Five Tips For Marketing On Youtube

Marketing is something that interests me a lot as I've said before, but my views on it are different to the average person. This post will serve as a few pointers when marketing on youtube, outside of what the typical advice you'll find on most videos when you search "How to grow a Youtube channel" on Youtube. In fact I'll be talking more on a mindset side of things with these tips. But before we delve into the tips I want to share...

My Thoughts on Marketing

It might've shined through in my reviews that I'm not very uptight about optimizing your marketing strategy. Even in my own videos I don't get that much on my case about it. Like I've said before SEO (Search Engine Optimization), using effective tags and having a good description isn't everything. They help, but they aren't everything when it comes to a video on Youtube.

At the same time, I do believe having some basic understanding and making an attempt at it, even if you don't rank, is good. Most of all it can help with getting video ideas and understanding what particular kind of keywords you can use to bring in an audience.

Anyway now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about some tips! Here's five tips for marketing on youtube.

Tip 1: Don't sweat the basics

The first thing I want to get out of the way is the whole "How to grow a youtube channel" videos. A man by the name of Izzy Nobre made a video about it and it sums up my feelings on the subject. Check it out below.

Izzy is absolutely right, but only to a degree. I believe channels that are devoted solely to growing other channels is viable. Channels such as Video Creators or Video Influencers have a wide array of topics and I've seen enough of their content that they expand on the basics, they provide more value, and they do their research. Typical "How to grow a youtube channel" videos follow the formula that Izzy mentioned. They regurgitate the same typical thing: focus on thumbnails, upload consistently, develop a niche, etc. My point is, as Izzy said in his video, there are plenty of people who are successful and don't follow these rules. 

Yes those kinds of things are important to a degree, you want to uploading on a somewhat consistent basis. And it would probably be smart to have one theme or meld two themes into one if you want to grow a channel. However some of the other elements like editing, or thumbnails and even marketing you should not be as concerned about.

Don't use this as an excuse to just not do it. But my point is dedicate like five minutes at most to making a thumbnail. And as for editing, stick with jump cuts and have some decent music in the background if necessary. For marketing, open up Keyword Planner (it's free with every Google account and it comes with AdWords, sign up for a free account here.) and mess around with it a little.

Tip 2: Have a Personality

This is probably another tip mentioned in those generic "how to grow a youtube channel" videos, but this one is an actual good one and important to remember. Personality in the end is what makes you really different from everyone else and should be part of your overall brand.

Credit: Pixabay

This is definitely important as you move forward with your brand and you begin to grow and get noticed. People will know you for a distinct personality that you have and shines in your videos. Being yourself can be your personality, but you can also fabricate one as well when you create videos. Your choice. Remember the acting industry pays millions to people to pretend to be someone they aren't for our entertainment. So don't be afraid to have some alter egos going on.

Tip 3: Build a community

Izzy talked about it in his video above and I'll be saying it here. Build a community. Youtube is one massive community, however what is important is that you focus on a community within that community. 

Communinsception.

This is something that I've been getting on my case about as well and is ultimately the reason why my growth has been very limited. As I pointed out in some of my reviews thus far, the channels that I've reviewed have an active community.

Credit: Pixabay

They're getting comments, likes, and views despite the number of subscribers being small. I determine the general performance of a video based on the sub to view ratio. Which in other words is if your view count is greater than 10% of subscribers you have then your video is doing good (i.e. if you have 100 subscribers, your videos will be considered performing well if they have 10 or more views).

In this day and age, having a community, having a place where people can hang-out is far more important. In fact vital to your growth. Bringing people together for a particular reason is your ultimate goal to growing a channel from a hobby to something part-time or even full-time.

Tip 4: Content is key

Content is key, content is king, whatever. It's a marketing concept and it's still absolutely true. Depending on your channel and style of videos, it's important to be figuring out what exactly you want to be putting out there. Marketing should play a role, mind you a minor one, but still a role nonetheless. Take some time to do a bit of homework when creating content. Is it something that you are comfortable with and can provide additional value? Is it a topic that is talked about a lot or rarely? Are you informed enough on the subject to talk about it?

Quality content doesn't always have to be using good equipment. Yes it helps, but what's more important is that you can provide something fresh, put your personality into it to make it entertaining, but also be able to draw out emotions from other people. People will continue to watch and be engaged if you can draw out these emotions.

Tip 5: Give value

Obviously you get to decide what kind of video you will make but if you want to be growing more, strive to give value. All through your channel it should be clear what exactly you bring to the table when people watch your content or even read articles.

I've gotten a decent amount of viewers thus far primarily because I'm giving value. Especially my reviews as the content creators didn't even realize the issues that I identified. My channel on the other hand I'm still working on that and a trailer would definitely help with that. Anyway my point is is that it's very clear and up front what my aim is and what my goals are and if you want to be growing that should be there.

Giving value is basically the hook for people as they don't know the person, what they're about, or anything. So really the first question people will ask is "Does this information help me?" or "Can I connect with this person?". Gaming and vlog channels are a bit different since the benefit is more on entertainment than giving specific advice.

Still at the end of the day you should be incorporating your value or value proposition into your brand.

Wrapping Up

So there's the tips that I want to share! If you have other ones you want to share, leave a comment down below!

Until next time!

Eric S Burdon