There are thousands of different YouTube channels out there, on everything from prank videos to making Japanese sushi. YouTube has evolved massively beyond the early days of rants and cat videos.
Now YouTube is a place where creators from all walks of life can upload live content and make thousands of dollars from live views. Popular YouTuber PewDiePie’s net worth is estimated to be as much as $50 million in 2020.
How can you stand out from the millions of other creators, all competing with you for views? Here are our top tips for how to grow your brand and make money on YouTube.
Creating your brand
The first thing you need to do is create a strong brand to promote. Sit down and think about what your channel is actually about. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What am I passionate about?
- What am I good at?
Pick a subject that fits into both categories. For instance, you might be passionate about beauty and good at doing make-up.
Now that you have your channel’s subject, you need to make it as specific as possible in order to create a strong brand. Essentially, you must find your niche. Ask yourself:
- What are the subcategories for this topic?
- Which subcategory can I see myself creating videos about?
The subcategories for make-up could be tips for different occasions, product reviews or cruelty-free make-up.
Once you’ve decided on your niche, it gets a little more complicated. YouTube is such a huge place, it’s likely that there’ll be tons of channels who are already successful at what you want to do. In order to beat the competition, you need a strong brand. The most successful YouTubers add value to their audience in a way that their competitors don’t. There are two more questions that you should ask yourself:
- What does my audience want and how can I give that to them?
- What makes me unique?
Using our make-up example, it’s easy to see what an audience might want – to learn which make-up products to use. You can give them product reviews to help them decide what to buy. Now comes the tricky bit – deciding on how you’re unique. Maybe you could use different products on different skin-types to see if they actually do what the company is claiming?
Answer all these questions for your channel and you’ll have created a strong brand.
Growing your audience
Picture this. You’ve uploaded your first video. You wait for the views with bated breath … nothing.
YouTube is an excellent place for creators to earn money. But, as we keep saying, there’s a heck of a lot of competition. Here’s how to get more views on YouTube:
- Do collaborations with other people. These will definitely get you more views because their audience will be exposed to your channel. But partnerships with popular YouTubers are hard to get. When you contact someone you’d like to collaborate with, make sure you talk about what you can offer them instead of wanting you to want to get out of the partnership. They’ll be more likely to say yes.
- Put time and effort into your thumbnail. Humans are very visual creatures. Have you ever heard the saying, “you eat with your eyes?” Well, the same goes for deciding which videos to watch. People are more likely to click on a thumbnail that’s visually appealing. Use programs like Canva to create an engaging thumbnail that makes your audience want to stop scrolling.
- Use keywords in your titles. One of the best ways to get more views on YouTube is to use words that people actually search in your titles. Instead of “My Backpacking Trip,” try “Backpacking Around Thailand.”This technique is guaranteed to make your video come up when people search for information about traveling in Thailand.
Use all of these elements combined when creating your YouTube channel to maximize your chances of growing a strong brand and a valuable audience. Once you’ve got a big enough audience, you can join the YouTube Partnership Program, where you get paid for having adverts on your videos. You can also get partnerships and sponsorships with other brands to achieve an even higher income.
