DO YOU KNOW WHAT MARQUES BROWNLEE’S FIRST YOUTUBE VIDEO WAS?
a) 32” Vizio monitor versus Dell
b) A breakdown of the very first iPhone’s technical specs
c) Analysis of his golf swing at age thirteen
Answer: See for yourself
The average YouTuber doesn’t see significant audience growth until their hundredth video. Even Marques, now with over 16 MILLION subscribers, took a long time to figure out tech reviews were his bread and butter. Are you in it for the long haul?
Or, maybe a better question… do you want to skip the long haul and super-start your YouTube career?
Growing your audience doesn’t have to be such a struggle, but avoiding common pitfalls does require a thoughtful YouTube Marketing and Content Creation approach. If you want the full recipe for successful video marketing, check out our course Make Videos Make Money.
In the meantime, there are four things any brand or aspiring YouTuber needs to do to create content that will grow their audience. Let’s break them down:
1. Audience Research:
The biggest pitfall for early YouTube channels is not having a clearly defined target audience. Without knowing who you’re talking to and why they should listen, creating effective content is impossible.
So, what does audience research entail? It requires identifying the market you’re serving (personal finance, gaming, tech…) and watching the channels that are already serving that market.
2. Identify What Makes You Different:
Remember this, you don’t have to be the only person serving a target audience. There’s a common expression in entertainment: 80% familiar, 20% different. What this means is that audiences aren’t looking for something brand new. In reality, humans rarely respond well to ground braking or inventive ideas (Think Galileo and Earth’s rotation around the sun).
Instead, a video with a structure that is mostly the same as other popular videos with small differences is more likely to succeed when compared to a revolutionary video.
A great example of this is Tik Tok. The entire platform is based on remixing already popular sounds. So, if you’re afraid there’s too many YouTube channels already serving your target audience, don’t be. The fact that it’s a cluttered field means that there’s a hungry audience for that type of content.
Instead, think about that twenty percent that is different. That might be your presentation style, point of view, or even the length of your videos. To know what makes you different, look at that list of competitors you created and write down ten things those YouTube Channels have in common. Then take a look at that list of ten and think of two changes you could make to that list. You now have your differences.
3. Ask Yourself the Why:
Always be asking yourself why should someone be watching your video? And I don’t just mean why they should watch your whole video. I mean take a look at every second of your videos and ask yourself, should your audience keep watching? If the answer is no, that part of the video either needs to be improved or cut.
Think about the YouTube videos you watch everyday. What is the average pace of the videos? I’m guessing it’s pretty quick. After all, there’s a reason fast editing is utilized by just about every YouTuber out there. It keeps the video moving and leads your audience from moment to moment. But fast editing isn’t enough. You need to think critically about whether or not you’re wasting your audience’s time at any point during the video. Within our course we discuss Taking Thomas’. These are videos where the host rambles on without ever saying anything valuable. They continuously dangle the carrot (i.e. keep watching for my ten weight loss tips) without ever delivering.
Instead, be a Giving Gertrude. A video that never misses a beat. It just keeps delivering valuable information over and over again.
Creating a YouTube channel that thrives is always going to be a marathon. But it doesn’t have to be three marathons and a 5k. Use the three strategies above to give yourself a massive edge and create videos that make you money.
Speaking of which, if you’re looking to take your video creation to the next level, learn more about the Make Videos Make Money course by clicking the button below:
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