Why YouTubers Need to Start Thinking Like a Blogger Part 1

It’s fair to say that Bloggers and YouTubers both work very hard when it comes to what they do, bloggers have to write, edit and take many photos to create that perfect post so that their readers will read and YouTube content creators have to film, edit, find music in some cases and create thumbnails. But what both need to do is come up with catchy titles, come up with the right tags and promote their content and this I’m afraid YouTubers is where bloggers surpass you because they have the right formula in place to do this, I am not saying this to be mean as I am a Blogger and more recently have become a Travel Vlogger on YouTube and many bloggers are starting to do the same to give their subscribers more and it’s paying off.

Over the next three posts in my “Why YouTubers need to Start Thinking Like a Blogger Series”, I am going to cover Social Media, making money from your brand, and how to evolve into a brand so if you want to be in the know when my posts and videos are out why not subscribe to my newsletter.

I am the first to admit that I have only just started my channel and I don’t have many subscribers because I have been busy getting ready to launch this site and creating my content so that I can post on a regular basis as the next few months are going to be very busy for me ahead of my big trip in 2018. But I have three clients who all have YouTube channels and went from no views to 1000’s of views and tripled in subscribers and here is how you can give you channel a boost and up your YouTube game;

Social Media

YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, but there are 1000’s of other YouTubers out there probably covering the same type of subject as you in their content, which means not only are you having to compete with lots of other YouTubers but you may be getting penalised in the YouTube the search engine for the lack of views you are getting in the wake of the so-called YouTube Apocolypse, if your content does not fit with the new YouTube rules, and unless you have your video go viral as a YouTuber you need to adapt or die. In other words, you need to be more accessible to your audience starting with how and where you promote your latest YouTube content.

All social media channels

• Ensure that all your social media has the same name as your channel this makes it easier for your followers to find you and follow you.
• Connect all your social media with your YouTube bio.
• Brand all your social media with your logo, use headers where necessary e.g. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter (You can do this in Photoshop if you are not so savvy on Photoshop do it on canva or hire someone to create your branding)

Instagram

Instagram is as strong as ever because they keep coming up with new ways to keep its members interested in using the app, however, since Facebook took over it has become a little harder to get your pictures seen unless you are active on there 24/7/. A great article to read on Instagram success is from the Faded Spring blog.

• Post on it regularly at least three times a week or you will start to lose followers.
• Add your thumbnails as a photo.
• Create a 30-second trailer for your latest video and direct your viewer back to your channel to watch the full video, do this for all your video’s going forward here is an example of mine (click here).
• Do an insta story get your followers involved
• Use Hashtags
• Link your latest post in your bio
• Make sure you reply to anyone who comments on the images or videos you post (this will get difficult if you get millions of comments but make an effort to at least like the first 100 comments)

Facebook Page

Facebook is the most used of all the social media’s and it really does bring people together and although Facebook HQ want to earn money from pages and businesses, it can still be a very powerful way to boost your YouTube channel.

• Try Facebook live on your page weekly or monthly whatever you feel comfortable with as this gives a personal touch.
• Post your latest video on your page with the YouTube link (do this on your personal profile page ask your friends and family to share your video link on their profiles as well)
• Interact with your followers.
• Try a mini Facebook add if you have it in your budget to do so (it’s not imperative but it will help to maybe spend £9 on a 7-day target your audience add until your followers are more active with you).
• Be consistent and post on your page at least 3/4 times a week, daily if you have the time.

Twitter

A lot of people um and arr about Twitter, it is the marmite of social media you either love it or hate. I for one enjoy using twitter I like that I can search using hashtags, I like that it doesn’t ask me for personal information that I have to share with the world because of the sneaky terms and conditions like the ones facebook chuck in every once and a while. It’s simple it’s a profile picture and bio.

• Use hashtags
• Post 2-3 times a day (if you don’t have time to do this you can pre-write your tweets using Hootsuite or Buffer app and choose the right time for them to be posted)
• Join Twitter chats that are relevant to what your niche.
• Look for hashtags that are relevant to your tweet.
• Follow PR Companies, brands, other content creators relevant to you.

YouTube

You are here because you are a YouTuber so you don’t need me to go into details about YouTube, but I am still going to give you some tips.

• Look at popular videos that are similar to your video, see the tags that they are using.
• Engage with the comments on your video’s make your viewers feel special, by replying to them or just by hearting their comments (this shows that you appreciate viewers).
• (This doesn’t apply to everyone) It’s actually more of the well-known YouTubers doing this, but STOP asking for handouts from your viewers on patreon, you chose to be a YouTuber and before the so-called YouTube Apocalypse some YouTubers did well from their viewers and made a decent revenue from the views of their content created (Part 2 of why you need to think like a Blogger has tips on how to make money and not only rely on YouTube revenue to make money)

Other Ways to Get Your Content seen and your Brand/Channel to Grow

I have covered the main social media avenues of allowing your followers to be able to interact with you and share your content, but there are still so many other ways that you can work on this and really grow your channel as a brand.

Facebook Groups

So, above I covered the importance of having a Facebook page for your YouTube Channel, but just as important is joining useful Facebook groups and I don’t mean the useless ones that random people post their videos or just do sub for subs on YouTube, because your only gaining inactive followers or people who will unsubscribe as soon as they get your subscription to their channel. What I mean is for you to join the well-run groups with admins who have rules and are very active with the weekly threads to promote links and other social media, this is a great way to increase your social media presence and a great way to meet other nice content creators.

Create a Website/Blog

If bloggers like myself are adding YouTube to the ways we share content, why can’t YouTubers do the same? You can purchase WordPress and a domain name for as little as £5.99 a month. Then build your site up to have a home page, about page, blog (You can also add your video to your blog post), videos page (because you will not be able to blog about everything) and add a work with me page (If you want to start earning with your brand). If you are worried that you do not know how to become a blogger there are plenty of tips online and a great course I recommend Is Monica Stott’s Bloggers Course

Share, share and share Again

As well as the obvious ways to share your content on Facebook and Twitter, there are other ways to reach more viewers and drive more traffic to you and these can also be done in the facebook thread sharing groups;

• Pinterest – Share your thumbnails and other pictures you may have taken associated with your vlog/blog and add the link to your video, join similar Pinterest boards and post in those as well.
• StumbleUpon – Share your video or blog post on here (but make sure it is suitable to be seen in a working environment or you could get banned)
• FlipBoard – Flipboard is like creating a magazine and it’s still fairly new sharing site. Although it won’t let you share your videos directly on there if you are writing a blog post to accompany your latest video you can share it that way.
• Newsletter – If you have a website this gives you the perfect opportunity to get your followers to subscribe to your newsletter to remind your followers that you have your content out their, that you are hosting a meet up or a competition and what you have coming up in the future for them to look forward to (personally I only like to receive a monthly newsletter from anyone I sign up to, if I get any more then two newsletters I get annoyed and feel a little harrassed)

Consistency & Planning

It is hard to get content all the time and research shows the more you post the more you will gain a following and you should be posting at least once a week, so plan in advance what you are going to post each week a month in advance (unless you are a daily vlogger that may be difficult) I have a fitness influencer client and we have it planned that every Wednesday he posts a fitness video (between 5-16 minutes long), on Friday’s a food prep video to promote healthy eating (between 5-10 minutes long) and on a Sunday’s he does a vlog either in the form of a Q&A or a collab or even a fitness product review (he does this so that it is filmed the 3rd week of the month and it is all edited and ready by the last week of the month ready to post for the coming month and this frees up a lot of time for him to promote his stuff and within the two months that he has put this in place his followers have gone through the roof and he is just about to do his first paid for campaign.

So that brings us to the end of the first part of “Why YouTubers need to start thinking like Bloggers” Series, I hope that you have enjoyed and don’t forget to check out part 2 and part 3.