Amy Schmittauer presents a talk on building a successful YouTube/video strategy. She motivates video by citing search and engagement benefits (YouTube as the second-largest search engine; "53 times more likely to appear in search"; longer minutes watched), then outlines five steps: set clear goals (valuable editorial plan, organic brand advocacy, aligned calls-to-action), create an addictive, consistent format, never run out of content ideas, optimize for search/SEO, and cultivate community engagement (responding to comments, rewarding loyal fans). The talk mixes anecdotes, TV/Scandal/Mr. Rogers analogies, and practical tactical guidance (social funnel, calls-to-action).
Chapters
Hello, Are we on? Cool. Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. Awesome. Hi, I'm Amy. Can I get a show of hands? If you have watched a YouTube video in the last 48 hours, I'll assume you were busy yesterday. Cool. Keep your hands up if you remember who made that video. Keep your hands up if you finished it. This is what's wrong with YouTube and we're going to talk about that today. Okay? There's hope. There's hope. We're going to fix that for you guys. So obviously we need to talk about why YouTube. There's a very obvious answer of the second largest search engine only to adopted mommy. Google. Right? That's a pretty good reason to be on YouTube. You're also 53 times more likely to appear in search with video content. That's not just because you're on YouTube or any video platform that's having video on your website. That is what search engines want to see. You're also keeping visitors on your site five times the average rate. Again referring to the website. Great reason to be on YouTube, but great reason for video as a whole. And you're also going to make consumers more confident about their online purchases, which I think we all would like to see more happen. If we sell online, we want them to feel confident about what they're buying and video helps accomplish that. Before I start with anything, I like to share my favorite quote because I am a true YouTuber. Okay. I started from my bedroom with a point and shoot camera and I've only upgraded the camera still in a bedroom. So you always need to remember to do what you can with what you have where you are. Theodore Roosevelt. I don't know if you guys know best video blogger of all time, so really want to take notes from him. Okay, let's go over what we're going to talk about today. The five steps. First, your goals. Shocker. I'm going to make you make some decisions first. It's not all tips and tricks. Next, we're going to talk to talk about addictive video. What is the format that actually keeps people coming back to watch your videos? We'll also discuss what to talk about. How to never have a blank slate. I'm sure you all have dealt with this before. Creating a piece of content, thinking, oh, what are we going to do today? What are we going to blog about today? What are we going to Instagram today? What are we going to do a video about? It should always be very clear what you're going to do next based on your format. Optimize optimize, optimize. Why are we on YouTube? Because of search. So we need to go through the necessary SEO opportunities and then community. YouTube and its viewers, this community is the best you'll ever have online, period. They will go to the end of the earth for you and as a brand, if you bring them what they want with your content. So let's talk about your goals. Has anyone ever seen this video, Sneezing Baby Panda? Best video of all time. Okay, if you haven't seen it, let me give you the play by play. Mama Panda is just chilling. She's eating something. Baby Panda is sleeping, right? Baby Panda wakes up and sneezes the craziest sneeze you've ever heard in your life and shocks mama. End of video. That is the best. 16 seconds. Seriously, it's the best video. But this is not your goal. This beautiful Photoshop work that I did here, these views, that's not your goal. That's not what we're trying to do. You're not coming to me and saying, how do we go viral, guys? I need to make this happen. We need to just go viral. This is not your goal. This guy agrees. Cute stock photo boy. No, no. These are your. These are your goals. Ideally, you will have a valuable editorial plan followed by organic brand advocacy in addition to clear and align calls to action. So many people get started with video and they don't ask for the relative return you now have the ability to ask for. So I'm giving you permission, but you have to have the first two as well. Let's break it down. Valuable editorial plan. Give the people what they want. I know you guys have a lot of big plans about what you want to put in your YouTube content that you think your audience is going to be so into, but you need to think about what they want before they're going to even give you the opportunity. Opportunity to talk about what you think they need. So being very in tune to who your audience is and what they want is how you're going to win. On YouTube, audience retention is the most critical metric. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but YouTube not only talks about views, they also talk about minutes watched. Now, have you guys seen this metric? There's a good reason for that, because when you have viewers on to continue watching your content, more minutes watched, they're making more money. That makes sense, right? So if you have good audience retention, which means, let's take the example from earlier, you all started watching a video, you might remember who made it because you searched for something or you saw it on your feed and then you maybe finished it. The ideal situation is we're getting people to stay, stick around for a good percentage of the video. Google and YouTube take notice of that and you will reap the benefits in turn by keeping people on your content. Stay consistent with format and expectations. YouTube, shockingly like television, we like knowing what's coming, but also being pleasantly surprised. We'll talk a little bit more about that organic brand advocacy. What does this mean? You are invited to the conversation, so don't drop the mic. We're going to talk about YouTube comments later. This is a big issue in this area. We want to publish the content and then watch it fly without actually helping it along. It's very, very important that if you want the brand advocacy that these amazingly loyal viewers can offer you, that you help them with this by not leaving the conversation with when you start it. Give your top fans the credit they deserve. There are going to be some people out there that we might want to call creepers, but they might also be like the most loyal viewers you'll ever have. Let those people work hard for you and give them credit. Also, active comments include the creator. I've already harped on that. I'm going to talk about that, like a lot, so. So prepare for that. Clear and align calls to actions. Give value and ask for relative return. We're not going to do a video about how to create a souffle and then ask for the viewer to hire you as their personal chef, not relative return. Right? But you do have the right to ask for value in return for the values that you have given. So what can you do there? And how do you call that action? As relevantly as possible. Your audience wants to do something with the value you've shared, so let them and tell them what to do. What moves the needle for you? Tell them what that is. Graphics only might be seen. Call the action. We all love our little end slates and title sequences, right? Look how pretty it is. It says to subscribe to the channel, so maybe they will. No, they won't. I don't know. The last time you watched a video, maybe the time I asked you when you watched one in the last 48 hours and you opened up the tab on your desktop and possibly opened up another tab, checked your email, maybe opened up another tab because you got to know what's going on on Facebook at the exact same time and you're still listening. Are you going to see that graphic? No. You might make it to the end of the video, which is going to make it okay. But if you don't call the action, there's a very good chance they're not going to take it. This is when I like to bring in my favorite little thing called a social funnel. It's important to know that every single platform you're on has a place and a call to action in line with it. Can you skip this process? Sure, sure. I think we're seeing that with live streaming. There may be a lot less to this funnel than the usual, but you should always plan your call to action accordingly. You hanging out at the cocktail party that is Twitter? Get them to your content. Get them to your content on your website. You're on the website. You have complete control of the real estate. Get them on your email list. Build the database. I may be a true YouTuber, but I also do business. And I know my YouTube subscribership number is pretty, but it is not how I make a living. I need to have a place where those people are hanging out with me and me alone. And that is my list. It's very important to keep your social funnel in mind. So what makes video addictive? Does anyone know who this is? Oh, gosh. Mr. Rogers. You just knew what he was going to do, right? He comes on and takes off his jacket. He's singing to you. He puts his sweater on. You know this trolley is going to show up at some point, right? And you learn something. But you know what you're going to get every single time? Does that ring a bell? Okay, maybe this is a little bit more relatable. Does anyone watch Scandal? Right. What do we know about this? Olivia Pope is going to show up with a fabulous outfit, an amazing Prada bag, and she's gonna save the day.
