Can’t stop watching videos on Youtube? Well believe it or not, you are not alone in this. According to a recent report, a single person anywhere on the globe is watching videos on this platform for an average of 30 minutes daily. This makes it the highest used video service platform of the world and that too for free! Well, only if you forget that it makes about 15 billion dollars annually from advertisements.
YouTube has given content creators an amazing opportunity to publish their creative content and showcase it to the world. This platform has turned ordinary people into celebrities like Justin Bieber and Psy. In addition to this, the platform can turn any brand into a huge success by the use of video and banner advertisement, if it is used in the right way. According to a report by Go Global 2019, nearly 78.8%(i.e. 8 out of 10) of marketers consider it to be the most effective video marketing platform on the internet. This makes it ‘a place of opportunity’ for all. However, not everyone is doing great on this platform. There are a handful few, who are able to follow the winning Mantra and take the journey to the top. Therefore, the ultimate question to ask…
Question: What is the winning Mantra?
Answer: Observe and Analyse
By observing successful Youtube channels, one can analyse a pattern followed by such channels. It is perhaps essential to see in which category your Youtube channel fits and what works in amassing not just a niche audience which consumes the particular information you offer but also audience in a general sense. Let’s discuss here some of the highly subscribed Youtube channels of different categories.
Beauty and cosmetics: NikkieTutorials
With about 13.4 million subscribers on Youtube, Nikkie Tutorials is one of the giants of Youtube channels in the beauty and cosmetics category. Started in the year 2008, she has been posting videos of DIY make-up tutorials, Reviewing beauty products and on hot topics related to cosmetics industry- Every week. Therefore, regular content creation and creating content of high quality plays a big role in growing your channel.
Next is the use of Eye catchy thumbnails for her videos. This creates a good first impression and attracts the people visiting her channel to click on these videos to find out what they are all about. The use of beautiful graphics in her videos as well as in the designing of the thumbnails is exceptional. She also makes sponsored videos on demand from cosmetics brands to review their products which adds on to her fan base creating a trust factor for her audience.
With the immense content created in the long run, she has been able to categorize them into video series which is a great tool available on Youtube and makes her subscribers consume huge content on the basis of their choice. When your content on Youtube is consumed by a huge audience, you also get the opportunity to monetize your videos by placing ads on them. This creates a source of regular revenue and also absorbs the cost of video creation in the future. Live videos or interactive videos are a great tool to keep your audience engaged and keep in regular conversation with them. They are used in a way where your subscribers watching them can talk to you on live chats during the video and you can answer them promptly.
Art and Craft/ Life skills: 5-Minute Crafts
Started in 2016, it has amassed an audience of over 67 million subscribers. This channel provides short videos of ‘Do it yourself’ art and craft which are graphically vibrant and addictive for any viewer to watch. But what makes these videos highly addictive is its ability to convince its viewers that these videos will just take a very small amount of time for them to watch. Interestingly, you will rarely find videos on this channel that are literally of 5 minutes duration. Therefore, short duration videos are more likely to be watched than longer ones. This can be achieved by either making the content crisp and to-the-point or by naming the videos in such a way that the viewer relates with them lesser time being spent like- ‘5 minutes craft ideas’.
The use of exceptionally vibrant and catchy thumbnails makes it even more enticing for any viewer to watch. Graphic designing plays a big role in the making of these videos as well. Here too, you will find regular content creation being done and almost 3 videos per day being uploaded. With high viewership, they are able to monetize their videos and earn a lot of profit from ads placement on their videos.
Gadget unboxing: Unbox Therapy
Unboxing videos are becoming a huge trend on Youtube. The channel ‘Unbox Therapy’ has about 16.7 million followers at present and makes videos of unboxing new and trending gadgets whenever they are launched by big brands. This provides the channel with sponsorship from those gadget brands and keeps their fan-base intact with the right kind of reviews they provide to their viewers. The viewers of this channel get a kind of vicarious happiness of opening the box of a fresh new product and gives them a sense of satisfaction. The regularity of new and amazing content they upload on their channel, the graphically attractive thumbnails for the videos, the use of passive advertisement, live and interactive videos and categorization of videos in video series are a few takeaways from the growth of this channel. They also collaborate with other Youtubers who have gaming channels so that their viewers can have an opinion about the gadgets on the basis of gaming compatibility.
Sports: Nike
Nike’s Youtube channel is the highest subscribed among the different sports brand channels like Reebok, Adidas and Puma that are available on Youtube. Started in 2006, they have been regularly posting content on their channel for more than a decade now. Their subscribers currently stand at 1.45 million and counting. Their content does not just talk about the brand actively but also deal with diverse issues that affect the day-to-day life of the common people like nutrition, disease, social stigma, racism, discrimination, etc. They post a new video every week and are involved in regular content creation. They have numerous videos which have been categorized into playlists of workout videos, nutrition, talk shows and even videos on social issues like gender equality, politics and racism.
By not directly advertising products in their videos, they promote passive advertisement of their products which is a highly effective way of advertisement that takes the brand much further. They also collaborate with different Youtubers to gain traction in not just their regular audience but also the audience of their guest Youtubers. Today, social media marketing strategy has highly evolved and works on starting a conversation rather than the conventional banner ads campaign of the past.
The Gist:
From the above case studies of different channels on Youtube, we can see that there is a common thread that joins all successful channels. The common thread is- Regular content creation, graphically vibrant and eye catchy thumbnails, sponsored videos, passive advertisement, social media marketing, content marketing, live and interactive videos, collaboration with other Youtubers and use of graphic designing in the videos. If a new channel needs such exceptional skills at graphic designing and are not able to fill that vacuum, they can outsource and hire a firm working in graphic designing services. Their experience and skill-set will transform your channel into a potentially high-growth channel. Some graphic designing firms offer unlimited graphic design services for their clients so that they pay for a holistic support package in making their channel as graphically attractive as possible. This can work as a strong hand for any new channel trying to make it to the top on Youtube.
