Monetising Your YouTube Content: 10 Tips to Improve Your Odds
In today’s social media driven world, video is king, accounting for 73% of all social media traffic in 2016 and expected to climb to 82% in 2021. Every publisher and media company knows this and is trying to improve their ROI for video, the best chance for monetisation remains with the pioneer of social video: YouTube.
As illustrated by our industry survey, YouTube remains one of the best places to monetise video content. There are three major paths for monetisation, once you’re ready: social media, your own organisation’s website, and syndication. Of those publishers and media companies surveyed, 68% of people got revenue from their company’s websites, 55% pulled from YouTube and 52% saw income from Facebook. Smaller percentages saw some kind of revenue from Instagram (20%) and Snapchat (8%), and syndication trailed all sites with only 33% of publishers and companies getting any type of revenue from syndicated content.
YouTube currently sees more than a billion users watching millions of hours of video. It’s no wonder that you need a strategy to make sure your channel gets seen and promoted. Just like with other social media, success is dependent on having an actively engaged audience. Here at Wochit, we’ve had success on our own YouTube channels by following ten simple rules. Whether you’re just looking to get started in YouTube or you want to reinvigorate existing channels, these tips could help you, too.
1 - Speak with a singular voice
No matter how many divisions your organisation may have, start with one channel before branching out. Using one channel for all content makes it easier to adhere to your core messaging strategy and use a unified voice. It will also help target your audience and drive them to one place.
2 - Don’t forget the window dressing
Having an informative and interesting landing page is crucial, so spend some time thinking about and investing in it. Everything on your page should speak to what your brand, and your channel, is about.
3 - Feed the bots
Bots aren’t able to watch your videos to index content. To circumvent this problem, make sure you provide as much information as possible in the ‘about’ section of your page so that your content can be matched to relevant audiences.
4 - Streamline your page
When uploading content, consider what topics it may be relevant for. From there, create playlists based on these topics or audience interests, and always ensure the most popular videos are above the fold.
5 - Create a content plan
Having a well thought out content plan and sticking to a publishing schedule will drive your engagement forward more than you’d think. Whether you’re publishing content daily or weekly, keep pace. Viewers and subscribers will appreciate knowing when to expect your next piece to appear and they’re more likely to tune in.
6 - Timing is key
The best time to publish your videos is during non-working hours - this means in the early morning, during lunchtime or in the evening after people get home.
7 - Converse with your audience
Successful channels are 50% dependent on content, but also 50% dependent on interactions with followers. Knowing this, make time to engage individually. This could be through responding to comments, integrating viewer suggestions or giving a simple ‘thumbs up’.
8 - Get out the toolkit
At the end of the day, you want more than an increase in views - you want people to subscribe to your channel and keep coming back for more. Using tools on offer from YouTube, like in-video calls to action (CTAs), are easy ways to point people to subscribing.
9 - Know your audience
Know what type of content is of interest to your audience - are they looking for hard hitting news, or do they want to be entertained? Either of these work equally well in terms of monetisation.
10 - Don’t back off
Once you’ve gotten your channel standing, don’t pull back. While keeping your channel updated doesn’t need to take loads of time, you should dedicated some time everyday (an hour or so) to check in and re-engage with your audience.
YouTube remains king of the castle when it comes to video content, and knowing how to monetise on the opportunities the platform has to offer is a great way to bring in extra revenue with your channel.