In this blog we’re going to share 4 secrets of YouTube video production to get your videos watched we’ve learnt from our years of creating content geared for YouTube.
1 – Understanding your audience
One of the first things to do when creating content for your YouTube channel is to figure out who your target market or audience is. Successful channels tailor their video content to resonate with specific target audiences on the platform. Don’t overthink it, we’re not saying you need to niche down to 25-30 males, in Wigan with specifically £5.30 in their couch but if you have a broad stroke idea of who your videos are made for it will help you with your tone, style and scripting.
For example, if you’re a solo accountant looking to direct more traffic from landlords to your site with videos, creating hyper-complex videos about form TXme1075 won’t attract the right person, whereas having a video on a basic but useful subject like ‘What you can expense against tax as a landlord in 2024’ will pay off.
Understand YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google so think of the videos as SEO, everyone uses the platform to learn so use this to tap into the diverse demographics of the platform to understand and engage your audience.
2 – Planning your strategy
You don’t have to have the best camera, and you don’t have to give an Oscar speech but one thing you need to have to succeed is good content, as ‘Content is King‘.
Great content isn’t chance, it often boils down to goal setting, content planning, scheduling and audience targeting.
- Goal Setting – What do you want the channel to do? Attract new customers, grow your presence online, showcase new products or services or just show off what you do. All these will inform how you approach your content strategy
- Content planning- lead by your goals you can now plan a suite of content geared around this. For example, if your goal is to showcase a new product you can plan a suite of videos: Product teaser (short 15-30 secs), product video ( detail and show off what the product is), who is the product best for ( a video where you show off who this product is for and how it helps them), FAQ ( answer any questions around the product)
- Scheduling – It’s a road well travelled but the classic ‘Consistency is key’ still holds true. Having a consistent schedule for videos gives people a reason to come back to check in on your content and gives you more time to build on your goals. We’re not saying you need to upload every day for this as for most this is impossible. We say to at least upload once a month, even at this level people know to check in every month to see your latest content. Once a week we’ve found to be a great sweet spot for budding YouTubers.
- Audience targeting – As with point 1, targeting your audience is key and works hand in hand with your goals. By knowing your Audience you can tailor your content style and delivery. If your product is clothing aimed at young adults, then it would be a weird choice to have Anthony Hopkins star in the promo material (Sorry Tony).
If you’re a business starting up a channel, think long and hard about your brand voice, image and ideal customer. You absolutely need to align your videos with your overall message and voice. It would be very odd for a serious service like Halifax to start doing Tik-Tok-style prank videos and this may actually harm the brand more than appeal to a young audience who isn’t even their target.
3 – High quality production
Now to get the ball rolling you may be strapped for resources and have to use the tools you have at hand, a phone, a cheap mic and office lights. We’ve even shown how to get the best from these on our YouTube channel here, but saying that, there comes a point where an iPhone and a tripod won’t cut it if you want success on YouTube. If you’re a business we’d even say you’d be better off skipping the iPhone stage altogether.
Big channels almost universally employ high-quality visuals, lighting, sets and editing to give their videos a professional look. They make them more watchable, and more shareable. Who wants to send a video to a friend with terrible sound?
These pieces of content represent your brand and often are the first content someone might see of yours. Do you want to half-arse it? That then could be the first impression of your brand and therefore your product or service. You wouldn’t want a bad website so why do you put up with bad video?
4 – Promote and engage
You’ve done your research, found your target demo, planned and crafted a nice piece of content, put it on your well-presented channel and that’s it right?…
Not quite, almost there but if no one knows it’s there how are they going to find it?
You need to promote it, just as you do with your website and business, it needs to be part of a wider strategy. You can make your channel easier to find through proper off-site promotion. Add it to your newsletters, shout about your hard work on social media, if it’s business related get it on LinkedIn.
The final step is that you engage with commenters and other users. This way people can see you as more than just a faceless entity. Engaging with your commenters gives value to their contribution and makes them more likely to return. They may also provide vital feedback to guide further content or even on your products or services themselves. Engaging with other channels in the space may provide you with a spotlight from larger channels and the opportunity to collaborate with them in the future growing your reach even further.
For a look at some of our YouTube content. Take a look at one of our latest videos filmed for one of our YouTube clients Coffeekev. He’s a coffee themed youtuber (his niche), and he produces weekly videos (his schedule). His videos are aimed at beginner-intermediate home baristas and coffee aficionados (his audience). His aim is to help make you better at making coffee at home and he reviews the gear you need to do this (his goal and his content plan come from this).
If you like what you see, feel free to drop us a message to see how we can help turn your ideas into so scroll-stopping YouTube content or call us on 0161 3273799.