Factors that determine visibility
If all efforts at solving the issue prove abortive, it may be because you haven’t figured out the root cause of the problem. Google owns YouTube, and similar to its parent company, it works with machine-learning algorithms. These algorithms determine your channel’s visibility based on the following criteria:
Continue ReadingIf 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.
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.
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.
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;
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.
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.
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.
In 2013, Snapchat introduced a new way to share one’s moments to the world. It was called Snapchat Stories. This “story format” became so popular that other social media sites made their own versions. In 2016, we got Instagram Stories. Then, in 2017, WhatsApp Statuses, Facebook Stories, and Skype Highlights were born.
Later in 2017, YouTube joined the story format bandwagon; the video-sharing website released YouTube Reels. However, critics and naysayers have questioned this move. To them, Reels represented YouTube’s cheap attempt to mimic Snapchat and Instagram’s success.
Stories format – from first to latest:
2013 @Snapchat Stories
2016 @Instagram Stories
2017 @WhatsApp Status
2017 @Medium Series
2017 @Messenger Day
2017 @Facebook Stories
2017 @Skype Highlights
2017 @YouTube Reels
2018 @Giphy@socialbakers #SM#SMM#digitalmarketing pic.twitter.com/R0XLNFLY1z— Vladimer Botsvadze🚀🌎 (@VladoBotsvadze) October 3, 2018
In a nutshell, the story format is a narrative collection of short posts, photos, or videos. The stories are viewed in sequence, either through a programmed delay or by manually moving to the next one.
Why did the story format become such a hit? Popular with young users, stories let people share life moments in snippets. The stories are short—they don’t exceed 30 seconds, and they only stay online for 24 hours. While stories expire after a day, it’s enough time for posters to preserve moments they deem worthy of being shared and for their friends to check the stories multiple times.
YouTube Reels signaled YouTube’s foray into the story format. In 2017, the Reels were initially launched on a limited release. They feature brief, rough videos of up to 30 seconds long. Like in Snapchat and Instagram, users can put stickers, filters, and music.
However, unlike that of other platforms where the story appears on top of the app, Reels are viewed in a separate tab, making Reels less obtrusive. Also, users have the choice to view (or not to view) Reels of other users. Moreover, a Reel lasts more than 24 hours, a welcome feature for posters who want extended exposure for their stories.
YouTube Reels suffer several drawbacks.
At best, Reels is just a filler for YouTubers to engage followers between uploads of standard content. At this time, YouTubers should pay close attention to their analytics and see if they are being helped more by YouTube Reels, or another story format on a different platform when it comes to driving views and engagement.
The story format doesn’t fit with YouTube’s core brand. What really made YouTube so popular is that it has an exemplary collection of video content. That’s the YouTube brand—people go to it either to watch videos or to host their own. Name me one video sharing site that is as prominent as YouTube; probably, you’ll come up with maybe one or two.
Compare that to Instagram who is now ruling the story format space (it has overtaken Snapchat). It’s the go-to platform for light videos, sneak peeks, and never-before-seen footage. It’s successful in achieving the core purpose of the story format, that is, to engage and connect with users.
So for YouTube to try to compete with Instagram in the story format arena, it looks like the move is a big gamble. Though feasible, short-form videos are not what drives people to go to YouTube. Whether YouTube decides to move forward with the story format (through YouTube Reels) or to focus efforts on its core brand remains to be seen.
Forbes has recently revealed its list of the highest-paid YouTube stars for 2018 which was an interesting mix of creatives who were most sought after and viewed and followed by millions for uploading unique content in the video sharing website. This could be anywhere from giving feisty or funny video game commentaries, fun makeup tutorials, unboxing and product reviews, or just being a happy little boy playing with toys like Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review, which, by the way, is YouTube’s top earner for 2018.
To unbox shiny new toys, get famous, and rake in millions of dollars, isn’t that the ultimate dream? 7-year-old Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review on YouTube is living that dream for all us.
The concept of most of his YouTube videos is simple. Ryan plays with the toys, whether it is a train, a Disney character, or building something with his favorite Legos in front of the camera and his parents upload it on YouTube. Sometimes his sisters or his parents star in the YouTube videos, too. The short videos spanning more or less than 10 minutes in length is always a hit.
As a matter of fact, since the launch of Ryan’s Toy Review on YouTube in March 2015, the channel has gained a massive following of 17.3 million followers and has been viewed a total of almost 26 billion times. Unsurprisingly, he was announced as 2018’s YouTube top earner for 2018, making 22 million U.S. dollars in the 12 months up to June 1, 2018, according to Forbes.
A huge chunk of Ryan’s million-dollar earnings comes from pre-roll advertising on his YouTube channels, Ryan ToysReview, and Ryan’s Family Review. The higher the views of the videos, the bigger the earnings become as well. Ryan has the biggest clout and viewership with other top contenders on YouTube’s highest-paid list for 2018.
When it comes to sponsored posts, Ryan gets 1 million U.S. dollars, which is significantly low compared to what other YouTube stars are receiving. This is primarily due to his specific demographic, which are mainly young children who don’t have their own shopping money, and because Ryan’s family can be picky when it comes to the kind of deals they accept.
“I’m entertaining and I’m funny,” Ryan, whose family still refuse to reveal his last name, revealed in a recent NBC interview when asked about what could have led to his instant fame on YouTube and his millions at such a young age.
While this is also definitely true, experts explain that this is also because of the widely popular unboxing video trend on YouTube, which many, if not all, of Ryan’s Toy Reviews most popular videos, are a part of. In these type unboxing videos, YouTube content creators are filmed while literally opening the box of merchandise, whether it is an electronic gadget, a consumer good like makeup, or new toys in the case of Ryan’s Toy Review.
According to experts, unboxing videos are extremely popular because they virtually share the experience of opening and exploring a product that the users want to have in real life. Others could be using it as some sort of a first-impression type of product review that they need to see before making an actual purchase.
Getting the most out of his YouTube fame, Ryan has a lot of new partnerships, including his own show that will be distributed on Hulu and Amazon. He has also launched Ryan’s World in August, which is his signature line of toys and apparel exclusive sold Walmart. These big-ticket partnerships have not yet been added to Ryan’s total 2018 earnings.
Forbes’ list of top money-making YouTube celebrities calculated the sum of their earnings from June 1, 2017, through June 1, 2018. Aside from Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review, other YouTube celebrities who made into Forbes list include the following:
Jake Paul is an American actor whose first claim to fame was on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark where he played the role of Dirk Mann, the lead star of Dare Me Bro who takes on dare requests. He has more than 17 million subscribers on YouTube and his rap songs and prank videos have been viewed 3.5 billion times.
This channel specializes in amazing trick shots created by five friends Coby and Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney. They have more than 37 million YouTube subscribers and one of their most viral videos gained a jaw-dropping 175 million views. This involved throwing Ping-Pong balls to trigger the collapse of a domino of Oreos.
Dethroned from last year’s top spot, electric-blue-haired DanTDM or Daniel Middleton ranks number three for 2018. The gaming enthusiast from Britain has been playing online games, such as Minecraft and Pokemon in front of the camera for six years now and has attracted over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
Professional makeup artist and cosmetic creator, Jeffree Star, has been Internet famous since the days of Myspace. He currently has more than 11.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and sells more than 100 million dollars worth of his own makeup products every year.
Mark Edward Fischbach,a.k.a. Markiplier on YouTube, entertain his 22 million YouTube subscribers with funny gaming videos, original comedy sketches, animated parodies. The Hawaii native toured North America this year and has signed big-ticket, seven-figure deals with high-end brands.
Other notable YouTube celebrities on Forbes top 10 lists are Vanoss Gaming (17 million U.S. dollars), Jacksepticeye (16 million U.S. dollars), PewDiePie (15 million U.S. dollars), and Logan Paul (14.5 million U.S. dollars) who was infamously kicked out of YouTube’s Google Preferred program after filming a grotesque video in Japan showing a body of someone hanging from a tree who committed suicide.
Thinking of ways on how to encourage your YouTube subscribers to like or interact on your channel? How about knowing what your audience is thinking? Don’t know what topic to create next on your video? Then you must check out YouTube’s community tab.
YouTube’s community tab allows creators to create activities or posts for their subscribers and visitors that they can interact with. Some of the activities that they can do are post updates, create polls, share some photos and GIFs. It replaces the old discussion tab. You can access your community tab by visiting your channel and below your channel art, the community tab is located in place of the discussion tab.
In the discussion tab, creators are only allowed to post text-based updates. Whilst in the community tab, you can be as creative as posting a GIF, images, links, and texts. Visitors and subscribers can reply text-based comment on your post.
Community tab is enabled on some verified and non-verified YouTube channels with over 100,000 subscribers. It is like a mini-experiment that will be implemented soon for everyone.
If you want to know what content to post on your community tab, it is better to check out the community tab or subscriptions tab on YouTube App of the channels you follow.
But if you want more tips on how to create the kind of content for community tab and how to maximize it to increase your subscribers and visitors, here are some tips that you should consider.
Your subscribers are expecting videos from your channel, so what better way to introduce your community tab is to create a video about it.
Under the video description of your video, include your community tab link. Share also the video on your community to ensure that first-time viewers or subscribers can know how to engage and interact with your channel.
In the introductory video, you will be creating about your community tab. Encourage your subscribers or viewers to enable notifications so they can be notified for any latest activities in your channel. In getting notifications, they simply click the bell icon beside the subscribed button.
Why do you need it? What is it for?
In your first post, explain to your viewers and subscribers what is the community tab for. It is also the best place to welcome them. YouTube is recommending creators to also create a creed or house rules on how to use the community tab.
One of the things that you can take advantage of the community tab is promoting your products. You can create a post or an update about your product or a link to your product’s page. You can also include discounts to further encourage your subscribers or viewers to check out your page. It is also catchy if you will include an image in your post.
It is also a smart move to promote your latest video on your community tab so that your viewers and subscribers will know that you have a new video on the channel. Good thing, YouTube will give a little preview of your video link with an image, title, number of views and age of your video.
Another way to create content on your community channel is to provide some sneak peek preview of the video that you are currently creating. This teaser will pique their interest and make them excited about your coming video.
It is also a smart way to promote old videos for the convenience of your new visitors or new subscribers.
One of the most effective ways to engage in interaction with your community tab is by creating a poll. Ask them what they think of your latest video. Or you can also ask them about the topic they would like to watch on your next video. This is possible since the community tab is allowing poll posts.
Another way to interact with your community is to ask questions. Promote it in advance. Say “I’ll be answering marketing questions this Tuesday. So make sure to comment below something you want to ask me.” This way you are giving your audience time in taking part to your Q & A.
We’ve mentioned it before and will mention it again. Community tab is a great way to reach out to your audience on what they would like to see. This will give you an inspiration for your next video. Double benefit – since this promote community interaction and at the same time content for your next material. Furthermore, this increases views and subscribers because you are creating content based on what people would like to see and consume.
Everyone likes a good meme. So humor your community with occasional GIFs and memes that can laugh at. If they can relate to it, you’d be lucky to have some comments about it.
You can also use your community tab if you need support in a specific campaign. Or if you need them to complete a task. One example is asking them to like a page or asking them to vote for you in a contest. Just make sure to explain why you are doing it and include important links and details.
Community tab is a great way to interact with your subscribers and viewers. It is also a great way to know what they think about your videos and your channel in general. You can also understand your subscribers better with it. Just make sure to post content or updates that will give value or entertain them.
Maximize the use of community tab to help you grow your following or your business. Ask questions, post updates, create polls, creating content on the community tab is endless you just need to be creative in thinking of content to post.
Watch time is one of the most important ranking factors to YouTube’s ranking algorithm. It is the ultimate indicator of content relevancy, and in recent years YouTube has given this particular ranking factor a primary role. Watch time directly impacts the growth and visibility of your YouTube channel. Read this right now to learn how to improve YouTube watch time on all your videos!
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You can’t rely on social media sharing your YouTube videos as your sole means of promotion. Running a series of YouTube ads is one of the most effective ways to make sure your target audience finds your videos. Read on to find out how to effectively create YouTube ads and improve the performance of your videos.
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There are times that I forget that I’m even watching a YouTube video and I just delve into the insanity and fun that is the YouTube comments section. It’s a bit unfair that all those Internet-winning comments never receive the respect they deserve. Unless you do proper research, like I did, you can’t really find out what is the most liked comment on YouTube easily – the site doesn’t make them sortable. I managed to find some really interesting examples that might just be the the all-time best!
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There’s always something for everyone on YouTube. It’s a great big place for all kinds of content and if you’ve got time to spare, YouTube has the videos to make it worth your while.
In 1935, founder of modern social psychology Muzafer Sherif performed the earliest and most famous experiment in social proof. First, he placed his subjects in a dark room to look at a dot of light 15 feet away. Then he asked how much the dot of light was moving, even though in reality, the dot wasn’t moving at all.