Posted by If you’re a seasoned YouTube marketer, odds are you’ve already learned not to do these 5 things.
But if you’re new to YouTube, take heart – these are the same mistakes almost everyone makes in the beginning, and they’re easy to correct.
1: Creating Videos on Anything and Everything
It’s tempting to create several videos a week or even every day just to get loads of content onto YouTube. But unless one of those videos happens to go viral, all that work isn’t going to do you much good.
Instead, focus exclusively on the content that positions you as a trusted resource. Once your growing audience realizes that every single one of your videos is paydirt, they’ll keep watching.
Your goal is to become THE go-to resource for your narrow niche, product or service.
2: Posting a Gazillion Promotional Videos
Okay, a gazillion is a big number, but darned if there aren’t channels out there with video after video that all say the same thing – “BUY MY STUFF!”
Big mistake. If you’re going to make your channel a valuable destination that people WANT to view, you’re going to want to tamp down the self-promotion and focus on creating value (think ‘education’) and rapport with your audience.
3: Getting Your Titles Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
You’re the expert, so you give your video a title from YOUR point of view.
But guess what? Your audience is searching for answers from THEIR point of view, not yours.
Maybe you’ve got the perfect video for them, but if they can’t find it, then they’ll never see it.
Poll your YouTube subscribers via the Community Tab and ASK them what they’re looking for. Or do a keyword search for what people are looking for. Or find relevant YouTube channels and dig into the comments to discover the language your audience is using.
Not sure what your next video will be? Go to the Google search bar, type in a relevant phrase and see what comes up. Then use this exact phrase as the title of your next video.
4: Not Being Consistent
If someone clicks on your video for marketing on Facebook, they’re going to expect the rest of your videos will be something similar. But if they find videos on dog tricks or your family vacation, it just gets weird and confusing, and they’ll leave.
When you create a video, ask yourself what the next logical question is that your viewer might be asking and then create a video on that. This way you can make entire series of videos on, say, Facebook Marketing, Instagram Marketing and so forth, and your viewers will continue to come back for more.
5: Using Lousy Thumbnails
Your YouTube video thumbnails should help to sell the click, which is why using a random shot of you talking usually isn’t going to work.
Instead, place a headline on your thumbnail that speaks to what the visitor is looking for. If someone is searching for “How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies” and your thumbnail text is, “Voted World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie” then you’re likely to get the click.
Bonus Tips for Marketing On YouTube
1: The key to successfully marketing on YouTube is simple if you can imagine two circles…
…One circle is all the content you can create that serves your business.
…The other circle is all the content you can create that serves your audience.
Now figure out which content does BOTH simultaneously (where the two circles overlap) and create that.
Every time you think about making new content, ask if it serves your business AND your audience. If it doesn’t, rethink it.
2: Here’s a formula for getting email subscribers from YouTube:
Create a video on how to do something relevant to your business.
Maybe there are 20 ways to do it, and in the video you give them three of those methods. Then plug your freebie throughout the video.
You finish tip #1 and you say, “This is just a small portion of what I cover in depth in this free guide. You can grab it by following the link in the description.
Then you finish tip #2 and you offhandedly (no hard sell) mention you cover that more extensively in the guide.
Then when you finish the third tip, remind them that they’ve only gotten just a little bit of what you offer, and they can access more in the free guide.
Doing this lets the viewer know early on that the video is valuable and the report is even more valuable. It also sets you up as the expert they need to pay attention to.