Olga Goodman Stephens - Audience Development Strategist, You Tube London
“If you sat down and watched all the content on You Tube uploaded today it would take you 67 years to watch “
It was an excellent and inspiring whirlwind tour – with different video examples for us to compare and contrast the way different people set about meeting the 10 Fundamentals of creating a successful You Tube Channel. All of this information is superbly illustrated in You Tube’s own Quick Start guide that can be downloaded here Quick Guide Start Guide – to building a successful Channel on YOU TUBE http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/10fundamentals.pdf
The 10 fundamentals are:
- Shareability: - Will viewers share these videos?
- Conversation: Is there an element of speaking directly to the audience?
- Interactivity: Is there a way to involve the audience with this show idea?
- Consistency: Are there strong recurring elements to this idea?
- Targeting: Is there a clearly defined audience?
- Sustainability: If the audience loves it, can you make more of it?
- Discoverability: Will the videos get found through search or related videos?
- Accessibility: Can every episode be fully appreciated by a brand new viewer?
- Collaboration: Is there room in this idea to feature other YouTubers?
- Inspiration: Is this idea coming from a place of genuine inspiration?
Three things I took away for immediate use are:
- When you set up your charity channel – think about who you want to attract – does your channel reflect you and your charities aspirations. To get around this
- Prepare your own channel trailer to get who/what you are about at the top of the page.
- Remember the call to action – get a donate button – more information about registering with Google Not for Profit Programme https://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
Be guided by the three Be’s
Be Relatable – show emotion
Be Topical - trending
Be Valuable – add value
New terminology (well new to me) is...
Break the Fourth Wall - Nice phrase to cover talking straight to camera video diary of thoughts/emotions/ideas. Makes it engaging, opens up a dialogue if you turn comments on and reply to them. This provides a consistent voice for your narrative.
Evergreen content – is a slow dependable source of traffic to your channel - create videos that answer common questions or solve common problems. Videos like “How to tie a tie” draw continuous traffic year on year.
Think above the fold – this is an old newspaper adage, which brings to mind seeing someone’s folded newspaper under their arm and wondering what the headline and photo are about. Think about algorithms and how search engines find and display information - what gets seen first in a search is a thumbnail and the 3 first lines of copy – make the image and the words count. More information – https://creatoracademy.withgoogle.com/page/education and You Tube has a space in London’s Tottenham Court Road where they run regular workshops and provide studio recording space– more information on that one here https://www.youtube.com/yt/space/en-GB/london.html
