YouTube from the date when it was launched in 2005 got its evolution from a simple video hosting to a social media behemoth. There are around 30 million daily visitors on YouTube. These visitors view and watch about 5 billion videos everyday and are engaged on YouTube. Also, there are about 300 hours video uploaded every minute. There are a lot of exposure and monetization opportunities that come with it. Even there are growing number of users who are making living out of it.
What all you need to get started and get through success is just a video camera and interesting topic and to be a professional YouTuber you need to be a jack of all trades. The trades hereby include understanding about basics of SEO and online marketing techniques. This will help you in building, producing and creating good content.
Do You Know? That the top 13 YouTube stars earned over $54 million till now. Don’t you think the rewards are worth the efforts we put in?
So now let’s get into knowing how can one define their YouTube as a career in their life. The career path to make YouTube as a career can be given by some of the essential points as given below-
Definition of success for you
To make anything as your career you must be very clear for the terms and conditions. These terms should be adhered with utmost seriousness. Therefore, before you begin with YouTube as a career you should be very clear as to what is your success in terms for YouTube. When you know what defines success for you then find out the means through which it could be achieved. After all this is done get on to create some realistic targets for yourselves and then perform your actions towards the same. The progress can be then measured consecutively with all your attempts and contributions for the same. You will also be able to see the places whereby you need to improve to have people on your YouTube.
Research Keywords
Everything becomes useless if there is no audience who view it. There comes number of videos in the que which are competing with one another for views. To increase the visibility of your content you need to work on highly searched keywords also called SEO i.e., Search Engine Optimization. As Google does, YouTube also has a search algorithm to design results which is most fit for the content searched. This algorithm is thus managed through the tools. Understanding the algorithm of YouTube is most important and the important cornerstone of your marketing strategy because once you know what people are searching you can prepare content in accordance with it.
Researching content is both art and science as it is what you need before you understand any other tool on the platform and built your strategy.
Who is in competition with you?
It is important to keep an eye over your competitors. It would be helpful in knowing that what are they upto and this is not at all any negative. This is a part of learning process and has positive attributes.
Another thing which you should be aware is that don’t replicate the content of other content creators rather bring something new or with some variations to shine differently. You always need not replicate your peer or seniors to grow as you may tend to lose your crowd soon.
Content- the most important component
Technical and marketing stuff is vital for your content to be visible but if the content is visible to the users but not liked by them then do you think your channel will be able to survive for long. The obvious answer is NO.
The content you provide is the basis on which the people will judge you. The importance of different content is different for different people but what is important is that you provide with fresh, unique and valuable content. Some of the key areas for focus are as given below –
Production Quality
It is dependent on the niche on which you are working. Some kind of niche only require webcam and windows movie maker. Something which you should remember is that as you are on a visual platform the more your content is professionalized the more it is impressive to the viewers. As soon as you start growing you can invest more on input to make some improvements to the existing.
Sponsorship and Advertising
When you built your loyal audience then you can start promote and advertise products directly. This is given a different word for these social media platforms called Influencing. Companies target the younger audience through influencers and this become a great source of income to these influencers. So, if you have interest monetizing your YouTube then you may have to alter your content to make done these sponsorships.
Strategy
The most important ingredient of content creator is to be consistent. The idea is to create a content which your audience admires the most to make them highly engaging.
Need not neglect SEO
After you have sorted with all other parts, there comes a high need to consider SEO and its working. Make sure that you put the keywords in their right place, use the links wisely and not just forgetting embedding to your videos. It may be hard to crack with no prior knowledge but basic understanding for the same will benefit you with high exposure.
Establish Relationships
When you have done the above steps properly you will start getting organic reach and your videos will get organic views. But what is essential to maintain growth is through establishing new and maintaining old relations with famous YouTubers. A little mention to a right channel could make or break your channel.
Utilize Social Media
I understand that here we are talking about how to build in subscribers to grow your YouTube but for the same you can’t ignore your other social media platforms as they can serve to your potential growth in views and subscribers. Twitter has become a great source for the same. Have a presence over other various social media accounts. So, don’t forget to make time for building profile on all the big platforms.
Use featured Videos
It is useful to sometimes have some featured videos to reach a greater number of people in short span of time. Therefore, you can submit out videos which you feel people will like.
Presentation
Your profile and content should be identical and relatable to one another. You need to create your brand entity. This could be done by you on your own or can be done by the help of some graphic designer.
Your logo, your banner is must to maintain your social media presence and It is more connectable for people. Make your description and link it with everything properly.
Rinse and Repeat
Once you have accomplished your goals, redefine something for yourself and work on the same with full enthusiasm. Continue researching on keywords and create your content around them. As and when you reach the flying colors add some more subtle touches for improvements. This process should be never ending. Scale your advertising and reinvest to your channel to make it bigger and better.
Be Patient and let things fall into place
There comes very thin line of difference between the person who make through it and who leave this profession in the early stage. Every time you think of leaving behind your goal for no valid reason always remember that no success overnight and there is some or the other reason to start. So, let the reason and the spirit within you to grow more in future. You have to become a successful YouTube before you monetize out of it. Make your log term success steps to grew soon to a big hub of people who love your content and your efforts.
YouTube as a Job
If you are creating YouTube videos as your hobby you may continue the same but you also have a choice of making to your job and earning through content creations.
The following are some of the key focus and some of the few things you can take up to convert your passion into job.
Firstly, research about the top YouTube channels in categories you want to create content for.
The second step could be plan out a mix of ideas of video clip you will create initially and subsequently.
Last and the most important thing, commit yourself to posting content consistently whether that is once a week or whatever you find suitable as per you and your niche.
The other question which arises in the mind while taking into consideration YouTube as a career is that how much time do, we need to spend on creating content and posting like stuff to begin with YouTube as a career and job?
This question to my opinion does not has a single and clear answer, it depends on content of the video, needed efforts for the video and content creator.
Initially it would require much of your time to understand various nitty bits of the video creations but once you are comfortable with its working and environment and has got enough exposure you will eventually take comparatively less time.
Another point raised while answering about YouTube as a career is when and how can we earn or start to earn money on YouTube?
There are some ways used to monetize your YouTube channel. The two most popular out there in the industry which helps earn immensely are Ads and Sponsorship.
To join YouTube partner program and start your earning through it needs you to get 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours within 12 months on your channel.
Another source for monetizing is brand partnerships through your YouTube channel. It involves reaching out brands and having them contact you to create sponsored content around the product or service for your YouTube channel.
Necessary conditions before accepting YouTube Partner program
- Ad revenue- you should be at least 18 years old or have a legal guardian older than 18 years of age who can handle your payments via Adsense.
- Channel membership- be at least 18 years old and have more than 30,000 subscribers
- Merchandise shelf- be at least 18 years old and have more than 10,000 subscribers
- Super chat and Super Sticker – be at least 18 years old and you should live in a region where Super Chat is available
- YouTube Premium revenue- create content viewed by the viewer who is a YouTube premium subscriber.
Being a YouTuber worth spending time?
You have both the options to go with YouTube either you can upload just for fun and as your hobby with no expectation to monetize the same in near future, or the other option is to make it an asset having monetization.
If you are interested in creating and sharing content consistently on one or two particular topics then you can invest time on key research, camera techniques and more video creating perks to generate quality content for your viewers.
To make YouTube as your full time or part time income source then you need to diversify the income streams as much as possible.
You can walk through various income sources like working with brands, creating your own brand and own services (example- consulting or video editing or making products). The most approachable technique of today’s YouTubers is creating their digital product like E-book. This could be a great source while you make it low-cost digital product as against others.
So, decide what is your interest and is it viable and possible for you to work on the same, if it is then don’t wait start creating your worth through the content and knowledge you can provide your community with. Always keep in mind that work on the areas which high search over these platforms and there is an audience who wants to view the content you provide because this will be a pillar for your growth and reach amongst people the most.
