How to Get Viewers Addicted to Your Youtube Channel

If you are considering launching a Youtube channel to market your business, there are certain valuable steps to follow that can help propel the channel's prominence among addicted Youtube viewers.

And it’s a great time to launch a channel, as video accounted for 73% of all consumer internet traffic in 2016, and is expected to rise to 82% (a 31% increase) by 2021, according to a recent Cisco Systems study.

Last week, I wrote about the myths that paralyze entrepreneurs from launching a video channel, and how to overcome those mental blocks.

In this article, you will learn 3 important elements in making an audience crave your content:

1. How frequent to publish videos
2. How to generate content ideas so you don’t run out
3. How to create content that specifically targets your customer base

1. Frequency: How often should you launch videos?

Many video creators say one of the keys to building an audience is to stay consistent with your video launch schedule.

“Viewers think of it as a show, even if [the video creator] doesn’t. The more you can be consistent, the more they can become addicted,” says Tara Swiger, who manages a Youtube channel dedicated to helping artists expand their business. “If my podcast doesn’t go up on Wednesday mornings, I get emails. Where’s your podcast? What happened?”

Therefore, it’s important to pick a frequency that you can stick to, whether it’s every other week or once a week. And it’s important to advertise the schedule in your Channel Trailer and at the top of your channel in the banner (i.e. - “New videos uploaded every Wednesday!”).

The more frequent you upload videos, the more Youtube will reward you, by making your videos appear in search results more and the “Suggested Videos” section at the end of related videos.

Daily shows tend to grow audiences the fastest. Swiger adds, “Weekly shows are good too. Twice a month is the bare minimum [to help build an audience].”

2. Content Creation: How to expand your content ideas?

If you wonder if it’s possible to generate enough content for a weekly or bi-weekly video series, here are some common ideas that work for successful channels. These are tips provided by Swiger last month at a Creativelive workshop in San Francisco.

• Talk about a book you are reading, especially if your channel is focused on a business niche and the book is about industry trends.
• Audience Q&A: Get your audience involved by asking them to comment below the video with their questions. This is a clever, or “sneaky,” technique to trigger the Youtube algorithm. The more comments you get, Youtube registers it as engagement credit. The more engagement a video gets, the more Youtube will show it in search results. And ultimately, you will get more content ideas that your viewers want. In the video you may say: “In the comments below, tell me one thing you’d like to see me make a video about.”
• Create a form: What is the biggest question you have about X? This is powerful, because if they can’t find the answer to X, they are googling that question. And if you have a video around that, you’re video will appear in the search results.
• Record viewers questions: Create a Google phone number and have viewers leave a voice message asking you a related question. You can then play the voice message on air, then you can answer the question in the video. If you use this technique, its a good idea to state in the voice recorder: If you leave a voice message, you are giving me permission to air your question in the video.
• Use Social Media to recruit questions: Make a post, calling for questions on social media. For example, post a random picture on Instagram, and say: Hey, a Q&A of my podcast is coming up. Leave a comment with your question and I’ll answer it on air.” This will increase your instagram views, because the more interaction you have, the more instagram will show your post.
• After doing the podctast, do another Instagram post, saying: “Hey, I just did a podcast Q&A. In it, I answered these questions posed by these people (list there names).” By tagging these people in the post, it expands the audience who sees the post by many of their followers as well.
• Put the link to the podcast in your Instagram profile, and in the instagram post, end by saying “Go to the link in my profile to listen.” This is a way to cross pollinate your audiences if you have one for podcasting and another for Instagram.

3. Here are ways to generate video content targeting your customers.

It’s common for Youtubers to make videos about their work process, but that often targets viewers who work in their field, instead of potential customers who would hire them.

If your goal is to use your channel to build your customer base and prepare potential customers for a consultation, videos should be about prepping them.

For example, if you are a photographer, it’s a good idea to make videos about everything, except the photography. Instead, you focus on the client you are serving and what s/he needs to know before and during the shoot.

Examples for photography clients (suggestions are from Swiger's workshop):

1. How to style your hair for a photo shoot
2. How to get ready for a baby shoot
3. How to keep your dog calm for pet photo shoot 
4. How to keep a dog’s coats clean
5. What are best backdrops for dog shoots
6. What to bring to a photo session
7. Top 5 outfits to wear for a photography session on Topic X.
8. Top 5 outfits never to wear on photography session on Topic X.
9. Top 5 resources on getting ready for photography sessions (ie - blogs, podcasts, etc.)

 Interview an expert and ask questions you’ve addressed in previous videos, but your guest will provide other tips or perhaps answer it in a different way that will help connect with your audience.

“The great thing about [these videos], it helps with customer retention,” says Swiger. “When she hires you, you send her the videos, and she goes: ‘Awesome, she has thought of everything!’ ”

Swiger says she’ll likely hire you again, if you help her prepare to make the photo shoot pain-free and as easy to prepare.

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Kevin Ferguson is president of KF Brand Studio. He writes on topics related to branding, storytelling, video creation, Youtube analytics/optimization and professional leadership.

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