the act.
Add cards and End-Screen to increase engagement
Tools like cards and end screens present an opportunity for users to
chip in additional pieces of information. The end screen might contain links to
other videos or encourage users to watch or subscribe to your channel.
Watermarks are more of a marketing tool and usually appear at the bottom of a
video.
Cards and watermark work differently. If your aim is a get more views,
you will likely want to use tags as a medium of adding links to other videos on
your channel. However, keep in mind that your options shouldn’t be limited to
links alone.
Use cards to seek viewers’ suggestions about your channel and ask what
they want to see in your videos.
The end screen is to convey the same information cards. However, ensure
your video is of high quality if you want your viewers to stick to the end. The
end screen serves as an alternative to cards, and they can be interchangeable.
The only issue is that viewers might not be patient enough to watch your video
to the end, making the information conveyed on an Endscreen useless.
Hence, using a card is a less risky way of communicating with your
viewers since the cards can Pop Up at any point during the video.
To create End-Screen, Click on the studio creator link under your account and select video manager then select videos.
Click the video you wish to add end screen and select the end screen.
You can create a new End-Screen or edit an existing template.
Once you’re editing, click save, and your end screen will display at a closing stage of your video.
Use Compelling Thumbnail Image
If you’re conversant with the ten-second rule, you will know that your
audience does not have time for the long epistle. You have about ten seconds to
grab their attention and another ten seconds to give them a hint of what your
article is all about.
Online readers are always in a hurry. They don’t read; instead, they
scan through a list of content to decide the best one to watch. Viewers’
interests can pin to a Thumbnail attached to a video. It serves as a book cover
drawing people’s attention to your video. Even if you have taken your time to
create a good video, a crappy artwork might render all your hard work useless.
Conclusion
Uploading a video on YouTube and waiting for the number of views to grow
isn’t the best way to go about things. Having a good video isn’t enough; you
need to carry out some optimization to get it in front of your viewers.
YouTube boasts of over one billion users, a figure that reflects one-third of the total internet users. Statistically, there are over 1 billion videos consumed daily, with every user averaging 40 minutes of view time. Hence, it’s no surprise that the vast majority of YouTube users fall within the age of 18-39.
In addition to that, most business owners are beginning to leverage the platform to achieve their marketing goals. This includes increasing sales, getting more subscribers, or getting users to sign up to your email list.
Getting Started With YouTube Ads
Even though using YouTube for marketing purposes seems a bit vague to most marketers, taking advantage of this video platform holds a lot of promises to your business. Since few marketers are leveraging on this platform, the level of competition is quite low, thereby guaranteeing more success.
If you’re one of those looking to take advantage of this search engine to achieve the marketing goals, you will first need to learn how YouTube Ads works as well as different kinds of Ads available. In this write-up, you will learn everything you need to know about this platform as well as how to set up your first campaign.
YouTube Ads: Where To Start
YouTube advertising is simply a way of promoting your videos through paid advertising on YouTube to increase reach. YouTube Ads takes the form of short videos playing in the middle of another video or videos showing up on search results.
Just like Google Ads, YouTube Ads are of different types. Just like Google and Facebook Ads, where promotion is grouped based on objectives, YouTube Ads work similarly. You can either choose to promote your video using Trueview Ads, Non-Skippable Ads, Bumper In-stream Ads and lots more.
TrueView and Non-skippable Ads remain the most popular option among users. Hence, we will be taking a detailed look at how both works.
How does Trueview Ads work?
This is the most popular advertising format, and it’s easy to see why. It produces the best results, which explains why viewers prefer it. One thing about this type of advert format is that users will only have to watch for 30 seconds. It’s usually inserted into short videos, and users can choose to watch or skip the video.
The video can be inserted at the beginning or middle of a Video but plays for a few seconds before the Viewer is allowed to skip. The good thing about this type of ad is that the advertiser is only charged if the Viewers can clock 30 seconds watch time. If the view doesn’t, advertisers can save their money.
The length of Trueview In-stream Ads depends on the total length of the video it’s inserted in. Videos of 12 minutes can contain a Trueview ad of 30 seconds, while that of 30 minutes might have a video ad of 1 minute.
Now there are two categories of Trueview Ads, and they all work differently. The first is discovery Ads, and the second is In-stream Ads. Discovered Ads show within the search results and comes with an image thumbnail.
Non-Skippable In-stream Ads
Non-Skippable In-stream Ads is similar to Trueview In-stream Ads except that this one isn’t Skippable. Viewers are forced to watch the Ads to the end before proceeding to the next video. Viewers have less control over these Ads; hence, it poses a lot of risk to advertisers.
Non-Skippable Ads are popular and are usually positioned to stream in the middle of a video. Presently, the duration of Non-Skippable Ads is lesser than Skippable Ads. While some Trueview Ads can take as long as 30 seconds, Non-Skippable Ads only last for a maximum of 20minutes.
Unlike Skippable Ads, advertisers are charged on a CPM basis when it comes to Non-Skippable Ads. This means advertisers pay a certain amount after reaching a thousand views, but the success of these campaigns depends on your targeting.
Getting the views you want does not matter; the real issue is to ensure your marketing goals are realized. Hence, targeting and conversion matter more when it comes to Youtube Ads.
Creating YouTube Ads
Upload Your Video To YouTube
First and foremost, you will have to create a video for your campaign. Before creating your campaign, ensure your video is uploaded to your YouTube account.
Launch Campaign On Google Ads
Create a campaign via Google Ads. If you do not have a Google Ads account, create one before proceeding to this step. Once you’re in Google Ads, click the option that says “All campaigns” and tap on the (+) icon to create a new campaign.
Now, you have to choose which format you want your ads to appear. For YouTube Ads, choose “videos” from the list of available options.
Edit Campaign
Here, name your campaign using a phrase that describes what the campaign stands for. Next, proceed to set your budget by choosing the average amount to spend daily.
It’s better to start small and slowly increase your ad budget as soon as you start seeing results. Also, select a start and end date for your campaign before deciding where you want your ads to be displayed.
Select Your Audience
This session is where you have to narrow down your targeting to your ideal audience. Start by typing in a keyword that defines your audience. For Instance, if your product is about getting a flat tummy, you can start with the keyword “weight loss.”
Use the demographic option to define your audience’s age, location, gender, and relationship status.
Add Marketing Video
To make things easier, ensure you’ve uploaded your video on your account before proceeding to this step. Use the search bar to search for your marketing video in the Ads creative session. Once your video shows up, click on it to select.
Lastly, select your video format from the Menu presented to you. Most advertisers prefer Trueview In-stream Ads and Non-Skippable Ads, but your options aren’t limited to just these two. If you’re choosing Trueview In-stream, you will have to add an image as your display banner.
Select the image you want and click “save,” then continue to Ads.
Your video will be reviewed and, if approved, will go live.
Conclusion
YouTube Ads leverages on Google Ads to create its campaign. Hence if you already have an idea how Google Ads work, creating a YouTube Ac shouldn’t be an issue for you.